Chapter 214: Chapter 214
The private ward at Dian Cecht Familia’s clinic carried the tense quiet of a place where everyone was trying very hard not to frighten the wounded.
The curtains had been drawn, the lamps were turned low, and the smell of medicine hung thick in the room.
One survivor lay awake on the nearest bed with bandages across his shoulder and ribs. His eyes were open, but they did not focus properly.
The other adventurer was unconscious on the far bed, breathing under a sedative while his fingers twitched every few seconds against the blanket.
Eina stood near the foot of the first bed with a folder held tight against her chest.
Her uniform was neat, her expression controlled, yet the tension around her eyes gave her away.
Rayleigh had seen Eina worried before.
This was different.
This was the look of someone who had already guessed the answer and badly wanted to be wrong.
"Thank you for coming," she said quietly. "His name is Lott. Level Two. His party took a side route near one of the older collapsed passages. He’s the only one who returned. The second survivor came from another group, but their descriptions overlap."
Airmid moved to Lott’s bedside first.
She did not rush to touch him, which was why Rayleigh trusted her in this kind of room.
She introduced herself, told him what she needed to check, and waited until the man gave the smallest nod before placing her fingers at his wrist.
The moment Rayleigh came closer, Lott’s breathing changed.
Fear rushed across his face.
His fingers twisted into the blanket, and he tried to pull away from the side of the bed despite barely having the strength to move.
Airmid shifted slightly so he could look at her instead, while Rayleigh stopped where he was and drew his Reiatsu in tight.
"No... keep that away," Lott whispered. "Please, don’t bring it near me."
Rayleigh understood enough from that reaction alone.
The man was not afraid of him.
Something about Rayleigh’s spiritual pressure had touched the same place as the injury, and Lott’s body remembered before his mind could sort out the difference.
Airmid held his wrist and spoke softly, her voice steady in a way that did not treat him like a child.
She told him Rayleigh would stay back, that nobody would force anything, and that he only needed to breathe until the worst of the fear passed.
It took time, but she did not hurry him.
Gradually, Lott’s breathing slowed enough for Eina to begin asking questions.
His story came out in pieces.
His party had taken a shortcut because the main route was crowded.
The passage had been old but supposedly usable.
At first, the only strange thing was the silence. Then the torches went out one by one, each flame vanishing as if pinched by invisible fingers.
One of his companions noticed a crack in the wall that had not been there before and touched it before anyone could stop him.
Lott’s hand tightened around Airmid’s sleeve.
"He said something breathed behind the stone," he whispered. "After that, the corridor felt wrong. I stepped forward, but my head felt like it stayed behind. When I looked at my hand, it moved late. Karz screamed, and when I turned, he was already on the ground. His mouth kept moving, but the words came out broken."
Eina’s face paled slightly.
Tsubaki, standing by the door, had gone very still.
Rayleigh listened without interrupting.
The Dungeon could be cruel in plenty of ways, but this did not feel like a normal monster ambush.
Lott continued after Airmid steadied him again.
"There was a shape by the wall. Then above us. Then behind the light. Every time we looked, it wasn’t where it should have been. I don’t know if it was one thing or many. I don’t know if it was a monster."
His voice broke there.
Airmid stopped the questioning immediately and focused on bringing his breathing back under control.
Eina did not push. That alone told Rayleigh she had already heard enough to be frightened.
When Lott calmed, Rayleigh approached again, slower this time.
"I can ease part of the reaction," he said, keeping his voice low. "It will not fix the whole wound, and I won’t force it shut. Your body is catching on the damaged area every time energy moves near it. I can smooth the worst of that so you can rest."
Lott looked terrified, but Airmid explained the process in simpler words and made sure he understood he could stop them.
Once he agreed, Rayleigh placed two fingers lightly against his chest and let a thin thread of Kaidō sink in.
The injury answered sharply.
Lott gasped, and Airmid immediately held him steady, speaking to him through it.
Rayleigh kept the flow as small as he could.
This was not ordinary healing.
The damaged structure felt like a torn channel that had been twisted and left to rub against itself with every breath.
Pouring power into it would only make the friction worse, so he guided the roughest edges back into place and withdrew before the body started depending on his energy.
Lott’s breathing slowly evened out.
Airmid checked him again, and the smallest hint of relief touched her face. "The feedback has settled. He still needs quiet, and no one with strong magic should approach unless necessary, but he should be able to sleep without his body panicking every few minutes."
Eina wrote that down quickly, then handed Rayleigh a copied route map.
"These are the two locations. On a normal map, they look separate. If hidden passages are involved, that may mean nothing."
Rayleigh studied the markings.
The two points were far enough apart that most people would call them unrelated, yet that was exactly the kind of comfort that got people killed under Orario.
Knossos had never cared about surface logic.
Old branches, sealed doors, artificial corridors, routes brushing close to the Dungeon, things Daedalus’s descendants should have left buried; any one of those could connect places that looked separate on paper.
Tsubaki said the name first.
"Knossos."
Eina did not confirm it right away.
She looked down at her folder instead, and that hesitation was enough.
"Lord Ouranos have been informed," she said after a moment. "Only a small number of Guild officials know the details. We are treating it as a possible remnant incident until we have confirmation."
Rayleigh folded the map carefully. "If this really touches Knossos, sending a large team immediately will only warn whoever is inside. We need survivor statements, old access records, route checks, and someone who remembers which collapsed passages were never properly sealed."
Eina nodded. "Finn will be informed if Loki Familia support becomes necessary. Astraea Familia may also be contacted."
"They should be," Tsubaki said, her voice rough. "If Evilus leftovers are involved, those girls deserve to know before the city starts whispering."
Airmid had moved to the second survivor, but she spoke while checking his pulse.
"I want a treatment point close to the investigation route. I cannot fight whatever did this, but if the wounds are like Lott’s, waiting until the end of the operation could make the damage harder to reverse."
Rayleigh looked at her.
She did not sound brave in the showy way adventurers liked.
She sounded like a healer stating what needed to be done, and that made it harder to argue.
"You should be near the safe point," he said. "Close enough for the wounded to reach you quickly, far enough that nobody throws you into the front line by accident."
Airmid’s eyes flicked toward him, clearly noticing the word "accident," but she let it pass.
Eina seemed troubled, though she did not reject the idea. "Dian Cecht-sama may object."
Airmid’s expression remained calm. "I will speak to him."
Tsubaki gave a low chuckle. "Poor old man."
Rayleigh glanced at her. "You sound like you don’t feel sorry for him at all."
"I don’t."
That sounded exactly like Tsubaki, which somehow made the room feel a little less suffocating.
The humor faded quickly when Lott shifted on the bed and mumbled something in his sleep.
Airmid returned to his side immediately, and Rayleigh looked down at the map again.
Rayleigh tucked the route map into his coat. "I’ll check a few things at the forge before meeting Ouranos. If the wound left a recognizable trace, I want to compare it against old materials and spiritual residue before I start guessing in front of the Guild."
Eina’s face showed clear relief at that, probably because "I will prepare before talking" was already more responsible than what she expected from most adventurers.
"Please come as soon as you can. Once rumors spread, some Familia will try to search for hidden routes on their own."
Rayleigh sighed. "Orario really does have too many people who hear ’dangerous sealed tunnel’ and think ’possible treasure.’"
Eina’s smile was tired. "That is why the Guild has paperwork."
"That may be the least comforting sentence anyone has said today."
Airmid glanced up from the bed. "It is still better than no paperwork."
Rayleigh looked at the wounded men and could not argue.
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