When Cadmus came to, the first thing he noticed was the sharp pain on the back of his head. It felt as though someone had just swung a solid bat against it. It was making him frightfully dizzy, and he had the sudden urge to vomit.

The second thing he noticed were the muffled voices. There were… two people? One male and one female. The male sounded… angry, and the female was… pleading?

Slowly, the voices cleared up, and their flurry of words became clearer.

“—My comrades, my friends—she killed all of them! Why the hell should I spare you!? Why the hell do you get to live!?” The male yelled, sounding unhinged.

“Please… we didn’t do anything… please let us go…” The female wept desperately. Her voice was familiar…

Cadmus slowly cracked an eye open, and suppressed a groan of pain. His vision was awfully blurry, and he could only make out vague shapes. There was a woman kneeling with her back to him, the most identifying part of her body being her brilliant red hair. So… the female was Candice.

And then there was the male. Cadmus could make out black hair and the hazy image of a magic circle, but nothing more. In any case, it was obvious that man was the enemy.

Cadmus tried to begin drawing a magic circle while the enemy was focused on Candice, but no matter what he did, he could not lift his arm. In fact, none of his limbs were responding to his orders, and the damn blurriness just wasn’t clearing up!

“I don’t care what Mr. Praesse has to say! You brats all deserve to die!” The man threatening them seemed to slip more and more into madness as he spoke.

Candice squealed uselessly in fright.

Something… there had to be something that he could do! Something that didn’t require him to use his limbs! Something that would save them from death by a lunatic!

And then, with no warning, a [windball] shot out from his heart, erased the man’s magic circle by going through it, and struck the man right in the head, sending him crashing to the ground.

At first, Cadmus thought that he had awakened the same ability as Ardea Regis somehow. Or perhaps even a better ability, seeing as how he didn’t even need to envision the magic circle inside his head.

But then Alice yelled, “Candice! Please restrain him!” And Cadmus realized that it had probably been Alice who had fired that spell. It had taken some time to draw it probably because she had been adding the [enhancement] modifier to strengthen her tiny magic circle. The modifier was useless in battle due to how long it took to draw, but with Candice buying her time, Alice had been able to make it in time.

Candice sat still for a moment, before she seemed to realize that this was no time for hesitation and got up to comply with Alice’s request.

Cadmus finally let out the groan of pain he had been holding in now that the immediate threat had been dealt with.

Alice must have heard him, because she exclaimed worriedly,

“Cadmus! Cadmus, are you alright!?”

“I can’t… I can’t move…” He managed to say with great difficulty.

“Cadmus… your eyes, they’re not focusing on me!” Alice sounded like she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Don’t worry,” Cadmus said, taking a few deep breaths, “Everything still looks blurry, but my eyesight should return in time.”

At least his hearing had.

“YOU BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU! HOW DARE YOU!? HOW DARE—”

Cadmus winced at the man’s screaming. It seemed he had been restrained, and was less than happy with the situation.

“Candice, please gag him,” Cadmus said, “His yelling will give away our position.”

Candice didn’t say anything, and he couldn’t see well enough to tell if she had physically responded to his order, but after about twenty seconds or so, the man’s screaming became muffled.

Cadmus breathed a sigh of relief. Candice had probably spent about ten seconds fretting uselessly about doing something that she considered cruel, before finally listening to him.

Cadmus continued taking deep breaths, letting the oxygen flow through him to help his recovery. As he did so, he asked,

“What happened? Why are you here, Candice? Where’re the others?”

“Er—when that wind spell exploded right in the middle of our group, you were sent flying off a small cliff,” Candice said, “I was bit far away from the explosion, so it didn’t affect me that badly. I-I followed after you guys to help you, but by the time I got to you, you’d already hit a tree and been knocked unconscious. I don’t know what happened up there, b-but there was a lot of screaming, and then that man came here and s-started yelling at me.”

Cadmus didn’t say anything in response, and let his mind put its full focus on the situation at hand. Right now, their number one priority was to make their way to Professor Mackenzie and her camp. However, there were most likely many more contingents of enemies roaming around the forest. They would have to sneak through these enemies if they wanted to make it to their destination in one piece.

The best method would have undoubtedly been to stick with the group Cadmus had been part of, group one, and simply bulldoze through their enemies. However, group one had probably been completely scattered judging by the fact that they hadn’t come searching for Candice and him.

While a lot of people from group one had probably been captured, Cadmus doubted that any of them were dead. In the battle before, their enemies had tried to incapacitate them by aiming their spells near them instead of directly at them. And the man here had said something to a similar effect as well.

“I don’t care what Mr. Praesse has to say! You brats all deserve to die!”

What exactly had this Mr. Praesse said to them? Was he their leader?

As Cadmus’ mind continued to roam over these questions, his vision slowly, but surely returned. Even better, he could move his limbs as well now. Granted, it felt like he was trying to move them through some particularly viscous liquid, but at least he could finally use them again.

“Help me up,” he said to Candice. It hurt less now to speak as well.

Candice complied, and when Cadmus got to his feet, he was hit by another wave of dizziness. Thankfully though, this time the feeling was more subdued.

“Cadmus—!” Alice looked scared for him.

Cadmus gave her a reassuring smile to calm her.

“Take me to that guy,” he said to Candice.

By now, the man had stopped his attempts at screaming, and was just panting, glaring at them as they approached him. Now that Cadmus could see well enough, he noticed that the man looked young enough to be in his twenties, had black hair, and well-built, rough features.

Candice had used a spell to create a strong adhesive-like liquid to restrain the man to a tree. A surprisingly decent choice.

“Please make me a magic circle for [rock spike],” Cadmus said.

Candice wordlessly did so with shaking hands. Although, she did mess up the circle two times, and Cadmus had to tell her where.

Once that was done, Cadmus removed the gag (a torn piece of cloth from Candice’s robe) from the glaring man’s mouth. He seemed like was going to scream again, but this time, Cadmus was here to aim the magic circle for [rock spike] right at his face.

“I hope you understand that if you yell, I will not hesitate to kill you,” Cadmus said.

That shut the man right up.

If Candice had made that threat, Cadmus doubted that the man would have believed her words. That’s why Cadmus had decided to do this personally.

“Now talk. Are you people moving in some sort of formation?” He asked, getting the most important question pertaining to their current survival out of the way first. If he knew their movements, then getting to Professor Mackenzie would far easier, after all.

The man did not answer, instead choosing to glare up at him rebelliously.

Cadmus aimed Candice’s magic circle at the man’s shoulder, and fired with zero hesitation. The magic circle was fairly large, so an equally large [rock spike] came flying out and lodged itself into the man’s shoulder. The [rock spike] spell was designed as a projectile attack to hit the enemy over a distance, but Cadmus had fired it at point-blank range, so it hit the man’s shoulder with maximum force, almost sending his arm flying clean off.

Bright red blood spurted out, and some of it got on Candice and him. Oops, he’d forgotten to account for the blood spray.

The man screamed in pain and Candice did the same in fright. She stumbled back, but thankfully, she didn’t drop Cadmus.

Cadmus aimed Candice’s magic circle back at the man’s face, “Continue screaming. I dare you.”

The man squealed with tears in his eyes as his whole body writhed in pain like he was possessed by some sort of unholy demon. He did, however, stop screaming.

Cadmus patiently waited for the man to settle down, and wrinkled his nose at the metallic scent coming from his clothes. He’d worked with blood before, and he knew for a fact that bloodstains were ridiculously hard to wash out.

Once the man finally stopped moving around—probably a mixture of tiredness, growing accustomed to the pain, and lightheadedness caused by blood loss—Cadmus spoke,

“Now, I repeat: Are you people moving in some sort of formation?”

“I… yes, but I don’t know what the… what the other squads’ movements are…” The man finally answered, his voice sounding weaker by the second.

Shit, Cadmus nearly cursed, hopefully, the man wouldn’t die from blood loss before answering all his questions. He could try cauterizing the wound now, but then the man would undoubtedly start screaming in pain again. The pain that fire caused was far more continuous and severe than a stab wound—even one as rough and large as the one he had now.

And there were no such things as healing spells. Mages believed that magic could not create life, after all, and bodies were made up of cells—tiny forms of life. So, no healing spells had ever been developed. Besides, healing was the domain of potions.

“Next question: why are you attacking us?” Cadmus just decided to ask quickly.

The man’s breath was shallow now, and it was obvious that he was barely able to keep his eyes open, “Hostage… we need… a hostage… to bargain… with…”

And what exactly did they want, Cadmus wondered? But he knew that asking more questions was useless. The man did not have the energy to speak anymore. He barely had any energy left to live.

Candice, unable to take it any longer, exclaimed desperately, “Cadmus—please! We have to stop the bleeding before he… before he dies!”

Cadmus sighed, but had to admit she was right.

“Put me down, and then slice off his arm before cauterizing his wound,” Cadmus instructed, “It’s the only chance you have of saving him.”

Candice looked to be on the verge of tears, “B-but, why don’t you do it? You’re more skilled than me, a-and—"

“I still don’t have my mobility back. And I probably won’t get it back for some time,” Cadmus said honestly, “Right now, you’re the only chance that man has.”

Candice looked down at her trembling hands, her breathing growing more and more erratic and wild.

“M-me…? But I… I…”

“Candice!” Cadmus said harshly. They didn’t have the time to argue about this. “Right now, there’s no one else!”

That only seemed to make things worse, and she collapsed onto her knees, bringing Cadmus down with her. Cadmus winced as his knees impacted the ground.

“C-Cadmus, it’s fine!” Alice said, “Maybe I can do it!”

Candice looked at Alice with a barely veiled hopeful expression on her face, and Cadmus felt a small spark of irritation. If this was any other situation, then he would have left Candice be. However, right now…

“How long are you going to cower behind the backs of others?” Cadmus said sharply, “Of course Alice can’t do it—it’s a problem of sheer size! Right now, you’re the only one we can rely on, and you’re just going to sit here and hope others will come save you!?”

The sharpness in his tone only seemed to make her more scared, and she curled into herself, trying to avoid his gaze.

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't... I can't..."

She was unable to complete her sentence, and started simply whimpering in fright.

Cadmus clicked his tongue in annoyance and glanced at the man. At this rate…

“Get it together, Candice!” He said, just shy of yelling.

Candice flinched and covered her head with her arms. Somehow, no matter what he tried, it only seemed to make things worse for Candice.

“I-I can’t… I-it’s not that easy… I just can’t!”

Cadmus gritted his teeth. Then, even though his legs could not support his weight, he slowly and painfully got to his feet, glaring down at her as he did so.

“Of course it’s not that easy—but that’s not an excuse to avoid our responsibilities. Right now, only you have the power to change things. So, you can either sit there and cry, or you can actually try and take a step forward. It’s your choice.”

Candice gazed up at him at him with a stunned expression on her face, her eyes shining with tears. For a moment, all was still, red eyes locked with green.

And then, Cadmus’ strength failed him, and he collapsed. He landed on his shoulder, and cried out in pain as the ground struck him. Since his limbs were still not responding to him, he was forced to lie there as the mud coated his side.

Glancing at Candice, he noticed that she was still just staring at him, hiccupping periodically.

However, she failed to move.

Cadmus closed his eyes. Despite being the only completely mobile person here right now, Candice was a useless asset. It was regrettable, but the man would have to die here.

Having written off any chances of saving the man, Cadmus was now more concerned about how they would escape this place. Without any combat power and mobility they were essentially stuck here until Cadmus could recover. This was highly dangerous as who knew when an enemy search party would find them?

And with Candice failing to be of any help, perhaps Alice could prepare a few magic circles and—

“Candice…” Alice gently called. Her voice was so quiet that, even though she was still inside his breast pocket, Cadmus had been unsure whether she had spoken at all, “Please… we need your help…”

Cadmus looked at Candice again, and their eyes met. Then, she slowly turned her gaze away guiltily.

Cadmus sighed. Even Alice’s plea could not get her to act…

He closed his eyes, his mind desperately flying through possible courses of action that would increase their chance of survival.

What could they do?

What could they do?

What could they do—?

And then, suddenly, he was interrupted when he felt a petite set of hands slowly help him up to a sitting position. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Candice, though now there was a steel present in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

She nodded shakily.

“I-I’ll do it.”

Cadmus couldn’t help but feel a slight grin play across his face. Finally, he could see her resemblance to Ardea Regis.

She drew the magic circle for [magic sword], and Cadmus grin melted away into a focused frown.

“Do you know the formula for [fire sword]?” He asked.

Candice shook her head.

“Do you at least know how to draw the symbol of Vulcan then?”

Candice shook her head again.

Well, it wasn’t like this was unexpected. This was the problem with magic circle formulas. The most basic of spells required only simple geometric shapes, but as the spells got more complex, the geometric shapes were switched out for symbols of all kinds. A mage who knew only the beginner spells had no building blocks to serve as a foundation for them to learn the more complex spells.

“Alice, teach her,” Cadmus delegated.

Alice nodded.

She drew the formula for [fire sword], and Candice tried to copy her. It was an average first attempt, and Cadmus had to correct several areas before the circle was done. Once the circle finally looked like it wouldn’t explode in their faces, Cadmus instructed,

“Cut his arm off right near the wound. The extreme heat will allow you to cut through bone in a single slice, and it will also cauterize the cut in an instant.”

Candice nodded, and positioned the edge of the [fire sword] right above the man’s torn arm, where Cadmus [rock spike] still remained pinned.

Then, with one clean slice, Candice cut his arm off.

There was a hissing noise, and the smell of charred flesh, but not much else. Thankfully, the man had lost too much blood to do anything more than weakly grunt, barely roused from his unconsciousness, as the blade of fire cut right through his arm and sealed the new opening shut.

Candice panted a little as her skin shined a little due to perspiration. Although not as physically demanding, this task must have been mentally taxing for her.

But her efforts had borne fruit. While they still couldn’t be sure whether the man would go on to survive, at least they had done the most they feasibly could.

“I-I was surprised,” Candice said to Cadmus after taking a moment to rest, “I was surprised when you stopped interrogating him when I asked you to. I thought you would have just let him die then and there.”

Cadmus gave her a curious look, “Is that so strange? Have you forgotten? I am a mage who ignored centuries of conventional wisdom in order to try and bring back the dead. There are very few people who despise death as much as me.”

After all, he knew well just how much impact a single person’s death could have on the people around them.

Candice looked a little bit surprised, “I suppose I never thought of it that way…”

“In any case, none of that matters now,” Cadmus said, his tone severe again, “Right now, we have to get to Professor Mackenzie. This forest is probably still crawling with enemies, and although my vision has returned for the most part, my body still hasn’t recovered to the point where I can help in combat. In other words, Candice, we’ll be depending on you.”

Candice nodded. She looked a little scared, but she didn’t complain or look away this time.

“I’ll give you a moment to prepare, but—”

“I’m ready.”

Cadmus blinked.

Candice blushed a little, “W-we don’t have time, right? In that case, I’m ready.”

Cadmus couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. To think she would come to look so reliable in such a short amount of time…

He grinned, “Let’s get going then.”