Hazel rushed to catch Mia before she hit the floor, but half-dead herself, her legs gave out, and she crashed into the ground. Mia did the same. The way Mia crumpled at least meant she didn’t bash her head on the way down, though Hazel supposed after what they’d been through, some blunt trauma would have been a footnote.

She was too numb to be relieved at having survived the Abyssal Melder. All of her fights prior had been exhilarating in a strange way, even with the risk of injury. This had been different. A shocking reminder that dungeon delving wasn’t just some adrenaline-inducing fun. Her body ached, with her health a staggeringly low twenty-percent, but she barely paid attention to that. She crawled over to Mia, heart slamming, dizzy as much with her own injuries as concern for her companion.

Arriving, Hazel found that Mia was still breathing. She almost passed out from relief. She took a long, shaky breath, then forced herself into a sitting position and stared down at Mia.

What did she do, now?

She had a single health potion—the one Mia had given to her earlier. She fumbled it out, then uncorked the glass vial and lined it up to Mia’s lips. Propping the woman up, she poured the liquid into her mouth and massaged her throat, trying to get her to swallow. Hazel didn’t really know what she was doing; she was no nurse. But she’d seen this before in movies, and, to her immense relief, it worked—though with some coughing and subdued sputtering. Some of the potion might have gone down the wrong pipe, but Hazel figured having the magical healing solution inside her would be worth it.

And it seemed it was. She watched as Mia’s wounds healed over. They didn’t completely seal up, but Hazel assumed that was because they were too comprehensive for a single potion to take care of. While none were individually deadly—with no slashes or bites having cut open major arteries or too deeply—Mia had picked up several dozen from the attacking Melderlings, and that wasn’t mentioning the entire-body-coating of acid-like material near the end. An attack Mia had flung herself into Hazel to take.

If Hazel had been hit by that, she would be dead. Even the glob had taken twenty five percent of her health. The fountain of material, a last-ditch attack by the Abyssal Melder, would have taken her out without a doubt. The Melderlings had been tough, but only miniature extra spawns. A final attack from the miniboss itself was obviously far more powerful; even Mia had nearly died from taking it directly like she had.

Mia had almost died. For her. It was a stunning realization. She’d picked up hints that Mia seemed to be naturally selfless, but this? It baffled Hazel. Would she have even done the same? And Mia had done it as a simple matter of instinct. For effectively a stranger. Mia hadn’t even thought about it; she’d just acted.

Realizing that Hazel had almost gotten her companion killed brought an overpowering wash of guilt. She stared down at the injured succubus with a feeling of helplessness. Having given her the health potion, there wasn’t much else she could do. At least she thought Mia would survive. The blood loss had been calmed with her wounds patching over, though many scabs remained, the potion only half effective. The burns had also not entirely faded. Mia looked deathly pale—in the few patches of unstained skin across her body—and she was breathing in a slow, shallow rhythm.

Considering what her short term future held, Hazel became suddenly very exhausted, and she’d already been a woman barely able to sit upright. She slumped in place.

For the third time, the reality of her new world hit her. Maybe there were exciting, interesting aspects to her recently acquired life, but Hazel had completely downplayed and ignored the more visceral parts. This world she’d found herself in was deadly. People like Mia fought literal monsters to survive, and as she herself had said, the profession paid well because deadly incidents were common. This had almost been one such example. Only by sheer luck—and a confusingly self-sacrificing companion—was Hazel alive.

While hurt, exhausted, and guilty, Hazel recognized she didn’t have time—or the right—to slump over and stew in her misery. Mia looked to be out cold, and might be that way for some time. That meant it was up to Hazel to figure out how to help her.

But what could she do? What were her options?

The snake, Ruby, hadn’t survived the fight. It had, as expected of a charmed companion, thrown itself whole-heartedly into the melee, and had even kept the primary attention of the miniboss for the majority of the fight. The giant red-scaled snake lay there, silent, not breathing. Hazel hardly had any real affection for the beast, but her heart still squeezed seeing its corpse.

They were, at least, safe for the short term.

Hazel wracked her brain.

A miniboss. A miniboss ought to have a loot chest, right? There could be something to help inside. More health potions, possibly. They were a common drop from what Hazel knew.

The room in general was unexplored. Though black droplets of the tar-like potion material coated a majority of the room in splotches, Hazel could make out several items of interest. First, the cauldron—that could be worth looking at. The room was also larger than many of the wine cellars they’d been in before, and there were tons of racks where something might be hidden.

Further exploration revealed a trap door behind the cauldron. Hazel wasn’t sure where it led, and whether finding out was a smart idea, but she’d decide on that later.

As she’d had a suspicion of, she found a loot chest hidden in the back of a storage shelf. It was smaller than the previous. Grabbing the metal handle, she lugged the box out and set it on the ground. Without ceremony—she wasn’t exactly in a state to be excited or celebrating something like this—she opened the chest. The dramatic roulette-like lightshow played, before settling on white. Common.

The miniboss hadn’t even given an uncommon. Mia had said those were rare at low levels, but still—Hazel felt a spike of irritation that the nearly deadly encounter hadn’t even rewarded them properly. Though she got the impression that it had only been so disastrous because of Hazel’s lack of preparation, and Mia handling the Rift alone, rather than in a team. In normal circumstances, the level five miniboss shouldn’t have been such a dangerous encounter.

Having settled on its rarity, the chest revealed its content in familiar rows of reward loot. Hazel disregarded the top rows—which were both armor choices this time, no weapons—and her eyes went immediately to the lowest, seeking something in particular. Her heart skipped a beat as she found it: a red vial. A health potion. Those were frequent drops, but Hazel had halfway expected the dungeon to screw them over a second time. But she hadn’t gotten that unlucky.

She took the item, then inspected the vial of liquid. Mia had mentioned that potions had cooldowns. Could she give this one to Mia right after making her drink the other? Or would that cause more harm than good? Or otherwise simply be a waste? She didn’t know how potion overdosing worked, but if anything like medicine, then yes—it could be bad. Reluctantly, Hazel came the conclusion that she shouldn’t use it on Mia. The succubus should live, Hazel was pretty sure, and the risk of an overdose wasn’t worth it.

Plus, Hazel was in bad shape herself. She was barely staying standing. Seeing how she’d become Mia’s temporary guardian until the succubus stirred to consciousness, she needed to take care of herself too. If she’d been confident that the potion would further help Mia’s recovery, then she’d have given it to her in a heartbeat, but with her current knowledge on potions, she knew that wasn’t smart. So she tipped the red liquid back and drank it herself.

It tasted like liquid electricity. She almost didn’t keep it down—and struggled to drink the whole vial. She shivered when the glass was empty, the liquid snaking its way down her throat and into her stomach, setting her tingling where it passed. She wouldn’t call it painful, just intense. Seeing how it was condensed healing magic in a vial, she supposed she should have expected the crazy sensation.

Her health bar, still situated to the bottom right of her vision, slowly started ticking upward. After thirty seconds or so, the effect had ended, and it sat at a much more comfortable fifty percent. It had far from topped her off, but she’d recovered from nearly-dead to functional, though still exhausted and injured. Her slimy body didn’t show wounds like a human one might, but she still felt them. Not as pain—though she did hurt—but a sort of spiritual drain that made it hard to move her limbs.

Still, she felt much better. She surveyed the rest of the loot with a clearer mind. There was the usual assortment of items, but unfortunately nothing that could help the two of them. Hazel figured Mia would want to decide between their choices; she didn’t feel right making them herself, or claiming any of the items. Hazel could take a piece of armor to incrementally improve her defenses, but it wouldn’t be a meaningful aid, much less a crucial one. For now, she left the loot chest for Mia to handle and continued exploring the room.

The cauldron had a thin layer of black tar remaining inside it. More importantly, an item sat at the bottom, barely protruding from the liquid.

As many items, the description was plain and nearly repetitive. Some came with useful descriptions, like the pieces of armor and weapons and their effects, but regular items oftentimes gave a superficial overview. Hazel supposed getting a full list on how a monster core could be used was hoping too much; that was something she’d have to discover herself, or through other people.

Hazel considered digging the item up. The black tar was acidic, and so reaching in was obviously something she didn’t want to do. But the item also seemed valuable. She fished it out with her scythe. The orb clinked into the ground and fortunately didn’t break. She left it there on the floor. Hopefully the sludge would drip off over time. If not, they’d clean it off later.

Finally, Hazel inspected the last item of interest: the trapdoor behind the cauldron. She hesitated before opening it up, worried it might be trapped or something similar, but she also didn’t plan to just sit around all day until Mia woke up. The wood dislodged from its resting place with a squeaking hinge, and Hazel peered into the darkness. A ladder led down. Not far, only eight or so feet. Peeking her head in, she saw that a corridor trailed off into the distance.

Was this one of those exits Mia had talked about? A way out of the Crimson Courtyards? Mia had said that these cellar-rooms would probably include ways out, and to Hazel, it made sense that a miniboss would be guarding one such exit.

Seeing how Hazel couldn’t remotely fight the enemies in the Crimson Courtyards, returning to the Gray Stone Hollows was her only option. That, or sitting around and waiting for Mia to wake, of course. But she seemed well and out of it. It might be some time.

Hazel wanted to do something, not sit around. Maybe if she hit level four, she could create a healing skill. Regardless, being in motion seemed smart; she didn’t think she could stand being idle, staring at an unconscious Mia, rather than working toward a goal.

First, she went and checked on the succubus. She was still breathing. The potion had left her in better straits than before, but she still didn’t look great. She needed rest.

Hazel figured the miniboss room was safe now, but she also thought that a transit tunnel between the Crimson Courtyards and the Gray Stone Hollows would be even safer. She’d go verify that first, then drag Mia down if she was right.

From there, she supposed she only had one real option: to go hunting, and hopefully pick up another level—and potentially build a healing skill.