Talio, the Blonde and the Bald—after scurrying away from the twins—paused in a narrow pathway, having confirmed they were not being chased.
Talio sighed.
"Care to explain what's going on?"
The Blonde tore off the Bald's clothing and wrapped it tightly around his wounded shoulder.
"To be honest, Talio, we have no clue what happened. While we were cooking, one of the twins suddenly slashed at him, but he managed to avoid a fatal wound."
They exchanged a look—Talio sat back against the wall. A sudden headache pulsed at his temples as he answered the Blonde.
"Something similar happened to me... we were talking and she suddenly attacked."
The Blonde's eyes narrowed and a slight smirk tugged at his lips, barely placing any effort to hide it.
Talio moved closer to the Bald, who was currently resting and drawing Vis Mundana into himself to heal. He took a long look at the injury.
It was deep—life-threatening to anyone below the rank of Progressor. After a week of recovery someone of the Bald's level would likely be fine.
Ouch it must hurt though
But they did not have a week to spare; that was the problem. Their fighting power had just been dramatically reduced.
"It seems we don't have much of a choice but to keep moving until we find other people."
"Who's to say we won't get attacked again."
"You got a better idea?"
Talio gritted his teeth and shook his head.
Damn mc got humbled
For the next hour they edged down the narrow path without encountering monsters.
'Strange—how come we haven't been attacked by anything, especially with the smell of blood reeking so heavily from him?'
About forty-five minutes earlier the Blonde had told the Bald to remove his bandage, which had perplexed Talio; he said nothing—he was no medic.
Still, the Blonde's decision put Talio on edge. That vigilance would soon prove useful: the Bald suddenly swung a devastating punch, which Talio barely avoided.
'What the hell is happening, for god's sake.'
The Bald was already winding for another strike. He launched himself at Talio, who couldn't react fast enough and was left exposed.
Chains manifesting around the Bald's neck was the last thing Talio expected—until the Blonde put his foot on the Bald's back and pulled with all his strength.
The Bald began to flail. Talio lunged to stab, but then the Bald—already well over two metres—started swelling in size. Talio and the Blonde staggered back.
"Whatever happens, don't get any external bleeding wounds," the Blonde shouted.
'This is problematic now, isn't it? The bleeding probably has something to do with their condition.'
If this had been the Bald from before, Talio would have felt confident he could beat him one-on-one. Now...
'Hell no.'
He was then sent flying by a single punch into a wall which definitely broke a few bones. The situation was bad to put it bluntly, they were getting destroyed.
The Blonde was finally demonstrating his full capability—manifesting chains with high levels of versatility—but even that didn't shift the odds much.
Talio pushed himself up, dizzy. One saving grace was that the Blonde had told the Bald to ditch his greatsword.
While dodging the Bald's repeated strikes, Talio assessed the fight.
'First of all, he's still agile and nimble even in that giant form.'
The Bald tried to smash him with his fists, but the Blonde used chains to yank Talio out of range.
'And because of his experience, he knows how to fight in a cramped, disadvantageous environment like this cave.'
For the third time the Blonde tried to trip the Bald with a chain-wire across the path; the Bald simply leapt over it.
'Finally—there seems to be a limit to how many chains the Blonde can summon at once.'
A plan formed in Talio's head. He called out:
"Do it again!"
The Blonde glanced at him, then nodded. Talio prayed the plan would work. He dashed behind the Bald while concentrating Vis Mundana into his legs; the Bald glanced back, suspicious—but his attention snapped to the Blonde when a chained fist slammed into his gut.
Enraged, the Bald tried to retaliate, lunging for the Blonde—who set another trip wire. The Bald jumped, but this time Talio vaulted onto his shoulder and plunged a dagger into his neck, causing the Bald to miss the jump and collapse onto his back. Talio rolled clear.
'Should I interrogate him? No—he's too much of a threat.'
Talio closed the distance and drove his blade into the Bald's head, ending it quickly.
Talio and the Blonde lay back and breathed out in unison.
"You sure are ruthless. You killed him with no hesitation."
"Our lives were on the line. Of course I did."
The Blonde grinned—at least that's what Talio assumed would be behind that X covering his face.
"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep in your bed at night."
Talio's expression darkened.
"I'm not even sure I'll be alive long enough to sleep in a bed."
Woah Talio made a joke?
'He has a point though. I didn't even try to see if there was a way to help him. It felt like the right thing to do, even though he'd been kind to me.'
Conflicted, Talio forced himself to ask the questions he needed answered.
"How did you know the infection was blood-borne?"
The Blonde turned his head and made an odd little motion with his neck—Talio didn't know what to make of it.
"Well, I was suspicious from the moment I saw those adventurers."
Talio raised an eyebrow.
"How come?"
"They were covered in cuts and bruises and reeked of blood. That suggests they made no effort to bandage themselves—suspicious, since anyone with experience knows to keep wounds dressed. Also, remember how they fought with total disregard for their bodies?"
Talio thought back to the rapier-wielding attacker and his apparent indifference to pain. He nodded.
"Then I used the twins as a test—that's why I saved them. It probably took time for the disease to take hold; the twins had bandaged themselves quickly. So I assume the infection hit them right before we started preparing food."
'So was the story she told me real... or something else entirely?'
The Blonde continued.
"The twins confirmed my suspicions, but I still needed to know how drastic the power increase was. I didn't plan for the Bald to get injured, but since he was, I used him as a test. That's why I removed the bandages—to speed things up under the pretext that the body needs to heal naturally."
Talio interjected; something didn't add up. Suspicion clouded his mind.
"The Bald was a seasoned fighter. There's no way he would have let you remove his bandages without question and with such stupid reasoning."
"That was exactly what I wanted to find out next."
"What?"
"I needed to determine how much of their intelligence they retain or gain. The twins seemed to have become smarter whilst the Bald's intelligence seemed to have been dulled."
Talio looked down, thinking.
'That does make sense... even though he kept his fighting instinct, his judgment was dulled enough to fall for the Blonde's bait.'
"Based on the fight, I'd estimate their power increase at around fifty percent."
Talio's jaw dropped.
'Fifty percent? That's outrageous. People might get infected on purpose.'
"And just a hunch," the Blonde added, "I think the disease is spread by a monster—and the monster controls them based on the fact we were not attacked by any monsters on our way."
"A monster that intelligent? Isn't this dungeon way too high for our level?"
"...Talio, I think it's my turn to ask a question."
He didn't wait.
"Can you see the faces of other people?"
Oo la la plot twist. Find out next on—.