Duskbound-Chapter 141 - Book 2, 62

If anything, Aria had understated the extent of Phun's injuries. The man had lost an arm at the shoulder, and his other one was so badly mangled that Velik doubted he could so much as remove his shirt without help. Chunks of bone stuck out in two different places, and muscle had been sliced away cleanly up and down the limb.

Phun's hand was pressed against his stomach, clearly holding it closed to prevent his intestines from spilling out onto the ground. One knee had been completely shattered, and he had a broken ankle on the other leg. His face was covered in blood, and his hair was matted down. Both eyes were swollen and his nose basically pointed to his ear, the one he had left. The other had been cut off.

He didn't react when Velik and Aria arrived. In all likelihood, he probably didn't even notice them. How the man was even on his feet was a mystery for the gods alone to solve. Blood loss alone should have put him down. Instead, he just kept trudging forward, one wobbly, limping step at a time.

Velik pulled one of the system-store healing potions from his hip pouch and handed it to Aria. "I'll hold him steady," he said.

The pair descended on Phun, who just leaned forward and churned his legs weakly in an attempt to break free. Velik got him off his feet and tilted his head back, and Aria poured the potion in. It wasn't going to fix a lot of the damage, but it would keep Phun alive long enough to get him to someone who could.

"I'm not sure Cravel has a healer skilled enough to repair these kinds of injuries," Aria said. "We might have to take him to Ashala instead."

"The capital?"

Velik had never gone there, and in fact only barely knew where it was—far away, unfortunately. He could get there by himself in a few days, but transporting Phun several hundred miles quickly was out of the question. If we cleared the town of corruption, he could stay there while we handle our business.

"Cravel is closer, though. I can portal us there in a day if I push hard. If there's no one there skilled enough, they can at least keep him alive until we can get someone better to help," Aria said. "You'll have to make do out here without me."

"We weren't expecting your help in the first place," Velik pointed out.

"Was that before or after you found out that Emberson knew to be on the lookout for new arrivals?"

"Wha—" Phun groaned, his eyes flickering as the swelling started to recede. "Who's there?"

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"It's me," Aria said. "What happened to you, Phun?"

"Ambushed," he said, his voice thick with pain. "Thought… the info… bad. No corruption. Just a normal dungeon."

"It wasn't?" she asked.

He coughed weakly, then said, "No. Agents were… there. They were riding… in hunters. Whole team. Thought they were… the ones you were waiting for."

If Velik hadn't already known Aria was clean, that sentence would have made him suspect something. As it stood, the worst that could be said about her was that she inadvertently lowered their guard and allowed a compromised team to ambush them. That did raise an important question, though.

Aria must have realized it at the same time. Before Velik even got a chance to open his mouth, she was already asking, "What happened to the rest of your team, Phun? Are they dead?"

"No. Worse," he croaked out. "Taken. Given to agents."

Velik went pale. The thought of someone like Emberson in enemy hands was terrifying. The smart move was to pull everyone back now and get reinforcements, to get everyone out before they got themselves killed or worse. But if they did that, there was no telling what those agents would get up to using the strength of their new hosts.

Shit. And Sildra is the only one who can get those monsters out. We need her if we're going to save anyone. Maybe we have a chance. Tougher corruption takes more effort for her to burn out, but she's had no issue destroying agents in hosts twenty or thirty levels higher than her. No reason to think Emberson is the exception.

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Of course, Sildra could only work on one victim at a time. If they had to fight off two full teams of hunters, they'd be wildly outnumbered. Freed humans were not up for fighting the second they regained control of their body, which meant more people to defend. Taking on a single team was a non-starter, let alone both at once.

But there's no rule that says I have to do that. I'm a hunter. The first rule of taking down prey is to separate it from the pack. It'll be dark soon—my time.

The healing potion continued its work on Phun. Slowly, his voice firmed up and his eyes focused. "You," he said, looking up at Velik. "You were at my house. I remember you beat Pevril."

"Yes."

"Can you save them?" Phun asked somewhat bitterly. "I'd do it myself, but…"

"I'll try," Velik said. "I need you to tell me everything you can about them."

"There were four of us. The corrupted team is six. Three hunters died, one from our side, two from theirs. I managed to escape, but Emberson and Vudra were caught."

Ten total, minus Phun and three fatalities. Six agents left.

"All gold?" Velik asked.

"Other than Emberson, yes."

"Monsters in the dungeon itself?"

"Mostly below level 30. The champion elites get up to 35 or so, but the average level was going up as we went deeper. I don't know how bad it'll be at the bottom," Phun explained.

"Alright. I can work with that. Tell me about Vudra. What can he do?"

* * *

Half an hour later, Velik had a good idea of what each of the corrupted hunters looked like, what they were known to be able to do with the guild, and Phun's own observations from the brief fight he'd engaged in. He wouldn't know until he came face to face with them, but Velik thought he could win against any of the hunters individually, as long as he attacked from an ambush.

Any of them but Emberson. He's going to be a problem. I hope [True Form] is strong enough to even things up.

"I need to get Phun some real healing," Aria said. "You and Giller… Are you sure you're up for this? You know Jensen and Sildra are too weak to help."

"Leave me," Phun said. "I'll hobble along. Aria, you should help, too."

"You'll die," she said bluntly.

"Just give me a healing potion or two. I'll be fine."

"No, you won't. You will literally die, Phun."

He let out a ragged sigh that turned into a cough. Flecks of blood covered his hand when he pulled it away. "Okay, maybe you're right. But just drop me off at that town. What was it called? Rock Pit or whatever."

"Granite Peak," Aria said, "and it's infested with agents of corruption, too. If I leave you alone there, they'll kill you or worse."

"It's fine," Velik said. "I can do this without you. Giller can protect Jensen and Sildra. I'll take care of the rest. Get Phun to a healer."

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Aria told him. "No more than three days."

"I can't wait that long."

"I know. Just… be careful. If you get yourself caught, no one's going to be here to save you. You're not just risking death this time."

Velik nodded and said, "Get going. I've got work to do."

Aria took far longer than usual to open the portal. Maybe it's a distance thing? Whatever the reason, it eventually unfolded. She hefted Phun, a difficult task for someone whose class provided no points in physical, but made slightly easier by all the missing blood and the lost arm, and stepped through.

Just before it closed, she looked back through and said, "Good luck."

* * *

The team spent the next hour finding a good camp after Velik finished catching them up on what he'd learned. Giller, unsurprisingly, had advocated leaving the area. Sildra had refused to go, not if there was a chance of saving those hunters, and Jensen wasn't willing to abandon her. Reluctantly, Giller had followed along, though with promises of 'fighting to kill' if any of the corrupted hunters found them.

They ended up choosing a spot about six miles away from the mine, close enough that Velik could move back and forth quickly and easily, but far enough that they were unlikely to be discovered by anyone else. The rest of the team would remain hidden there. Between Jensen's [Treasure Hunter] and Giller's combat skills, they hoped to avoid being ambushed.

The plan was simple. Velik would descend into the mines and try to find a hunter separated from the rest of the group. He'd capture that person, knock them out with an alchemical concoction Jensen had purchased from the system store, and drag them back to the camp. Sildra would burn the monster out of them, and Velik would repeat the process.

With any luck, by the time the sun came back up, they'd have enough numbers on their side to make a full assault. He wasn't foolish enough to think he'd get more than three or four hunters, and even that was probably being optimistic, but once they'd recovered enough to fight, they'd outnumber the agents.

It wasn't a perfect plan. A lot could go wrong. But no one else had anything better to offer, so they made their hidden camp in a shallow cave partially obscured by brush, and then they waited for the sun to go down. The moment it did, Velik felt the strength of [Duskbound] flow into him. His spear uncoiled from his arm, and he gave one final look back at his team before leaving.

Sildra returned his determination with her own. Jensen was less confident, perhaps, but showed no signs of wavering. Only Giller was less than fully committed, and Velik trusted her professionalism to hold her there.

He slipped out into the twilight shadows. Time to hunt.