POV Mari

Now, we have scouted out all of the islands and considering that very soon we will need to devote most of our time to the academy, we have decided to launch another extended expedition to the fourth floor. More precisely, to the two islands that have yielded the most exp out of them all, before stalling our progress until we get more freedom in our daily schedule.

We have started with the third island and after an hour of fighting through the numerous ambushes we make it back for some rest. As planned, I change Anna on guard duty for the next hour. I'm not as talkative as the other girls, especially with a man and we always end up spending most of the time minding our own things. I keep watch over the frontline and he rests on the boat, keeping the supplies from being digested by the dungeon.

I glance at my birds from time to time, watching them imitate an osprey by catching fishes with their talons. A few monsters tried attacking us but were taken out in short order.

'I should find a conversation topic. Hmm..? Family? No, that's a landmine. Cooking? Maybe start by asking about dishes he wants to try making? I really should ask what topics the others bring up or ask them for suggestions.'

We exchange a few words, but the conversation simply doesn't flow into a long dialogue. I return most of my attention on keeping watch after the conversation naturally dies down.

.. .

"Kate: I'm getting a bad feeling! Everyone eyes open and ears pricked up!"

'I don't see anything wrong here.'

"Valentine: HIGH ALERT! ARMED AND READY IN 10!! SCOUTS FAN OUT!!"

This feels excessive, but he opens up crates with potions and explosives to distribute to the warriors, sending everyone into a frenzy of activity.

A minute passed.. and there is no sign of danger anywhere in sight. I double check all around us before giving the exploration team an update.

"Mari: Everything is in order here. Air support is ready for a bombing and support run."

"Anna: Hold position, we don't see anything wrong at the moment either."

"Kate: It… Hmm.. It may be a chameleon monster, maybe? The bad vibes haven't gone away yet, don't relax your guard."

Then… A few drops of liquid fall around me. A number of them hit my exposed skin and I feel as if a led blanket was thrown over me.

"Valentine: AIR RAID!! TAKE COVER!"

"Kate: We are rushing back!"

"Mari: Paralyzing liquid! Cover up!"

I don't look up, in fear of the liquid getting on my face. My hand has become wooden and refuses to bend properly. I glance around, noting that my warriors are diving into the cover provided by the trees. I only take a few heavy steps before the monsters finally get into view.

`CRASH! `CRASH! `Hiss!! `Hiss!!

Two large roosters descend right before the tree line and spray thick gas all around them, blocking our way towards the trees. As I glance at them, I feel another layer of led press down on me and rob me of even more mobility.

"Mari: Don't look at them directly! They sap your strength!"

I feel wooden all over my body.

"Valentine: Fuck! Two Basilisks! Poison and petrifying gaze!"

"Meiko: Lady Mari! Hold on! I'll be there in three minutes!"

'I don't think that we have three minutes.'

I can't move my body well and those things are encircling us completely with the poisoned gas.

'This is bad. Very, very, bad. Fuu, damnit move! Shoot those things!'

I need my damn hands to work and kill those things!

`Boom! `Boom! `POP! `Pop! `Pop! `Boom!

"Valentine: SHIT!! Fuck you magic! Fucking bullshit!"

Similarly to Meiko, the basilisks envelope themselves in a layer of mana. Neither the bullets nor the explosives are doing any damage to them.

The paralyzing poison must have gotten on my hair and ended up reaching my neck. I can't breathe properly and my body is weakening. I can't ignite my mana for an offensive.

'Fuck…'

"Valentine: WHITE FEATHERS! Time to earn your namesake! …"

My barely standing body is hoisted over his shoulder and after a few dozen steps, flung into an emergency inflatable raft.

"Valentine: … This won't help much, but…good luck…"

I exert my strength to look down at him and see black veins running up his neck, and face.

'There must have been poison in that liquid and not just paralyzing agent. That's why I'm in such a state.'

The raft is kicked and I hear desperate wings flapping as it picks up speed. One of my warriors lands on me and starts dumping healing potions on my face and chest from a box of small vials.

SABATON - The Attack of the Dead Men

"Valentine: THE REST OF US DIE FIGHTING! PROTECT THE EMPRESS! "Turn the tide of the attack~. And force the enemy to turn back!… And that’s when the dead men are marching again!… Attack of the dead, hundred men! Facing the lead once again. Hundred men. Charge again! Die again!! Die again!! Die again!!""

I can't even utter more than a rasping croak as my warriors launch suicidal attacks, exploding themselves in the monster's face the moment it tries to rush in my direction. Even if it doesn't do any damage, it keeps the monster at bay for a moment, before it tries again.

The other monster is facing Valentine, who can barely move due to the poison. I hear splashes of water and my healer jumps out to retrieve the bodies of the fallen, poisoned warriors. I'm pulled farther away offshore, now I can't even see what is going on at the beach. I only see that after each explosion there are less and less warriors in the air.

'This is a nightmare. This is just a nightmare. Wake up! Stand and fight! DO ANYTHING!!!'

I've never felt this powerless before, just watching as my comrades die to protect me. Being stuck in this unmoving body, only able to shout in my mind.

"Valentine: f-for-bbiden tec-hni-que kan..cho."

`Boom! `Rip! Splatt! `Roar!

There is frenzied roaring, hissing and the poisoned gas saturates the air even thicker.

'No..no..no..no… .'

"Caw!" `BOOM! "CAW!" `Boom! "ca" `boom

More lives are lost, each making my heart crack, as I sob in my forced silence. I can hear Meiko shouting promises to murder the gods. Hana's self-urging to move faster. Kate's attempts to keep everyone from doing idiotic things… .

I can only shake in my frustrations, wishing to stand up, to fight, to put an end to this horrible nightmare.

.. .

Probably another two minutes passed before someone got to me.

"Yumi: Hey.., ..hey.., priestess Yumi is here, shhh, shhh, let me work my magic. It's all good, we are here." … .. .

"Yumi: We need to get back now and get Haruka!"

More people gathered around my prone body.

"Kate: SHIT! … … Good, the second boat is here. Meiko! Inflate it! Fast! Everyone! Check if you are poisoned. Hana! Can you make it across?"

"Hana: I've got enough mana left for a one way trip."

"Kate: Go, clear a path and get Haruka. … OK! Get all the poisoned crows up here! .. Load up and row like our lives depend on it!"

POV Meiko

'Faster! Faster! Come on!'

"Kate: Less sobbing! More rowing! Get your breathing in order!"

"Meiko: Fuck you!" 'Fuck! Calm the fuck down Meiko! Row, breath, row, breathe out… Harder, push harder.'

I can't look at Lady Mari without tears flowing down my face. Poisoned and shedding tears, surrounded by the fallen and dying warriors, who have spared no expense to get her out alive.

'I.. I didn't see Valentine..or even his body… Row, breathe in.. row, breathe out.'

"Kate: Fight the damn poison. You hear me? Burn it with everything you've got. You should be mad with furry, so burn that shit trying to kill you!!"

"Yumi: We'll need a blood transfusion to flush out this shit, unless Haruka can pull off purification or the spring works for this."

"Kate: We better prepare for both. …There might be some poison in us from breathing in the air at the beach, not enough to be noticed immediately, but for someone weakened… . We need a safe donor. Hana, you getting this?"

"Hana: I'm by the gate! I'll call Haruka and Chiyo before coming back."

"Kate: Go!"

I row with as much force as the flimsy oars can take, breaking them would only make matters much worse. Lady Mari is fed potions and helped to breathe by Kate while Yumi is holding her hands over Mari's heart.

"Hana: I'm back!"

"Kate: We are another four minutes out, get into the hot spring and check if the healing water works of the poison properly. There should be a prickling sensation if it does. We need to get rid of it all from our clothes, hair, skin. Just jump in clothed."

"Hana: Got it! Anything else? Ok, I'm going!"

We make it to the main island and sprint towards the gate while carrying the boat with all the injured. Hana has slashed through everything in our path, as we encounter only scattered bodies of monsters and loot in our path.

Once we get back, I can't even help to take care of Lady Mari, I don't have any healing skills developed.

"Kate: Don't get fucking lost in your head! Check on the crows, get them into the hot springs!"

'Right! Focus! Regret comes later, action must happen now.'

We need to dip the little warriors into the water and keep them mostly submerged for the healing water to work faster, all of them are unresponsive and a few are likely dead.

"Haruka: I'm going to start draining blood from her, I'll purge what poison I can. Yumi, focus on protecting her heart. … Hopefully, she isn't too exhausted for the magical healing to do more damage than good. I need your 200% on this, got it?"

`Splash `splash

"Yumi: Fuuu.. fuuu.. let's do this."

I'm ready to collapse and curl up into a dung ball from seeing Lady Mari being reduced to this state. Needles and tubes are inserted into her black veins, and disgusting black sludge is drawn out under Haruka's glowing hand motions. Lady Mari is suffering, spasming in pain and I feel like a helpless little girl all those years ago.

"Kate: Hana, do you have enough reserves to bring the spare boat to the girls? I'd rather we don't take chances with this poison, I've felt tingling sensation all over my body and I've kept my distance from that damned poisoned cloud."

"Hana: Yeah.. same here. I've got enough fuel for normal speed. You keep helping and get it all out of Mari, I'll bring the rest back safely."

"Kate: Meiko, do something useful, grab a bucket and douse everything that we have touched or walked over. If this stuff can get to us, what will it do to normal people? What if Chiyo rushes down here and gets poisoned? I'm dumping more mana into the water, now, get to work and protect Mari's sister!"

'I.. I need to protect… Destroy poison…'

I feel lightheaded and shaky on my feet. Looking around, I find a bucket and start filling and emptying it all over the floor, the doors and everything else we came into contact with. Everything is drowned the same way as I'm drowning in my helplessness to do anything to help Lady Mari.

'If I were faster and better at killing monsters we could have arrived a whole minute quicker. If I knew healing magic, I could have helped lessen her burden.'

"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.."

POV Juliana

This fucking bioweapon is definitely airborne, just how badly it can spread is unknown to us.

As soon as we finish dipping into the mana charged water to kill off the poison covering us, we gather every spraying bottle and saturate the air with an extra strong dose of this stuff.

We improvise a decontamination chamber as Mari is moved upstairs after getting most of that black tar out of her. The magic bins help to disintegrate that shit from existence and we make another spraying pass on this level.

Taking another dip we pay close attention, making sure that there is no prickling sensation… finally, we can breathe a fraction of a sigh of relief.

"Tai: What… do we do now? I'm having trouble thinking straight."

"Anna: Now… Now, we can…Fuck… I don't know… ."

"Juliana: Now we let the medics fight their battle and stay out of the way. … I have some disinfectant stashed in his room. Come, let's purge this taste out of our mouths."

I lead the lost girls towards my stash of spirits and pass to everyone a full shot glass, that quickly becomes half full in their shaking hands.

'This never gets easier… never does… .'

First losses, first comrades to disappear in a single moment. I'm only glad that they didn't have to see most of it first hand.

`Tap `Tap

I react to the sound and find the big Man behind the door, gingerly tapping with his finger, not wanting to cause a scene here. I acknowledge his presence and leave the girls to their thoughts that must be running in circles by now. We sit down in the gate room to talk.

"Juliana: How's the situation upstairs? I didn't want to let anyone get in the healers way, so I've kept the girls here."

He makes a deep sight of a man on his death bed.

"A.K: … Heartbreaking …for a parent, but they say that it's slowly getting… better. I couldn't stay longer without… breaking down. Chiyo is staying close, I can't show them how truly… weak I am. Tell me, what has… happened?"

'Fucking shit hit the fan.'

"Juliana: A bolt out of the blue… Just when we have grown accustomed to every type of ambush, we've got hit by something that shouldn't have happened. A fucking pair of basilisks came out of thin air and got a drop on our fallback position. Mari, Valentine and around 40 crows were there."

I need a moment to wipe away my leaking feeling.

"Juliana: Those things took bullets and explosives to the face like being hit by fucking show flakes… Taken by surprise and poisoned into submission, it would have been a massacre. They all have fought using their lives, each sacrifice solely focused to buy another second of time…to let the medics get her out of there on a life raft. … I've heard over the comms that he went out like a man… With a grenade in hand, shoved deep up a monster's ass… When we got there one of those things was half dead with its bottom half splattered on the sand. We.. sniff…, there was no time to recover the bodies…and not much of the bodies left intact. Most remains were taken by the dungeon, … there was simply too much of that damn poisoned gas in the area to even get a few feathers back home."

I can't keep back the tears from flowing down accompanied by miserable sobbing.

"A.K: Died like a … true man. Every fallen will be … honoured. … … This time, the girls won't fight me on this… no more explorations. Visit the safe floors if you must, but don't make a step deeper … into that pit of hell."

"Juliana: To the fallen men and women."

As tradition dictates: a glass is covered by a slice of bread for the departed, and we wash away the sorrow with a glass of our own.

"A.K: May they find their way home, even from the farthest reaches of the… universe."

A minute of silence is held. .. .

"Juliana: We've done our best to collect a sample of the poison and sealed it a hundred times with every airtight container that we have available. If..if the magic bullshit doesn't work all the way, maybe the smart people could find a way to help."

"A.K: … Understood. I pray…for Mari. …Keep my daughters company for a… minute. I'll send this package away…fast. And also, I blame this on myself…not on anyone else."

We empty another glass before retrieving a sealed container. I send the big Man outside to pass it over to the silent bodyguard and let him have a moment of time to himself. He also needs to restore a facade of composure and pretend to be strong for his girls.

I finally go to see the situation in the game room. It has the only second bed and is sometimes used by me, now… Now it doesn't carry the feeling its supposed purpose implies, instead there are three people fighting to protect Mari's life.

'Oh, thank God. She looks much better.'

There are no black veins and she doesn't look like a decaying corpse. The magic healing bullshit won this fight. 'They are still at it after so long… Can they get it all out?'

I dare not interrupt their efforts to save Mari, instead choosing to walk up to little Chiyo nearby. The girl also looks ready to drop to the ground and start weeping.

"Juliana: Sorry, little Chiyo. I .. wasn't enough to protect Mari. Sorry."

I feel the girl trembling with each word that she speaks.

"Chiyo: `Sniff, `shiff. I've heard a few words about what happened. I know that you would do your best in any situation. Things… Things just happen in life.. Bad things … to good people … happen too."

I embrace her before she can break down in tears and collapse on her own. All that I can help with, is lending a shoulder for her to cry and rubbing her back to calm feelings.

"Juliana: It's going to be ok. Mari is a tough cookie. She looks ready for another day of kicking ass even now! You'll see, by the evening she will be walking around and giving instructions to us all."

I send inquisitive looks to Kate, who appears to be the resting while listening to us. She nods to the reasonable parts of my promises. 'No kicking ass, but walking should be possible… . Good, that is already very reassuring. After a day of rest and recovery any residual problems can be taken care of.'

The dead can wait for their turn, for the moment we must focus on the living, be it comforting the worried sick family members, healing the injured or keeping the girls from shattering into pieces under the cruel reality of war.