NOVEL NEXT Book 3 - Chapter 24
They lost only two people.
Skylar was also missing as they gathered in 26E to pay their respects to those who had fallen. The blonde Healer's right arm was missing almost to the shoulder and while Rae had been able to seal the wound, there hadn't been enough of the detached limb in the Shidek's stomach to attempt to reattach it.
"They'll have prosthetics in Dinmar." Jeru noted somberly. "And she'll still be able to heal with just one arm."
If we can get her back into the fighting. Penelope sighed. Skylar was afraid that something like this would happen to her and I wasn't able to stop it this time.
"You can always reset if you want." Jeru gestured towards the black square where the bosses were. "But you're over halfway to the next floor."
I know, but… Penelope stole a glance at Rae. The brunette had been beside herself over the loss of Forest Torrey. Losing a member of the burn squad was going to hurt, but he'd gotten too close to one of the Cornmen and the explosion had resulted in this being mostly a funeral just for Theodora.
Low whispers were exchanged through the crowd, and even though Penelope couldn't hear the exact words, she knew what they were talking about. Everyone in that square had been level thirty. The max level for this floor. The squares were just going to get harder as they progressed deeper into the floor and if the monsters were just going to get harder, how many more people were going to die before they reached the boss room?
There was a visible recoil as the crowd backed away when Patrick stepped forward. The balding man grunted as he glared at them, but before he could say anything, Raelyn stopped in front of him.
"We lost a lot of good people today." Raelyn had to yell for her voice to be heard by the whole crowd, making it obvious that she wasn't used to projecting her voice. "I know a lot of you are worried about what this means as we push forward, but I want to assure you, we're doing everything we can to ensure your safety."
"What are you going to do about the Healers?" Ivan Griffin shouted from the back. The 55-year-old man was the Healer for one of the groups on Penelope's half of the Dungeon.
"We're confident that Skylar is going to make a full recovery." Raelyn cleared her throat. "Until then—"
"You're going to grow her arm back?" Ivan shook his head. "None of us have a spell to regrow limbs and we've already tried <Mend Bone>. How's she supposed to heal with only one arm?"
"Her magic still works and obviously it's going to be an adjustment for her to learn how to use her left hand, but we're confident that she'll be ready by the time the countdown ends." Raelyn glared at the older man.
"So who's going to take her place?" Ivan pushed his way through the crowd to stand in front of them as he confronted the leader of the Healers. He motioned at the crowd behind him. "We're already having to sub in people who aren't healers as a class…" He looked back at Raelyn. "Are you going to make us do these zones down even more Healers?"
"I—"
"Yes." Patrick cut Raelyn off. The balding man was a decade younger than the Healer, but he wasn't letting that stop him from asserting his authority. "Three Healers is all we need to clear one of the rooms, so anything more than that is just making sure people stay safe." He pointed at the indention in the ground where one of the Cornmen had exploded. "You could have had ten Healers in here and it wouldn't have saved Forest. What we need more than more Healers is more people who can make walls and slow down the monsters so our damage dealers can kill them before they get to us."
A murmur ran through the crowd.
"Yes, we're going to tap the Debuffers to fill the slots." Patrick pointed at the crowd. "Dexter Atwood, Iriel Frye, and Corey Fish. The three of you are going to sub in for our fallen comrades." He scanned the people in front of him. "KING!" His brown eyes found the young man in the crowd. "Go get them enough of the black stuff to take them to twenty-one."
The nineteen-year-old saluted, then ran off towards the living area.
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Stephen gave his wife a side hug and kissed the top of her forehead. Even though Stephen Frye was part of the burn squad, his wife had not tried to join one of the teams to fight the monsters. There was worry on both of their faces, but not defiance like Ivan.
Patrick motioned at the black-haired woman at the edge of the crowd. "When he gets back, I want the three of you to talk to Riva. She'll help you figure out what spells and passives you want to try to get while you level up so you'll be able to provide the best crowd control out there."
Patrick turned back to Ivan. "You have anything else you want to add?" The look on his face dared the other man to speak.
Ivan held up his hands and backed away.
"Good." Patrick didn't have to yell to project his voice to the group. "Look, we've lost friends before and we're going to lose more before we clear this thing." He grumbled a curse under his breath before continuing his speech. "I want you to remember who took them from you." He jabbed his hand towards the Demons. "And I want you to remember why we're down here fighting. Those killers want to do what they did to our friends to your loved ones back home. And if we don't stop them here, they'll get that chance so we're going to be sad because our friends gave their lives so our loved ones didn't have to, and then we're going to go out there and make these things pay."
A cheer rose up from the crowd as Patrick raised his sword over his head. The cheer rose in volume as the people fed off of each other, spurring the person next to them to get louder.
Penelope <Blinked> away.
"It's not your fault." Jeru put his hand on her shoulder as she continued to put distance between herself and the growing battle cry.
You knew that the Cornmen were dangerous and we weren't able to use that knowledge to our advantage. Penelope made it to the bunker in 25E and <Blinked> on top of it. How am I supposed to keep people from dying if I can't do it even when I know what's going to happen?
"This has driven other Loopers crazy to the point that they have given up because they couldn't handle the loss." Jeru looked down at her trembling hand. "The ones who lasted the longest focused on the ones that they could save and accepted that there were going to be casualties."
How can there be casualties if I know all of what is going to happen? Penelope sat down on top of the structure and pulled her knees up into her chest.
"Because you can't be everywhere at once." Jeru sighed as he sat down next to her. "Even if you know when, where, and how someone is going to die, that doesn't mean that you can be in two places at once." He motioned at the greenery in front of them.
The burn squad cleared away the trees on the monsters' side of the barrier before they started clearing squares in that column, but that left a treeline on the backside of each column that marked where a barrier had been. The treeline helped to muffle some of the roaring of the crowd and obscured them from her vision.
"Every one of these people would have died if I hadn't brought them here." The blue Elf shrugged. "Almost a billion people died on earth during the awakening and I saved 625." He looked over at Penelope. "That's insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it was something." He turned back to the Dungeon. "That's all you're doing out here. Something."
But—
"No buts." Jeru snapped his fingers in her face. "Everyone here was dead already, so whoever makes it out is someone who you saved. The ones who die here instead of on earth gave their lives to keep this place from reaching there."
Even Dawson?
"That turd doesn't deserve honorable mention." Jeru sighed. "But you get what I mean. These people who are fighting are giving something extra after their lives were over and hopefully you'll be able to give a lot of them their lives back. But…" He wagged his blue finger in her face. "You will drive yourself insane by trying to save everyone. And if you start resetting just to save someone, that has a way of eating away at your sanity."
Like how easy it is to take a Mana Potion and dump a lot of spells?
"That's a different kind of crazy, but sure." Jeru stood up. "You really need to cut back on how many of those you use in a square."
I know, but…
"You can't just rely on the Mana Potions when things get tough. You need to lean on your allies too."
I know. Penelope closed her eyes as she gently rocked on her feet. She kept her arms tight around her knees as she settled into a comforting rhythm.
She didn't have to hear the rest of the speech to know what they were doing. Patrick still expected them to push further into the floor today; she just hoped that with more people and some extra caution, they wouldn't lose anyone else.