I’m Not a Saint, Not a Priest, Just a Healer.

Kairoc gulped and licked his dry lips. Slowly, very slowly, he looked back at the archer Emmerson.
Meeting Kairoc’s gaze, Emmerson gave a slight nod and lay down, pressing his ear to the floor.
“No, it’s not the first floor.”
After a while of listening to locate the source of the pounding vibrations, Emmerson stood back up and spoke.
While the source wasn’t the first floor, that didn’t resolve the issue.
The entrance they came through had sealed shut, and the party in the rear was clamoring to open it, but the door showed no signs of budging.

“Seems the door won’t open from the outside either, Kairoc. What do we do?”
A swift archer from the rearmost party came rushing over to whisper to Kairoc.
This left only one possible conclusion – something had forcibly sealed the entrance, refusing to reopen it. Effectively, they couldn’t get out unless they defeated that unknown entity.

Dread began to slowly weigh down on the adventurers. In the pitch blackness, some unseen presence was moving about, and in the shadows beyond the torchlight, monsters lay in wait to prey upon them.
While those small beasts could perhaps be dealt with, the real threat was the unknown entity roaming these catacombs.

Fear is contagious. The terror towards this unseen, formidable foe swiftly infected the adventurers.

“Ka-Kairoc. What do we do?”
All eyes instantly turned towards Kairoc. Of the forty adventurers who had entered the catacombs, Kairoc was the highest ranked and most experienced. So in this situation, everyone naturally deferred to him as the leader.

“…Let’s regroup first.”
Kairoc strived to remain calm. Losing composure in any situation meant death. Especially in a crisis like this, he had to stay level-headed. Giving in to panic would only feed the very dread he was trying to overcome.
—Though perhaps they were already consumed by it.

“There are staircases down to the second level on both sides…”

“Hey Kairoc, shouldn’t we try to escape instead?” Emmerson asked with an irritated tone.
In a situation like this, shouldn’t their top priority be to escape?
Kairoc muttering about the second floor staircases instead left Emmerson struggling to understand his reasoning.

Kairoc glared at Emmerson in annoyance. He knew kobolds tended to be complainers, but this was really getting on his nerves. What a brat.

“Hey Emmerson, how do you expect us to escape if the exit is sealed? Unless you think we can blast through solid stone with your bow?”

Emmerson frowned and closed his mouth. Stupid kobold brat.

Suppressing his vexation, Kairoc shut his mouth and collected his thoughts. This was an underground catacomb, after all. The stone brick structure extended deep underground – if it started collapsing, the whole thing would crumble instantly.

“We need to fight. Slaying that demon is the clearest path to escaping.”

Speaking briskly, Kairoc glanced between Alec and Yona. His gaze then settled on Yona’s pallid face, studying her intently.

“…What? Why are you looking at me like that, lizard?”
Though visibly startled, Yona didn’t avert Kairoc’s scrutinizing gaze. Her lips had paled with trepidation, but she still maintained a dignified demeanor.

“Alec, Yona.”
“What is it?”
“We’re splitting into two parties. Take the staircases down on each side and regroup on the second level of the catacombs.”

The underground catacombs formed a circular layout. The first floor was like an exhibition hall of corridors, with staircases at each end leading down to the actual burial chambers on the second level.

“Whichever side reaches the bottom first will engage it, while the other strikes from behind.”

“Wait, wouldn’t it be better if we all took one staircase together?”

Yona leaned in close to Alec’s ear as she argued with Kairoc. Even if forty people, most were only copper rank with a few silver ranks. Splitting their already underwhelming forces seemed unwise to her. Wouldn’t it be better to stick together and overwhelm it with numbers?

But Kairoc shook his head.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. From those movement sounds, it doesn’t seem like some regular foe. What if it anticipates our approach and waits at whichever staircase we’re descending? What then, Yona?”

Only then did Yona fall silent. Kairoc chuckled and lightly patted her cheek.

“If we come from both sides, it can only focus on one. While it’s occupied with the first group, the other can strike its flank. Doesn’t that give us better odds? Don’t you think?”

“…I suppose so.”
Kairoc silently watched as Yona dejectedly hung her head. As one of the rare copper-ranked healers to have survived this long, her abilities were certainly respectable since registering with Alec years ago.

“We’ll split into two teams. I’ll take point for one group, Alec can lead the other.”

“Oh man, I’m seriously shaking here.”

The torchlight cast a reddish glow on the corridor walls as it advanced slowly forward. Whenever the light neared, small monsters would screech and scurry away in flight. Occasionally some would panic and flee right towards the adventurers, only to be instantly pulverized.

Alec walked with his shield raised firmly in front. Directly behind, Yona followed carefully to avoid the holy cloth on her arm catching the torch’s flames.

“Just focus on getting out alive, that’s it.”
“Then what?”

The dread-saturated adventurers remained silent, footsteps heavy. Only Alec and Yona continued their idle banter.

“I’ll freely grope those cow udders of yours.”
“Who said you could?”
“You said you used to be a man. Use that frank personality and let me have some fun.”
“Hey, I won’t enjoy you randomly groping my dick either.”
“No, I think I would enjoy that?”
“You really are crazy, you mutt.”

Yona lowered the hand she had instinctively raised to smack Alec’s head. This wasn’t a village – her life depended on Alec’s vanguard role, so she couldn’t be so careless.

“Will we be okay?”
“We have to be.”

Inwardly, Yona felt scared. For three years, she thought she had endured every possible hardship. But it seemed whenever she overcame one difficulty, an even greater one appeared.

“The stairs.”

However, from below only the rhythmic thumping of movement could be heard, not the clanging of combat. Perhaps the other party hadn’t descended yet.
Just where was that thing lurking down there?

The flickering torchlight revealed a staircase entrance barely within its reach. A dark viscous liquid was spattered all over, and somehow it looked more decorated compared to Yona’s previous visits. Craning her neck, she squinted hard at the stairwell.

“…Doesn’t that look like a corpse?”
Yona leaned in close to Alec’s ear and pointed with an outstretched hand.
Briefly distracted by her wafting peach scent, Alec then followed her finger to the indicated spot.
“Yeah, it’s a corpse. A human one.”

It was undoubtedly a corpse at a glance. With only the upper body remaining and no lower half, there was no way it could be alive.

“Probably one of those scouting team guys from before.”
Alec raised his shield and advanced forward once more.
The other adventurers, overhearing the exchange, also tightened their grips on their weapons. They understood fully well what it meant to be descending further after the scouting party’s annihilation.

As they neared the stairs, the torchlight illuminated more details. Only then did the “decorations” on the steps become clearly visible. It was intestines. What were once bright red innards had turned an inky black, strewn carelessly about like some sort of grotesque ornamentation…

“Uweeeeeck.”
Yona looked back to see one newly-registered rock-rank adventurer, face blanched as he retched uncontrollably.
The rookie had eagerly tagged along, but such a grisly sight was understandably difficult to stomach.

‘…Can’t be helped, I suppose.’
Since no sounds of battle could be heard yet, they could afford a brief pause.
Yona patted Alec’s shoulder and approached the stricken rookie adventurer.

“Scared?”
“S-Sorry…Uwuuuurk!”
Realizing it was his decision that had led Yona to this point, the rookie frantically shook his head, only to be interrupted by another wave of vomiting.

Yona gently rubbed the adventurer’s back in soothing motions. The soft patting sounds echoed faintly through the corridor.

“It’s okay, everyone is like this at first. I was too.”
Even now, she didn’t feel completely at ease herself.
“Just don’t die. As long as you don’t die, you’ll be fine, understand?”
“Y-Yes…I underst-stand…”
He seemed to have regained some composure, if barely.

“Hey Yona, let’s get going downstairs.”
“Why that tone again?”
“What?”
“You sound agitated, you mutt. What’s got you riled up suddenly?”
“No I don’t. Come on everyone, keep your weapons ready. Let’s descend.”

The torchlight began moving forward once more.
Kkeeeek— Accompanied by that chilling screech, the small monsters fled from the light while the grim-faced adventurers made their way down the viscous, slimy steps to the lower level.