The dungeon would close in an hour. What would that mean for those still inside? Luke needed to get there right away, but first he needed to help his friends. Not bothering to heal himself first, he struggled to his feet, looted a few hundred credits off the Queen, then shuffled toward the dropped staff to pick it up. Using that as a walking aid, he hobbled his way toward the still-closed doors. Low on stamina, mana, and health. Not fun. Not fun at all. A health potion helped a little, but the sheer numbness and exhaustion from the lack of stamina and mana made walking a chore.

  Between steps, he realized he hadn't used The Healer's Moment once the silence effect wore off, and sighed. Stupid. That would have given him a serious advantage. Next time, he'd remember these wounds and make sure to use everything available to him, so he didn't end up in this poor a state again.

  Crowd me, trap me, watch me break free!

  Steel the will, spark the storm!

  No door stands when thunder walks!

  The doors crashed open with enough force to blow one of them off its hinges. Crackling lightning preceded Penny, who hovered in the air, moving out into the corridor. Her eyes were pools of white light, and the storm danced around her, dark clouds of thunder and rain writhing and swirling along her arms and legs, and lightning surged along her long hair.

  She stopped in front of Luke, and her eyes turned back to normal. The storm put her down on the floor with a gentle swoop. "Luke! You made it!"

  "Luke! Hermano!" Mateo cried, stumbling out of the office. His black long-sleeved T-shirt was torn along the shoulder and down by the belly, blood making the fabric stick to his skin. Another gash on his chin bled quite a bit, but it was closing even as Luke watched. Health potion. Had to be.

  "Mateo!" Luke shouted, a weight lifting off his shoulders.

  Lucy followed Mateo out of the room. Her right arm hung limp at her side, and her hair was matted with blood, but she seemed otherwise fine. She gave him a nod. "Hey."

  "You all made it," Luke breathed.

  "Lucy was a sight to behold!" Mateo said.

  Penny gave Lucy a quick look and nodded. "A little scary."

  Luke grinned. "The Mayor?"

  Their faces fell, and Mateo shook his head. "She was one of them. We were too late, my friend."

  "That's not great," Luke said, peering into the office. It was wrecked. Bookcases were on the floor, with books scattered everywhere. A large desk at the far end of the room was broken right down the middle, a dead Hollow draped across it. Several more Hollows were cut apart, pierced through their chests, or burned to the point of being unrecognizable. There had to be at least fifteen of them in there, if not more. "But I'm glad you survived that."

  Mateo winced. "Some healing would be much appreciated."

  They both struggled to get near one another, and Luke closed a wound on his back that was far deeper than the other ones, stitching it closed while Mateo bore the pain.

  System Message: Dungeon closing in 55 minutes.

  "We need to get there," Luke said. "I'll need to check everyone leaving, or we'll have Hollows everywhere."

  "No," Lucy said.

  Luke looked at her. "No?"

  She shook her head. "The last one standing in there died the moment we got the message about you killing the Queen. It'll be the same in the dungeon."

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  "Can we be sure of that, though?" Penny asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "What if it's just the ones on this side?"

  "Then they perish if they step through, no?" Mateo said.

  "We'll have to make sure," Luke said. He bought a mana potion from the Integrated Shop, downed it, and used the mana to heal his broken arm. The desire to check if he'd received any new skills was overwhelming, but making sure everyone made it out of the dungeon alright had to take priority.

  Using that mana to heal himself made him run low again, and his head throbbed as the group walked toward the elevator. None of them wanted to take the stairs again. Shouts from below drifted up the stairs, and sounds of people running followed. The elevator dinged open, and a couple of cops stood there, eyes wide.

  One of them drew a gun. "Stop right there!"

  "It's not what it looks like," Luke said, raising his hands. Putting the quarterstaff back into his inventory made him wobble a little, but Mateo grabbed his arm for support.

  Lucy raised her arms as well. "Please contact the Department of Integrated Affairs."

  Security guards and more cops came running up the stairs, all of them making a racket, and all of them drawing guns the moment they saw the group's blood-splattered clothes and the corpses scattered about.

  The DIA proved quick to react, and after a whole lot of assurances from their side, calls to higher-ups, and even politicians, Luke and the others were released. While waiting around and with some mana regenerated, Luke made sure each of them was patched up. The cops kept glancing at them when Mateo, Penny, Lucy, or even Luke himself let out small noises because of the pain brought on by the healing.

  System Message: Dungeon closing in 15 minutes.

  Despite the work put in by the DIA, even running at full tilt, they wouldn't make it back to the dungeon in time.

  Luke turned to the two agents once they were out on the street. "Do you know anything about the dungeon with the Hollows? It's closing soon, and we have no idea if killing the boss in there means her minions are dead or not. Can you check?"

  He hadn't met with either agent before, but one of them interviewed Mateo after the dungeon with Relian. They both wore black suits and ties, with white shirts, sunglasses covering their faces, and they looked like identical twins with sharp features, strong jawlines, and buzz cuts.

  One of them, Luke thought it was the one who’d introduced himself as Halmstrom, but couldn't be sure, made a call and stepped away. When he returned, he delivered the good news in a deep but friendly voice. "Integrated are leaving the dungeon. Those who were engaged in combat with the enemy all agree. The monsters fell dead at one point, a little less than an hour ago."

  "Thank the stars," Penny breathed.

  Mateo grinned and raised a fist to the sky. "?Así se mata, cabrones! ?Uno menos, mil por venir! ?Mateo no falla!"

  Luke just breathed another sigh of relief, closing his eyes. The next dungeon better be a simple one. His phone buzzed, and he saw it was his sister calling.

  "Milla," Luke spoke into the phone after stepping away from the others.

  Milla sounded out of breath, but happy. "Little brother!"

  "You were in the dungeon?" Luke asked.

  "Yup! Piece of cake!"

  Luke chuckled. "I'm sure it was."

  "You were in the other one?" Milla asked.

  He cleared his throat. "Yep. Piece of cake."

  "Healing is pretty great, huh?" Milla asked.

  "Liking the Bloomcaller class?" Luke said, waving goodbye and mouthing, "thank you," to the others, who were leaving.

  "The spells fit me, I think. They spread to the entire party, which is nice." She coughed a couple of times, then continued. "Did you meet up with a bunch of cops? They were heading for the dungeon you were in, but I haven't heard from them."

  Luke was quiet for a second.

  "What's wrong?" Milla asked.

  "Most of them didn't make it."

  "Oh," Milla said.

  "Yeah," Luke said. "It was actually pretty grim in there."

  "But you're OK?" she asked.

  "Sure, yeah. Lots of pain, but nothing I can't handle."

  She coughed again, harder this time. "Be careful, little brother."

  "Are you OK?" Luke asked. "How are your lungs?"

  Milla steadied her breathing before replying. "They're fine. A little worse than yesterday, but far better than what I've been dealing with all this time. Don't worry about me."

  "You know I will," Luke said.

  "Blech," Milla said. "I'm going now."

  "Stay safe!" Luke said, chuckling as his sister clicked the call away.

  The weather was nice, with a slight overcast sky and a cool enough temperature. Luke didn't have to walk around sweating on top of his wounds. Checking on Ray was high on the list of items on the agenda for the rest of the day, but first, he needed to change out of his bloodstained clothes, heal himself back to full health, and take a shower. After that, he'd bring a pizza or something to his friend and see if he could heal whatever illness it was he'd complained about.

  Then he remembered Alan.

  "Crap," he muttered.

  His phone buzzed with a text at that exact moment. "Hey! This is the girl you talked to by the orb, the one with the injured brother. Do you think you could help him today? I'll show it to all my followers and make you famous! Promise!"

  Another buzz, this one from Ken. "At the hospital. They're already prepping me for surgery. Thanks for pushing me to go in. Wish me luck!"

  Luke texted back, "Break a leg!"

  So much to do, and he needed to call Alan, too. First, though, it was time to check out what sorts of skills became available with his two new level-ups. Luke had a few skill points to spare, too!