Chapter 82: Moving On

Max went through pleasant memories of his childhood, which he would forget as soon as the skill finished healing him. It was a strange skill that dug into his brain and showed him the positive aspects of his childhood. After reminiscing about those good memories, Max canceled the skill. He wouldn't stay here forever; he needed to check what had happened to the others, heal them if they were on the brink of dying, and, most of all, check the monster's condition.

Although the Basic Healing Magic Reversal Technique could affect opponents regardless of their level, this monster was still the strongest one Max had faced and used the technique on so far. The attack had landed successfully, and the monster had been affected by it, that much Max knew. However, he needed to check how much damage the technique had done to the strongest monster he had faced. If the monster wasn't dead from the Reversal attack, he needed to follow up with another attack to finish it off; otherwise, it would finish them.

Max snapped his eyes open, and immediately, his head ached as if it were going to explode. He grabbed his head while still lying on the floor. Suddenly, he heard some commotion nearby. Shocked by this strange situation, he pushed himself up and looked toward the center of the hall.

There, Max saw two people battling a monster. Looking closely, he realized they were Barbara, the party's Tank, and Butterfly, the Earth Mage. Their opponent was the same monster that had attacked them. The monster hadn't died from his attack, but it was severely wounded, with its midsection caved in. It could still move and attack the party members, though slowly, which was also why the two could parry its attacks.

Max's head throbbed like a literal heart, and the pain was immense, even though he had used Salvation, a skill that could heal any physical issue. Max deduced that consuming six consecutive Mana Potions had exceeded the limits of what Salvation could handle at its current proficiency of 24%. The damage inflicted by the Mana Potions on his body could only be resolved through rest; no skill or potion was going to help him anymore.

Bearing the pain in his head, Max activated [Paradise Field] on the two party members to heal them, though they were struggling to fight back against the injuries inflicted by the monster. Max was perplexed by how these two had withstood the attack better than Paula.

Thinking back, he realized that unlike them, Paula had been caught off guard, which must have made her injuries worse. Fortunately, the two had somehow quickly come to their senses, using their shield and the earth to block the attack, and with his [Guardian Aura] protecting them, they had fared quite well compared to the others.

As the skill slowly healed their wounds, their movements improved, and with their coordination, they pushed back the monster and inflicted a fatal wound. Max quickly canceled the skill once both of them were healed; he needed to save as much Mana as possible to heal the others. If he spent everything on the two, it would take a long time for his Mana to recover.

"Marlak, are you there?" Max asked.

"I am here." Marlak's voice came from near the wall.

"Let's go heal the others before it's too late," Max said. As he stood up, Marlak jumped and landed on his shoulder.

Currently, he had about 60% of the Mana left in his Core. First, he would check who was in critical condition and heal them. If no one was in a severe condition, he would heal Helene, the Healer, first. That way, she could heal the others, and he could save some Mana. Otherwise, he might have to suffer the Mana depletion backlash.

Max walked towards Isabelle, who was at a much lower level than the others, so he hoped she hadn't been chopped into two pieces. Furthermore, she had been the last person to be attacked. Although [Guardian Aura] had protected her from the monster's blade, the impact had sent her crashing into a pillar. Therefore, Max checked on her before approaching the Healer.

Max looked at her body a few feet away. Her form looked odd, with her legs folded in an unnatural way from the fall, but fortunately, there was no fin-blade-like cut across her midsection. His skill had protected her properly, but the impact from the blade must have damaged her organs. Since she had crashed into the pillar, that had also caused some internal damage. Her body was unmoving; not even her chest moved to show signs of life.

With a sigh, Max activated [Salvation] without even checking whether she was alive. A white light shrouded her whole body, and Max maintained the skill. With his improved skill, he could use 6 to 7 percent of his Mana to fully heal a person, but given the damage she had taken, he decided to keep the skill active and use twice as much Mana, just in case.

Max's Mana reserve quickly dropped to the point he had intended, and he stopped the skill to see the result. The white light slowly dispersed, leaving her body positioned properly rather than twisted unnaturally. Max stared intently at Isabelle's face, praying that she would open her eyes. Slowly, her eyes moved beneath her closed eyelids, and Max let out a deep breath that he had been holding. Meanwhile, Isabelle slowly opened her eyes and looked at Max.

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"You okay?" Max asked.

She slowly nodded without saying anything.

"Take some rest," Max said. He stood up and walked towards the Healer, who was in the same condition. At least the others had means to block the attacks, but Healers were very vulnerable to enemy assaults since they had no defensive skills. Max quickly activated the skill, spent the same amount of Mana, and then moved towards the others to heal them as well. When he finished with Paula, he had only 4% of his Mana left. With his body and mind exhausted, he lay down on the floor and closed his eyes. He needed rest, and sleep would provide it.

---

Slowly opening his eyes, Max found himself lying on a blanket on the floor, looking up at the interior of a tent. Where am I? That was the question Max wanted to ask, but he remained quiet. He no longer felt any pain in his head, yet his body felt unusually light. Slowly sitting up, Max looked around the tent; it was empty, with no one else inside. Instead of immediately exiting the tent, he sat there for a while to gather his thoughts. His last memory before falling asleep was healing Paula. He did not know whether the party had successfully killed the monster, but since he was alive and resting inside a tent, it seemed they had slain it.

"Marlak, are you there?" Max called out to the frog.

“Yes, I am here. You should listen to a wise person’s advice next time. If you had, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this,” Marlak said.

"Well, you're the one to blame, since you brought me to this place," Max retorted, shifting the blame to the frog. If Marlak hadn't told him about the Hidden Dungeon, he wouldn't be in this situation.

"How long was I out?" Max asked.

"About three days," Marlak replied.

"Three days?" That meant the rescue team had not come looking for them, indicating that the Hidden Dungeon could not be opened from the outside.

"So, we're still in the second hall?" Max felt dejected by the situation. They were stuck here, and they would probably have to kill every single Boss to exit, a seemingly impossible task, especially since the second monster alone had been too powerful. By his estimate, a total of five more Bosses remained within this Hidden Dungeon.

"Yes," Marlak said.

"That's not good, man," Max muttered. "Do you sense any monsters nearby?"

"No, I don't sense anything. It seems the next door opens into an open area," Marlak said cheerfully.

"Are you sure? Check the surroundings to the fullest extent of your abilities. Even one small mistake could kill us if the hidden door opens into a hall where some formidable monster resides." Max insist Marlak. "Do you think a monster could hide its presence from you, or are you simply not capable enough to sense it?" Max asked. Since the monster in the second hall was so strong, the next monster would likely be even stronger, and there was a chance the frog wouldn't be able to detect it.

"That could be possible, but as far as my senses can tell, there is no hall or monster nearby," Marlak replied.

"Even if there is no hall and the door leads to an open area, we wouldn't want to go there, as that would be suicide," Max muttered to himself.

"Then what do you suggest, staying here and starving to death? Go out and fetch some food for me. I've been stealing food from others, and I'm hungry," Marlak said, having used his invisibility to steal rations from the others.

Having rested enough, Max exited the tent on all fours and poked his head outside. His eyes landed on a person sitting near a pillar, with her head leaning against it. It was Isabelle. Noticing the movement, Isabelle turned towards the tent and looked at Max, whose head was poking out.

"Max, you woke up?" Isabelle called out with great joy.

"Yes. Where is everyone?" Max asked as he came out of the tent and stood up.

"Max!" Paula called out as she quickly ran towards him. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel better, Senior Paula. How are you?" Max asked. Although he had healed them, he didn't know whether they were completely fine.

"I am okay, and so is everyone else, so don't worry," she said, while the others also emerged from the different tents arranged in a line after hearing the commotion.

"Max..."

"Max..."

"Are you okay?"

"Do you feel any discomfort?"

Everyone gathered around Max, asking about his well-being with overwhelming care and concern. Max quickly assured everyone that he was fine after getting proper rest.

They then brought him food, as the party surprisingly carried a ton of rations, enough to last for months. Carrying such supplies turned out to be a mandatory requirement when entering a high-level Dungeon. However, despite having plenty of food and supplies, they still needed to find a way to exit the Hidden Dungeon. Neither Max nor the others believed they were capable of killing the remaining monsters, yet they had no idea how to leave the Hidden Dungeon without defeating all of them.

They were all still in shock at the monster's strength. They had never expected it to be this powerful, and they now considered this Hidden Dungeon an anomaly. They had somehow escaped death, but now, how were they going to escape with their lives after having been miraculously saved?

"What should we do now, Max?" Paula asked. Though she was the party's leader, she didn't have the means to escape and safeguard her party. Since Max had already warned them not to enter the second hall and was the reason they were all alive, she had to ask for his opinion. Max had just finished eating a large portion of the food and sat silently, thinking the same thing: How are they going to escape this anomalous Hidden Dungeon?

"Did the monster drop another fragment of that Sevenfold Tide Artifact?" Max asked.

"Yes, it did drop one." Paula took out the drop and handed it over to Max. Max inspected it, and it was indeed another fragment. This strengthened his belief that five more Boss Monsters remained. But how strong would those monsters be, and would their strength increase with each Boss encounter? If so, they were doomed.

"Let's search for a hidden trigger or something to open the doorway first," Max said.

"We already searched, Max. We couldn't find anything, and we even used force to break the door, but we couldn't leave a scratch on it," Elaine, the Assassin, said.

Max had expected this. Since three days had passed, the party would already have searched for a way to exit, but unfortunately, the Dungeon wasn't designed that way.

"Then we have no choice but to move forward and see what awaits us!" Max said.