Cease the Suffering - Etrian Odyssey II (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 33

AN: Thanks so much Irish_Moon_Dreamer and SakuraiYoake for commenting and voting on the previous chapter! I hope you’ll enjoy reading this chapter, too!

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Chapter 33:

The cries of pain were quite potent and consistent. It wasn’t a sound that either Axel or Hamza had heard before. It wasn’t like a ‘normal’ yell of pain one would unintentionally release when one was unable to dodge or had misjudged an attack.

Racing down a narrow path, they reached a set of doors. Pausing for a moment, they were quick to realise that the sound was coming from the other side. They had no way in knowing what they could be walking into. There were a couple of Furyhorns and Raptors on the floor somewhere and they could be highly aggressive.

Axel didn’t like the fact that their party consisted of two rookies and Lynus, but there was no way they could simply walk away from someone in trouble.

“I want you three to stay at the back for now,” Hamza ordered before he turned to Axel. “Ready?”

Placing one hand on the door, the other once again seeking out for his axe, Axel nodded. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Bracing themselves, Axel and Hamza pushed the doors open and stepped inside. They had been expecting a rather gruesome battle scene, but instead the site was a little more…underwhelming.

A group of fellow explorers were huddled in a small protective circle in the middle of the small opening, fussing about with confused concern. The main focus of their attention was a blond-haired woman dressed in red with golden arm guards on her arms. It was obvious that she was an Alchemist. It was also quite telling that she had been the one crying out in pain. She was doubled over, clutching at her stomach, trembling quite violently.

Axel was somewhat familiar with this guild, although he couldn’t remember their guild’s name. They were a group of your average explorers; they haven’t done anything spectacular or anything notorious. They were just a group of explorers doing their own thing as safely as possible.

Hedrick, an elderly War Magus was the leader. The group consisted of a blond-haired female Alchemist, whom of which was Hedrick’s daughter, Shania. There was a grey-haired female Hexer called Annika, a blue-haired male Survivalist Ryker, and a blond-haired female Protector Shelia.

Axel shared a look with Hamza, both of them pleased to see that there wasn’t a life or death struggle occurring. But what was going on exactly?

Lynus slipped up next to Axel to peer around him, looking around. “Is someone hurt?” he immediately asked.

The group, however, hadn’t even noticed that they were there. Which wasn’t a good thing. If they were this distracted, anything could sneak up on them and take them all out.

“Do you need any assistance?” Hamza asked, striding boldly toward the group. He immediately realised that the distressed female wasn’t crying from fear, but of pain. There were no obvious injures, but she was obviously in pain.

Four members of the group were startled to see them. They spun around to face them, fear and panic on their faces. None of them appeared to have any kinds of injuries, though. The only one in distress was Shania who was being supported by her father’s arms.

“You…?” Survivalist Ryker uttered when he laid eyes on Lynus, his brow furrowed as if trying to place his face. “Don’t you work at the hospital?”

“Sometimes,” Lynus replied with a small smile.

“A Medic!” Protector Shelia exclaimed with intense relief. Her relief quickly turned to pleading, however, as she frantically pointed to Shania. “Please, you have to help her. We don’t know what’s wrong with her.”