Return of the Woodcutter

His stomach now filled with food, Ogoro immediately went to see Lucius.

Taking position next to the still seemingly unconscious man lying on his side to prevent him from swallowing his tongue, he placed a hand on his broken spine to once again evaluate the damages caused by the Goliath.

Using his detailed knowledge of the human anatomy and enhanced sense of touch, he knew immediately felt the problems. He hoped that, before taking a nap, it had been just his imagination.

"How is the bastard, Goro?" Sheyla asked next to him.

"It's even worse than I originally thought," Ogoro frowned, swallowing his saliva. "The bastard is actually conscious, just unable to move. Haven't noticed it before since I was too exhausted."

Sheyla took a bite of dried cactus meat. "The bastard's spine is fractured all over the place?"

Ogoro shook his head. "The bastard's spine is indeed fractured in a few places. Five of the thirty-three vertebrae are broken. Two at the lumbar's level and three at the sacrum, clearly highlighting the point of impact around this area. The nerves connecting the top with the lower part of the body in these five vertebrae are a mess."

*Munch*

"However, that does not justify the bastard's complete paralysis," Sheyla said in between two bites. "It should only be a partial one."

"I see you didn't forget the anatomy lessons I gave you," He said, smiling. Soon his smile turned into a serious face, though. "Indeed, that fact alone is alarming. It would be understandable if the bastard was in a feelless state. The issue is he should have recovered if it were just that."

"Could it be there are other fractured vertebrae than those five?" Sheyla leaned to inspect Lucius's shirtless body. "There seems to be no apparent issue with the bastard's cervical and thoracic spine segments."

Compared to the bottom part of the warrior mage's spine, which was dark blue around the damaged area, the upper part looked perfectly normal.

Lucius, who was still conscious, heard the content of their conversation without missing a word. He appreciated the fact they were trying to help him, but…

'Stop calling me bastard when diagnosing me, you bastards!' Were his thoughts when he kept hearing them adding bastards to their sentences. Well, he knew he deserved it after how poorly he had treated them in the labyrinth and on the high floors.

On the 7th and 8th floors, he had given them orders with an iron grip. Lucius's hard practically treated them as additional puppets. That had been mostly because they were part of Aito's team.

They did not dare retaliate since it would only sow discord and diminish their chances of survival. In doing so, they had been more mature and smarter than him. He realized that now.

He regretted his decision and could only blame himself for his previous inadequate behavior. For instance, if he had waited for Aito just one or two more days, he would have been able to join them and this situation they were currently in would have never happened.

"On the outside, yes, the bastard looks fine," Ogoro replied to Sheyla, unaware of Lucius's commentary. "The problem is inside. It's difficult even with my gift to truly sense what's going on, so I'll need a bit of help with this."

"How can I help?" Sheyla asked.

Ogoro smirked, "I meant him."

"Oh, you meant the bastard," Sheyla imitated his smirk.

"Yes, the bastard."

Clearly, they had been doing this on purpose, knowing he was still conscious. How could they not see it when he was blinking?

Lucius wanted to yell out this unjust treatment. How dare they treat a paralyzed man this way!? Well, he couldn't know, but the siblings had been ruthless assassins before. The death or poor state of a bastard unfazed them.

And a little teasing was deserved after how much of a bastard he had been.

"If you understand, blink once." Lucius did as Ogoro told him. "Good. I normally wouldn't have helped, considering what you've done. But, you actually saved us before, so consider saving your life payment for this debt. Now, I can't guarantee I'll be able to help with your spine, since I'm only level 2 and my abilities are limited. I'll try nonetheless. So do exactly as I tell you."

*Blink*

"Alright. I want you to try moving your lower muscles. Continue to do so until I tell you to stop."

Ogoro activated his gift, spreading his sense of touch to Lucius's entire spine, looking for a signal of sorts, a vibration or wave.

When the brain sends orders to the lower body, it was bound to make tiny vibrations when the orders passed through the spine.

Normally, Ogoro wouldn't be able to sense them if he wasn't at least touching someone's body. It required him to only focus on an area. Doing so would increase his sensitivity, a trick he had picked up along the way.

He could sense a faint signal going down the cervical but stopped after two vertebrae. It never went further than the 3rd vertebrae.

"What the fuck did you do with your spine for it to end up this way, huh? Your brain's signal only goes down two or three vertebrae, then cuts off at C3. It's as if the nerves are fried while the bone structure is fine… hum. But that… wait, did you do something to your spine earlier? Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no.'"

*Blink*

"So the bastard fried his own nerves or something," Sheyla declared, finishing her loaf of bread. "That will be hard to repair, if not impossible. "

Ogoro cursed internally. Broken spines, severed nerves, fracture bones he could reconnect by sewing them back together. But fried nerves? Now that was on a whole other level of healing capabilities he simply did not possess.

Once would have to be able to recreate the nerves rather than simply sew them back together. That's why it was beyond his current set of skills.

"Fuck. I'm not good enough for this surgery, even with my Healing String at level 3 now." 

They had all acquired 1 stat and 1 skill point after completing the High Floor's quest, something he had chosen to invest in Healing String. No achievement was necessary to obtain them, just the quest completion was enough.

"I've already sewed back everything else, but this, this is beyond my current means. Sorry, Lucius," Ogoro said. "Your only chances at complete recovery are to find a Healing bead, level up since it heals your body automatically, or have a better battle surgeon look at your injuries. Perhaps the 4th floor's moderator would be able to help you. We can't go back there now, though. Only forward."

Lucius closed his eyes, grateful the ex-assassin at least tried to help with his case. He was unwilling to remain this way, not with his wife out of cold and in such an accursed place.

And so, he tried to tap into the source of power he previously felt. His soul core pulsed once. Ogoro, who had deactivated his gift, couldn't feel it. Tiny sparks of electricity manifested inside the warrior mage as he tried his best to control the input this time.

Apparently, he had used too much voltage for his spine's nerves to endure the first time. Even though they were now fried, he could theoretically move again if he managed to connect them with a voltage low enough it wouldn't injure the already badly-damaged nerves.

Despite his gifts and genius, it wasn't something he could do right out of the bat, not without worsening his nerves' state again. All his hope had been placed on the battle surgeon, but if there was nothing Ogoro could do for him, then he decided to rely on himself.

Lucius knew he could do it. He just needed time and effort.

"What about her?" Sheyla asked, nodding towards Elizabeth.

"Nothing I can do. Your boyfriend is the one supposed to take care of the remaining of her grey sickness or whatever the name is."

Ogoro slightly leaned to the side, barely avoiding a punch from his sister.

"Come on, sis. After that clawing the earth thing on the 7th floor, even the bastard knows," he said with a teasing smirk. "Even you who are gifted in camouflaging can't hide that anymore."

Sheyla looked aside, blushing. Despite the blue flames lighting the labyrinth, it was visible. "It's not like that."

"Really? Who are you trying to fool, but yourself?" Ogoro asked, poking at her playfully. There was no one around. George was keeping watch over the hole dug in the wall. Aito had taken Sheyla's shift, and Roisin was also on guard duty. The other challengers were either unconscious or paralyzed.

And frankly, they both cared little about Lucius's opinion.

"Don't you dare lie to your onii-chan straight to his face. We've looked after each other since we were children. Helped each other when we needed it most. We have always been there for each other. So of course I know you as well as if not better than you know yourself. I'm your big brother, after all.. No point in lying to me."

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