"Heal him! You heal him, do you hear?" Jean was begging Leander, all traces of his pride gone. The platoon had come up with various scratches and cuts. Dorian's cut on his arm going as far as the bone and looking vicious.

But, Leander was having the platoon wait. Because Andors was by far worse than them. His eye was missing, just as Borik had said. And the wound was infected. Jean had turned him into a pincushion before escaping into the burial chamber. And every single wound had been infected.

Leander concentrated on his A rank spell. Doing his best to knit the flesh together, having cleaned the wounds with great effort. The eye he had not dared to touch. It was too delicate an organ, and his knowledge had never included eyes. Something he would fix, if he ever got out of this tomb.

Then, much to Leander's horror, Andors heartbeat quickened. Too much, like he was having a heart attack.

"No," Leander managed to crock. He focused on the heart. Making sure that there was a proper mana circulation there, but that made Andors's condition worse.

"Mana overuse," Leander's eyes widened as he said that. He pulled his hands away and watched as Andors began to shake violently. "The core must have filled him with so much mana, that it even took over his mana regulation. And now, that is no longer controlling him..."

"Do something," Jean shouted, cheeks streaked with tears. No one had ever seen him like that, and they didn't want to do so, again.

"If I cut off his mana connection, he might live. But," Leander let his words trail off as Andors's shaking became more violent.

"Do it," Alektos commanded, eyes locked on Jean. "It doesn't matter that he would no longer be an adventurer. Only that he lives."

Leander looked at Jean, who nodded, and then the red-haired man placed his hand on his mouth. He had done this. To his friend.

Leander placed a hand over the place where mana connections started from, the back of the head, and cut off the erratic, knotted strings that made up Andors's mana system.

Like a puppet whose strings were cut, Andors stopped shaking. His heartbeat became calmer and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Once he wakes, he will be livid," Nestor spoke, eyes downcast. Healers were feared because, at any moment, they could turn a warrior into a civilian. That was the first thing they were taught how to do, both in the guild and the clinics.

"Better an angry Andors than a dead one. Come on, we have to go," Leander blinked at that.

"Wait, you all need healing," he protested, but Alektos shook his head.

"We don't know if the mobs had gone away with the crushing of the core. We might need your arrow barrages more than your healing spells. Save your mana," the tank went to take point, and Morris picked up Andors from the ground and slung him over his shoulders as gently as he could.

Alektos rose three fingers, and everyone took their places in the formation. Jean had trouble standing up, so, Leander helped him up and let Jean lean on him.

Their pace was slower than their original pace, but they made it to the golem nest, where they had left Borik and the Budding Lilies. The girls were relieved to see them. Borik looked bored out of his mind.

"The ladies didn't so much as let me stand up," Borik complained. Then, he turned to stare at Morris, who was carrying Andors. "How is he?"

"Alive. No longer an adventurer, but alive," Morris answered, and Borik got a dark look on his face. It deepened when his eyes landed on Jean.

"You couldn't have pulled your punches for once, could you?" Borik accused and then pointed at his legs. "Do you admire your handiwork?"

"Protocol dictates," Jean began, but Borik snorted.

"Fuck protocol and fuck you, Jean! You should have run to hide and sent out the distress call the second you saw that we were under mind control. But, no. You always had to be the hero," Jean bowed his head. Shame coloring his face.

"The Firebolts are over," Borik spoke with finality, and Jean didn't dare argue. "I wish you all the best, Jean Firebolt."

Dorian and Nestor went and picked up Borik between them. No one spoke a word. Party breakage was a private matter. They shouldn't have been there to hear the words spoken.

They all walked in silence, with Jean clutching at Leander for dear life. The healer had the sinking suspicion that Jean was going to fall, and not from his wound, if Leander let him go for even a second.

The staircase with the mushrooms was as dark as ever, but the mushrooms themselves were gone. So were the mantises. And there was no trace of the shadows that had gotten the entire guild on the defensive.

"So, the core is defeated, then?" Dorian mused as they took in the fresh air.

"More broken, I couldn't make it," Morris said with a chuckle. Healers rushed to them, and they took Jean, Borik and Andors from them. The platoon followed them to the sickbeds and each took one, even Leander, who was suffering from slight mana overuse.

"You reckless, good-for-nothings!" Valerie, the only SS healer of the guild, chided them. "What were you thinking, rushing in and not even reporting with the commander?"

Alektos bowed his head.

"I commanded platoon 23. I take full responsibility," Valerie turned to look at him, and she nodded in approval.

"At least no one tried to pull rank on you. If you haven't led them, they'd be dead now," everyone from platoon 23 had to agree. Alektos had made all the right calls, even when they had been the hard thing to choose.

"Andors will never be an adventurer again," Leander whispered. Guilt eating at him for what he had done. Even if it had been done to save the berserker's life.

"And I imagine the Firebolts are over, judging by the dirty glare Borik is sending Jean even now?" Valerie asked as she moved to heal Dorian next. "The end of an era."

"I am sure Borik and Jean will find new party members," Morris might have said the words that everyone was thinking, but he was as unsure of them as the rest of them.

"Borik, maybe. But Jean's adventuring days might be behind him. No one wants to risk going out in the field with someone who doesn't put his partners first," Valerie's words were grave. However, they were the truth.