Josh was among the Hollows, bashing them, while Mia and Ken threw out spells, Ken with ice, and vines growing from the ground, holding the monsters, and Mia doing something to twist the Hollows' flesh, tearing them apart from the inside.

  Confident the rest of the party had the situation in hand, Luke turned his attention to Lucy and her wounds. A flash of healing mana fixed up her neck wound at the cost of all his remaining mana. He hated to do it, but there was no other option, or she’d have bled out in seconds. This way, he bought her some time, time he could use to fix her stomach.

  A Hollow rose right next to Luke, and he kicked at it, while Lucy, dragging herself across the ground, reached toward her lost weapons. Gordon played a discordant note that shot pain through Luke's ears as it disoriented the Hollow attacking him. Luke kicked it again, this time in the face, and got raked across the leg in turn. Cursing, he activated The Healer's Moment and reached for Lucy.

  Even in her damaged state, she'd crawled too far for Weaver's Grasp to reach. No matter how much he strained with Threads of Mana. He only pushed the reach about an inch, far from enough. Instead, he bore the pain of healing his own leg and made himself ready for when the moment ended. Once it did, he brought out the quarterstaff and slammed it into the Hollow's head, before throwing himself down to the ground next to Lucy, grabbing her leg.

  Threads of Mana found the wound in an instant. Five punctures from the clawed fingers of the Hollow. They were deep enough to slice through her muscles and puncture the lining of her stomach. She screamed as he stitched her up, repairing her insides as best he could.

  A second Hollow joined the first, both of them throwing themselves toward Luke and Lucy. Just as they were about to reach, Josh crashed into the pair, all three of them going down in a heap next to Luke, who saw several wounds in the Juggernaut's chest, arms, and even face.

  In the distance, more Hollows appeared, like they'd just been waiting for the right moment. These bastards were learning. Josh pushed a monster off himself using the shield, rose, and stomped his heel into another Hollow's head, crushing it. Clawed fingers scraped against his armor without effect as the Juggernaut brought his mace down on his enemies again and again with a stoic calm that stood in stark contrast to what the mages were doing.

  Ken was shouting like a madman, waving his hands around while his spell book hovered in the air before him. The ground cracked, then yawned open beneath the feet of several Hollows, swallowing them up, before the Mage turned his attention to the closest group, skewering them with the shards of ice spell he'd shown before.

  "I hate these ugly bastards~" Gordon sang, playing a jerky melody on the lute. "So fucking much~" Notes sprang up all around him, some heading for Hollows and others for Ken and Mia. "I need a drink after this~ Screw my liver~"

  Mia held her arms up and over, cradling her head as she hunched over, letting out a low, bass-filled moan that seemed to go on forever, spreading until it reverberated through Luke's skull. A pair of Hollow reached them, and Mia's arms turned into the same kind of tentacles that'd reached through the hole in the air earlier, and they whipped out, crushing the Hollows like they were nothing. Her eyes glowed red, and her face grew longer and took on a monstrous quality.

  Josh and Lucy were both up, fighting, and Luke followed. He used his quarterstaff to keep Hollows at bay as the group thinned them out.

  "Mia!" Gordon shouted.

  Luke looked up to see Mia's tentacle arm wrapped around Gordon's midsection. The lute had fallen to the ground. Ken raised his arms, and vines sprang from the ground, grabbing Mia's tentacle to pry it off the Bard. Gordon's screams turned into a wet squealing sound as Luke ran. Time seemed to slow as Mia's mouth opened into a hideous grin, showing white rows of jagged teeth.

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  "Despicable humans," the creature hissed as it squeezed.

  "Not cool~" Gordon grunted, blood spewing from his mouth.

  A crack, bones breaking. A crunch, flesh torn apart. Mia squeezed the life out of him, and Gordon's body came apart.

  "No!" Luke shouted, running at full tilt. Without slowing down at all, he lowered his shoulder and threw his weight against the thing that'd taken over Mia. Even with all that momentum, Luke bounced off Mia like he was a fly trying to ram a concrete wall.

  Mia laughed, a deep guttural sound as Luke fell.

  Josh's mace came down on her tentacle, and bounced off like it was a toy. Lucy's katar broke through the skin but didn't penetrate deep enough.

  "Heal Gordon!" Ken shouted.

  Dazed, Luke, still on the ground, crawled over to Gordon. Blood and guts spilled out of both parts of him. His stomach, liver, and everything else in Gordon's midsection were just gone. Crushed into paste. Despite all this, Gordon still lived. With a face paler than death, he stared up into the blue sky, unblinking.

  "It was a fun ride~" he whispered.

  "Hold on!" Luke shouted as he grabbed Gordon's belt, pulling the two pieces of him together. It wouldn't work, he knew it wouldn't work. Still, Luke had to try. After consuming the Mana Gem from Simon straight from his inventory, he held out his hands and released all his mana to bring Gordon back, but it was no use. His healing mana could not restore what was already gone. Not like this. Signs of combat rang out behind him, but it was muted, far away. Luke stared into Gordon's eyes as the life went out of them.

  Gordon was gone.

  A massive weight slammed into Luke's back, and he went sprawling, the wind knocked out of him. Coughing, he turned and saw it was Josh. Lucy lay on her side nearby, and Ken struggled to keep the tentacles back, holding the otherworldly creature at bay.

  It laughed again, a deep rumble, and broke free of Ken's spells like they were nothing. Rather than attack, however, it stared down at Luke, its glowing red eyes searching, looking for something. It nodded and then withdrew. Mia's arms returned, turning human, and her face became her own again.

  "What?" she asked, looking around. "What happened?"

  Mia's eyes went wide, and she put a hand to her mouth, drawing in a sharp breath as she saw Gordon's remains.

  "What happened?" she asked again, her voice shrill. Then she held up her hand in front of her face. Either the memories of what'd just happened returned to her, or she made the connection without them. "I did this," she said, her lower lip trembling.

  She leaned over and vomited, tears streaming down her face. Mia made small sounds like squeals, hands over her face as she rocked back and forth. "No, no, no, no."

  Josh struggled to his feet and reached for her, but Mia pulled away.

  "It wasn't your fault," Josh said.

  Ken just stood there, shaking his head. "The hell it wasn't."

  Mia looked up at him, her face twisted in grief. "I can't do this," she stammered. "This isn't right. This isn't me."

  Luke wasn't sure what to say. On one hand, she'd been possessed by that presence and hadn't been in control of herself. On the other hand, she chose to cast that spell, whatever it was. That layer of wrongness in her brain was more pronounced now. It was that thing’s influence over her, Luke was sure of it. That influence was stronger now. How long until she was taken over again?

  He wasn't about to have someone like that in his party, someone he couldn't trust. So he said nothing and allowed her to come to the logical conclusion on her own.

  "I have to leave the party," Mia said. She looked down at Gordon, mumbling, "I’m sorry." Then she turned and left without another word, heading back toward the portal, leaving the party.

  They stood there watching her go. Gordon's life bar disappeared from Luke's interface the moment the old punk rocker died. There was no bringing him back. The reality of the dangers they were in weighed on the group. Luke felt as if he could almost sense a dread simmering at the edges of his consciousness, held back by Guide's mind tweak, and he found himself grateful for it. It was the first death. The first person he hadn't been able to save.

  "Did anyone know his last name?" Luke asked. "We'll have to notify the DIA, I think."

  "Should we bury him?" Josh asked.

  They stood in silence, letting the question hang in the air between them. Then the dungeon answered the question for them. Light shimmered across Gordon's body, and he disappeared. The other deceased underwent the same process, leaving only the dead Hollows.

  "Where did he go?" Ken asked.

  "Maybe we'll find out at some point," Luke said.

  "What now?" Lucy asked. "Do you want to go on or leave?"

  "I'm staying," Luke said.

  "Me too," Josh agreed.

  Lucy nodded. "Let's continue."

  "Shouldn't we get more people, though?" Ken asked. "There are only four of us now."

  "Let's keep it small," Josh said. "I'm sure we'll meet other people deeper inside."

  "Just make sure they aren't Hollows," Luke said.

  The group set out, their party much diminished, but their goal of finding the Hollow Queen and gaining in strength and power still pushing them forward.