The others didn’t protest Rowan’s decision. Olivia made unhappy noises, but even she could see that Rowan fighting the undead gave them the best shot of winning. And if they lost, then it didn’t matter whether Rowan was safe or not. They’d all be dead.

“Is this a battle tactic?” the demon taunted.

“A strategy to win,” Rowan retorted.

“Very well. Very well,” the demon said. After a silent command, the undead soldiers stepped to the side. “You against my four. And I’ll face your four. Let’s see who wins.”

Bron charged forward, the shield bearer at his side. Olivia and the mage started peppering the demon with their own attacks. And Rowan was now alone. Or rather, he was facing down four undead soldiers that were still moaning about their pain.

The soldiers had been around the same strength as him while alive, and Rowan was willing to make the risky bet that he was now stronger with the potion on his side. The question now was whether the reanimation process gave them some kind of buff and whether his potion would last long enough until he either won against them or the others could take down the demon.

The soldiers seemed content to stand idle while their master battled for his life. Rowan wasn’t about to change that. He risked a quick glance at his system screen to check the leftover potion duration, and was shocked to find that he had another twenty-six minutes left. He was expecting to be down to the last few minutes of the potion. The last thirty-four minutes had been the slowest time he ever experienced.

The four soldiers were spear-wielders like Rowan and it took them a few seconds to re-arm themselves. But once that was done, the break was over. They began charging forward.

“Here goes nothing,” Rowan muttered. He engaged his cards.

Seconds into his charge, he was forced to abort and drop to the ground when a spear whizzed inches above his head. Apparently, the undead soldiers didn’t have any qualms about throwing their only weapons.

Death probably does that to a person.

A swift roll to the left got Rowan clear of two spears that stabbed into the spot he previously occupied, and he swiped the shaft of his spear against the legs of the last soldier.

The crack of bones was loud and unmistakable, and the man wobbled, pitching forward. A normal person would have been distracted by the pain of their leg snapping. But this was an undead soldier. The man stabbed forward while falling to the ground and managed to open a cut on Rowan’s side.

“Shit,” Rowan cursed as he scrambled back. He knocked into something that felt like a wall, but evidently wasn’t, judging by the fact that the wall sprouted two arms that locked him in place. Rowan heart was beating so fast that his chest hurt. He slammed his legs against the ground, generating enough momentum to break free.

A fair distance away from the undead, Rowan saw that it was the fourth soldier that caught him. Even though they were dead, it seemed that the soldiers retained some part of their teamwork. It was going to be a tough brawl.

As the second round of the fight began, Rowan noticed one of the soldiers was slower than the others. I broke that guy’s legs.

Rowan used his two movement cards to their fullest extent to dodge away from the three too-healthy soldiers and found an opening. Inspired by what he’d seen before their battle started, Rowan stabbed his spear up, aiming right for the back of the man’s throat.

It worked. There was an unpleasant squelching noise but the soldier collapsed down, no longer an undead terror.

Much of Rowan’s nervousness calmed down. Somehow, the dead bodies were pushed well beyond death and seemed possessed by endless vitality. But they could be killed. That was the most important part.

The kill seemed to scare the other three soldiers. They turned around to face Rowan, but no longer charged forward.

Rowan waited for a second before he realized why.

The demon was struggling. Rowan wasn’t sure what he expected from the others but it definitely wasn’t for Bron to be on fire. Flames lined his entire body, and his eyes burned particularly bright. In the officer’s hand was an empty potion bottle.

Potion of Heroic Might. Bron drank it. Rowan realized with a start. If the lesser might potion almost overwhelmed his mind, he could imagine what the heroic might version would do to Bron.

Bron blurred, and then his sword was chopping through vines. The demon wasn’t an easy target, and the speed of its vines kicked up a notch, a black glow overtaking its entire form. But it was getting whittled down. Each time Bron swung his sword, the demon had to sacrifice a vine or petal to stay alive. Even with regeneration, it was becoming smaller and smaller.

The three soldier began running toward the demon. Sensing the opportunity, Rowan used Reckless Advance and speared them in their nape. It almost felt like cheating to win the way he did. But there was nothing fair in war.

On the other side, the demon was growing thinner, spindlier, but also faster and more desperate. The threat to its life was real now and it realized that as its smiling face changed into a snarling expression. In spite of that, Bron was winning. His sword only picked up in speed and ferocity, and the protective glow of whatever card the demon was using was doing less and less.

Bron was paying his own price. The flames were also consuming him. His body was a crimson red and bits of his body were starting to disappear. It was only a matter of time before there wasn’t enough of him left to keep fighting.

Rowan could almost pin down the exact moment the demon realized that, and its combat style rapidly grew more defensive.

But Bron wasn’t fighting alone.

Rowan hefted his spear, taking aim. The weapon was bulky, the distance he was aiming it over much longer than last time, and it was definitely not designed to be thrown. He still chucked it forward. While he didn’t hit the skull that he was aiming for, the glowing spear obliterated the lower parts of the demon’s jaw.

“Its heart!” Olivia yelled. “It only protects that spot.”

The mage chose that moment to release another massive miasma skull. It did far less than before and the demon only slightly slowed. But it was enough for the shield bearer to spin up another drill attack that went through the demon’s petals and almost reached the demon’s main body. Olivia used the opportunity to chuck one of her most destructive potions to date. Ironically, it didn’t explode. Rather, it sprayed viscous, tar-like substance all over the demon. When Bron attacked again, the demon was suddenly an inferno too.

The damage was too much. The demon focused on regenerating its essential parts, which left a path free for Bron to take a solid hit at the thing. He rushed forward and swung at its core. The blade severed the demon’s upper body from its lower plant body. Its human half thudded onto the ground, reduced to just a smoking skeleton with a corrupted heart pumping black ichor onto the ground.

The spray of blood that followed the kill left everyone but Bron scrambling for cover. He simply stood there and his flames purified the liquid out of existence. Then, the man approached the downed demon, lifted his foot, and stomped.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Rowan heard his system chime at him.

That didn’t matter much when the fight wasn’t over just yet. Bron was still burning away, the fire now reaching down to his bones. He turned back to the group with his sword still bright.

Oh god, he has potion madness, Rowan thought. There was no way that they could fight Bron. Outside of the man’s new strength, it felt wrong to turn their weapons against a friend.

Olivia seemed to expect this, rushing towards Bron with a potion in hand.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Here. Take this, quickly.”

Bron took the opened flask and drank the potion within without question. When nothing happened for a few seconds, his face twisted in a mask of rage. He went to open his mouth, but the moment he did, his eyes bulged.

Bron doubled over, heaving and retching. A river of molten stars ran out of his mouth and pooled on the ground. Rowan could do nothing but stare as far more of the material, whatever it was, came out of the man than should have been physically possible.

The thing was also doing all kinds of odd things to the ground.

Plant life suddenly shot up, growing at an incredibly accelerated rate. Flowers, grass, even a tree came to life. In moments, there was a tiny forest in that one patch of land. The magical discharge also had the complete opposite effect on the demon’s remains. It melted them into nothingness, eradicating its taint from the land more thoroughly than they could ever have managed.

Finally, the flames died down around Bron and his heaving stopped. He collapsed down to the ground, in a puddle of the molten stars. Luckily, they didn’t seem to burn away at him.

“We need to get back to the village,” Olivia said as she looked around at the forest. The two beast folk mercenaries agreed with her.

As gently as he could, Rowan slung the man on his shoulder. He really doubted that he could be gentle enough with someone who was half-burned to death, but it felt right for him to be the one carrying the officer.

The trek back felt impossible. The moment they’d wrapped up the battle properly, a bone-deep weariness had started to drag at Rowan’s body. His strength felt like a dry well, too, sputtering and struggling to sustain him.

About halfway back to the village, Rowan was too tired to be surprised when the ground suddenly rushed up to meet him.

—

Olivia sighed as she looked at Rowan, face down on the ground. Judging by how quickly he fainted, the potion had likely run its course.

“You two better not pass out and leave me to carry all of you,” Olivia grumbled.

The shield bearer already picked up Bron from Rowan’s exhausted shoulder, holding the officer on top of his shield. “You’re the boss, boss.”

“So that’s the hero?” the mage beast folk asked.

“That’s him,” Olivia said.

“He’s brave,” the shield bearer said.

“That he is.” Olivia smiled. There was no part of Rowan that resembled a hero as he laid in the mud. She shrugged and plopped down next to him. “I’ll protect him. Could you ask the others to come out and help?”

“Will do, boss,” the mage said.

Soon, it was just Olivia and Rowan in the middle of the field. She sighed and took out a few exploding potions as a precaution. Then, on second thought, she pulled Rowan so that he was lying on his back and glared down at his face, willing him to wake up. When that failed, she brushed some of the hair out of his face, flicking his forehead as she went.

“I thought we said no more recklessness,” Olivia hissed. Predictably, she didn’t get an answer. “Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you?”

—

By all accounts, Rowan’s contribution to the death of a rare-tier demon when he was just a common class was a heroic feat.

Unfortunately, he didn’t feel very heroic at all when consciousness finally returned to him, and he found himself shuffling hesitantly under comfortable covers. Despite how comfortable the bed was, he felt positively wrung out and broken. Olivia hadn’t been joking when she described the side effects of messing with potions that boost stats.

The thought of Olivia finally forced him to groan in acceptance of the fact he was awake and tackle the day. With great reluctance, the hero forced his eyes open and sat up in bed.

Only to immediately spot a man standing by the door of his room.

“Ah, hello?” the young man ventured, giving a shy wave.

Rowan blinked, and tilted his head a little. He really shouldn’t have, but he blurted out the very first thing that came to mind. “Am I supposed to fear for my virtue?”

The blush that took over the young man’s face was the deepest crimson he’d ever seen on anyone’s face before. He broke out into stutters, then finally managed to compose himself enough to reply. “No, sir. Lady Sutton ordered me to stand guard here.”

“Right there? On the inside of the door, rather than in front?” Rowan asked, still not over the weirdness of the moment.

“Yes, sir. She said that if you try to do anything stupid, I’m supposed to literally sit on top of you until she comes around to check on you.”

That did sound an awful lot like Olivia. And it wasn’t like the poor guy was doing anything wrong.

“How long have I been asleep?” Rowan asked. ‘What happened after I, well, passed out?”

“Lady Sutton had us move you here. It hasn’t been that long, really.”

“Lady Sutton? As in Camilla Sutton?” Rowan interrupted, hopeful that the baron had somehow arrived.

“Sorry. We’ve been addressing Miss Olivia Sutton as Lady Sutton since the lady isn’t here,” the young man replied in a single breath. “Hero Rowan, you slept throughout the night, and it’s afternoon now, but you can still get some hot food brought up, if you’d like.”

Rowan’s stomach chose that exact moment to gurgle loudly, and hunger gnawed at him with a startling intensity.

“You know what? Food sounds like a great idea,” Rowan muttered, starting to wiggle out of bed.

“Sir?” The young man hesitated, but still dutifully stepped forward. “I’m sorry, but I’m under orders not to let you out of bed. It was explicitly listed as one of the ‘dumb things he might try’ from Lady Sutton.”

Rowan paused, squinting at the man. On the one hand, he really didn’t like being ordered for bed rest. It seemed a lot like when the king had confined him to a single room back in the palace. But on the other hand, he was pretty sure that he was safe and that his guard could single-handedly wrestle him into submission at the moment.

“And did Olivia say anything about when she’d be showing up to check on me?” Rowan grumbled, but collapsed back onto the mattress.

“Sir, she’s been doing that every few hours. She’s been busy getting everyone organized and seeing to the repair of our defenses. With Officer Bron out of commission, she’s the highest-ranked officer that we’ve currently got.”

“Bron’s not up yet? How is he?” Rowan asked. Somehow, he couldn’t really imagine the forceful officer just passing away in his sleep, but the man had been in bad shape after downing Olivia’s potion.

“He still hasn’t woken up.” The guard’s voice was quiet now, reserved. “We don’t have real healers out here. Recovery might take a while, but everyone’s hopeful he’ll pull through.”

That, at least, was good. Rowan wasn’t sure how he would ever repay the man for the risk he took so they could kill the demon, but he would figure something out.

“Okay, then. If I can’t get out of bed and you can’t leave this room, could you please ask someone to bring us some food?” Rowan said.

The young guard nodded, popped his head out the door, and shouted someone’s name. Loud footsteps preceded a short conversation, but Rowan mostly tuned all of it out.

The system had been there since he woke up but it was now positively blaring in an attempt to catch his attention. The sensation was like someone constantly poking the back of his head. So, with a flex of his will, Rowan let the system window unfurl.

Congratulations!

You have contributed to the demise of a significantly stronger foe, boosting your loot and experience gain from the battle.

Battle Results:

EXP:

[Rotflower Cambion] +12640

[Rotsworn Charger] +250

[Rotsworn Charger] +220

…

[Diseased Titanic Mauler] +450 x 2

[Rotflower Puppet] +125 x 4

ERROR!

Maximum experience for tier reached. Choose an upgrade for your class to continue your ascent.

Loot:

153x cards in Party Loot Inventory

Congratulations!

You have completed your common tier progression, reaching the maximum level (20) of your current class. View class advancement options?

Rowan stared. And then stared some more.

Just a day ago, he’d just hit level twelve and was preparing for a slog through the remaining eight levels. Now, the system was already bothering him to pick an uncommon class already.

He couldn’t deny the draw of that thought. He knew what Olivia, the mercenaries, and other uncommon combatants could do. It would be nice to experience that level of strength himself.

However, Olivia’s instructions very explicitly urged him not to be dumb. And diving into class selection while half-starved and still in pain would definitely be stupid.

And then it didn’t matter. His food was delivered in record time, and he could scarcely contain himself when he saw it. The fare was nothing special. Some roasted meat, a bowl of soup, lumpy-looking bread, and a healing potion to chase it all down. Courtesy of Olivia.

Though simple, the food tasted better than anything he’d put into his mouth in recent memory, hunger giving it a wonderful edge even over all the cuisine he’d tried back in the baron’s home.

Or was that just his boosted perception stat?

Rowan couldn’t deny that his sense of taste was boosted just as much as his other senses were. The tastes that danced over his tongue were rich and vibrant and it was like he could distinguish every single bit of flavor.

Unfortunately, that just meant that the taste of the potion was even more foul than he expected. Holding his nose, Rowan downed the entire bottle and found a message underneath the potion bottle.

If I find you doing something reckless when I finally see you again, I will slam you in that bed myself.

- Your aggrieved party member

Rowan chuckled, leaning over the side of the bed to look for his pack, then carefully folded the note and stashed it away.

There was no way he wasn’t keeping it.

That done, he allowed himself a grin and made himself comfortable in the bed again. There were things that were reckless. And then there were things that were stupid. Rowan had done both and somehow, he was still alive to tell the tale.

Would the fight have gone differently if he hadn’t taken down one of the maulers on his own? Or fighting the four undead soldiers so that the other could gang up on the demon? He would never know. But what he did know, the thing that he truly believed, was that they were better because of it.

As the sensation in the back of his head grew worse, Rowan convinced himself that maybe doing something stupid was the right way to go. It hadn’t got him in trouble yet.

He hit that plus button, and went browsing.

Class evolution requirements met.

Classes available for selection:

Spearman Adept, Heavy Spear, Spear Champion, Standard Bearer, Spear Wall, Reckless Spear, Mystic Spear