78. Time Limit (II)

In a hurry, Dairen ran inside the walls. His mind focused on one task, looking for Red. He knew that he didn’t have much time, especially the ice cage that he had created only lasted as long as his magic lasted in his very body. He can feel the magic seeping out.

“Where is Red?!” Dairen shouted in a hurry, seeing the Red Nations Company magician firing off magic at their opponent.

Some of the magicians glanced over, but couldn’t do much but to defend their position. Only a few rushed over, wondering why Dairen had come to them with such a demand.

Red, who was fumbling with a spell, turned when she heard Dairen calling for her name. She waved her hand a few times, releasing the magic that she was working on. It was a simple magic that she cast on her people, a magic amplifying spell that went off for a few minutes, giving them a desperately needed edge.

Right now, things weren’t looking great but were manageable. The resurrected people were helping to fight back, many rushing back to the walls to have some decent cover. Mike’s group was pushed back to the walls, but that didn’t mean that the Gem Beast was spilling through.

They made sure to tighten up the fight with the mages to keep as many in check.

“I’m here,” Red called out, rushing over. Her face paled when she saw Snow’s circumstances as Dairen placed Snow’s frozen body on the floor. Her hand reached over, touching the one-inch ice.

“What did you do?” Red asked, baffled. This was something she never thought she would see in her lifetime: using ice magic to freeze someone’s life.

“I froze her.” Dairen snapped. He had a hard time controlling his emotions, his eyes glowing a tinge of red with anger and disgust at the monster that did Snow harm. He was struggling to keep the growing pain in his heart, mostly because he felt so powerless.

All he could do was freeze her and temporarily stall for time. He was at least glad the time had halted. Still, the magic wouldn’t last forever, meaning it was bound to end.

“I can see that.” Red, gilded her finger across the ice, trying to feel if Snow was utterly dead.

“Freezing someone would kill them, what did you feed her? She must have taken something to stop this from happening?” She glanced up, waiting for his answer.

Dairen felt uncomfortable under Red’s eyes, he shifted a few times, before he spoke, “I used the Ice pill and mixed it with a Yggdrasil leaf to temporarily halt the wound.”

Red was amazed at Dairen’s quick thinking. For two potent medicinal herbs to be used in such a way was disastrous, but he stopped the herbs’ effect from spreading it too far by freezing the problem, making this a lot more challenging to handle.

“She now has three major complications,” Red hissed, realizing the work that was needed to put into this would be considered a miracle. “Ice pill and Yggdrasil leaves have a terrible knack of crisscrossing into a poison, but you froze this before it would spread, so it’s only at the first stage. Her blood vessels shouldn’t be able to carry this too fast and spread.

Red took a closer look, tapping her finger on the ice. “The Ice pill keeps her from dying from ice, Yggdrasil leaves help clot the blood, and the ice slows everything down.” She sighed, “A high-level Red Potion isn’t going to solve this either. She’s too wounded and will be overdosed with different medicinal herbs she had now. I wouldn’t be surprised if she dies.”

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“Then what are we supposed to do?” Dairen was getting upset with her answer.

“I honestly don’t know.” Red was not happy with not being able to find an answer. Without realizing it, she kept putting her hand up next to Snow as her energy siphoned into Snow. Her eyes lit up, looking over towards Dairen with a possible idea.

Dairen wasn’t sure if he liked the glimmer in her eyes, mostly because it meant that Red had an outrageous idea that meant more harm than safety. He had seen what she had done before that did put them at risk many times.

He was a bit skeptical about asking. It took a moment for him to let the words stumble out of his mouth. “What do you have in mind.”

Red, finger twirled with small circular magic that reminded him of a little orb spirit. She raised her hand, reaching over towards the open wound. The orb was instantly sucked into Snow’s body, slowly but surely closing the wound.

“Snow’s the strongest healer in this dungeon,” Red spoke, assuring Dairen that there wasn’t anyone else that could take her place so quickly. “Any heavy wounds is not possible with the healers that we have. Looking at how things are progressing, the magic that she has in her body is self-healing by herself. It’s going to take a lot of magic to make it happen.”

“I can supplement her.” Dairen quickly stated, he didn’t mind giving what he had because she had saved his life. He was just about to start pouring his energy into Snow, but Red stopped him.

“No.” Red shook her head. “Your magic isn’t enough. Plus, if I understand what is going on, if you use all your magic, she will die. You won’t even touch the surface of even a third to help her heal.”

Dairen grunted. “Then, what else?”

Red slapped her leg, “the mana pool on the first floor.”

“Are you nuts?!” Dairen snapped back, realizing what she wanted to do. “That pool will take over her body!”

“Possibly, but I don’t think so.” Red shook her head; she had something in mind as she shuffled into her storage item that looked like a small red plant that had only two small leaves that were intricately locked in infinity.

“Wasn’t that something you found in that tree you broke?” Dairen was unsure what she had in mind with the strange item in her hand.

Red brought it up to their face; an excited smile escaped her lips. “This is a special plant. You won’t find many of these in the outside world. Honestly, I am surprised I found it here in the dungeon.” She chuckled pleasantly.

Dairen reached over to take the plant out of her hand.

“This is a Dreamscape plant. It’s able for you to dive into Snow’s mind for a moment, allowing you to connect.” Red quickly explained, “it’s something you will need to use because you are naturally connected to her right now. If my theory is correct, you should be able to bring her back without her being mana overdosed.”

A feeling of relief escaped Dairen’s lip. To have a solution that could save Snow made him excited.

“Though there is a catch.”

Dairen didn’t care. He was going to go all-in even if he didn’t like the outcome. “What is it?”

“You can get lost fighting the mana stream and trying to find her in her mind, meaning you might not come back if you are not careful.”

“I’ll take the chances,” Dairen gripped the plant in his hand, stashing it away into his dimensional storage. He got up, picking Snow with him.

“I’ll need to stay here,” Red spoke, knowing full well that she couldn’t leave the front line. Her magic was keeping most of the monsters at bay and taking out a large portion of them. “I wish you luck, Dairen.”

Red got up, taking a good look at Dairen one last time before she hurriedly left to help out the rest.

A message popped on Dairen’s screen, updating his information.

Main Storyline Mission

Protect Snow Drezellion and help her solve the mystery of the dungeon.

Snow is dying, take her to the mana pool on the first floor. Dive into her mind and pull her out of her to bring her back. The chance of death is high but worse than death is being lost in the memory for eternity. Keep her safe from enemies until the dungeon falls.

Quest Level: B- (The danger level of the dungeon increases every day.)

If Snow dies, the mission is terminated. The loss of ten levels and all fame.

Reward: 3000 gold coins and an increase in fame.

Completion: 98/100

Dairen noticed the amount of information had changed. The quest level jumped to B minus, telling him that this wasn’t going to be an easy task. He had never seen such a high-level quest before. Not only that, the completion rate had jumped to 98, telling him this was one of the last events that needed to be solved.

He looked down in his arms, seeing the pale Snow, sleeping twisted his heart. It has been a long time since he valued someone so dearly, excluding his sick sister. He and his sister were the last of his family line, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel like he had a family in this world. Mike, the guild members, and Snow had become his second family, but Snow brought a different feeling that he had forgotten.

Most of the girls that he had interacted with weren’t of his type, and many he didn’t give them much of his time but short answers. The moment he met Snow, things began to change. At first, he thought it was just an interest in the woman who chased him to wipe out his memories, but the many times she would save him made him feel embarrassed. He didn’t like that feeling, and he wanted to be the one to protect her.

With his resolution resolved, Dairen quickly scouted out for a car.

“Dairen!” Mr. Everrett called out. He threw him a key, telling him to follow. “Let’s go.” It didn’t take too long to borrow a jeep that he had asked from Audrey’s guild member. They knew that he needed time, so they didn’t ask many questions, allowing him to put her in the back as he drove off speed in a hurry.