Of course this was going to happen. I’m an idiot for not paying any mind to this. There is no way the humans would leave this beautiful angel behind. Plus she seems to be a capable magician at this age. Unless everyone is a magician in this world – and from the sample humans I’ve seen its currently at 25% of the population – people won’t leave her behind. At least to fetch her corpse for proper burial, ressurection or whatever.

A rescue operation. Probably the guy that shot the arrow is an scout, and he took his luck and made a sniping shot at me. And then he missed and the arrow flew straight into Helen’s head. Yeah, because there is no way this was an assassination attempt. Is there? No. Of course it was a miss. Now where is Robin Hood?

I focus my senses around, trying to pick up presences from where the arrow came from. I also move my body to cover Helen entirely. And this means squatting. I feel her touching my back with her own. Oh, nice teamwork. Keep it up Helen.

With the concerns about Helen’s safety somehow alleviated, I keep scanning the path the arrow came from. But wait. If I was a hunter, I would not be so dumb as to remain in the same place I sniped from. Keep moving, to the next sniping point. Headshot those damn Tangos. Where did this thought came from? Now, I’m hunting a monster with sharpened monster senses, so I would move downwind from where the prey is. The wind is blowing east, so there it goes.

I shift my sight eastward, and I pick a faint presence behind the trees. Now, lets try this. [Intimidating Presence] ON! I can feel my rage burning inside. Killing Intent. Demon Lord Haki. I picture those in my mind. Bloodshot eyes. Psych up. Image is everything. And now, a full lung. I pull the air making a lot of noise, because I don’t have any other way to let Helen know something is coming. And then…

“Roooooaaaaaarrrrr [Ferocious Roar]” - Of course I don’t shout the skill name. This is not shounen manga.

Put strength into this diafragm. Clench the buttocks like the choir teacher always told me. Let the sound resonate in the ceiling of the mouth. Jaw wide open. Project it through your nose. Oh, I’m remembering something, but the next moment its gone. No good, focus on range. Pinpoint that weak presence and roar away. For Helen’s safety!!!!!

- Skill [Ferocious roar] level 2 acquired. Level 3 acquired.

- Skill [Intimidating Presence] level 3 acquired.

- Title [Fearsome] acquired.

Good, keep it coming. I reach with my left hand behind my back, and hold helen behind me. To reassure her. I touch something soft, but I won’t mind right now. She takes my arm and pushes it a little below. Still soft. But she is not rejecting it, so I won’t mind.

Presences. OMG. Every single critter in the forest around us is running like their lives depend on it. I can feel birds, rabbits, squirrels, wolves even.

- Skill [Presence Detection] level 1 acquired.

And there it is. There is a humanoid presence ahead. I pictured the hunter’s placement right. All those hours in the cyber cafe paid off. What is a cyber cafe? I digress.

It is running away. Good. I pump my fist. Oh, I should release Helen.

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“You are hurt. Grendel, let me take a look.” - I didn’t get everything, but in my mind she said that.

I pull the arrow out. It comes out with a spurt of blood. Helen is startled. I toss the arrow, and press hard on the wound to stop the bleeding. Regeneration, do your job.

“[Healin...]” - Helen starts to chant, but I interrupt her.

“Save… Magic.” - I tell her.

I remove the hand from the wound, and it is gone. But my arm is burning. My hand is numb. There is a greenish streak climbing up my arm. It might be poison.

The system message floats up, but I ignore it. Don’t retort me, system message straight man. I don’t have the time. I jump to the side, and find a sizeable leather strap lying around in the ground. We cut a lot of leather this morning, and we were not worrying about littering the forest. I’m a monster, why would I? Mr. ranger bear, don’t admonish me. I did put out the campfire alright?

I roll up the shirt sleeve, and pass the strap around my arm next to the armpit. Thank goodness for this long arm of mine. The venom is taking longer to climb my veins. I begin to tie a know, but cold sweat breaks in my forehead, and it falls in my eyes. Stings, but it is not important. My other hand is trembling, I can feel my heartbeat rate rising.

Biting one end of the strap, I then tighten the know the maximum I can. The tourniquet will reduce the blood flow, and make me gain time. I need to reduce my heart rate and the blood pressure, to make the venom circulate slower.

No good. My vision is cloudy. The green streaks are reaching the tourniquet.

“Helen… you, magic!” - My tongue is going numb. Hard to speak. Helen is crying. She tries to touch my arm, but I flinch and don’t allow it. I don’t know if this venom is coming out with the sweat, I cant risk her safety. If only I had sucked out the venom.

“I don’t … know poison neutralization magic! Should I heal you?” - Helen almost bit her tongue, and she keeps shifting her gaze between my eyes and my arm.

“no… fire. Burn my arm. Sever it.” - I point at my shoulder, above the tourniquet. - “burn my arm. Sever it.”

Helen falls down to her knees. Her eyes are red, and snot is dripping from her nose. The tears, they can’t even be counted now.

“I can’t hurt you, Grendel. There is no way for me to hurt you. You protected me from the wolves, you spared this life!”

No, the wolves only attacked because I broke the repellent potion. And I wouldn’t touch a hair of you or your friends, dear Helen.

“Fire… purify. Burn down… corrupted arm. New one grows. Now, before too late. Helen’s fire is gentle. Won’t hurt me. Sever this… arm.”

Bad. My consciousness is fading. In the remote chance the sniper came for Helen and not me, If I faint here and they come back, Helen won’t be able to escape.

“Grendel...” - Helen touches my face. It would be nice if its thick skin were not as numb as it is now. To feel her gentle hands on me.

“Resolve. Helen, strong! Arm grows back. Poison, kills. Bad arm, sever. Burn it, now.”

“I can’t, grendel. I am not strong. I am a fifteen year old girl that just got an adventurer license this week. I can’t hurt you.”

“Trust. Trust me. Me strong. Me trust Helen. Use fire, now.”

“You don’t even know if I am able to use fire magic!!!!!”

“I know. Because Helen great magician. Young, but great. Powerful. Strong. Gentle. You said ‘I can’t hurt Grendel.’ You never said ‘I can’t use fire magic’. Do it Helen.”

Helen stands up, and touch her staff to my shoulder. She takes a deep breath, and tries to control her sobbing. Then I take a pice of the broken wooden board, put it between my teeth, and claw the ground to anchor myself.

“[Fireball]!!! [Fireball]!!! [Fireball]!!! Fire…” - Helen can’t complete the fourth chant. She begins to cry even more. I can hear her heart cracking.

The wooden board in my mouth becomes splinters, the splinters pierce my tongue, my gums, the ceiling of my mouth. I got splinters in my throat. I roar so strongly I can swear the trees above us lost their leaves, blown away in the wind. This burning sensation is terrible. I crush a tuft of ground in my hand. I focus all my consciousness on not hurting Helen in my struggling. In my cloudy vision, something is floating, but I both can’t make out what it is, and I don’t have the mental energy to try and read it.

Helen falls on her butt bawling. She crawls backwards looking at the scene in terror. I also crawl backwards and look where I was. In there, a purple arm the size of a teenager girl is lying in the ground. Sickly green streaks course through its entirety. The place where the arrow pierced is completely necrosed.

My shoulder is melting. I roll on the ground, pressing the stump down, and begin to crawl sideways, rubbing the stump to remove the burnt flesh. I ram into a tree, it shakes and leaves fall all over. I roll and lie over my back. I can only see blurred lines of blue and green above me.

As I lose consciousness, a figure comes over me and blocks the sunlight. I can see a gold halo around this figure, and it gives me warmth and tranquility. The forest is silent. The last thing I hear is...