Chapter 43

“About time you showed up,” a familiar and deeply unexpected voice called to me from a short ways away. I turned, throwing up a shield of flames and conjuring a scatter of bolts to hand as I spun to face the massively armored bulk of Marcus, sitting comfortably just inside of the treeline. He waited for several seconds in silence before slowly standing up, his enormous hammer resting against the tree beside him. He tugged on his gloves, resettling his armor as if I wasn’t standing twenty feet away and surrounded by fire.

“I was worried you had fallen and I was going to have to fight this one alone.” He gestured to the bear, pulling over his hammer as if it didn’t weigh as much as some cars. “The rest went ahead without me.” He gestured to the clearing, taking a moment to almost daintily pick a small branch from where it had stuck into his armor and been ground off by his movement. “I see that’s not the case, however. You even brought friends. That, I will confess, is unexpected.”

Marcus looked over the loose collection that had followed me over; though I couldn’t see his face, I could sense the grudging respect from the set of his shoulders and the way his helm canted slightly, as if appraising. I slowly let my guard drop, the flames fizzling out after a moment. The others stared at the man in confusion and concern, unsure what could make me freak out like that. “Marcus,” I finally called back, tentatively. “Good to see you,” I lied smoothly, and added, “And good to have you… on our side?”

His laugh was genuine, startlement briefly cracking his mien. “Yes, David. Today, I am on your side. If they are, too…” He turned his helm to look past me, eyes briefly catching the light as he surveyed them, “Then I suppose I am on our side.” He laid his hands, one atop the other, on the top of the haft of his hammer. He swept one gauntlet briefly toward the bear, dismissively. “I had a chance to watch how it fights. Slow, direct attacks in front, weak but quick attacks the rest of the way around. It’s very resilient to damage, and those barbs seem to be poisoned. The stomach, throat, and face seem to be its’ weak points, and the more you hurt it, the angrier it gets.” I could hear the smile in his voice, the professorial tone. “Its’ direct attacks are strong enough to rend steel armor, so I’d recommend anyone coming from the front be prepared to evade rather than blocking directly.” He spread his hands wide in a welcoming gesture. “Questions?”

“David,” Ella murmured from behind me, “Who the fuck is this guy?”

Cenna watched the man like a mouse spotting a cat, unnaturally still and quiet. Twigged to it by her demeanor, I opened my senses, and felt the enormous weight of bloodlust spilling from him in waves, the mana it touched like ripples of blood. I could feel an enormous pressure in the air around us, lapping at the edges of my own aura as if testing them.

I realized the others also seemed to be wary of him, fear flickering over their faces; these were people who had stood with me against the Leviathan and the Stag without flinching, and this man had them scared? I drew in a deep breath, allowing myself to inspect the feeling of fear radiating from the man, filling my head with irrational terror. I frowned at him, and crossed my arms. “Is that some kind of test?” I asked him, mirroring his stance, my body squared up toward him. “Not very polite of you.”

All at once, the sensation of pressure ceased, and it seemed like the others could breathe again. “I had almost thought I had left you too far behind. I see it wasn’t fear , but caution that set you off. Good, David, I’m proud of your progress. We’re going to need that, you see.”

The others were staring at him in confusion, the aura of fear evident now that it was gone.

“That thing you do, turning fire into metal? It is much stronger than steel. I’d suggest infusing some of your more defensive allies if you do not want them to die, and possibly making some for yourself. It’d be a shame for you to make it this far, and die.”

“How do you know about that?” I asked him, growling out the words.

“David, please,” he answered, reaching up to draw off his helmet. The Blacksmith stared back at me, his coal-black face split with a smile that I wasn’t sure I could answer. “You don’t recognize me? I was shocked, to be honest; I had no idea you had such an affinity for the hammer. The work you’ve done since? Impressive, for an amateur. Inspired, really; it’s a lucky thing the System cares more for intent than for action, or else I imagine you would’ve found much less success… at first, anyway. You do not lack for determination, once you’ve set your mind to something.”

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Ella growled at me from a few steps away, “David, what the hell is going on?”

“This is Marcus,” I answered with a gesture toward the man. “He’s nearly killed me twice, now, and for a while he was pretending to be your town blacksmith, before I showed up.”

“I was not pretending, David,” his tone was patronizing. “I am a blacksmith by trade, here. I needed a place to set up shop and perfect my armor; at least, this state of it. I’m sure I will repeat the process again when we begin to encounter proper E-grade materials.” His smile was bright and warm, but never left his lips nor even made it close to his eyes. He put his helmet back on, and it seemed to lock into place, as if becoming one with the suit of armor. “But you don’t know about any of that, do you, David? You’re rather too single-minded to be properly curious, but at least you can be when prodded. I hadn’t expected to encounter you there, to tell you the truth; there was no grand plot to infiltrate the populace to arrange a secret meeting with you, just… well. It’s hard to say if chance really exists; I suspect the Scribe is keeping a close eye on this tutorial.”

Marcus turned from me, stepping up to the edge of the clearing. The bear swiveled its’ head to face us, seemingly watching for the instant he crossed the line. It licked its’ maw, saliva slopping up some of the blood that drenched its’ jaws. Dull, idiot eyes regarded us from the center of the clearing, an utter lack of curiosity subsumed by ugly hunger.

“He won’t attack until you actually enter the clearing he made, and he seems reluctant to leave it; not a very bright one, but that’s hardly his fault. Gluttony isn’t known for being picky. ” The mountain of a man stepped into the clearing, and the bear roused itself up, drawing up to its’ full height, bellowing a challenge toward us, rattling the branches of the trees with the sheer force of it.

“Shit,” I growled, “Let’s go!” I paused on the edge of the clearing, and waved aside the most armored of our new allies, a pair in varying appearances of plate armor. One held before him an immense tower shield, his armor blocky and functional, looking more like a walking tank than a medieval knight; the other very much filled the archetype of a medieval knight, clad in polished plate with a red plume on his helm. I pulled deeply on my energy, placing one hand on the tower shield, and the other on the knight’s cuirass, pumping them both with as much energy as I could pour in a handful of seconds. I drew my Crystalflame hammer from thin air, and delivered a powerful series of strikes to their shields and armor, startling them with the sudden assault; when the hammer dissipated, their armor shone with waves of red, runes emblazoned from wherever the hammer had struck. I waved them forward, stumbling from the unexpected amount of energy drawn. I quickly summoned a halo of firebolts and sent them racing ahead to strike against the bear’s enormous hide. Marcus was in the lead, a slow jog despite the distance, and he shouted “Brace!” as suddenly the immense bear twisted in place, faster than its’ bulk should’ve made possible, and it charged toward us like a runaway train. I threw myself out of the way, wide-eyed, as it tore up gouts of blood and mud, scattering them outward behind itself as it reached the edge of the forest in a handful of seconds, smashing aside anyone slow enough to be caught in its’ path. The man with the tower shield was thrown a dozen feet aside as he deflected the impact; the knight beside him was less fortunate, and was directly struck by its’ immense bulk, crushed down into the mud in an instant. A couple of others were similarly too slow, though only one other died, an immense paw swiping him into a tree with enough force that he made no move to rejoin the fight, blood leaking through the gaps in his armor.

I dragged myself up, out of the mud, and turned to attack it, launching more bolts at its’ broad back. It hunched its’ body, bristling for a moment, and I threw up a fire shield just in time to intercept a shotgun-like spray of quills that sunk three feet deep into the dirt around me as my shield deflected the brunt of the attack, burning up the couple of quills that refused to glance aside. I heard screaming from next to me, one of the archers unlucky enough to be close to me when the quills struck, one of them having transfixed his knee, buried deep enough in the mud that he couldn’t pull it free.

The ursine monster twisted to pursue the tower shield-bearing man, its’ steps slow and ungainly, but with the weight of an avalanche. He deflected its’ claws in a burst of flames, the shield holding up under the blow, though he staggered back a couple of steps from the force. The man whose armor I had enchanted dragged himself out of the mud, his cuirass not even dented despite the force of impact, though I could see the runes sparking from having spent so much of their protective energy.

That delay was enough, however; Cenna darted in close, sliding underneath the quills to cut at the side of its’ stomach, plunging her daggers in to the hilt in a rapid series of strikes. Ella moved around to support the armored tank of a man, striking whenever it overextended itself to try and swat down the tower shield.

Marcus marched forward like the inevitability of death, his hammer laid across his hands, steady jog building up more speed than I expected as he closed with the monster’s side, slamming his hammer into its’ rear right knee, drawing a snarl of pain from the creature; while its’ movements slowed slightly, the hit didn’t seem to deal significant injury through the immense rolls of fat that enwrapped its body.

Dima stood back near the edge of the clearing, slowly summoning together the energy for his lightning familiar, the steady stream making it grow at a prodigious rate, turning into a floating serpent of crackling blue and yellow, twisting and knotting in the air around him.

It looked like the bear wasn’t keen to go down without a fight, shrugging off most of the hits against it, but the sheer weight of strikes seemed to be telling on it, more and more of its’ own blood joining the muddy lake at the center of the battlefield.