Chapter 27: An Accident Brought by Side Effects

Once the excitement from defeating Nahash subsided, I came back to my senses. I found myself confronting the devastating aftermath of Connect Resonance.

Dungeon walls are normally incredibly solid and shouldn’t sustain even a scratch from magic or spells. Yet that torrent of light had defeated Nahash and bored a deep hole into the dungeon wall.

This is the kind of thing you absolutely should not fire at people…

I recognized anew the danger of that overwhelming power. A chill ran down my spine.

…At worst, if the dungeon conquest had failed, I can’t exactly say I was planning to ambush the three of them in the dark.

Even though I’d been desperate, I reflected deeply. I carved into my heart that this power should not be used carelessly.

However, those feelings of remorse were quickly drowned out by the relieved and joyful voices of my party members.

“We… we actually defeated it…!”

Prefa muttered in disbelief, still collapsed on the ground. Tears welled in her eyes.

Carnelia clutched her gun and exhaled deeply. Even Ichinose wore a faint smile.

“Ahaha… That was incredible firepower. With that, any monster would go down in one hit.”

Carnelia laughed. Excitement still lingered in her voice, but when she tried to stand up, she immediately fell on her rear.

“Wait, huh? What’s this? My legs won’t work…”

She stared at her legs and muttered in surprise. No matter how hard she tried to put strength into them, they wouldn’t respond at all, like a puppet with cut strings.

Ichinose was also leaning her weight against the wall, standing through sheer willpower alone. Undisguisable fatigue colored her face.

“It’s probably mana depletion.”

Prefa answered with a pale complexion. Her ears drooped limply, completely unlike their usual perky state.

“Mana depletion…? That severe?”

I checked my own mana reserves and still had plenty left. However, the other four all had ashen faces with cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

“Are you okay?”

Ichinose asked with a pale face, as if to confirm. Her voice held a trace of concern.

“Yes, I still have about 80 percent remaining.”

At my words, Ichinose’s eyes widened.

“E-eighty percent?”

I could see the blood drain from Ichinose’s face.

“I used Connect Resonance for the first time, but I didn’t realize it would be such a burden…”

Even though it was an emergency, as I thought, using a spell meant for ten people with only five was too demanding.

I couldn’t hide my own surprise at the greater-than-expected mana consumption.

Prefa, Carnelia, Elena, and Ichinose each wobbled and sat down. Mana depletion doesn’t just deplete one’s mana—it temporarily robs the body of freedom and makes using mana impossible.

“Still, being without mana inside a dungeon is dangerous.”

I felt anxious. At this rate, we wouldn’t be able to respond if we encountered the next monster. I reached into my pouch to retrieve a mana potion.

“Ah…”

However, from the aftershock of Connect Resonance earlier, nearly all the mana potion bottles in my pouch had shattered.

“They were so expensive…”

I looked at the broken bottles and ground my teeth—to think they wouldn’t be here when needed.

“If I’d known this would happen, I should have brought super-sized mana potions.”

I regretted prioritizing weight and reducing the number of mana potions when organizing my supplies. I never could have predicted such a situation.

What should I do…?

Even though we’d defeated the enemy, we were still deep in the dungeon. We didn’t know when the next monster would appear. There was no time.

It can’t be helped. This is the only way. I steeled my resolve.

“As emergency treatment, I’ll transfer my mana to you.”

When I announced that, their faces immediately showed complex expressions.

“We don’t have time, so I’ll do all four of you simultaneously.”

At my words, Ichinose’s face twitched. The other three also showed various reactions—blushing, averting their gazes.

Everyone understood what mana transfer meant in this world.

“Kh… Just get it over with.”

Ichinose hung her head and groaned as if enduring something. This must be humiliating for her.

“Ahaha, well, it is an emergency~”

Carnelia scratched her cheek and tried to crack her usual light jokes, but her expression was clearly strained.

“Medical treatment… This is medical treatment…”

Prefa muttered to herself as if trying to convince herself.

“……!”

Elena’s face turned bright red as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Each had their own unique reaction. All of them were trying to convince themselves it was unavoidable because it was an emergency.

I had the four lie down in a horizontal row. Then, to transfer mana, I held my hands over the area around their wombs where their mana cores were located.

“Right about here.”

When I muttered that, the four shut their eyes tightly as if bracing themselves.

“Well then, let’s begin~”

I spoke lightly to ease the tension.

I began flowing mana to recover about half of theirs. I felt my mana permeating their bodies at a surprising speed.

At this time, I didn’t know—that due to side effects from activating Connect Resonance, my mana had become much more receptive to those who had participated in the spell.

That meant mana transfer would be far easier than normal.

And combined with my enormous mana capacity, this would trigger an unforeseen situation.