Azarinth Healer: Book One - A LitRPG Adventure, page 67
You can do this. Ilea heard the voice of her mind speaking. They’re just normal guardians. You’ve faced worse, much worse, and you’re stronger. Stronger than you’ve ever been.
But then the bitter cold resurfaced. Gnawing at her thoughts, at her rational mind, leaving only a hollow mix of doubt and guilt.
You aren’t cut out for this… you’re just a college student far from home… out of your depth… so many died… you couldn’t save them… you ran…
Ilea clenched her muscles, Reconstruction flowing into her mind and through her body, but she remained unmoving. The voices of the others in the room sounded distant.
“It’s just two of them. We cannot linger,” Stevan whispered to Jeremy, who had gone back over to the mage and Rin. “We can take them down, and she can heal us after if anything happens. Come on.”
Ilea saw Jeremy look over at her again, then he nodded. Rin too looked over at Ilea with sympathetic eyes before she nodded. Determined.
“Let’s go. As quietly as possible,” she said as her dwarven blades started glowing red. Jeremy’s shield became encrusted with rock, while magic frost started gathering around Stevan.
“I will open…” the mage said, stepping out of the house. Using her sphere, Ilea dully saw a spike of ice form and hit one of the guardians. The two machines engaged the group, and Rin and Jeremy ran at them with weapons drawn as spikes and mist of ice hit the guardians to slow and damage them.
Rin received a cut to her arm as she entered the first guardian’s guard, slicing the machine with both of her blades. Jeremy blocked the other machine’s weapons as spikes of earth hit the enemy from below, summoned with each blocked hit caught on his shield.
The first of the guardians fell half a minute later, a spike of ice finishing it. The three focused on the second enemy and quickly downed it. Rin’s glowing swords cleaved through its neck before she landed with a flip.
Her arm was bleeding heavily as they returned to Ilea, who was still healing her mind as she watched them without reacting. She felt numb.
“We have to continue. We have to fight. I’m sorry, but we have to,” Rin said. She didn’t mention her bleeding arm, but when she gently touched Ilea’s shoulder, mana flowed through Ilea and fixed the woman’s wounds. It happened out of instinct, like muscle memory. Ilea felt like she was watching herself, removed from her own actions. Rin smiled and tugged at Ilea’s arm.
“Thank you. We’ll get you out of here, alright?” she told Ilea, and she held her shaking hands tightly with her own.
Ilea watched the scene in her sphere as if she was still watching the battle. She felt detached, distant…
Stevan scoffed as he looked at her, but then he shook his head, focusing again. Some of the apathy left his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a whisper that Ilea only heard thanks to her sphere.
Something about seeing Stevan, the freaking chandelier mage, pull himself together and even apologize felt so ridiculous to her. She took in a rasping breath and smiled, tilting her head back before she shuddered, the memory of the cold vanishing with the gesture.
She gritted her teeth and balled her fists, fear replaced by anger.
What the hell was that? she thought, confused about the panic and fear that had suddenly gripped her.
‘ding’ Curse Resistance reaches lvl 2
It’s still there…
Ilea activated her Pain Tolerance again. She hissed, and Rin immediately checked on her again, stopping the other two in their tracks.
“Walk on… I’m fine…” Ilea said through gritted teeth. “I have to… do this…”
She forced herself to keep walking. The pain was less terrible, but it was still there. Remnants of the cold were in her, yet it wasn’t as prominent as earlier. The pain helped her focus.
Need to get out of here…
The four of them kept walking, entering the houses again to avoid more guardian encounters. Two streets later, Ilea groaned. She had tried to speak, but the pain had gotten to her lips first.
“What is it?” Jeremy asked, checking their surroundings.
“People… there,” Ilea said, pointing to a house on the left beyond the square in front of them, where she had seen four people on the first floor. She grimaced through the pain of raising her arm. Her tolerance had leveled again five minutes earlier.
The group entered the house, and Jeremy announced their presence before they went up to the first floor.
“We’re from the expedition. Can you hear us? We have a healer,” he called up, and Ilea saw the people start moving agitatedly. Two of them were preparing to fight.
“Come up then!” a familiar voice replied. Ilea recognized it as the voice of the arcane mage who had blocked in the Praetorians before their flight. They went upstairs and found the arcane mage and another mage, who had bloodied clothes but otherwise wasn’t in too bad of a condition. One of the smiths was with them, holding a smith’s hammer, ready to strike. The last of the group was one of the scouts who was without both armor and weapons.
“Anybody hurt?” Jeremy asked, but the arcane mage, who seemed to have become the leader of the small group, shook his head.
“We didn’t encounter any more guardians after the initial assault. If you have food and water though…”
Ilea summoned the last of her food and handed it to Rin, who was standing a little behind Jeremy. The mage had likely noticed the storage item but didn’t seem to care at that moment. Rin handed the food to the group, whose eyes lit up as they went through it in seconds.
“No water, sadly. But it shouldn’t be too far to the regroup location. Maybe a couple hours,” Jeremy said.
The arcane mage nodded. “Thank you. We’ll move on then, or do you need a break?”
Jeremy shook his head. “We move on.”
They all got up before the last of Ilea’s armor clattered to the floor.
“This is the last I have.” A spear, a war hammer, and two shields fell to the ground as well. “A spear?” She looked at the scout, who nodded.
“A spear…” he said, and he grabbed the weapon and a shield. The smith threw away his hammer and grabbed the war hammer and the other shield instead. They nodded to Ilea, who was looking at the ground before her. The bitter cold was whispering that these new allies would surely die, and she had to force herself not to listen as the battle between curse and Reconstruction raged in her mind.
The group continued in silence for the next hour. Luckily, no more enemies were encountered, and they soon reached a part of the residential area they had cleared out before.
“We’ll be out in an hour,” the arcane mage said as they walked through another house. An empty square lay outside before them, and Jeremy motioned for the group to follow the mage’s lead.
As they reached the middle of the square, the tank suddenly spun around and deflected a spear with his shield. The weapon continued into the closest house and vanished again.
“Get back!” he shouted as he looked over at the Centurion that had emerged from a side street.
Ilea gasped, and the cold bloomed within her, deadening her senses and filling her with fear. She stumbled backward, and the smith grabbed her, strapping his shield to his back.
“Come on, lassy, we’ll only be in the way,” he said calmly, rushing her to the nearest house. The rest of the group faced the Centurion.
Useless… weak… the cold whispered to Ilea.
Fuck off, she thought, her fists straining. But she was a liability at present, she knew that much. She would fall back for now and watch with her sphere.
“Can we just run away?” the scout asked.
Jeremy shook his head. “We have open space here, and these things are damn fast. Mages to the back, we’ll have to whittle it down. Prepare.”
Then the Centurion was upon them, and Ilea watched on as the group moved into a formation. The mages attacked it from behind while the scout and Rin circled the machine and Jeremy tried to hold its attention, clashing his new sword against his shield.
Die… they will all die…
She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, breathing hard.
No they won’t.
The smith watched from the doorway as Ilea leaned on a nearby wall, her breathing ragged. He alternated between looking at the fight and her.
Jeremy was thrown back by the Centurion’s attack before it was distracted by Rin’s burning blades. The scout managed to get a spear attack in before being punched back by the enemy and hitting his head hard on the stone floor.
Magic missiles were being fired by the mages, exploding as they hit the Centurion and forcing it to try and block them with its spear.
Weak…
No… she thought as the cold rose up inside her once again. I’m not…
They will suffer…
“No…”
Her own voice began to drown out the whispering cold that sounded so much like her. The pain in her body was agonizing, the bitter frost in her stomach all-consuming.
They will die…
“No… I won’t let them.”
The back of her fist hit the wall next to her, slapping onto the stone with barely a sound.
You will lose…
“No…” she said, louder now. The smith was staring at her with worry on his face.
Her left arm rubbed tears away from her eyes as they focused. Looking at the battle through her sphere, she saw Jeremy was bleeding from his side. Rin circled the Centurion before being thrown back, hitting the ground hard.
You will fail…
“No,” she said again, her voice echoing in the large empty room. Lines of red and yellow fire formed on her body as she punched the wall again, causing it to crack. The smith looked back at the noise with wide eyes.
You will die…
“No!” Ilea shouted, blue runes shining inside her armor as her fist blasted through the wall, reducing it to rubble.
She saw Jeremy, still reeling from the last spear he had deflected, with horror on his face as the Centurion advanced on the downed Rin. The mages were attacking non-stop, but the Centurion didn’t seem to care. The scout was scrambling to his feet unsteadily.
Rin looked at the advancing spear and closed her eyes. Then the sound of metal on flesh rang through the air. Rin gasped and opened her eyes – unharmed.
“I said, no…” Ilea said to the machine quietly, struggling to hold the spear in front of her.
The Centurion yanked the spear from her grasp and thrust it at her. She moved her body slightly to the right. The spear glanced off her Shroud of Ash and the armor below before a jab from her right fist hit the machine’s outstretched arm, sending destructive mana through its body.
The machine continued its assault, but none of its hits seemed to connect. The mages continued their barrage as Jeremy used one of his small healing spells to steady the scout, who was still swaying from his head wound.
Ilea moved in time with the Centurion, seeing Rin scramble backward before pulling herself up and circling the machine again, and she blinked behind it when it tried to grab her, sending mana through it when it managed to grasp her arm. Its spear was deflected again and again by her armor and shroud.
She moved her body ever so slightly at all times, never allowing a direct hit to land. Focused entirely on the battle, her fists hit with all the strength and mana she could muster.
There were dozens of scratches on her armor by the time the machine went into its final aggressive phase. She stopped attacking and simply dodged the crazed machine and deflected its wild attacks that were directed at the others.
The magic and her occasional flow of destructive mana whittled the enemy down until its core started glowing. She blinked away immediately before the Centurion could grab her and managed to get a couple of meters in front of it, putting herself between the machine and the rest of the group.
“Jeremy!” she shouted, and a dense wall of rock formed in front of her, which was immediately atomized by the explosion. Ilea held her ground, blocking any large debris from hitting the mages behind her as she narrowed her eyes. Metal and rock were still falling when she turned around.
“Anyone else nearby must’ve heard that. We have to move,” she said, a slight smile on her face below the helmet and a warm feeling in her stomach.
‘ding’ Curse Resistance reaches lvl 3
She ignored the rest of the messages but noted that both her classes had leveled by one. She put her new stat points into Wisdom as she knew she would likely need to do a lot of healing when she reached the others.
The group ran back to the dungeon entrance, Ilea at the front. Thanks to her sphere, she noticed Jeremy glance at Rin, and both were smiling at each other.
The last stretch of the way was littered with destroyed guardians and even another crater that had obviously been created by a defeated Centurion. Some corpses of adventurers were strewn about as well, but it didn’t deter the group as they ran faster, driven by hope.
Suddenly, Ilea stopped and turned around. The rest of the group continued running, but Rin slowed down and shouted to Ilea.
“Lilith, we have to go! Come on!!”
Ilea looked at the empty street with clenched fists, slowly raising them to remove her helmet. It vanished in her hands.
The street was lit up by the same eerie green light that characterized this dungeon, illuminating the destroyed guardians of this ancient place.
“There will always be a drake,” Ilea said quietly before she turned around.
And for this one too, I shall be back…
SIXTY-TWO
Survivors
“Will they follow us outside the dungeon?” one of the mages shouted as they ran through the caves, arcane magic lighting the way.
“They shouldn’t!” the scout shouted from further back.
Ilea was running at the rear, sometimes looking behind her to see if anything was following them. The doors were too small for the Praetorians to follow immediately, but she was sure they could break through in time.
“It would be highly unusual…” the arcane mage said, “…but we don’t know much about the Taleen machines, especially the Praetorians…”
He kept on talking as they ran. Twenty minutes later, they reached the rendezvous location deep in the caverns below Karth. They were greeted by torches and shouts, the stalactites and natural rock formations quite a welcome sight to Ilea after the monotonous designs of dwarven homes and streets.
“We have more survivors!” a warrior shouted, beckoning the group over. Ilea jogged up to the camp after everyone else and looked around.
A pitiful fire was sputtering its last breath, barely illuminating the dark caves and downtrodden faces. Some of them looked up to check who had joined them, while others seemed preoccupied with other things, be it grief, fear, or anger. Ilea noticed that some of the adventurers didn’t seem as fazed as others. In fact, those wrestling with emotions were relatively few. Most of the survivors were getting on with practical matters like getting some sleep, sharpening weapons, or meditating to restore mana. It seemed a little callous at first, but Ilea assumed they were all somewhat used to the fatal outcome of a failed expedition.
I need a warm bed and some nice snacks…
She sighed, sitting down by the fire, just as a big hand landed on her shoulder, making her twitch a little.
“I’m glad you survived, Il— Lilith. You’ve seen better days,” Lorcan grunted, sitting next to her. He didn’t mention the startled twitch, for which Ilea was grateful. She wasn’t sure if it was the lingering effects of the curse or just her own frayed and battered nerves, but she hated looking so vulnerable in front of strong fighters like Lorcan.
“Glad you survived as well, Agor.”
No further words were spoken as both weary adventurers stared into the flames, joining the others in their solemn musings. Across the fire, Ilea saw that Jasper had survived as well, though he was now missing an arm. She forced herself to her feet and walked over to the man, though not before briefly touching Agor’s shoulder in a similar gesture to the one he had offered her.
“Jasper. Your arm,” she simply stated before she started healing.
“Thank you, glad you made it out. Didn’t think I’d end up saying that to you… monster.”
His arm twitched as bone, then muscle, and finally flesh were reborn through mana.
“Thank you for saving them,” he whispered, glancing over at the others in Ilea’s group. He must’ve heard about the Centurion. That or he simply assumed I did.
Whatever story he’d heard, not a word was uttered about her stockpile of armor or the necklace. It was perhaps a trivial matter after what had happened, yet it was one that would demand a reaction from the expedition leader had he been made aware. The fact he remained ignorant of Ilea’s secrets was a testament to the companionship Ilea’s group had forged with one another in the little time they had spent together.
A bond formed by blood. Or something like that…
Nobody had managed to bring any food with them, and some bellies were rumbling in the dark. Conversations were kept to a minimum as the group rested. Jasper had decided to wait for another three hours before they returned to the Root and, subsequently, Dawntree.
There were twenty-two people in all, eight of them from Ilea’s group. A surprisingly high number of survivors, Ilea thought, having seen the slaughter first-hand. She decided to wait with the other leaders should somebody injured arrive who she could perhaps save with her magic. But the hours passed, and nobody else turned up.
“We go then. Maybe some scouts can return at a later date to find the remains,” Jasper said, getting up from the stone he had been sitting on.
Ilea stayed seated for a moment. She had played the fight in the throne room before her eyes time and time again, thinking of a way she could’ve changed the outcome, but nothing came to mind.
The feelings of fear, and even guilt, were confusing. These were things she hadn’t felt in quite some time. Differentiating between what the curse had done to her mind and her own musings was difficult. Watching others die, coming close to death herself, being so helpless and unable to even scratch the enemy… it was different to simply being caught in a near-fatal dwarfish deathtrap. The overwhelming odds hadn’t given her the thrill they usually would have. Not when there were other lives on the line than her own. And, she realized, she was also afraid to die herself. She had made a new life here, one she didn’t want to lose.
