Another few days quickly went by, and the warriors were preparing for another descent into the underworld.

The dead were buried not far from the camp, each in their own grave. It took a lot of time and manpower to do so, but that also allowed the warriors to recover and get ready for another fight.

Only about twenty-five combat-capable fighters remained, and more than half of them were from the Phoenix Knights.

"Alright, is everything ready?" Tabbris asked his right-hand man, Ravian.

The man didn't answer immediately but instead made a hesitating expression. Their combat capabilities fell sharply, and most of their mages were still suffering from the Mana overuse backlash.

Especially Riordian Northendark, he pushed himself the most and was now incapable of using magic for the time being, just like Gerald.

"Eh… I wouldn't say everything, but it's the best we could do on such a tight schedule."

Tabbris nodded with a solemn expression. It was time. But before he could give the signal…

"Hey, wait! Who's that?"

A man was coming from the woods, bare-chested, tall, and with his entire body full of scabs. He looked kind of wild and scary from afar.

"Is that... Gerald?!" Xilia gasped. "Wow, he looks like shit!"

"Hey, that's not nice, don't say that," Elly lightly scolded her. "But I guess he indeed looked better when covered in blood…"

"Brother!" Qiona shouted and ran towards him. She wanted to jump at him to hug him, but she was afraid of hurting him, so she refrained from doing so.

"Hey there little one," Gerald did his best to give out a smile and ruffled her hair.

"Gerald! You have finally returned, haha! See, I said he would be fine," Tabbris laughed and came to meet him. He handed him a simple shirt and a cup of water.

"Thanks," Gerald accepted and emptied the cup in a single move. "Do you have any extra food? I seem to have some problems with my ring…" he asked, a little embarrassed.

"Oh yeah," Tabbris laughed heartily and slapped his shoulder. "You lost your magic, right? Don't worry, we will take care of you until you recover. Now come, we got plenty of food left…"

But Gerald didn't move. He stayed rooted in place with eyes wide open. "You… Did you just say that my magic will recover…?"

"Yes, of course!" the guy smiled like it was the most common knowledge in the world. "Don't worry, things like these happen all the time! It's just that it will take some time before you return to your peak, so don't push yourself in the meantime."

"Some time? H-how long is that?" Gerald gulped.

"A few days, maybe a few weeks, it depends…" Tabbris sighed. "But even if you recover, you really shouldn't push yourself that much, because it has the potential to lead to severe damage, even death in some extreme cases."

"Aha…" was all Gerald could say. He was currently having some difficulty keeping his emotions in check.

"Anyway… We were just about to head underground once more, so forgive me if I can't accompany you for longer. You just rest and recover, we will take care of the rest."

"S-sure…" Gerald responded, and went to get something to eat.

Meanwhile, the group of warriors gathered their things and marched into the darkness once more.

"Haha, fuck you God, not today bitch!" Gerald laughed like mad towards the sky and even flipped it off.

"You thought this tiny bump in my life was enough to ruin me?! Losing my magic? Hah! You thought I'd learn something from this?! Hahaha! I'm the one to decide my fate, and you can suck my d-"

"Gerald? Are you alright?"

The girls came to join him for a meal, but then they got to see a most unusual thing.

"Um, brother Gerald, I found your hand…" Qiona meekly said and dragged it to him.

"Thank you," he said and gladly accepted it while completely ignoring the previous question. How would he even go about explaining what he was doing? Some things were best left alone.

"Feel free to take a bite, I won't stop you," Gerald said and gestured towards the food on the stone table. He already started stuffing his mouth with whatever came under his hand.

"Oh, I just remembered something," he said. "I picked up our cloaks, but they are now stuck in my Ring. I used too much magic and won't be able to do it for a while, sorry."

"No kidding," Sera scoffed to express her thoughts. "You just fell from the sky and then started slaughtering like it was nothing. Do you even know how you looked? Especially at the end when you went underground! You looked more like a monster than the Orcs themselves!"

"Oh, really? I wasn't aware... Thank you!" Gerald grinned.

"It was not a compliment!"

Elly gently smiled and placed a hand on Sera's shoulder, "Let it go, he's fine now…"

"Fine?!" Sera exclaimed. "Look at him! Does he look like he's fine?!"

"I'm fine," Gerald mumbled with a mouth full of food.

"See?"

Sera eventually gave up arguing with the two and released a deep breath and sat down.

Xilia, who was sitting beside Gerald with her sister, also chimed in, "I'm just glad it's over. I'd like to go home soon, I can't even take a bath here and this place is filthy."

"It's a battlefield, what did you expect?" Gerald laughed while shaking his head and continued eating. "Anyway, did anything of interest happen while I was gone?" He asked.

"Not really, no. During the few days you were gone, Tabbris and his group were preparing to search through the caverns once more."

Gerald frowned slightly, "They didn't kill any monsters since I fell unconscious by any chance?"

"No, they left as soon as you flew out. That's what I heard anyway. It has been quiet since then."

"Hmm…" Gerald slowly put down a knife he was eating with and rubbed his chin, "So they still didn't kill those monsters deep underground?"

"What monsters?" Elly asked.

Gerald shrugged, "I don't know, they were too far for me to see properly, and my memory is a bit blurry…"

"Anyway..." He wiped his mouth and stood up saying, "I'll go check it out just in case… I'm quite curious too. Where's my Toothpick?"

"What?! No! You need to rest and recover, not go fight another battle!"

"I'll be fine!" Against the better judgment of his teammates, Gerald picked up his spear and went underground.

However, soon he came back.

"Can I get a lantern or something? I forgot I can't see without magic."

Elly nodded, while Sera and Xilia facepalmed.