Cless flipped through her prayer book and found the two new spells. The level eight Cleric spell was called simply "Purify". The prayer wording meant it would remove taint, rot, and poison from food and water, making them safe for consumption, but it could also work on cleansing taint from objects and even places at higher levels. The level ten Cleric spell was Protection. It protected the target from harm, covering them in a wreath of divine power. With increased proficiency, it would cover more than one target per casting. But all that would have to wait. She prayed enough to get the first level of proficiency and stopped there. She had wounded warriors to heal.
The rest of the guild finished looting the orcs. Weapons, three short bows of lower quality than the one Cless was using, two full quivers of stone-tipped arrows, one big greatsword rusted and dented that was more like a slab of metal to bash people with and give them tetanus, four daggers, three shortswords, also rusted, and two warhammers made of a blackened metal, not rusted. For armor, they used a mix of hides and some looted leather armor but they were in such a state of disrepair that it was trash in civilization. None of them had metal armor; that should be in the hands of the higher-ranked orcs further away.
Cless looked at the loot, they had some strangely carved wood amulets that were similar enough to count as some token of affiliation or even worship to some dark god of their own creation. Whose hand deserted them, obviously. There were some herbs in varying states of whithering and gnarled roots with teeth marks. Probably something the orcs chewed to pass time.
"Does anyone know what these herbs do?" Cless asked. None of the boys answered.
She decided to keep the freshest ones and cut off the chewed parts of the roots and stash them. Next were the weapons. Of the seven arrows she shot, only five were retrieved. One arrowhead from a broken arrow but the one she shot into a tree trunk was lodged too deep to retrieve. Maybe Silverfang could get it but it would involve breaking the tree. Too much trouble, let it stay behind.
"Can I keep one of these warhammers, guild master?" Arnold asked. Martin wanted the other one, Cless gave them the weapons.
She split the daggers and the shortswords among the deserter recruits, telling them it was theirs to keep. She couldn't help but think of them as deserters. She thought about giving Lance and Andre the short bows but they had zero proficiency with them. Even with her meager Warmaster bonus, they would just waste time. Time better used by tossing their bodies into the fray. She tied the unstrung crude short bows on Silverfang's pack along with the two quivers of stone arrows. She planned later to get the best arrows of the bunch and change the tips to the steel ones she had. Otherwise, she would use them when she had time to waste arrows. Maybe even use them for practice.
"Anyone for this slab of rusted iron?" Cless asked. Upon close inspection, the greatsword had obvious signs of denting and even bends, showing the poor quality of the iron. Maybe it was worth something as a raw metal since the thing weighted almost ten kilograms. Cless decided to hide it somewhere near the river crossing and get it on the way back or not.
She had enough energy to heal the boys. They would have scars but for them, it was a badge of honor. A memento of their first fight. Cless looked at the deformed skin on her arms and sighed. Even if the dream of the house burning was not a dream, her scars were no reason for pride.
All that was left was to dispose of the orc bodies. They decided to dump them in a lush thicket a few dozen meters downriver. There were blood and combat marks on the ground near the crossing, but that would be too hard to hide.
"Everyone ready to go onward? From now on we are on enemy territory. Move silently, don't chat like old crones and pay attention. We don't want another ambush."
The boys nodded and they went on their way. Silverfang remained in werewolf form, the pack tied over his back and around his neck and stomach.
After one hour or more of skulking through the woods, Lance called a halt. Squinting at where he pointed, Cless could see movement where he pointed and took note that he had some good sensory Skill. Cless gestured for them to hide along the path and took aim from the rear. She decided to put her Skill to good use and aimed at the lead orc's eye. She aimed and waited, breathing as Balthus instructed when doing a precision shot.
The arrow flew true and implanted itself inside the orc's skull. The others grunted and pointed at her, standing apparently alone in the middle of a path through the woods. They charged, screaming in their guttural language.
Cless changed stances and started to fire as quick as she could into the mass of green bodies coming to murder her. It wasn't without aim though. She was going for the throat, heart, or an eye. Three orcs fell to her arrows before they got too close for safely use of the bow. She dropped the short bow behind her and drew her longsword. Cless met the orc's war shout with one of her own!"
"Murder these bastards, NOW!" She ran to clash with the first orc, wielding a massive stone club.
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Her guild members pincered the patrol of orcs, getting them by surprise. Cless was so excited with the easy victory she missed one step and was literally swatted away by the club. She felt pain on her ribs and prayed that they didn't break.
She came to her senses and used one Mending prayer on herself. Cless coughed a disgusting mix of blood and phlegm but besides the pain felt nothing wrong with her. Probably a combination of her brigandine cushioning the blow, her higher level, and Health Stat. These orcs were weaker than the ones in the river crossing. And fewer, fortunately.
> For defeating 10 orcs, you earned 482 Experience Points. You reached Cleric level 12. +1 Magic, +1 Intellect. Your Exp contracts earned you 19,122 Class Experience Points. You reached Cleric level 13. +1 Magic. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 1,200 Class Experience Points.
With Lyle's help, she got back on her feet and returned to the trail.
"Is anyone hurt?" She asked, earning some stares from the boys. "Beside me, I mean." She snickered and used Mending one more time on herself.
They were already looting the orcs. These had two longswords in a passable state and three daggers. The horn-tipped spears and clubs were worthless. They had no coin on them, only more of those wood tokens. Maybe they were orcish money? The bodies were dumped off the trail in a crevice and they kept on searching for more orcs.
After a pause for a quick meal and a drink, Collin approached Cless.
"So, how are you doing with the leeching of our Experience?" His disdainful tone was grating on Cless' nerves.
"I'm just receiving what I am due. I'm not leeching. I doubt you'd fared that well without my leadership in the river ambush. Don't forget my healing magic. I take none of you picked a magical class."
They shook their heads.
"Who would want to be a wimp?" Collin snickered.
Cless was about to retort but decided to keep her words to herself. She grew abnormally with the contracts she made. She sighed and bit another piece of dried fruit bread. She had an S-rank Skill. Something that was supposed to be the ultimate, the pinnacle. It was obvious that she would be stronger than...
'No!' Cless thought to herself. She wouldn't entertain that line of thought. The One God gave equal opportunities to everyone. She had to trust her faith.
They went on their way, fighting two more patrols of orcs before the end of the day. Cless changed her tactics and started to use Blessing and Protection on the group before the fight started. It helped kill the orcs faster and with fewer injuries. With the boys' proficiencies increasing, their budding tactics of forest warfare, and the teamwork, these were easier than the others before.
They climbed to a flat hilltop where they could see around and prepared their camp. Splitting the loot from these patrols meant that now all of the boys had one main weapon, one backup weapon, and a few daggers or knives. Cless had four quivers of crude arrows.
She checked her notifications.
> For defeating 23 orcs, you earned 1110 Class Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 43,980 Class Experience Points. You reached Cleric level 15. +1 Magic +1 Health. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 3,150 Class Experience Points. Your professions leveled up.
Cless had to learn two new prayers. The level twelve spell was Hallow. It cost a lot of power, with her amazing thirty-eight Magic she could cast it only three times but would consecrate the ground around Cless to the One God, granting her allies a bonus not unlike Blessing and the enemies a penalty of the same amount with an added bonus of dealing damage to undead and dark creatures. The spell was a channeled one. She would have to remain motionless in prayer or the effect would end.
The spell for level fourteen was Flametongue. It would enchant a weapon to cover its head or blade in flames, dealing extra damage and illuminating as a torch without glaring the Cleric's sight. As it would be expected, the fire had a holy property that would deal extra damage to undead and dark creatures. She trained the Hallow prayer and even cast the spell twice while the boys kept talking and telling each other jokes. Flametongue would be too conspicuous at night in the open.
The guard duty was split into four teams of four people. Lance, Lawrence, Jerry and Collin in the first turn, Cless, Lyle, Alan, and Brett on the second, Silverfang, Andre, Kevin and Herbert on the third, Arnold and the remaining ones on the last. Cless remained awake through the first turn, praying and practicing her spells.
The boys kept talking and telling each other jokes, laughing out loud through the night. Despite being a cold night, Cless forbade a campfire. The chatter was ceaseless through the second watch when she decided to sleep. She woke up to the howls of Silverfang.
"Orcs! Orcs are surrounding us!" The werewolf barked.
Cless woke up startled and decided to throw caution to the wind. She used six Light spells as far as she could place them around the camp. The boys squinted but the lights were far enough to only faintly illuminate them. What it showed was terrifying.
At least twice the number of orcs that ambushed them at the river crossing were surrounding them, cutting every route of escape.
It was time for the Blind Eye guild to make their stand.
> Name: Cless (no surname)
>
> Race: Human.
>
> Level: 22 ( 69,774 / 253,000 Exp)
>
> Class: Cleric 15 (+5) (134,577 / 136,000 Exp)
>
> Profession — Warmaster 9 (37,738 / 45,000 Exp) — Weaponmaster 9 (37,738 / 45,000 Exp)
>
> Base Stats — Strength: 16 — Agility: 16 [21] — Health: 25 (+1) — Intellect: 25 (+1) — Magic: 38 (+3)
>
> Available Status Points: 3
>
> Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ], [ Giant's Stamina (E) ], [ Trick Shot (D) ], [ Dangersense ⦅C⦆ ], [ Nimble Step (D) ]
>
> Proficiencies:
>
> Appraisal — Status: 22
>
> Crafting — Crude Weapons: 5 — Arrows: 1
>
> Magic, Cleric — Mending: 22 — Detoxify: 16 — Light: 18 — Turn Undead: 4 — Blessing: 8 — Holy Bolt: 12 — Purify: 9 (+9) — Protection: 11 (+11) — Hallow: 7 (+7) — Flametongue: 1 (+1)
>
> General — Prayer: 17 (+4) — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 6 — Math: 3 — Reading: 8 (+2) — Forestry: 9 — Skinning: 7 — Herbalism: 3
>
> Social, general — Negotiation: 15 — Persuasion: 3 — Bluff: 3
>
> Social, martial — Leadership: 20 (+2) — Intimidation: 19 (+2) — Tactics: 17 (+2)
>
> Movement — Tumbling: 3
>
> Weapon — Long Blades: 18 (+5) — Short Blades: 2 — Unarmed: 11 — Archery: 22 (+5) — Spears: 3 — Maces: 22 — Staves: 4 — Axes: 9