Chapter 4

Truth be told we weren’t exactly ready to make our way back to Rivira but we had to at least get away from the clearing where we fought.

I still wasn’t thinking clearly but I managed to get one of the elf’s arms over my shoulder and, with Scott guiding me, hobbled away from the blood filled clearing.

We must have made for a sorry lot, Guile and Scott carrying two cripples like backpacks while I and my elf companion stumbled around like a couple of drunks.

I must have lost some time then because, next thing I knew, Scott was guiding me into a spot between tree roots where Mord and the elf male were already laid down.

It was a collection of roots from different trees that had twisted around each other and then dug into the wooden floor before spreading apart leaving a hollow spot between them almost like an underground cave.

My companion just mumbled incoherently as I guided her path towards our temporary resting place. With another groan she collapsed against the root, her eyes unfocused.

Laying against the wood of the ground I wasn’t much better, my head was still killing me, my right eye was aching and I was having trouble breathing.

Shit, I wasn’t certain I could focus enough to fight a 10 years old much less cast illusions and my shoulder was still dislocated. The bites on my arm and shoulder were also starting to hurt again despite the healing potions having closed the wounds.

“You alright there?” asked Scott as he crouched over my body and looked at my wounds

“Perfect” I lied, then stared at my limp arm “Can’t you at least put my arm back in place?”

“Well, I can try if you really want me to…” he looked over my arm again and shook his head “I don’t recommend it really, even if I do it right and don’t make it worse your arm is still broken, cheap potions aren’t that effective”

“Ugh…” I groaned and considered it but decided not to take the risk “Fine, you wouldn’t have another mind potion you were hiding at least?”

“No, never needed it” he patted me on the leg and got up to check on Guile who was breathing hard and massaging his wounded leg.

Laying my good arm over my eyes I tried to take deep breaths and relax my muscles to alleviate the pain. It wasn’t all that effective.

I hadn’t really noticed before, what with the life or death situation and the tension of just getting away from that clearing, but I was utterly exhausted, my body felt like I had just ran a marathon, every muscle was aching and complaining after each breath.

A few seconds later I just passed out.

Mord was the one who woke me up. He did so by throwing a roll of bandages on my face, making me jerk upward, jolting my wounded arm and causing my head to explode with pain once again .

“Fuuuuuck!” I groaned as I cradled my head with my good hand and tried not to throw up

“Shit, sorry newbie” came Mord’s weak voice with at least some amount of regret.

Taking another couple of deep breaths I finally managed to open a single eye and glare at the pale party leader, he didn’t look good.

Pieces of his neck and shoulder were still missing and he was pale like a corpse. Mord seemed barely awake, his body resting against the tree and his eyes struggling to focus on me, so I decided to drop it.

Taking stock of the situation I noticed some Ichor from a centipede at the entrance of our little resting place and the fact that Guile and Scott were nowhere to be seen.

My heart skipped a beat for a second causing me to hold my breath but I saw most of their gear laying against the tree at Mord’s side with the Vouivre’s drops poking out from inside the bag, at least they hadn’t abandoned us.

“What… happened?” Mord finally asked while trying to focus enough to look at my wounds, his voice was extremely worried despite the sheer exhaustion “where’s everyone else?”

“We killed the thing” I answered before registering what he was really asking about and smiling “everyone is alive”

“Thank fuck… ugh, always knew greed would do me in” Either that was enough to satisfy his curiosity or Mord was just too tired to continue talking because he let his head hang down on his chest and closed his eyes.

Damn bastard going right back to sleep after waking me up.

I continued to look around, the elf woman was also missing from the cave but her companion was left laying at another corner, wrapped in a cape, his chest slowly moving up and down with his breathing.

I snorted in amusement, legless the elf was still alive it seemed.

Pushing myself fully into a sitting position I finally wiped the blood from under my right eye, trying to open it caused me a lot of pain so I grabbed for Mord’s thrown bandages and wrapped them around my head until it was completely covered.

I tried to send some power into my eyes, the left eye was working alright but I felt some kind of blockage against my right one, some instinctual understanding told me I wouldn’t be able to activate the mangekyou on that eye for at least a few days and the Kotoamatsukami seemed to be permanently beyond it now.

Fuck, not even a week into this world and one of my greatest strenghts was already gone.

Why the fuck didn’t I let Scott handle the Vouivre? he’d probably be only a few seconds slower than me at reaching the beast anyway.

Searching my own backpack I found another stamina potion and drank it down before gathering my courage to stand up, even with the medicine my body still felt heavy with exhaustion.

The temptation to lay down and take a proper nap was strong but I just knew something worse would turn up if I closed my eyes again, probably a wild floor boss or something. I just had that kind of luck.

Another few minutes and I had finally recovered enough to push myself up, even if I had to use the tree as support. Making sure I still had a few throwing knives in my pants I grabbed one of the extra spears and used it like a cane to walk towards the entrance.

Looking outside I saw the moss on the floor was covered with spilled blood and ichor in various spots but there were no corpses or any signs of the rest of the party.

Lowering my head I walked through the entrance as carefully as I could manage only relaxing when I saw Scot, Guile and the elf woman sitting around a small fire, some kind of large plant burning on top of it.

Holding on to my spear/cane tightly I made my way towards the three of them “What’s going on?”

“Hey you’re awake!” greeted Scott while the other two just nodded “Come sit”

A few more steps, some loud groaning and some amount of pain later I was sitting besides Guile while the large man slowly threw yellow leaves inside the fire. “Why are we just sitting here again?”

“Saelus and your party leader need rest” Answered the elf woman speaking for the first time, she looked both embarrassed and annoyed.

Looking at her eyes I saw a small amount of distaste for all three of us in her face, damn I forgot elves were kinda racist here.

“This is Remilia” introduced Scott while fanning the flames “she has some medical training and was able to help Mord and her own companion but we have to let them rest while the potions work or risk them dying.”

“It’s the least any adventurer should know when delving” she mumbled while stealing a glance towards the root cave and biting down on her nails “We should give them another hour at least”

“Excuse us if we’re not from a first class familia” Guile grumbled and threw another leaf.

A sudden noise to the right caused me to jump up, my spear held tightly. The sudden movement gave me a bout of vertigo and I almost fell down as my vision went white. A second later I managed to refocus and see all three of my companions relax and sit back down.

Looking towards the noise I saw an arm sized branch laying on the floor, signs of blunt force damage where it had broken from the tree.

“Ha, even burning so much monster repellent we’re all still jumping in fear like rookies” Scott mocked and received a venomous glare from Remilia

“If you haven’t noticed we had to fight at least three times since we stopped” the Elf comments while finally releasing her weapon, a short and thin sword.

“Come on, sit back down Roland” Guile pulled at my clothes and I relaxed, letting him help me sit down.

“Alright, what's the plan now?” I finally asked after a minute of silence.

Scott looked at the Elf but she didn’t even open her eyes to acknowledge the question so he shrugged and answered

“We guard the cave for another hour or so before Mord and the elf can take another dose of healing” he said while poking at the fire with the tip of one of his long knives “With me and Remilia back in fighting shape and Guile protecting the wounded our chances are much better”

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Scott didn’t seem to be lying so I sighed in relief and felt a weight I didn’t know I was carrying lift from my shoulders.

I had a sudden impulse to laugh out loud but, looking at the stern figure of the elf sitting straight like I ruller I decided to hold myself back, I doubt she’d appreciate my good humor after losing most of her party.

“Here” said Guile as he threw me a water pouch and some kind of meat ration “you better eat something before we make for the village”

“Thanks” and nodded his way and bit into the thing, it had the texture of rubber and tasted even worse.

I made a face at ugly thing but, after the first bite hit my stomach, I finally noticed just how hungry I was so I forced myself to continue eating before washing it all down with big gulps of water.

“Don’t worry newbie, getting to Rivira we’re gonna feast like kings'' Scott leaned towards me and patted my shoulder while laughing at my distress “We’ve got the full loot from a Vouivre and the gratitude of the Loki familia, we’re set for… HEY!”

The rogue was fast enough to jump back as I almost spewed water all over his face. My face had gone white and I had to force myself to release my spear once again “Coff… coff… which familia did you just say?”

“Do you have a problem with the Loki familia supporter?” asked the elven woman while looking to see if any water had hit her armor with disgust in her face.

“Nope… no problem at all!” I quickly denied “just to be certain you’re talking about norse god Loki right, son of Odin?”

“I don’t know what the norse are but Loki sama is one of Odin’s daughters, yes” the elf answered looking at me suspiciously.

I was hoping that wasn’t the case. Damn I knew it would be impossible to not get involved with some god or another but did it have to be one of the worst ones out there?

I mean, I had only watched Danmachi up to season 2 so I knew very little about the Loki familia besides the fact they were strong and had Ais but, if they aren’t some kind of evil mastermind last boss, I would eat my shoe.

Come on their head was Loki, shapeshifter god of lies and fire. The guy, or girl here I guess, was the father/mother of the worst monsters in norse mythology and the one to cause Ragnarok, no way she wasn’t planning to destroy Orario behind everyone’s back or worse.

Noticing all three of my companions were now giving me odd looks I gave them my best innocent smile “Yeah, when you guys go talk to the Loki familia for a reward can you, maybe, not mention my name?”

“Why?” asked the elf, hey eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

Before I could answer Scott jumped up from his sitting position sending us all into alert “Who’s there!”

Oh thank god, a distraction!

Everyone went quiet for a few seconds as we waited for an answer, or a monster to rush in.

The silence lasted long enough that I was about to try and change the conversation when the answer finally came.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” said an arrogant voice from between the trees, it seemed to be slightly disappointed.

I briefly let myself relax when everyone turned away from me, then I noticed the way they had all straightened and were holding on to their weapons and swallowed hard.

Grabbing the shaft of my spear I took stock of my situation, my head was still pounding and my right arm was useless but I felt better after eating something, nowhere near fighting shape but mobile at least.

From the forest I saw three men walking towards us, they were large and built like Guile, massive and filled with muscle but also wearing thick, cloth armor that made them look even bigger.

“Greetings” Said Scott getting up and looking up in the trees behind the men searching for something “We’re just taking a rest before making our way back to Rivira, our friend got hurt early own so we did not have much luck this delve”

Seeing as Guile and Remilia followed Scott’s example I tried my best to get up without showing just how wounded I was, no need to show more weakness than what was already obvious.

“Really?” Said the one in the center while scratching at a thick beard “Interesting, because my friend here just heard something about a Vouivre, a very rare monster isn’t that right?”

We all traded glances, then Guile slowly put himself in front of our party while Scott and Remilia attempted to shield the cave from the newcomer's sight.

My heart started beating hard against my chest while billie rose into my throat, I did not like the way this conversation was going.

“Indeed” Guile said slowly “Damn strong too, we barely escaped the thing with our lives”

“Yeah, the damn thing almost killed my friend over there before we managed to stun it and ran away” Scott nodded but his eyes never left the trees and his hands slowly loosened his throwing knives.

The three newcomers briefly looked at each other and laughed mockingly before the leader focused back on Guile and gave him a smirk “Somehow I don’t believe you”

Shit! sending a small amount of power into my good eye I ignored the pain as it hit me and activated the mangekyo once again.

I wouldn’t be able to use any believable illusions right now but the increased visual power and prediction ability would be the only thing allowing me to survive a fight and, even a second distraction was enough to save my life.

Fuck, could I kill a human… monsters were one thing but I had never gotten into a serious fight before, spars and play fighting yes but I had never thrown a punch and really wanted to hurt somebody.

As all three men unsheathed their swords and started advancing, Remilia shouted, trying one last time to avoid the fight.

“We’re from the Loki familia!” She cried out and lifted some emblem up into the air with one hand while squeezing a beautiful dagger on the other “The monster’s loot isn’t worth that much to us we can just give it to you but, if you fight us now, the Loki familia will never forgive you!”

The men paused when the leader lifted a closed fist, his eyes showing amusement “Hmmm… a good proposal, and what’s to stop you from hunting us down anyway after reuniting with your familia?”

“I swear in my name as Remilia Forestwind I and my companions won’t even mention your existence” She said and I had some hope that we wouldn’t have to fight “we don’t even know your names”

Lifting his large sword to rest on his shoulders the bearded man laughed out loud “Well I do like earning money without doing any of the work after all, why not!”

Ramilia and I both relaxed when the man’s companions lowered their weapons, getting robbed of our well earned loot sucked but it beat getting murdered for it.

Everything happened in an instant. The bandit leader went from relaxed and friendly to grinning like a maniac and delivering an all out strike towards Guile’s head at the same instant that Scott kicked my legs out from under me and jumped towards the elf.

My fall was sudden and painful, it also saved my life as I felt something sailing right where my neck used to be, the air whistling at its passage.

My companions weren’t fooled by the man’s words and had been ready. Scott had saved Remilia from another two arrows by smashing into her with his shoulder causing both her emblem and dagger to fly away from her hands.

At the same time Guile acted fast, lifting his arm he used his shield to receive the blow and struck one of the others.

The second man had lowered his guard in order to sell their ruse and would have received a killing blow to the head had Guile been in perfect condition, unfortunately his leg was still wounded and had faltered upon receiving the leader’s strike.

The mace’s blow struck the man’s shoulder instead causing him to stumble back with a cry of pain temporarily taking him out of the fight but I lost sight of the battle soon after.

A fourth Bandit rushed in under some kind of camouflage skill attempting to stab Scott on the back, the bandit seemed almost invisible as his body changed colors with the background but my improved eyesight caught the minute differences in the air.

“Watch out!” I screamed at the same time that I lifted my spear and stabbed the center of the bandit.

The second I struck I knew I had made a mistake, a combination of using my non-dominant hand and hesitation at hurting another person made my stab far weaker than it should have been, it pierced the first layer of cloth armor the bandit was wearing but barely drew blood and got stuck into his gambeson.

The short man turned around, almost wrenching the spear out of my hand, and struck at my fallen form but I was already rolling into my good side dodging his blow, I’d still have been cut if one of Scott’s knives didn’t pierce the man’s arm causing him to swear

His skill disrupted and opportunity lost, the man jumped back as Remilia rushed him and delivered a series of slashes with her sword forcing him to retreat constantly or risk dying.

Even the single glance I took of her fight was enough to know the only reason the man survived was that she was still tired and hurt, her technique was far better than even Scott and Guile together.

Finally pushing myself up I decided she had the rogue well in hand and rushed the three warriors in front.

Scott and Guile were fighting fiercely, their combined might and my help were enough to reach a stalemate with the bandits.

Wounded as I was, I wasn't much better than a distraction in the fight, even if I had the speed to get past any of the bandits guard I didn’t have the strength to deliver a telling blow but I still used my spear’s reach to threaten them like an annoying wasp.

They may suspect how weak I was but nobody wanted to risk ignoring me and finding out.

Despite the danger I smiled, things were going our way and, soon Remilia would deal with the rogue and come help us, those bastards had chosen poorly.

Of course that's when everything went wrong, I felt the impact before I could react, a crossbow bolt hitting my armor with the strength of a sledgehammer piercing its metal and my chest at the same time.

I stumbled aside, the pain making me lose sight of the fighting for a few seconds as I stared at the large feathers sprouting from my chest armor with a strange fascination. I had forgotten about the… crossbowmen.

Grabbing at the bolt my first instinct was to pull it out, I grabbed the shaft and it sent a jolt of pain through my body snapping me out of my daze and back into the present.

What the hell was I doing? Looking around trying to get my bearings I saw the guy Guile had wounded rushing me, his eyes filled with anger at their failed ambush.

With no time to think I stabbed at his face with my spear but he parried it aside with his longsword and stepped inside my guard before stomping me, aiming for my wounded arm with a cruel smile.

I tried to dodge it but I was just too slow. The kick hit me with such strength I lost my footing and went flying. With how much pain I was feeling in my arm I didn’t even register falling on the moss covered floor.

I knew I had to move if I wanted to live but I couldn't, the pain was just too much, curling up into a fetal position I threw up on the floor and felt hot tears soak the bandage over my eye.

The damn bandit took his sweet time, the fact he wasn’t worried about my companions made me even more afraid and I finally managed to slightly push myself up, looking around I saw my spear laying just beyond my grasp and tried to crawl towards it.

Putting one foot on my wounded arm the bandit pushed away from the spear to fall back on my back

“Tennacious little fuck aren’t you” he mocked before stepping on my chest and pushing me down, giving a twist of his wounded shoulder he asked “Any last words?”

I took a deep breath, then I pulled one of my throwing knives from under my pants and stabbed him on the back of the leg as hard as I could.

His greaves only protected the front of his legs so my dagger pierced deep into his flesh, with a scream of pain the man lifted his foot at the same time as he swung his sword towards my head.

I rolled towards his good leg causing him to completely lose his footing and fall over my own body.

“Goddamnit!” the guy screamed as I grabbed at his body to stop him from getting up “My leg, you stabbed my leg you motherfucker!”

Ignoring the pain of my broken arm I hugged the man’s arms, desperately trying to stop him from killing me, fear and leverage giving me the strength to resist him.

Without the room to swing the weapon he started hitting my head with the pommel again and again, we struggled like that for a few seconds, my face getting covered with blood and sweat.

When he pulled his hand back for another hit I managed to knee him between the legs causing him to finally drop the sword.

With a roar of rage the bandit grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head away from his armor, my burst of adrenaline fuelled strength had finally run out.

I could barely resist as the man rolled us aside, putting my back against the floor and squeezing my neck with both hands. His face a mask of incoherent rage he leaned in and screamed at me finally meeting my eye.

Bleeding, exhausted, almost completely out of mind and slowly getting the life squeezed out of me I still smiled as I used ‘greater visual illusion’. In an instant I made the man experience a copy of all the pain I was feeling while blocking his vision.

His roar of rage turned into a whimper and he released my neck on instinct to cradle his arm against his chest. Grabbing a second dagger I screamed and jammed it up into his neck, then I did it again and again.

I continued to scream and stab him in the face even as he fell on top of me forgetting everything else but my need to survive.

A clap of thunder snapped me out of my stabbing, letting the dagger fall from my numb hands. I tried to wipe the blood away from my face, turning my face aside. I started dry heaving until a second bolt of lightning filled my vision.

Following the path of the lightning I found Ramilia on her knees, one hand holding her shoulder where a bolt had pierced her and a second holding the ornate dagger she had dropped at the beginning of the fight.

Another swing of her dagger released a third bolt towards the trees. I watched as she swung the dagger another two times before it crumpled to dust in her hand and she collapsed back, apparently spent.

Without the strength to even move I turned my face away from the dead man on top of me and waited to see if one of the bastards had survived to come kill me.

After a few minutes, when nothing happened, I managed to gather enough strength to push the body aside and crawl away.

“hey… haaa… you’re alive” Guile said from above causing me to look up.

He looked like crap, his face was covered in cuts, his nose and lips were busted and it looked like he was gona lose an eye while his other one was as red as my own, it was already starting to swell up too making it look twice its usual size.

“You… coff, cof… you look like crap” I said, too tired to even care.

“Thanks, you too” Bending down the large man grabbed my good arm and pulled me up, and onto his back.

My legs felt like jelly and I couldn’t find purchase into the floor no matter how much I tried so I was forced to just let them drag on the floor as he carried me towards the cave.

“Sowy fho noth healing yoh” he said with a swollen lip “ran outh pothions outh here”

Doing my best to keep my wounded arm and the crossbow bolt still sticking out of my body from banging against anything I didn’t say anything, I had nothing to say really.

Guile dragged me inside the cave and carefully laid me down on my back, watching the entrance I saw Ramilia still pressing down on the bolt at her shoulder to stop the bleeding followed by Scott.

This time he hadn’t escaped unharmed, he was missing his left arm from just below his shoulder and had tied some cloths around it to stop the bleeding, he also had a large sword gash on his chest.

“What. Happened?” asked Mord, having finally woken up again.

“Thieves” said Scott as if that answered everything.

“Fuck”

Yeah, fuck was about right.

Eventually, Ramilia bent over me and carefully poked at the bolt on my side, her own bolt was still stuck on her shoulder, held in place by bandages so it wouldn’t shake.

“Roland, right?” She asked but didn’t wait for me to answer before looking me over, she cleaned the cuts I had and bandaged them but left the bolt alone “We don’t have enough potions to heal you if we pull it out so you’re gonna have to take it until we reach Rivira”

“OK” I was so tired of this delve I had gone monosilabic, I just wanted to be done with it as fast as we could.

After that I just went numb, losing track of things and barely managing to follow instructions as we made our way back towards the village.

I think we stopped to fight the dungeon spawns another two times but I didn’t even see which monster it was, my eye refusing to really focus before we finally reached Rivira, the second I caught sight of the entrance filled with adventurers I felt my body give out.

Everything went black.