Rowan had been caught up in worry, fear, and more than a little doubt ever since Blake’s awakening. That’s why it was such a relief to see a real smile on the man’s face. Not a smile that he put on when he knew Rowan was looking, since he long ago grown adept at spotting those, but a sincere, genuine smile of hope.
When those first experience points started trickling in, when he realized that there was a way for him to potentially regain strength, Rowan’s chest swelled with happiness for his friend.
To see him marching forward, determined to face down an enemy at his own tier in spite of all his weakness? Rowan might have been acting all grumpy, but truth be told there were few things he’d rather see than that.
In spite of that, there was a trace of underlying worry about what could happen when Blake faced down his foe in true, one-on-one combat. Which was why Rowan subtly slowed down his steps, letting the excited and nervous knights make just slightly more distance between them and his own party.
Olivia noticed immediately of course, seeing as they were walking hand in hand, but she just sent him a sly smile and played along.
Milena and Marcus took a bit longer to catch on, but no one could make the claim that the twins were slow on the uptake.
“What’s wrong?” Marcus asked, his eyes shooting between Rowan and Blake. “Want to call this off after all? It might be a bit much.”
“No, no.” Rowan took a deep breath and then tried to release all his worries with it. “I don’t want to hold him back. Not now. Not when he’s finally starting to believe that he can get back on his feet. Just… keep an eye on things, yeah? You can react a whole lot faster to such things than I can.”
“Got it. I’ll be ready to use my aura if need be. Still, you really think this is a good idea? What if he, you know, gets hurt? Badly?”
Rowan ignored the question for the moment because he honestly didn’t know. He didn’t want to outright say it, but Rowan could understand Marcus’s worry.
Throughout the day, they got to see what the kingdom’s darling hero was really made of, and none of Rowan’s party members were particularly impressed. Milena, in particular, had stopped paying much attention to the fight long ago.
Now, she was still stuck with her nose in a thick book with a rather suspicious cover, one that Rowan was absolutely made of some kind of leather or, dare he say it — skin.
“What?” Milena noticed the way he was looking at her and curled her lips in a literally fanged grin. “Like my book? Your mother-in-law got this grimoire for me. Neat, isn’t it? I’m going to be so much more useful when I master some of the rituals in here.”
“I thought you chose to follow your particular advancement path because you knew rituals and such that you could use already?” Rowan asked. He was most definitely not changing the subject just because he didn’t want to face the fact that his best friend might be in danger. It was completely down to his fascination with the [Shaman] class, of course.
Milena’s smile dimmed a little and she turned back to her book, but she did answer. “I didn’t exactly have many. Sure, I could make temporary familiar bonds like I did in Felton’s Mill, and I can summon Ancestral Spirit, and I do have a couple other rituals, but… Well, when we left our home, we didn’t exactly take much with us. We couldn’t.”
Rowan shot Marcus a look, and the other twin filled in for the unasked question. “It would have been stealing. Some of the scrolls that [Shamans] use are unique. We couldn’t exactly rob our own clan of important artifacts. The shield and staff were made for us, and the rituals my sister knows are relatively common.”
That didn’t sound like the whole truth, not really. Rowan seriously doubted that a ritual which summoned the souls of one’s ancestors was common, but he wasn’t willing to press.
“Anyway, what you should be worrying aren’t my rituals,” Milena said. “Let me repeat Marcus’ question: Is your friend going to make it?”
The question sent another stab of doubt through Rowan chest.
The facts of the matter remained. Blake was practically crippled, and most of his stats’ effects were sealed off, leaving him with a physique barely on part with a strong uncommon tier. His mana was impacted too, losing some of its, for lack of better words, ‘weight and volume.’ His cards were also an issue none of them knew how to solve yet. And while he was coming along nicely with his sword skills, they still weren’t great.
In spite of that…
“Yes. Yes he will. He can do this.” Rowan chose to believe in his friend and reassure his party. It wasn’t something he could pin down and define properly. However, that look in Blake’s eyes? Well, he couldn’t exactly ignore that.
—
It didn’t take them long after their little chat to draw close to the group led by the rare tier.
The creatures, according to the scouts, were hunting and scavenging for food. Before Dale left the group to inform them of their presence, the lizards had managed to bring down a couple other forest denizens too.
As such, when they finally cautiously drew close, the group of four were caught up in stuffing their faces with meat from wolf-like monsters.
This gave Blake and his temporary party a chance to strategize a little, which they were taking full advantage of in quiet whispers.
“I’m going to charge straight at the leader, but if I get surrounded, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle them all.” Blake seemed pained to make that particular admission, but Rowan just saw it as progress.
If he could stop being stubborn and trying to handle everything himself, his friend might just survive the coming battles after a hopeful recovery.
“I can try and taunt all of them?” Greg offered, then quickly rushed to explain when the rest of his party shot him disbelieving looks. “I don’t want to deal with the rare, I know I can’t, but my taunt’s unlikely to affect it anyway.”
“That sounds like a great idea, then,” Fia quipped with a grin. “That will draw all the uncommon lizards to us, and our intrepid leader can handle the rare on his own. Sound good?”
Blake looked like he was about to protest her nickname for him, but eventually smiled and nodded his head. “Sounds good. Besides, that lets us keep our plan nice and simple. If we try for something complicated, we’ll just mess it all up. Trust me.”
From where Rowan was standing and listening in, he had to fight the urge to chuckle. That particular comment sounded like it came from experience.
With that done, the group finally straightened and with what was starting to resemble familiarity, charged forward.
That sent an odd twinge through Rowan’s chest.
Was it cruel of him, to force them to team up like that, knowing that the trio would not be able to continue fighting with Blake? He was watching in real time as the other hero won them over with his sincerity and natural charisma.
When it was time for them to part, and the time would come much sooner than anyone would like, would they be able to work smoothly with Blake’s replacement?
The battle started with Greg’s roar echoing through the wastes, and Rowan tore himself away from his downward spiral.
The lizard monsters startled from their meal, immediately whirling around to face the intruders. There was no hesitation as they went on the offensive, but there was a cruel gleam of something resembling intelligence in their eyes.
While the rare tier squared up and started charging straight for the appearing humans, the other three dispersed, going for a flanking maneuver that would let them take advantage of their leader’s superior presence on the battlefield.
Of course, that was when Greg took advantage of his card effect, and three of the lizards stiffened before pivoting and heading straight for them.
Surprisingly, this was enough to actually give their leader pause, and in a show of definite cognitive improvement, the thing let loose a string of hisses at its subordinates.
When said hisses were ignored, rage lit up in its eyes, but whatever revenge or punishment it had planned were interrupted by Blake’s advance. With a shout of his own, the hero’s sword lit up and slashed towards the monster with surprising speed.
For once, however, Blake’s speed failed him.
The hero’s eyes widened as the lizard leaned away from the strike, its feet firmly planted even as the top half of its body jerked out of the way, tipping so far back a low-level human would not have been able to copy the move.
At the same time the lizard surged forward, its own claws shone menacingly as it took frantic swipes. Some of them landed on Blake’s arm while one caught him right across the chest, and the hero stumbled back with a low hiss of pain.
The aura of light and the hero’s armor might as well not have been there at all. The monster hadn’t even aimed at particularly tattered sections of the hero’s protections. Its claws simply sank right through the treated leather.
For a second, just a second, Rowan felt strongly tempted to ask Marcus to intervene. Then Blake’s face was crumpled in a scowl, and the hero started to fight with a ferocity he’d lacked before.
His sword left trails of light in the air as he slashed again and again. This time, he didn’t aim for the monster’s chest or even head. This time, his strikes were focused on its limbs, preventing the rare tier from taking free potshots when the hero missed.
And he did keep missing.
Blake’s new strategy was to keep the lizard on the back foot, but it was all that it achieved. As Rowan watched, it quickly dawned on him exactly why the reptilian monster’s movements seemed so familiar to him.
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It was like he was watching himself fight, back when he still heavily relied on the Feline Physique card. Rowan highly doubted it was the exact card the lizard was using, but even if it was adapted to its own reptilian body, the effects were similar. The lizard’s ability to dodge and control even the minuscule movements of its own body were all honed to a fine edge.
The question was, what would Blake do about that?
The hero in question was already starting to pant. His exhaustion still wasn’t bad enough to prevent him from fighting effectively, but it was definitely starting to slow him down a little. Enough, in fact, that the lizard’s own attacks were starting to get through.
Shallow cuts were opened all along Blake’s forearms, only to seal over and stop bleeding in a matter of seconds. The reptile noticed this too because its hisses grew from something resembling amusement to angry and agitated.
Obviously, its strategy of slowly bleeding Blake to death wasn’t going to succeed easily, though Rowan privately thought it might still work out if it persisted.
Blake’s regeneration still came at a cost, after all. Even if such ‘miniscule’ wounds could be mostly healed by the card’s draw on ambient mana, there was a limit to such things. A very small amount of hero’s own energy was still getting consumed.
Paired with his use of attacks and attempts to defend himself? Blake definitely had less stamina in this particular battle than the lizard did.
Apparently, Blake understood that just as well.
With a sudden hardening of his features, Blake drew back. He created a false opening and hoped to counterattack, but his opponent chose to pause as well instead of immediately pursuing. As they stared at each other, the two enemies took the opportunity to catch their breath.
And then, with a sudden glow that covered his entire body, Blake was moving again.
Blake raised his sword high, then brought it down with a two-handed brute swing that had Rowan wincing. The sword sang as it cut through the air, moving faster than Blake had managed since his awakening.
It still wasn’t fast enough.
Blake was trying to cleave the lizard monster right through its left shoulder in an awkward blow, yet the creature easily twisted around the sword and surged forward.
Its eyes were glowing with malicious glee, claws stretched out and on a direct path to disembowel Blake. As the sharp implements started to break through his skin, the hero didn’t even flinch. If anything, the smile on his face was downright vicious.
Flexing his arms, the hero changed the trajectory of his sword just so. The attack shifted and sailed through flesh and bone easily, slicing off the lizard’s left leg at the hip.
Of course, the hero didn’t come out of the exchange unscathed.
The monster’s claws swiped over his stomach, and Rowan had to fight down his rising panic as he fully expected Blake’s entrails to come tumbling out. Except, that didn’t happen, much to the confusion of both Rowan and the lizard.
Confusion which Blake immediately punished with another blow that caught the monster in its side. It very nearly spilled the monster’s own guts across the jungle floor, but it managed to pull back without dragging the sword with it.
It might have managed to lessen the severity of the hero’s blow, but the monster lost its balance in the process, tumbling to the ground — its lack of limb preventing it from landing properly. Blake was there a second later, following up with another angry swing of his sword.
The monster tried to redirect the blow with its right forearm, but the hero’s sword simply cleaved through that limb too, sending it off high into the air.
From there, what followed was the work of a butcher.
Blake’s anger and the adrenaline of battle made him bring his sword down again and again, until the lizard was little more than a pile of mutilated flesh. Rowan wanted to step in, yet didn’t.
There were tears glistening in the other hero’s eyes, and Rowan was pretty sure that the adrenaline was only part of the equation of what was happening. He’d deal with that, eventually, but for just then he directed his attention fully to his other [Knights].
The kids had done just as well as Blake. Better, really.
From the very start of their battle, they were calm and in control.
Greg engaged his skill, and then turned himself into the immobile fortress he was getting so good at pretending to be. His level of expertise was drastically different than when they had set out that morning.
He no longer needed to brace his shield fully on the ground. With lower monster numbers, he kept the shield outstretched, and each motion or twist of the weapon battered an enemy away. It was a lovely augmentation to the man’s angry hammer blows when the lizards dared to try and sneak past him.
Fia was performing well too. Rowan had taken the chance after their last battle to ask if she would like to try a slightly different style next time she fought, just to see how she liked it.
She didn’t seem to enjoy this kind of battling all that much, but she was flawlessly harassing one of the lizards with light, numerous jabs of her spear. Rowan didn’t want to admit it, but that was the kind of stance that he could only pull off when he finally reached the uncommon tier.
Meanwhile, the last of the trio looked a bit underwhelming in comparison, at least if you just judged them on the flashiness of their attacks.
Desmond’s weapon of choice was a great sword, and he was doing an admirable job of keeping Greg’s other flank secured. The boy no longer went all out, trying to claim his own glory in battle.
Instead, when the lizard he had his eyes on finally ventured too far and got bonked, he surged forward and performed a textbook downward swing. Metal met limb, and the metal won.
From there, the swordsman was quick to masterfully dismantle the monster, all from the safety of his position behind a defender.
Fia’s foe went down to a finely placed strike that skewered the monster through its eye, and the final lizard died shortly after a shield bash threw it to the ground. Before it could recover or dodge to the side, Greg took a step forward and brought the shield down without mercy.
The move reminded Rowan of a guillotine, especially since it had the exact same effect on the monster.
That left them with a clearing full of dead creatures, three panting knights, and a hero who was hobbling towards the ground with a pained yet victorious smile. Naturally, Rowan immediately chose to meet Blake halfway.
“Amazing work,” Rowan muttered, eyes rowing over the other hero’s body and cataloging the fading injuries. “How did you stop that blow to your stomach? I swear that thing’s hand was halfway inside of you at one point.”
“I-I didn’t,” Blake admitted with a wince. Then, at Rowan’s disbelieving look, he gripped the front of his armor and pulled it up.
An angry, long red line was revealed. It was no longer bleeding, but now that Rowan knew what to look for, he immediately spotted the suspiciously dark stains that stretched all across the lower half of Blake’s body.
“What the hell? Sit down, you idiot!” Rowan shouted immediately, using one hand to force his friend to do just that as he motioned to Olivia to come closer. “You know you don’t have my card running at full strength yet. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that if I embarrassed myself further you might just decide to put an end to things and kill the thing yourself.” Blake was clearly not regretting any of this, given that he was still smiling. Rowan really wanted to slap that smile right off his face, but the thought of hurting him further stopped him.
Then Olivia appeared, and Rowan’s rapidly rising blood pressure calmed a little as she forced several potions down Blake’s gullet.
For once, the alchemist looked just as confused and worried as Rowan was. “How are your insides not outsides right now?” she demanded, still fussing over the hero yet unsure how else to help.
Rowan was wondering the same thing himself, at least until he spotted the faint glow around Blake’s wound. “Wait. You’re using your light constructs to keep your wound shut, aren’t you?”
The smile Blake shot him was dazzling. “Yeah! I never thought about using them this way before! Honestly, this was great. I need you to find me another rare monster, because this fight was so much more useful than all the others, and…”
The hero finally trailed off, noticing something on Rowan’s face that was enough to give him pause. Good thing too because Rowan was just about ready to sock him in the face, consequences be damned.
In silence, the trio watched the wounds littering Blake’s body slowly close and fade away like they’d never even been there, including even the blow that would have disemboweled anyone else.
In that silence, Rowan stewed.
A part of him knew he was being ridiculous. He had admittedly done much worse, to the point where Olivia had wanted to kill him herself a couple times. Trying to crawl his way into a dragonic demon with caustic blood? Yes, not the smartest of moves anyone could make. He wasn’t really the best person to be scolding Blake, and he knew it.
Still, at the time, there were things he put his trust in. His regeneration card, for one, and most importantly, Olivia and the twins.
The fact of the matter was, Rowan was one hundred percent certain that Blake would have tried to pull off that nonsense whether there was someone backing him up or not, and that’s what set him off.
Rowan bent down, grabbed the other hero under his shoulder, and started dragging him away. “Can you please give us just a couple of minutes, love?” He tried to keep his voice even and relatively chipper as he tugged, but he could tell he’d failed just by the look Olivia shot him.
It was fine, he’d talk to her later and explain.
Thankfully, none of the others made a fuss of things. His soldiers would not overstep, and the twins, while concerned, were busy praising the trio of recruits and offering them advice.
Marcus was particularly taken by Greg, and Rowan was pretty sure he considered the boy his apprentice at that point.
“Where are we going?” Blake asked quietly, the smile slipping a tad now that they were drawing away from the others.
“We need to talk. Well, I need to talk, you need to listen,” The Stalwart Hero growled, a part of him hoping Blake would try to contradict him.
Infuriatingly, he didn’t. His only answer was a quiet ‘okay’.
When they were finally far enough away to avoid the ears of someone with a high perception stat Rowan stopped and turned to face his friend. For a long few moments, they just started at each other.
Then the Stalwart Hero gnashed his teeth and pulled his hand back, ready to throw a punch. Blake’s didn’t even waver.
Rowan spun around, burying his hand in a tree.
The loud noise of impact and the shower of splinters startled him for a second. Caught up in his anger, the hero had completely disregarded the effects of his stats, and a shudder of fear at just what might have happened if he had struck Blake flickered through him.
“Why are you doing this shit again?” Rowan asked quietly, back still turned. “We talked about this. Fuck, you promised you were done with it. You fucking promised, Blake, long before we ended up here! You promised that you’d —”
Of all the things he’d expected his friend to do or say, Rowan didn’t expect Blake to hug him. It was awkward and more than a little hesitant, but it did do the job of shutting him up.
“I’m not, okay? I’m not,” Blake whispered, quickly drawing away and raising his hands when Rowan turned around to glare at him.
“The hell are you saying you’re not? Doing that to yourself just to kill a rare tier monster?” Blake demanded and crossed his arms over his chest to stop himself from lashing out again.
He wasn’t typically violent. Even with all his rage, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt Blake in the end. But if the other hero kept pushing him, Rowan really didn’t know what would happen.
“Oh come off it.” This time, some of Blake’s own anger showed. “I didn’t do a single thing you haven’t already, and you can’t tell me otherwise. I talked to Marcus and Milena, you know? I’ve heard all about what you’ve done with this regeneration card.”
“It’s not working at full strength! What if it couldn’t heal you quickly enough to keep you on your feet? What then?”
“Then you would have jumped in and helped me. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t have. I noticed the way you were looking at me. I was never in any danger, especially since Olivia is such a good alchemist. Or were you lying to me when you were bragging about her?”
“I wasn’t lying! And still! We could have been too late. If it got you and obliterated your brain or whatever, that’s game over! No retries!”
“That’s why I was protecting my head, you idiot! I didn’t let it chew on my face, did I? I just let it get me in the stomach, that’s all! I killed it right after!”
“Yes, and you almost —”
The whispers had become shouts by now, and Rowan knew they should stop. He knew what could happen in the wastes if you crossed certain lines. In spite of that, when a beast crashed through the trees behind him with a roar, he was still startled.
That didn’t stop him from answering its anger with his own, a scream of frustration leaving him.
The monster was a bear, or at least one of the creatures that resembled one. It was also rather sizable and on its hind legs, it stood well above Rowan’s own height.
That didn’t help it when he buried his spear in its leg and obliterated it, sending the creature pitching forward. It also didn’t help when he buried his fist in its stomach, showing the bear away from him and sending it crashing into a nearby tree.
It also didn’t help when the angry hero descended on it, spear flashing and carving through limbs until the monster was reduced to a whimpering pile of fur that was barely clinging onto life.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Rowan snapped, looking back at a sheepish Blake who didn’t look sure whether he should stay or bolt. “Going to finish it off or what?”
“Urgh, this reminds of the way I leveled up the first time,” the other hero grumbled, affecting levity as he strolled up to the bear.
“Yes, well, it’s rare. Probably higher level rare. I’m not wasting it just for you to feel better right now,” Rowan hissed, prompting Blake to roll his eyes.
In spite of that, the other hero did as he was told and stabbed his sword into the monster’s heart. For a moment he looked startled, then a smile actually swept over his features.
“What now?” Killing the monster had helped, so Rowan’s voice was hallway to civil once more.
“I leveled up,” Blake said.