The Rock Elementals still numbered somewhere around 50, though she wasn't too worried about them. She'd probably get hurt real bad if they crushed her with a thrown boulder, but it would depend on just what that boulder was made of. Her lowest stats were all at 94, which included her Fortitude and Vitality. Teresa could take a hit if needed.

The real question was whether her stats mixed with her <Facilitated Restoration> would be enough to counter the gas that was rapidly spreading onto the battlefield. Teresa was still in great condition both physically and mentally, so she was able to think about the situation at a pretty fast pace.

She had been able to deal with a similar skill in Arconette, but there was no reason to assume that the same trick would work twice. It wasn't absurd to consider there might be a skill that would bypass her Restoration Magic, just because something worked once doesn't mean it would work a second time. There was no need to get cocky.

Regardless, everyone in the group already had <Facilitated Restoration> active, along with various buffing spells from Jim. His two auras increased nearby allies' Strength and Vitality each by a flat bonus of 3, while his <Mind-Muscle Connection> buff gave an increased degree of control over one's body.

Teresa put her club away into her <Inventory> and activated <Suffocate>, creating a thin barrier that slowed the purple gas' advance. It still didn't create a perfect vacuum, which meant the gas could still pass through the extremely thin barrier Teresa created. Even so, she only needed to buy time.

She raised a hand to the sky and fired <Facilitated Restoration>, shooting a flare into the air. Teresa fired the skill at an angle rather than straight up, which should be enough to alert the army they were being attacked by human opponents.

"Gas on the left, we need to rotate to meet with group three." Teresa called out, not an ounce of panic in her voice. If anything, she felt incredibly calm. Outside of a fight, things were incredibly complicated. There were an almost infinite number of decisions she could make with various consequences. Now, in a battle that everyone was fully prepared for, things felt simple. They had been surprise attacked so many times in the Contaminated Zone that the lack of an ambush would have probably stressed her out more.

The heavy hitters around her nodded, and several of the tanks began spamming <Taunt> while retreating. The Rock Elementals kept their attention on the tanks while the rangers shot suppressive fire towards the purple smoke. They didn't know where the attackers were exactly, but shooting Mana arrows and Mana bullets towards any source of cover was enough to ensure they wouldn't be pushed while everything was changing position.

Teresa searched for the source of the purple gas as she blocked off its advance, finding it seemed to originate from just beyond a hill out of her line of sight. It was a good position to hold, but there was only so much they could do against superior numbers.

Group three joined the rangers as the mages from group four cautiously advanced in pairs with light warrior archetypes. They shot <Embers> towards the hill once in range, causing a continuous stream of fire to take the place of the projectiles that had been fired by the rangers. Now, only those with heightened Perception could really see through the suppression while the rangers stopped blindly firing and kept an eye out for human movement.

The Restoration Mana within each of the heavy hitters was running low, and Teresa realized the Unstable Rock Elementals were so radioactive they were steadily melting through her <Facilitated Restoration> without actually landing any hits. Thankfully, she learned from her mistakes in Arconette and paid attention to everyone's status, and refreshed the skill on herself and her allies as they reunited with the rest of groups three and four.

"The Rock Elementals are draining my healing buff, it's slow enough that we shouldn't have to worry but just be aware of it." Teresa informed as they all put distance between themselves and the monsters. They could deal with the Elementals later, human attackers had the priority.

"Switch off <Embers>, we'll alternate." A mage from group three said as he began to fire his own <Embers> at the hill, allowing the mages from group four a brief rest. Everyone's resources were still in great condition, but they had no way of knowing how long this fight would take.

The other half of the army was already positioning themselves along the opposite side of the hill, which was now surrounded by Rock Elementals and the combined might of Arconette and The Mall. Teresa created a long plane of low air density with <Suffocate>, and moved it through the purple gas. The shifting air pressure created a small, almost natural gust of wind that helped to blow the gas away.

As soon as everyone was positioned, they began to advance. Noel and Jake broke off from the main group while each using <Taunt> to keep the attention of the Elementals on them while everyone else pushed forward, ready to blast their attackers to pieces. The purple gas made for a natural barrier that was difficult to pass, but it didn't stop a reckless Completionist from walking right into it anyways.

Teresa was about to yell at them to stop, but they seemed to handle the gas just fine. She could sense their Restoration Mana rapidly depleting as it dealt with the toxins within, but otherwise they seemed fine. Teresa shrugged, figuring if someone wanted to casually risk their life like that then that was their decision to do so.

Now that they knew her <Facilitated Restoration> was capable of dealing with the gas, everyone pushed in. Beyond the crest of the hill was yet another cave, which was constantly emitting the purple gas.

"This is one of Angelo's skills, the gas will put us to sleep if we aren't cautious." Ezio said as the army converged around the cave entrance. Teresa used <Suffocate> to create a shape similar to a rough looking funnel around the cave entrance, encouraging most of the gas to travel the path of least resistance upwards and above the heads of everyone present. There was still a light vapor that got through, but it drained Restoration Mana far slower.

"We have a hostage!" A voice yelled out from within the cave. "If you want to see Thomas Fynn alive again, you'll do as I instruct!"

Chills shot through Teresa's body as she processed what the man inside the cave just said. They had Thomas? Why the hell would they have Thomas of all people hostage? Did they actually have him held hostage? It could very well be a bluff.

"I don't recognize that voice." Ezio said, confused, as he stared into the cave.

"As proof, check to the right of the entrance!" The voice yelled out again. Teresa noted the voice sounded nervous as well, but there was a lot going on. Teresa turned around, looking far out behind her as something subconsciously stole her attention.

"Fuck!" Sarah yelled, turning Teresa's attention back towards the cave. She noticed Ezio had been staring behind them as well, but what Sarah found almost made Teresa gag.

A pair of pale, severed hands had been buried adjacent to the cave, along with a photo of a sweaty and sick Thomas. He had his legs trapped beneath a large boulder, and his hands had been severed at the wrists. He was in a cave, though Teresa had no way of knowing if that was the very cave they stood in front of.

Was that real? For all she knew there might be a skill to create false images, but that would be an extremely niche ability. By all means, she had to take this seriously. Thomas looked like he was in terrible shape, and she had no way of knowing when the photo had been taken.

"If you want to see him alive, then send Teresa and Ezio down to discuss our terms!" The voice inside yelled out again.

"This is a trap, we can't go down there." Ezio warned. "It's likely Thomas is already dead. We should blast the cave with <Embers> and take out our opponents now."

"We are not sacrificing him, we've lost enough people from The Mall." Teresa responded, feeling stressed again. Damn it, things weren't going as simple as she had hoped. "We've already lost enough dealing with Arconette's problems."

"In case you haven't noticed Teresa, but Arconette has already lost nearly half of its Completionists on this mission, so if you think the losses have been one-sided then think again. Like I said, this is a trap."

"I know it's a trap! It's very obviously a trap, but what else am I supposed to do? Let him die?" Teresa asked. Randall put a hand on her shoulder, a concerned look in his eyes.

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"Honey, I don't think you should go in there." He said softly, but Teresa shook her head. Odds are, Thomas was taken because he had been seen with her. They even asked for her and Ezio, but not Nikolas. Thomas didn't really know a lot about the structure of The Mall, meaning they probably didn't know who Nikolas was. Thomas was in this situation because of his relationship to Teresa's party and The Mall, this was her direct responsibility.

Something made her turn around again, and she wasn't going to just ignore that.

"Something is happening behind us, but I don't know what. Keep an eye out for another attack." Teresa warned.

"You feel that too?" Ezio asked, staring in the same direction.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is though."

"It's a trap, I'm telling you-"

"I know, I'm going in. Be prepared to leave if need be, I'll try to be quick but if I'm not back feel free to keep moving anyways, the Rock Elementals should be cleared by now." Teresa said.

"We'll be here." Preston replied, nodding at her. Several members of the army all moved into formation, everyone from The Mall along with even a few Completionists.

"We heard you were steadfast about letting us look for Yuki, we'll stand guard. Trap or no trap." Kinjo, one of the Completionists, said as he began to survey the landscape. "Do what you've got to do."

Not everyone seemed on board with the plan, though they were all Completionists that were opposed. Teresa didn't wait for a vote, there was no time. Something made her and Ezio look to the left of the cave entrance rather than directly behind them.

She deactivated <Suffocate> and pushed forward, a wall of rock sprouting up from the ground behind and around her as someone in the army made a funnel using <Earth Wall> to divert the purple gas. She would still be able to jump out just fine, so it wasn't an issue.

Ezio didn't follow, and Teresa hoped that wouldn't cause any complications. He would be useless in a cave anyways, he was a one trick with his nuclear <Embers>. Using that in an enclosed space was equivalent to suicide.

Then again, what Teresa was doing might be as well.

She walked quickly through the cave, leading deeper down into the ground through a long narrow passageway. Teresa kept an eye out for traps, but didn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

What she did pick up was the sound of breathing up ahead, shallow and rapid. Was that Thomas? She couldn't be sure, but it could very well be the same man who had been yelling demands.

She rounded a corner and stopped, her eyes widening as she saw a man at the end of the tunnel. He was shirtless, was missing two hands in the exact same way Thomas had been in the photo, and his skin was discolored as necrosis ate away at what remained of his body. His legs were covered in rock collapsed from the cave wall, preventing him from moving.

{Human (F) (lv 21)}

"Please! I'm so sorry!" He whimpered, shaking as he heard Teresa approach in the otherwise dark cave. Teresa doubted he could see, if not for her 94 Perception she would be completely blind in the dark cave as well. "He told me to do it!"

In front of him, there were two metal devices, only one of which Teresa recognized. The first was emitting the purple gas, which flowed up and away from the man, allowing him to stay conscious. A pattern of green paste on the ground prevented the gas from moving towards him somehow. The second was a monster lure that activated as the man began to plead.

A wave of Mana shot out, likely grabbing the attention of all the monsters nearby. If what she had felt earlier were additional monster lures, then they had to get out of that cave fast.

BOOM!

The cave shook as something buried in the ceiling burst, causing the cave to collapse. Teresa reacted instantly, activating <Sturdy Outer Shell> and <Dash> as she sprinted towards the injured man, shielding him with her own body as the cave collapsed around them.

Whatever had detonated had been a small charge, but it was enough to compromise the stability of the cave. Hundreds of pounds of rocks fell on Teresa's back as she covered her head with her hands to avoid any lethal hits.

It stopped rather quickly, but that didn't mean they were in a good spot. She was locked in place at the moment, too much movement might cause their situation to worsen. Teresa was able to keep the rocks pressing down on her lifted due to her Strength stat, and really she was surprisingly confident she could escape being buried alive.

The issue was the man in front of her, whose life was in her hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He kept repeating over and over, his voice getting quieter. Fucking hell, he was barely alive as it was. Could she save him?

Should she?

An unknowable number of monsters were going to swarm them any minute now, if she hurried she could get out in time to regroup with the others before any monsters arrived, probably. Keeping him alive would increase how long her escape would take, possibly by hours.

She managed to shift a hand away from the back of her head and fire a <Facilitated Restoration> at the injured man below her. She considered shining a bright light at the guy who had spent who knew how long in darkness might damage his eyes, so she did the opposite of what she would normally do with the brighter version of her spell.

Restoration mana formed a dense nucleus with no 'electron cloud,' causing the spell to darken. A dim green light shot into the man, and he immediately reacted.

"Thank you, oh God it still hurts so much, I don't want to die." He said, still shaking. "He cut my hands off so I couldn't use any spells, how long have I been here?"

"You need to tell me everything you remember." Teresa replied, ignoring his question. She had to get as much information out of him as possible while she slowly shifted in place, cautiously brushing off the rock burying the man's legs.

"I'm a monster hunter. I was taking a walk by the lake when I fell unconscious. I woke up in a cave and this guy started asking me a bunch of questions about my ex girlfriend for some reason. We got into a fight a while ago because she thought I cheated on her during the Tutorial, which I didn't even do anyways. I had way bigger issues at the time, and I thought I was lucky we wound up in Arconette together. This guy, he went into my dreams and tortured me until I said what he wanted to hear. I lied and told him I cheated but I didn't get what the point of it all was. For a bit I thought maybe she had hired him, but as bad as things could get between us I don't think it was ever that bad, you know?"

"You were tortured for information about your relationship?" Teresa asked, confused.

"Yes! He left me in that cave for ages before he came back, said he had a use for me. He knocked me out with that gas and I woke up here. He told me people were going to come by, and he told me what to say. Please don't tell me she was involved, I don't think she was. I know how ridiculous this all sounds, but you have to believe me!"

Teresa was becoming increasingly aware of every second that passed as she shifted, wondering what she could do for the poor guy. Even if she got him out, could they keep him alive?

"Do you have any idea of where you were being kept originally?"

"I don't know, it was just a cave. Am I going to die?"

Teresa's heart skipped a beat as she looked down at the man. She would have taken a deep breath if she wasn't already worried about how much air they had.

"We are deep in the Contaminated Zone. I mean really far in. We're maybe a few minutes from the center of it. Outside right now, about 50 people, the best of the best, are about to be swarmed by monsters with levels in the 90s. Many of them won't leave until I come back out, and even if they did leave this trap was set off far sooner than we expected. Even if we turned around and left you in here, we would have already been surrounded. I can get out of this cave and help them myself pretty fast, but if I take you with me that'll add hours. Even if I get you out of here, I don't think I'll be able to keep you alive." Teresa admitted, deciding to be honest.

"So I'm dead then." The man said, his voice full of despair. "FUCK!"

"I'm sorry." Teresa replied, knowing her apology likely meant nothing.

"I- I don't want to die, my life has had its problems but I guess everything has already been decided. Is it going to be quick? I don't want it to be slow." Teresa swallowed, tears welling in her eyes as she realized what he meant.

"You want me to do it?"

"I don't want to be slowly crushed to death, please. It all hurts enough already."

"I understand." Teresa said. She pulled her handgun out from her <Inventory>, it had one bullet left and it was becoming obsolete anyways.

"Wait!" He exclaimed, eyes wide. "The cave smelled! The first one! Sometimes a gust of wind came through, and I could smell something cooking, like a bakery or something. If you want to find your friend, look for caves near Arconette. It can't be too far, my Perception is 35."

"Thank you." Teresa said, meaning it from the bottom of her heart. "I'll kill that fucker, I promise you."

"I hope you do." The injured man said, seeming calmer. "My name is Preston, by the way. Preston Waln. I don't want anyone to think I ran away or something, so can you please let someone know I died? You don't have to include all of the details, I don't want Marci to know this much. Just say I died fighting monsters, and that it was instant."

"I understand." Teresa said, her own hands trembling now. "My name's Teresa."

"It was nice to talk to you Teresa, thank you for trying. Okay, I think I'm ready now. Not really, but how ready can you be? I only wish I had some cool final words prepared or something to put on my grave. Oh, I know what I want them to be! It's stupid, but let me have this." Preston Waln cleared his throat, before looking up at Teresa with a shaky smile. "What are you gonna do, shoot me?"

Teresa exhaled sharply out of her nose, as did Preston Waln. He began laughing, one last time with a grin on his face.

She pulled the trigger.

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