"Take this....and with it, you can engage in jolly cooperation!"
—Solaire, the Warrior of Sunlight
I've made a terrible mistake….
What in the divine lights am I doing with my life here anyway?
I should be out sword fighting against vampires, banishing demons, killing ghouls! All the while, choking them to death with my three pounds of steel!
Yet I am here agreeing to act as a warden for a flock of bubbling greenhorns, camping with them in this accursed dungeon!
“Sir Vullen, the stew is ready for you.” One of them, a young priestess respectfully passed me a bowl of the stew that she had just cooked.
I tried to kindly receive the bowl from her and thanked her for it, which in turn caused the girl to smile back sheepishly.
The priestess had reddish blonde hair and a cute oval-shaped face that gave her a pleasing appeal, she wore what seemed like a sensible white vestment, typical of those in service to the divines.
From what I know, the shy priestess was an orphan, seemingly under training so she could leave the temple and go out to see the world. Acting as a cantor for ceremonies and helping to spread the temple’s teachings.
In other words, she was just a wide-eyed girl, innocent to the world....and a possible liability I had to look out for, one that I had agreed to carry with.
After I finished my meal, another cheerful young knight with brown hair immediately tried to offer pouring me a cup of tea.
Bah, herbal tea were just not my cup of tea anyway, those drinks were for the ascetics. So I politely declined him. At least they have grape wine….
I needed a freaking drink! True warriors revel in ale and mead!
So bothersome, I tried not to show too much of my emotions here. Furthermore, the people around here could just stop being so damn considerate already. We were in a bloody dungeon!
How were they gotta fight monsters, if they just act so passively around me in this dungeon? Especially, against a horde of undeads. They looked so soft, they will appear like tasty lambs to be served on platter. The world was a dangerous place here and people need to be strong to be able to defend their beliefs.
Though not obviously to the fanatic degree of those templars and crusaders. I had a hard time drinking just to listen to them preaching on about their faith every now and then, while praising the holiness of the celestial empyreans....and to think I have the same faith as them.
Heck, what I am even thinking? I am not even a strong adherent of the divine scripture. I am just a believer who confirms with the existence of the teachings, the holy magic, the divinities and thus puts my faith in it.
I was accepted into the temple in the first place because I was found out to have some form of divine blood in me, either from some of the nephilims, or the possible heroes of the past.
That does not mean I am one though, I just simply gained some special vocation that was granted to me along with some special privileges and influence. I was then sent on various pilgrimage questes too, it was why I got here in the first place.
Trying to banish my thoughts, I tried to focus on what was in front of me. I could see four of the young hopefuls keeping themselves busy around the camp. The surrounding atmosphere was quite amicable but still a bit reserved....and a little awkward.
I am already starting to miss my drinking brothers that I had fought side by side with….
“Sir Vullen, pardon me for being discourteous but I am greatly curious to know the great tales that was told about you. Would you care to kindly recount the experience you had on your journey to us? Did you slay a vampiric dragon before? I heard you are the one to take back the holy city from the demon infestation!”
If it was said by someone else, I would have taken it as some form of sarcasm. But clearly the excited knight errant was just an idiot. In fact, I wondered if the clouds ever looked down on us and say ‘hey that guy shaped like an idiot’. I still did not consider it appropriate to voice my thoughts aloud though.
The boy had just became a paladin of the holy order. Before that, he was apprenticed to a knight as a squire but that knight died in the war before his training was completed. So for a quicker promotion, he alternatively choose to join the order to be accepted as a knight for the temple instead.
The moment I had met him, the annoying lad was already eagerly trying hard to gain my recognition and acknowledgement. It could also probably because of my reputation or my current elevated status though.
“Jeroy, stop bothering Sir Vullen already! You are being rude to him.”
A young elf looking girl interjected. While she was trying to be prudent here, the look in her eyes clearly showed that she was also interested….
“Oh shut it Relsia, I know you are curious about it too.”
“Argh, at least I will not flaunt it as unashamedly as you are.”
The young elf was found sitting at the side of the bonfire, her pretty face looked a bit irritated while she bicker with the young knight.
If I remember, she used to be a druid like most elves, then she left the forest to join the temple to become a cleric here instead or so I was told. The reason might be due to her for being an half elf or at least still having some strain of human blood in her, I was not very sure, I may need to check on that.
The beautiful girl was slim, and had bright golden hair. Her attire seemed to be in a white long robe with thin fabrics as garment which underlines her body curves. She also carry a wooden staff, that looks like a hunting spear or at least close enough to be called a stave.
Unlike the young paladin who was eager to prove himself, the elf caster on the other hand seems reluctant to even be here. But she was still somehow drawn by curiosity and it may also be partly due to the elves covering a different yet nearly the same sphere of worship as us.
“Now, now, Relsia, we are all here as peers under the guidance of sir Vullen, we should at least learn how to be nice to each other.”
Then there was this guy, what was he again? I thought he was a monastic fighter or a monk, a branch faith as a disciple under the martial path of the spiritual light since his birth. Among the younglings here, he seemed to be the most collected and cool-headed.
Putting aside my musings while looking at them, they were all still new bloods and new believers here....
So I will most likely just find some weak monsters around the top floor for them to kill as the front for some sort of training and after this short expedition had finished, I will probably just get rid of them to someone else! Before I screw something up….
—
We continued to stay at the camp in an old hall, minding our own business and maybe listening to some of my half hearted stories, much to my dismay and the young novices’ excitement. Given that they keep pestering me with questions.
After a few moments at the camp, I was the first person to notice that there was something wrong. Something suspicious was lurking in the dark shadows in the far corners of the camp fire.
“Damnation….”
I quickly sounded the alarm and alerted everyone in the camp to be on guard.
“What is going on, sir?”
Jeroy quickly came to my side. He had a determined expression, clearly ready for battle.
“Did you see that?” I pointed towards a corner of the shadow.
“See what?” Relsia came asking as she soon joined us, slowly following behind Jeroy.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow dropping down on top of the elf girl. I tried to push her away but it was still too late.
“AHH!” The girl shrieked loudly, when the monster landed on her.
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I cannot see the dark monster properly, but I quickly reacted by drawing out my sword and stabbed towards the monster before it killed somebody. I heard a loud piercing death screech before it stopped struggling, allowing Relsia to push it away.
“Oh for all that is holy….”
Jeroy muttered his surprise when both of us finally saw what was the creature that attacked Relsia. Take a guess, it had four pair of limbs.
It was a giant mutated spider, but why would it attack a camp of adventurers so daringly? My thought was that it was a corrupted variant. The multiple small tendrils found growing on the ugly critter’s body further supports my suspicion.
The spider was biting on Relsia’s shoulder dangerously close to her neck before it was killed. She was still alive for now but she might be poisoned by the venom that the spider carried. I walked towards her, looking at wounds while standing beside her. The expression on the elf’s face seemed to have twisted unbearably from the pain.
“Can you heal yourself from the wound?”
“A-are talking to me?” The elf was barely able to pay attention to me.
“No, I was talking to the spider.” I spoke in a measured tone.
The elf’s expression turned blank, so does the young knight’s.
The truth was, you could kill hordes of undead, demons, unholy enemies and nobody even bats an eye, but if I seemed to break out of character of what they had expected of me, even by a little bit. Everyone started to lose their minds.
Well at least I know that she was still sensible for now and fully aware of her surroundings, so I do not need to slap her awake.
“It was just a tease elf girl, now if you can still understand me, quickly heal yourself from the injury and get rid of the poison too.”
My sharp senses had allowed me to perceive that there were still other critters lurking around the shadow. So I quickly called for the priestess to come over but I did not need her for healing right now.
I told the others to get into combat formation, which was something I did not need to do if I was in a more experienced team. But I had to come to terms with that. I had made the decision myself after all.
I give the priestess my order. She nodded and started chanting her spell. After she had finished chanting it, she then shouted her spell.
“Let there be light!”
A light orb casted by the priestess flew up and burst forth with a shower of white brilliant light, which brighten up the hall instantly as the blazing star was born, revealing a moving swarm of huge spiders moving around the walls near the camp. They were covering the area in a huge moving shadow that seemed alive.
“Oh my divine light.....”
“BY ALL THAT IS HOLY! Did you see those enemies over there!?” The young knight shouted nervously.
“No, I am the only one who can see through walls. So just keep your mouth shut already before I let spiders do it for you!” I replied sarcastically before give him a disapproving look.
By that time Relsia had recovered from her injuries, the spider swarm had started surrounding the camp already, only to be warded off by the priestess's light. Preventing them from moving further into the camp.
"Relsia if you can still fight, I want you to cast an area fire spell to burn the spiders here." I ordered the elf that still had a displeased expression.
“Yes sir, these maggots deserved to be burnt to crisp!" Relsia spoke with surprising glee and then quickly started chanting her incantation.
"Let justice rains from above, Fireburst!”
She casted her spell and similar to the light spell before, a flare flew up to the ceiling and burst forth as fire rains down on the spiders. Satisfying sizzling sounds could be heard from those multi legged creatures as they burnt and struggle against the showering fire.
"Praise the lords!" Relsia exclaimed happily. Argh, that speech was unnecessary right now.
Before I could give another order, Jeroy immediately charge into the breaking swarm of spiders, screaming and shouting eagerly. Most likely taking that spell as a cue to show off his courage.
“You fool!” Mortified, as I screamed as I watched him rushed into the swarm.
The divines above....This is why I hate travelling with greenhorns.
I cursed something irrelevant and ordered the monk to guard the others before I dive forward to chase after Jeroy.
The young lad was hacking and slashing away at the spider swarm in a distance away, I quickly rushed to join him in the battle against the spiders.
I started chanting my prayers to imbue my sword with divine powers, something which I could do through my profession.
"Oh Lord, bless this sword, that so with it, I can allow myself to clear the path of enemies, in your mercy."
When I finished my prayers and started slashing at the vermins with my shining sword of absolution. It was at that time, that I heard screaming from the other side. I turn my attention towards the source of the voice, and I did not like what I had just saw there.
The priestess's light spell had already gone out and Relsia was found lying on the ground unmoving, while the monk was trying to protect them while fending off the spider horde. He was still slowly getting overwhelmed and eventually he was going to be overpowered by the spiders.
I smacked Jeroy on the shoulder to get his attention and quickly ordered him to follow me as I rushed back towards them. But I was too late, the monk had been taken down when I got there and was now being carried away by the spiders along with the elf.
Meanwhile, the priestess was still trying to fend off the spiders by swinging around her staff. I ordered Jeroy to guard her while I tried to stop the spiders from carrying away their quarry. I chanted another prayer this time as I draw something out of my pouch.
"Oh Lord, bless this grenade, that with your divine power may it blow my enemies to tiny bits, in your mercy."
After I finished my prayer, I immediately threw the bomb towards the transporting swarm. Which it promptly blew up in a blinding bright light of absolution, disintegrating the huge swarms of spiders into various pieces.
I quickly rush into the smoke of the aftermath to search for the young adventurers, I found Relsia among the mess but the monk was nowhere to be seen. The spiders must had managed to successfully carried him away while the elf was still left here, and she was still alive. My bomb was supposed to be only effectively in hurting the corrupted spiders, so she should be fine.
"Ouch it hurts!" Relsia voiced out.
Mostly. Anyway she could still talk? I looked at her and then I turned around to survey my surroundings and found out that most of the spider swarm have either been killed or had already fled from the battle on the other side. Jeroy was currently tending to the priestess right now.
So I crouched down to check on the elf's wound. She was covered in spider bits, it seems that her body was still mostly intact and she was conscious even. But the spider's venom had caused her whole body to be paralyzed....except for voice coming out of her mouth. She seems to be fine but in pain though.
"It seems my detoxification spell is not enough to fully remove the toxins. It is my incompetence that have just caused all this troubles, I am deeply sorry!" The elf had an expression of great remorse as she started blaming herself while fervently trying to apologize to me. Oh, do not say that....it made me seemed incompetent.
"Relsia, be grateful that you are still alive, that means the divines have given you another chance to redeem yourself. So I will gladly appreciate it if you would stop whining while I think about a solution to get us out of this."
When the other two young adventurers had finally arrived to where I am, I swiftly ordered the knight to carry the elf back to camp. I am not touching that elf, not when she was still covered in spider gore and ichor.
"No offence, but if I die like this, I will legitimately haunt you." The elf girl wearily told the young knight while he was clumsily trying to carry her to the campfire.
"Don't worry too much about it! It is not like I will drop you to your death or something." The knight unabashedly answered Relsia in a confident manner as he carried her in a princess carry.
"What could possibly caused the spiders to attack us so boldly here? This floor is suppose to be a safe place, enough for the novice adventurers to travel in." The priestess started asking the others with a hint of uncertainty and doubt.
"Isn’t it obvious? Demons!" Spoken enthusiastically by Jeroy who was still as jovial as ever despite the situation, ignorant of how much trouble he had just caused me.
“That is the most obvious thing I have ever heard, may the divines have mercy on your ignorant soul for stating something so obvious.” The elf girl replied mockingly, she was still lying down on the ground while being covered in muck, which did not help with her mood either.
I frowned deeply, these ingrates, I just saved that pup’s life and all they could do was talk nonsense. By the divine mercy, they should be happy I was even here to protect their troublesome party in the first place!
Afterwards, I told the others to stay back in the camp while I would try to track down the spider swarm and save the other guy. I want them to stay alert for any other possible monsters until I get back. The young paladin had offered to come along but told him to stay in the camp to guard the other casters instead.
The priestess may be able to heal Relsia's wounds but she would not be able to cure her of the poison, leaving the elf girl to look pretty, but pretty defenseless. The priestess herself was not a reliable combatant either. Leaving the job to the young paladin instead, be it as unreliable as it seemed in my earnest opinion as it might be. I still do not have other better choices to choose from.
"Sir Vullen!"
The knight called out to me as I prepared to leave and go on my way to the temple disciple's urgent rescue.
“It’s dangerous to go alone. Please take this!”
Jeroy handed me something, a parchment stringed together to appear like a small book.
“A bible....of the divines?”
“Hey you might need it, to let in some form of light from the faith! I don't know, maybe you might be able to draw in some strength from it.”
The young knight answered unconfidently, slightly fidgeting under my penetrative stare.
If that was the case, you bunch might just need it more than me! I wanted to shout out my earnest opinion but I bite back the scatting remark though.
“Good point, if only I could be so grossly incandescent....Very well, I thank you for your consideration, I will be back soon, by then stay safe....”
I accepted the holy scripture from the knight and immediately set myself on my path to save the other young novitiate. If he was killed, I will definitely be lectured for it by the temple and possibly tarnish my current honor.
Ever since I came to this town, I actually held the highest standing in the town of this temple position-wise, despite being fully independent from their whole order. So I should still be fine to a certain degree, and they would not be too noisy about it. But driving out corruption was still an endless battle, and one that must be fought regardless.
That moment when you realised the path was clear, where the goal was within reach. It was only then that one can truly require the resolution to follow it, even if the path ahead looked as suspicious as hell with the faint sounds of battle being heard on the other side.
And after I finished whatever needed to be done here, I will seriously need to drown myself in ale like how those drunk dwarves would. At least, I deserved to get myself a good proper drink. May the divines have mercy on my liver.