"What about me?" Lucy asked.

  Luke gave her a long look and watched her squirm, then smiled. "There's nothing wrong with you. Or you," he said, looking at Mia.

  That was a bit of a lie, however. There was something about Mia's brain that gave Luke pause. But it wasn't an illness or injury in the traditional sense. He couldn't quite make heads or tails of it, so he thought it best not to scare her when it might just be something related to her class.

  "Okay," Josh said. "Good thing we got you with us, Luke. Please take a look so we can get going again."

  “There will be pain involved,” Luke warned. “Maybe a lot.”

  Ken gave a thumbs up. “I can take it.”

  “Rather not go blind,” Josh grumbled.

  Fixing Ken's aorta was more complex than Luke first thought. Applying healing mana to the areas didn't do a thing. He thought it was because it wasn't an injury or illness per se, but rather a degeneration of the tissue. Instead, he pulled on Ken's main mana channel going right alongside the aorta, and drew mana from it, using that to wrap a Thread of Mana around the physical aorta, giving it support before pulling on the thread, fastening it back into the main mana channel to hold it in place. Ken gave a small grunt of discomfort but showed no pain.

  "All done," Luke said. "But you should get that checked out at the hospital, too."

  "I will. So, is that permanent?" Ken asked.

  "Is what permanent?"

  "My maximum mana just dropped 15 points."

  "Oh," Luke said. "It's semi-permanent, I think. At least until I remove what I just did. Come find me when a proper doctor has cleared you. They'll want to perform an MRI, then I'm guessing surgery. After that, I can remove the support I just added."

  Ken nodded. "Thanks. I'll have it checked out as soon as we’re done here. My health insurance is pretty great."

  Then it was Josh's turn. Luke walked up to him and held out his hand, touching it to the Juggernaut's shoulder. A Thread of Mana snaked its way into him, through his chest, following the mana channels up his neck and then into his skull and beyond.

  This time, it should be an easy fix, because something had pulled on the optical nerve, fraying it. Healing mana would hopefully be enough. Attempting to heal Josh by just releasing healing mana ate a good chunk of Luke’s mana, but it didn’t do a thing. That meant trying the other way.

  “This will hurt,” Luke said, giving Josh a level look.

  Josh gritted his teeth, steeling himself. “Do it.”

  The nerve strands were impossibly small. Even with Weaver’s Eye, he couldn’t see much, and trying to touch the nerve bundle, the threads felt clumsy, like working with thick gloves on. All Luke could do was take the nerve endings, all of them, and bring them together, intending to strengthen the hold with the same technique he’d used on Ken.

  Josh put a hand to his face, covering his eye, and screamed a high-pitched whine that cut through Luke's concentration, and he wavered, dropping the threads. That allowed the nerve cluster to fall back. Josh removed his hand, blinking tears out of his eyes, and grabbed the front of Luke's shirt, pulling him in close.

  "I can't see! What did you do?"

  "Hold still and let me fix it," Luke said, grabbing Josh's hand with both of his. Threads of Mana surged back into Josh's skull so Luke could continue where he'd left off. The optic nerves were even worse off now. Something must have torn something when Josh pulled back. Not good.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  He opened his eyes and gave Josh another glance before closing them again to focus. "You'll have to hold still now."

  "I am holding still," Josh growled.

  Knowing more pain was coming, Luke flooded the area around the frayed nerve with healing mana while he grabbed the cluster again, holding them in a firm grip as he repaired the damage as best he could, then secured the nerve endings together. With that, he added more healing mana. Crude, but it seemed to work. That touch was enough for Josh to pass out, and he pulled Luke down to the ground with him.

  "Is he dead?" Gordon asked.

  Luke opened his eyes and pulled free. "He isn't dead, he just fell unconscious."

  "Is he going to be OK?" Ken asked.

  Mia gave him a dark look. "Of course he’ll be fine. He'll wake up soon."

  "Right." Luke nodded. "He's fine."

  Lucy shook Josh's shoulders. "Hey, big man, rise and shine."

  Josh's eyes fluttered open, and his gaze shot to Luke.

  "You can see, right?" Luke asked.

  "I can see just fine, just as well as before. You almost blinded me." He got up, turned, and walked away, toward the center of whatever city this was. "Let's just go!"

  "No good deed, huh?" Gordon said to Luke as they followed, but Luke was too caught up with his own thoughts to pay the Bard any mind.

  Nerves were beyond his abilities, at this point at least. This minor procedure showed that. Josh was right to be pissed off. He might very well have ended up blinded in one eye from Luke's attempt, and there was no telling how long he would have kept his sight if Luke hadn't meddled. Maybe it would have been fine for the rest of his life, but Luke didn't think so. He'd probably been one blow to the head away from losing sight in that eye. Now, he'd be fine, but only because Luke spent far too much mana making sure of that.

  "More of them," Mia said, then shouted to Josh, who was quite a bit ahead now. "Step aside, Josh! We can deal with them at range!"

  But rather than stop, Josh sped up, equipping his mace and shield.

  Lucy sighed. "Guess I better go too."

  She ran off, speeding toward this new set of Hollows.

  "Make haste~," Gordon sang, and they sped up thanks to a buff.

  Even with it, they got to the scene far behind Josh, who swung his mace in arcs, tearing through the Hollows like they were nothing. With Lucy soon at his side, the group of monsters didn't stand much of a chance.

  "Done blowing off steam and being an idiot?" Lucy asked Josh as the rest of the group approached.

  Josh just gave her a dark look before straightening, unequipping his mace and shield. Luke looted the cores and a smattering of credits before taking the corpses themselves into his inventory. Each of them took up a slot, meaning his space was running out. It mattered little, since loot was otherwise sparse.

  "There's something over there," Ken said.

  Luke stood and looked over to the Mage, then followed his gaze into the distance. All he saw was a flash of movement and something littering the ground.

  "We should have a look," Mia said, and the group moved as one, heading toward what turned out to be a gruesome sight.

  On the corner of a large, crumpled building that looked like it might once have been a bank, corpses littered the ground. Not Hollow corpses. Most of them were torn apart, blood covering their clothes, hair, and the ground. In that moment of horror, they all reacted in their own ways. Josh and Lucy rushed forward and past the dead, looking into the distance, searching for threats. Ken's face turned white, and his breathing stopped, while tears formed in Mia's eyes and she put a hand to her mouth, disbelieving. Gordon raised a hand to his lute, then let it fall without plucking a note.

  Luke strode forward among the dead. He'd seen corpses before, but this was different, violent. Focusing on keeping calm, he searched for clues as to what might've happened.

  Inspected Deceased Integrated. Sarah. Bowler. Level 4.

  Inspected Deceased Integrated. James. Wandslinger. Level 5.

  Inspected Deceased Integrated. Ahmed. Believer. Level 3.

  Luke counted twelve dead. Two parties, and not a single dead Hollow anywhere. It boggled the mind how so many people could have fallen without taking a single monster with them, when Luke's party had dealt with them without trouble. He saw two options. Either they'd been overrun by a massive number of Hollows and killed in an instant, washed away in a flood of monsters, or something new did this. Something dangerous.

  "Do you think the Queen did this?" Luke asked, not directing the question to anyone specific.

  "This one's alive!" Lucy shouted as she ran to a man who was somehow still alive. She got down to her knees as the person sat up, blood covering his face.

  Luke's eyes widened. "Lucy, get back!"

  It was too late. Long claws punched into her stomach, and the Hollow bit down on her neck. As more of the corpses stirred, Hollows in ambush, Luke sped toward Lucy, closing the distance just as one of the Thrashers’ katars punched up into the Hollow's skull, and then another through its chest, killing it.

  The Hollow fell away, and Lucy tried to stand but fell, her weapons clattering to the ground since she hadn't fastened the straps. Blood poured from her throat, and her white T-shirt turned red, slick with blood from the grievous wound in her stomach.

  "Take care of the Hollows!" Luke shouted. "I'll help Lucy!"