For Azariah

I use my connection with Florian to bathe a large area in flame. I use my connection with Kari to create multiple fire tornadoes that destroy everything in their path. I use my connection with Diana and Ceres to create walls of earth and vines to block off any paths of escape.

This is a pack of Bonnacons, I can't be too careful given the situation. I'd send a lightning bolt through each of their corpses to make sure that they're dead, but that would cost me way too much mana.

After a while, every last one of them is a piece of charcoal. My work is done here. I'd like to confirm all of their deaths, but that would take too long. I can't fly, and I don't have any other way to increase my speed, so the amount I'm actually able to do is limited. I have to get going as soon as possible if I want to get something else done today.

I really thought that my mana capacity would be my biggest weakness here. Turns out it's my stamina. My body is short and I'm not used to cardio. The targets I'm supposed to hit are also far away from each other and the terrain here is super difficult, so that's not helping any. Oh how I wish that Freware could just carry me like she normally does.

It takes way too long, but I finally manage to reach my next destination. Another encampment. There's a massive, three headed snake I'm supposed to assassinate here. The monsters around here are strong, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The snake isn't nearly as large as the one we ran into on our way here. Probably only the size of a house. Adad, I demand the power to shatter this thing into pieces! I charge up the mana. I keep charging it up, and release. The lightning strikes and it explodes into a mess of blood and gore.

I try to run away after this, but I'm far too slow. It doesn't matter though. I just burn every monster that gets close to me. Adad's spells are powerful, but mixing Kari and Florian together is also really devastating.

I don't stop to celebrate at all. I just keep moving even though I'm already exhausted. I have more targets I'm supposed to hit today, and I'm only allowed to stop when I'm done, or when I run out of mana. Azariah's having it much harder than me right now anyway.

As long as it gets my apprentice back faster, I'll keep pushing my body like this. I'm not used to any sort of physical exercise, but that doesn't matter. I need to keep moving as fast as possible so that I can get Azariah back sooner.

I have no doubts in my mind that she's still alive down there, and will keep surviving for a long while, but I still want her back. There's still so much more that I want to teach her. Not to mention she doesn't deserve being stuck in somewhere so dangerous in the first place. I will get her out of there, no matter how taxing it is on my body.

><><><><

Adventurers pull the first wagon of the injured in a while at the field hospice that had been set up. I go to help them out, but as I approach I smell the unmistakable scent of a dead body. As the adventurers pull the injured out of the cart, I realize that all of them have some sort of terrible injuries. A few are pronounced dead on the spot and thrown to the side. Cruel, yes, but saving the living takes priority over respect for the dead.

I rush over to the side of an adventurer who has three huge gash marks across his stomach and chest. He's barely breathing and choking on his own blood. Honestly, it's a Diana damned miracle that this guy's still alive. I'm also surprised he didn't get thrown into the pile of the dead.

Diana, do you see the strength of this brave warrior? To take on such an injury and yet still cling to life? Diana, allow me to bring such a warrior back to fighting strength. Let me mend these wounds and remove the blood from his lungs! Allow these to become battle scars of a true hardened warrior!

I pump the mana into his wounds, and stop the bleeding. It takes a lot of mana out of me, but I manage. Next, I hold him over and start pushing on his stomach to get him to vomit the blood out. After a while he starts breathing normally again.

He gets on his hands and knees to start thanking me, but I'm too busy working on the next patient to pay him any mind. The next patient had a hand missing and was poisoned. I stopped the bleeding, and handed him over to someone who knew poison. Then I moved to the next.

Eventually, enough healers for this wagon come in. Most are elsewhere, but the fact that now we have enough to take care of the injured is a good sign. I keep on healing the ones with fatal injuries and then moving onto the next. This is to save as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

I want to hurry up and save the lives of everyone who needed saving, and then get back to helping injured adventurers back up on their feet. As this quest has moved on I've had more and more time between saving the dead to do that. That's also a good sign. If this keeps going like this, we should be able to look for Azariah soon.

I use my connection to Diana to reattach a hand that had very nearly fallen off. Had it come clean off, I wouldn't have had the skill to reattach it, let alone regrow it. A very lucky woman this one was. I don't pay her any more attention to that as I hand her over to the next healer.

That should be all the fatally wounded. Now to get to the backlog of the injured. That huge Diana damned backlog. I'm not against helping the wounded but I'd so much rather be smashing something right about now. Or at least carrying Cesre around as she blasts everything that gets near us.

Still though, this is important work and I need to understand that.

><><><><

Freware lays one of her patients onto a white blanket on the ground before quickly moving onto the next one. Guess it's my turn now. I run up to her, making sure that Shirley stays on my shoulder. Looking over at her, the only injury that she looks like she has is a really horrible cut across her wrist. Like seriously, I honestly think that Freware just stuck the hand back onto the socket, it's so bad.

"Ma'am, is that wrist the only injury you have?" I ask.

"No, my left leg… it's broken. She didn't even look at it."

"Freware's focusing on the deathly wounded right now, it's surprising that she even looked at your wrist. I'll reset the bone now."

"H- h- hey! Are you allowed to do that?"

"Yes." I say in a way that she'd never suspect that I've only been a healer for a few days.

I really should have someone else do this, but Freware told me how to reset a bone earlier this morning. Given how many injured there are, it would be best for me to get as many people back up on their feet as possible.

I kneel down to her level and feel her leg. Diana, let me know just what's going on with her leg. I close my eyes and send mana into her leg, trying to sense what's wrong. It's just a break, it didn't shatter so I don't need to use any healing magic for this.

I take her leg, and then I snap it right back into place. I'm actually much stronger than I look, so it's pretty easy. The woman winds up screaming though. Yeah, it would be a whole lot more surprising if she didn't show any sort of pain. Luckily, given where we are, a screaming woman isn't actually all that uncommon so nobody looks at me strange.

After her pain dies down, I have Shirley make a portal in the ground. I pull out some word work that I had made a few nights ago and attach them together like lego pieces around her leg. After a bit… voila! A makeshift cast! I pull out a particularly long and sturdy stick for her to use as a walking stick.

"Here, can you stand?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

I help the woman up, and she uses the hand that looks like it was off of her arm not too long ago.

"Ma'am? Is there really no issue with using that hand?"

"What? Oh, yeah. It doesn't hurt or anything."

Huh. Man, healing magic is really amazing, isn't it? The woman eventually leaves, having no problem walking with the new cast and crutch I had given to her.

I don't have any time to think about that. I just head over to the next patient that the more experienced healers had just fixed up. It's up to me to finish up their immediate treatment and make sure they're able to actually do anything, so I need to hurry up. I can't exactly have any lives at this point, but keeping our manpower up is also super important.

Just keep healing. That's what me and Shirley need to keep doing. If we can just keep getting adventurers back on their feet, this whole stupid fight will be over much sooner. As soon as this is done, we can finally start looking for Azariah again. Right now though, I need to keep healing as many people as I can, as well as I can.

><><><><

More fire. I need more fire.

Fire on their wooden walls. Fire on their wooden buildings. Fire on their flammable bodies. Everything has to burn.

This encampment of goblin-like creatures, red lion looking things, and some sort of black goo that takes over corpses… all monsters here… every last trace of them needs to burn. I can hear the screams of the monsters, but it doesn't matter. As long as it gets Azariah back faster, I'll burn as many monsters as need be. I drive my sword through the neck of one of the lion looking creatures, then the next, and then the next.

I do my best to ignore the smell of burning dead bodies. They need to burn unless I want the goo to have them stand up again.

I do my best to ignore the blood and gore I've gotten all over me. These monsters would do the same to humans, it's only fair.

I do my best to ignore the intense heat all around me that I've created. Just think of Azariah. Just think of her, and focus.

It's like a scene straight from a nightmare. Corpses everywhere, everything's on fire, and I'm the one who did it. Ignore it. If it's to get Azariah back, then it's not anything bad. Just keep picking off the survivors.

I cut a goblin in half as I see a hobgoblin cornering two adventurers. What? I thought that I was the only one in this area? Idiots. Why are you even here?! They're too exhausted to fight. If I don't do anything, they'll die. Damn it.

Frighin! I demand strength! Give it to me! I focus the mana into my legs. My strength in those limbs increases several fold. I push down on the ground as hard as I possibly can, and push.

I dash forward at a speed that I once thought was impossible. Fast enough to probably beat olympic level sprinters, even. I close the distance in the blink of an eye. I take one slice at the hobgoblin's neck. I feel my sword snap in half and I'm unable to stop my speed and run right into a wall, hurting myself.

I get up as fast as possible. I look at my sword and find that the entire blade came out of the hilt. Cheap shit. I look over at the hobgoblin, the blade of my sword is stuck in its neck, and it's still alive. If my sword was just a little bit stronger that definitely would have taken its head off.

"What are you doing here?! Run away!" I yell, since the adventurers I had tried to save were still here for some reason.

That seemed to have snapped them out of it though, and they start running away. I do my best to stand up and see the hobgoblin walking towards me. My blade is still in its neck and it's losing a lot of blood, but it's still moving and I don't have a weapon.

It roars at me, and I prepare to fight. I'll try and see if I can't grab my blade out from its neck and use that. Normally grabbing the sharp part of a sword is a pretty bad idea, but it's all I have right now. It charges me, and- a wind blade comes from the sky and decapitates the hobgoblin fully this time.

"Well, it was your sword that broke this time, so I guess that can be considered an improvement."

I feel the wind blowing around me. I look up and see that Inell's flying above me again.

"What are you doing here?! I thought you were busy!" I yell at him.

"Something's come up with the dragons. So I have an excuse to start looking for Azariah now. I figured you'd want to know."

I pause. I try to repeat what he just said in my mind to make sure that I heard him right.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Word of Vincent's involvement has been sent to the capital already. They're bringing in some very powerful court mages that should deal with the situation on the surface on their own. We should be able to start looking under the surface without any issue right about now."

"Inell, but… is that seriously going to be OK?"

"Yeah, the situation isn't as dire as it used to be. Looking at you use such desperate tactics right in the heart of the fighting does make that a bit hard to believe, though… Healers are keeping up with the new casualties now, and we're making significant gains, even without our heavy hitters. We should start looking for Azariah now."

I try my best to process what Inell's just told me. Yeah, why am I even hesitating in the first place? The most important thing is finding Azariah. Everything else is secondary. Still though, I need to be prepared for that.

"I'm going to need a new sword first, Inell."

"I can borrow a good one from the adventurer's guild. You'll have to give it back after you're done with it, and you'll have to give up a good portion of your money if you lose it, but it shouldn't be breaking on you like that scrap metal…"

Normally this isn't a deal I would take. I would buy a sword with my own money, and not take the risk of such a massive expense. This is different though. My own life is one thing, but if my sword breaks again while I'm protecting Azariah…

"Alright. Get me a new sword. Let's go."

><><><><

Our entire party is now slowly approaching a big cliff, with an even bigger cave entrance inside of it. This isn't the cave entrance we lost Azariah in, but Inell led us here anyway. I walk with my scythe on my back and Shirley on our shoulder. Everyone else walks with their normal weapons, except for Aubrey. He has some fancy looking sword sheath. I know full well that isn't his normal sword, that has a more basic sheath.

"I'll cut to the chase. The situation right now is in a good enough position that we can start looking for Azariah." Inell starts, making us all really happy. "We'll be starting here."

"Um, Inell… this is nowhere near where we lost Azariah." I say. Just looking over at Aubrey I can tell he had the exact same thought as me.

"Correct. However, I've been going back there, and looking for Azariah myself whenever I've gotten the chance."

Inell shocks all of us when he says this. When did he have the time to look for Azariah? Why hadn't I noticed? Surely, out of all of us, I should have noticed that…

"Yes. I've been heading down there for a while now, using my winds to not run into walls down there, and to sense for any movement that could be Azariah. I can guarantee you all now, that she's nowhere near where we first lost her."

Everyone's silent.

"I had known that if we started a thorough search with just the six of us, it could easily take us years to find Azariah. Because of that, I decided to take the liberties of using some of my own connections to help search."

Suddenly, a tiny blue dragon looking creature that couldn't be all that much bigger than Shirley comes flying out of the huge cave and lands on Inell's shoulder.

"This is Nedys, he's a scout. The dragons of the Antisor Mountains have begun looking through these caves for dragon-like creatures under mind control curses, and for Vincent's lackies. We'll be assisting in this operation while looking for Azariah."

"Wait. Vincent's subordinates are hiding down there?" Aubrey asks, the color draining from his face.

"The dragons in charge believe that's the case. These caves are huge though, and in the grand scheme of things, VIncent doesn't have that huge of a following. The chances that Azariah's run into anybody that worked for him are slim to none."

Aubrey appears to calm down a bit after Inell says this.

"That being said, the longer we spend looking for Azariah, the greater the chance that the worst has happened. We'll need to move quickly."

"Of course." Aubrey says, as he begins to march into the cave.

"For the love of Kari, Aubrey, just wait for a few more seconds."

"What? What could possibly be more important right now than searching for Azariah?"

"I just wanted to say one thing real quick. If by chance we do happen to run into any of Vincent's followers or any dragon like creatures with mind control curses on them, allow me and the rest of the dragons to deal with them. The rest of you focus on looking for Azariah and staying out of trouble, even when I'm not around."

"Alright, I understand. Can we hurry up now?"

"Yes, Aubrey, we can go now."

And just like that, after a whole week of not looking for Azariah, we finally began our search once more.

><><><><

The cave was incredibly dark. Cesre cast some sort of spell that created glowing lights all around us so that we all could see. She said that she made it with her connection to Florian, it seems very convenient.

I know full well that Azariah can't do something like this, though. Just how did she get around this place in complete darkness?

"Um… Cesre? Is there any way that Azariah could have made light like this to see?"

"Hm? Well the only spell she knew how to do which could also create light was a lightning bolt from Adad, which isn't very helpful at all in this situation. She did see me create fire though and I did mention that it was made with a connection with Florian. I think that if she really needed to see, she could forge a connection with Florian. That's my assessment, at least."

Oh, well that's good at least. Being able to see what's around you is very important.

"Alright, according to Nedys, this next area gets a bit cramped for a bit. Now come on." Inell says.

The cramped area that Inell was referring to was a very small tunnel that extended out for a few meters. Inell, Cesre, and I shouldn't have any sort of trouble crawling through it. Aubrey and Freware though, they really have to squeeze through.

Inell and Cesre go ahead of us. I follow behind them.

When I finally get to the other side I see a huge underground cliff face. It's so dark and Cesre's spell only extends so far so I can't actually see the bottom. There's a couple meters between the cave wall and the cliff, and the only thing I can really see it how the cliff extends in both directions.

It takes a while, but Aubrey and Freware are finally able to squeeze through the tiny hole. Both of them had about the same reaction that I and Cesre had. A mix of amazement and fear.

"Welcome to the cave system under and around the Antisor Mountains. Like I've said before, this place is very dangerous, so be ready for anything that comes up. Now come on, we have to meet up with the dragons."

Nobody really bothers saying anything. Cesre looks like she's focusing on her surroundings even more, Aubrey grabs his weapon tighter, and Freware does both. As for me…

"Shirley, come here. Come here, Shirley."

Shirley, who had jumped down to fit through that hole, comes back up to my shoulder. I try to pay attention to all my surroundings as well. According to Inell, Azariah should have been able to survive down here. If that's the case, then as long as I'm careful, I should be alright for the most part.

><><><><

The area that Inell had led us to was the part of the caves that the dragons had been using as a base of operations for this. It was a pretty huge area that had stalagmites everywhere. Walking through that place was honestly like a maze, but Inell was able to guide us through it. Even if he couldn't, Freware and I both have Spatial Awareness, so it shouldn't have been any big deal.

When we finally got there, it was like a giant bird nest except made with huge pieces of stone instead of twigs. There were huge pillars of fire that lit everything up. What really took my attention though was all the dragons that there were.

All sorts of shapes, colors, and designs. Some were just worms, like that one from the first day of traveling, others have two legs and wings, some have four legs and now wings, and just a few have four legs and wings. They all range in size from Nedys to the size of a two story house. There's probably well over a hundred dragons here.

Shirley's even shaking. I don't look over at Aubrey or the others, but I'm sure that everyone except for Inell feels pretty much the same way.

As I'm just staring at all the dragons, one the size of a small house lands on a particularly large stalagmite next to us. It's one of the few with four legs as well as wings. Everybody goes on guard the second that this thing pops up, even me. Inell doesn't so much as flinch, though.

The dragon starts speaking, but not in any language that I can understand. Inell responds, also in a language I don't understand.

"I see. Would it be better than if I spoke in Dulspeki?"

The dragon. It actually spoke. Inell is still trying to respond in that language I don't understand, though.

"So… this human girl that you're looking for, what does she look like?"

"She's about average height for a woman, pitch black hair, purple eyes, pale skin, and wears all black. She primarily uses connections with the Archon of Wind and Lightning."

It looks like Inell gave up on keeping the conversation in whatever language that was. Still, they were talking about Azariah?

"Um… that may be a bit of an issue…"

Everyone tenses up as soon as the dragon says that.

"What do you mean?"

"Not too long ago, there was a juvenile wyvern that had started attacking us. It turned out that it was under a mind control curse, but we gave it a real thrashing before we figured that out. It wound up flying away with its injuries and we chased after it. We lost it for a while, and when we caught back up, a human girl matching all those descriptions had already killed the poor thing. I suppose that it attacked her."

What? Azariah got in a fight with a dragon? And she won? Azariah's a dragon slayer now? That's amazing! If she can pull that off, then she should definitely be able to survive down here. When I look over at Inell though, he just looks terrified.

"Gyrde, listen to me. I need you to tell me this. What is that girl's condition right now?"