Records of Rebirth

Typhon shifted the rocks to hide the entrance of the cliff tunnel, and we stared at the empty lower level in shock. 

The underground area was littered with the broken debris, an obvious sign that something had attacked it, but there was no creature in sight, nor were there any trace of my nestlings, and alarm bells started ringing in my head.

Continuing down the passage would lead us below to the prison cells, but the damage seemed to be centered here and did not reach that area. So I decided to head up, instructing Typhon to watch my back, activating [Stealth] as we moved from the lower level, towards the main cave.

If we were under attack, I wanted to safeguard my nestlings first so I shook off the sinking feeling in my gut and continued to move, but we didn't encounter anything which made the situation even more strange. 

[What happened?] The dark fae buzzed before my eyes to ask, but I ignored her to look around. 

Following the signs of damage, we passed some of the carved walls that were now chipped and the ground that had numerous holes. But just as we passed the base of the slope and entered the upper level, we found the lifeless body of a monster.

At the sight of the creature, the dark fae flew back to hide behind my horns, shivering in fear.

The creature was pale yellow in colour and shaped like a scorpion, its ribbed back poised to strike. But its tail was missing from its body in a grisly wound from a vicious bite.

Its tail was half embedded in the wall, not far away from the body, and I could guess what had happened. 

It must have tried to sting something, but in the narrow space its singer had struck the wall instead, leading it to take some serious damage. Furthermore, it was not the only corpse in the confined space.

Seven of these creatures seemed to have been lured down here in what looked like an ambush, since these scorpion creatures were slightly larger than my nestlings in their coiled form. And I had to wonder if they were brought here deliberately to take advantage of the size difference.

Typhon seemed to be thinking the same thing as we passed by the corpses. To us the scorpion creatures were small, but to my nestling I couldn't imagine how terrifying they had seemed to resort to such tactics.

Surprisingly, aside from that area there was no more damage to the outside walls, and coming up from below, we were pleased to see the main cave was in pristine condition and filled with the hisses of my nestlings.

However, their victory was not without cost.

The cave was in complete disarray, with injured frantic snakes crying out for help. And the other noticeable thing was the crater in the ground and the entrance to the cave that seemed to have been blown open by a creature, allowing far more cloudy mist to enter inside.

There were even more corpses of scorpion creatures laying around, but my attention was fixed on the crater at the bottom of the entrance, where a large beast lay unconscious, probably dead.

It was a snow white ape creature with a red face, and its body was riddled with numerous bite marks. It seemed to have been killed very quickly because none of the wounds had stayed long enough for their poison to fester.

The cave was now filled with noise so it took a while for the injured nestlings to notice us, but when they did, I began to notice some of my Captains among the crowd. 

There were clear signs of relief on the faces of my nestlings, but most of them bore nasty scrapes and bruises. Some had been stung by the scorpion creatures and others lay unconscious and paralysed.

Rather than start questioning them, I was more concerned with assessing the damage the breach had caused.

I instructed Typhon to secure the cave entrance first, to make sure there were no more monsters, or any other opportunistic predators that decided to take advantage of our mishap. 

He returned quickly to inform me there were no more monsters around and it should be safe...for now at least. And he had also managed to gather some rocks and move them around to seal the opening shut.

I did a quick count of all the monsters, and in total there were fifteen scorpion creatures and one ape.

Then I did a headcount of all my nestlings, first checking to see if any of them was severely injured or dead. Some of them had terrible wounds, but luckily I detected heat traces from all of them. 

It seemed some had already been restored and I noticed Europa navigating through all the injured as he used his [Heal] skill.

Lyra, on the other hand, was wise enough to wait on the side. I couldn't imagine the toll it would take to restore every injury around her at once, and I was glad she had not attempted to use [Cure] in her concern to help them all. 

What exactly happened in my absence?

It was clear they had been attacked, but why now out of the blue? 

I looked around to see three of my captains were present, but not Ophelia and Morgana.

Wait, did something happen to them?

Typhon couldn't stay silent any longer and gathered all the Captains to drill them about the attack. I saw Galahad and Artemis cower away from him, while Cygnus looked away with guilt. 

They revealed Ophelia was in one of the rooms with Morgana, but even then, Typhon wasn't satisfied and continued to berate them. 

He clearly wanted an explanation for all this, and I did too, but for now I was more focused on keeping everyone alive.

I instructed all my Captains to gather the injured from all areas of the cave, and the silly fae also assisted to bring some of the snakes towards me, forgetting about her own injuries. 

When all of them were gathered, they were arranged in a circle around Lyra, with those that had the severe injuries being the closest and those with fewer injuries the farthest.

It ended up with all the unconscious nestlings being placed closest to Lyra and I instructed the dark fae to join the gathered snakes.

I wasn't exactly sure how large the range of Lyra's [Cure] had become, or how much her proximity tied into its effectiveness, but this would serve as a good test.

But first, I had to relieve the worst of the wounds. 

"Potions aren't restricted, right?" I asked Sensei.

«You can still access the system store as normal.» He replied.

I immediately purchased five bottles of [Healing Potion], administering them to the injured nestlings that were still conscious, before instructing Europa to [Heal] those that were unconscious as well as other surface injuries, until he ran out of stamina and could no longer continue.

My aim was to reduce the burden on Lyra as much as possible, and as soon as we were finished, it was Lyra's turn. But before she started, I made sure everyone without a significant injury, including myself, had retreated to the far end of the cave. 

Soon, a golden light swept out in a circle to cover all the snakes around her and also much of the cave's ground, stopping just short of a few pillars. 

It wasn't wide enough to reach the end of the cave, but its range was already astonishing enough for such a tiny snake. We were truly witnessing her abilities in action for the first time and it was an amazing sight to witness. 

Unfortunately, the effect didn't last long. 

The golden light retreated back into her body and Lyra collapsed in the middle of the snakes.

I quickly rushed there to check on her, with a frantic Europa not far behind. Although his stamina was exhausted, he still used his [Heal] to try and replace what she had lost. But Lyra was only passed out from exhaustion so I stopped him before he also fell unconscious. 

With both snakes exhausted, I instructed that they be left alone to recover their depleted health. As for the snakes Lyra used [Cure] on, I checked them to see how well it had performed.

The snakes that were injured the least were now completely free of injuries. The dark fae being part of this group, happily buzzing around my head.

[I feel so good! Look! Look! My legs don't hurt anymore!] 

I took a look and just like she said, all of the scrapes on her legs were gone. 

Unlike when Europa used [Heal] there were no scars left behind and her skin seemed just like new. It was truly astonishing.

[I am a bit hungry, though.] The dark fae hummed.

Like her, the nestlings with smaller injuries were able to move around like they'd never been harmed, but for the ones with more severe injuries, although their wounds had closed, some were yet to awaken. 

But of those that did, some still reported feelings of discomfort, but at least their injuries were no longer life threatening. 

Seeing the differences between each case made me realise that proximity didn't matter.

Sure, she healed only those within the range of cure but they all seemed to have been evenly restored, according to the time Lyra's [Cure] had remained active. 

The reason why severe injuries that required more time to restore were still there, while the smaller wounds had completely disappeared leaving no marks seemed almost like time had been reversed.