[Blessed Heal]

I felt the calming presence of my spell, as the world was submerged in darkness. I had collapsed, but not fainted. Flaze had gotten off my back and stood aside.

I could almost imagine her face right now, except I don't know what expression she'd have, but it's not like we were in any actual danger.

It's fine.

I opened my eyes after a while, a wet mirage clouding my vision, but it wasn't just of the blood.

Tears were mixed in. I had been crying.

Didn't know even horses could do that.

i sniffed and got up, shaking the blood and grime off myself like how a dog would dry itself. Splatters of gore flew everywhere, and Flaze brought up her shield to catch it.

Sorry. I bowed.

She stood up, and tapped a finger to my forehead, before running her hand through my mane. "It's fine."

Flaze looked around, and switched forms to her more comfortable basic self.

I raised a brow, and she gestured towards a nearby unit. "Whoever lived there was a weeb. I saw Light Novels lining the shelves. You wanna take a break?"

That... was a tempting offer. But things are moving fast, monsters are progressing just like us. Not to mention the many places and people we need to go to. Stalling here just to satisfy myself is hardly the wisest use of our time.

I neighed and shook my head, walking forward. I'll be fine. No need to be considerate of me.

Flaze hesitated, before following. "Are you sure? It's not a big deal. If our friends are still alive, then they can surely take care of themselves by now. If not... hurrying wouldn't amount to anything anyway."

No. I huffed. Don't worry about it. I said I'm fine.

Flaze heaved a groaning sigh, "Are you really sure of that Jackal? I think we should take a break. Look, I'm also tired. And just as sad as you!"

Flaze sprinted towards my side, and waved her hands around, with a forced smile on her face.

I turned around to face her, neighing. I've got things under control. Trust me. This is just patronizing and insulting.

She paused. I saw her brows furrow for a brief moment in a flash of indignation, but she quickly schooled her expression back.

"...Fine. Have it your way. But I'm grabbing something to read. For myself."

I don't care. I neighed and turned away, in a fit of impulsivity.

I instantly regretted my actions, when I saw the look of hurt on Flaze's face. She tried to mask it as she backed off to go into the apartment she was talking about, but I yelled after her to stop.

Flaze!

She froze, and then slowly turned. "What do you need, Jackal?"

I, Uhh... I went towards a nearby wall and wrote; Maybe get something for me too. For later. If you want.

There was a burning smell, from the fireball that I had used as my pen.

Flaze looked at what I've written, before a slight smile appeared on her lips. I almost felt like crying again, recognizing at least a small part of it to be genuine. The first hints of real joy she's shown, since Darkvoid's death.

Flaze quickly schooled her expression, clearly still a tad annoyed with me. Fair.

"Okay. I will."

I was left alone. In an eerie hallway. With a fresh corpse.

My thoughts swirled, ever more.

~~~

Just a little longer. And we'll be out of this dump.

I ran down the hallways of the apartment building, populated by even more sheeptaurs. It's gotten to the point where other types of monsters had gotten very sparse, likely killed by half-sheep humanoids. I could tell, because of some of the half-eaten corpses.

These sheeptaurs were definitely not here before, so they have to have come up here in the time we went to get Darkvoid.

And killed him.

I shook the thought off. Flaze's right to be worried about me.

I wondered for a brief moment why there were so many of these same monsters around, but I decided that I didn't really care. It's not like there's no precedent at all with monsters that are present everywhere, such as goblins.

I just want to get out of here. From the narrow corridors, to the stairs; doors unhinged, everything within broken. Everywhere I turn, I feel there's a monster lying in wait, and I just want to get my hooves inside their skulls and dig for the brains within.

It all just feels so claustrophobic, it's stifling. Everything reminds me of the journey we took, and the eventual fucking result that we're now just running away from.

I know it's probably a nonsensical thought, but all I want right now is to get back to the open roads. My irritation only grows with every passing second I spend in this hellhole of an apartment.

[Long--

No, no. Bad idea. It won't help. I know.

I growled and turned another corner, finding another sheeptaur lying in wait by the stairs.

[Handler - Lvl 51]

Get out of my fucking way.

The monster's wool suddenly turned a sparkling blue, some sort of liquid that seeped through it. Her hand whipped back as she broke off a piece, and tossed the bundle of wool right at me.

"Dodge!" Flaze shouted, and I felt the tug of her hand. I veered off to the side by her instructions, and the wool narrowly missed its trajectory, sticking instead to the broken tiles.

I stole a single glance back, and saw the frost rapidly expanding across the concrete.

That's new.

[Hellish Fireball]!

The creature was swept of her feet by the explosion, and I kicked her on my way out, sending a flash of brilliant light.

I jumped down the stairs, doing the same for the next set, until she was fully out of view.

Fuck off.

I don't got the time to deal with you.

I charged past the next floor as I did the last. Sheeptaurs still dominated, and I evaded them all the same.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Left in my wake was a chaotic sea of bleating cries and burning wool, until I came upon the next stairwell down.

Sheeptaurs. Again. There were more of them. All four standing by where I needed to go, and with so many, it'd be hard to just knock them aside and run.

Why does the world keep getting in my way? Why must am I be trapped in this hell of narrow hallways?

[Warrior - Lvl 43]

[Warrior - Lvl 49]

[Handler - Lvl 50]

[Handler Lvl 52]

A long breath escaped my mouth, almost a growl, as I examined each of my new prey. A fireball was summoned, my hooves scraped against the floor. In my eyes I only saw red.

The sheeptaurs as well turned their attention towards us, likely because I Identified them.

Fuck. Another mistake. Argh! RAAH!

I felt a tugging at my back, near painful. Flaze had pulled on my mane, stopping me from charging in.

I looked at her, incredulous. She sighed and gestured at her clone, donning a knight's costume, body ethereal.

Right.

Our two groups stared at each other for one uncomfortable second, the final moment of calm, before the deathly storm.

The moment passed and I immediately loosed my fireball just as the enemy warriors began to run.

The fireball exploded at their front lines. The warrior sheeptaurs were knocked of their feet, the wool on their backs set alight. But the other two sheeptaurs, the ones who were Handlers instead of warriors, remained completely safe. They stayed in the back lines, preparing their spells as one's wool turned a shade of yellow, and the other a sickly green.

I made sure to keep a cautious eye on them, while I reached for the downed warriors. Flaze hopped off my back then, and we began beating them up, herself tanking blows, while I whittled them down quickly with my gambit-fueled kicks.

Meanwhile, the clone was left to tank our ranged opponents as she ran past us and charged towards the enemy back lines.

I watched the enemy Handlers grab pieces of their wool and throw them straight at Flaze's double. The wool tinged yellow suddenly caught on fire.

Flaze held her shield up, both of the projectiles quickly impacted it. The collision released a dull sound, and the green piece of wool fell off, but the yellow one stayed. It clung obstinately to Flaze Clone's shield, melting it slowly with its bright yellow flames.

Our battle with the warriors continued, while that was happening. Real Flaze drew both of the Warrior's attention as she held her shield up and kept them away. I kicked at their legs, bringing them back down to the ground. I pulled the same move whenever they got up, keeping them nailed to the floor. Their heads were prime targets for my kicks, as they were forced to kneel.

The sheeptaurs panicked, their world split apart in many ways. Between Flaze's taunt and my fires and light, the monsters' minds could no longer perfectly function. A show of weakness that led to a swift end for at least one of them, her head hanging by a limp thread of flesh as Flaze had sliced the neck many times; A wound that I'd only exacerbated with my repeated kicks.

"Jakal, it's poison!" Flaze suddenly shouted, instead of celebrating our one victory.

I quickly turned my attention back at the other battle happening; Flaze Clone against the Handler sheep. She had already discarded her shield, as holding the thing had become more of a detriment due to the many pieces of burning wool still clinging into it. Even her armor was burnt and charred in places.

The green wool on the other hand had been tossed around liberally everywhere. I wondered for a second if the monster is just fucking dumb, unable to throw in her enemy's general direction, but then I noticed a very slight, near-invisible green mist blanketing the area.

I felt it then, the slight sluggishness of myself, a numbing sensation. The poison was being emitted by the discarded wool.

Oh no. Whatever shall I do.

[Blessed Heal].

[Blessed Heal].

I instantly felt better, and so did Flaze. My Skill have been upgraded, specifically for these kinds of scenarios. Cheap tactics such as this, are nothing before me.

Although it is a tad troublesome that it's continuously being excreted.

Let's fix that.

[Hellish Fireball].

[Hellish Fireball].

I shot small variations against the scattered wool, and they went up in flames, quickly filling the entire place with smoke.

I instantly felt sluggish.

...Shit. Shit! Did I make it worse!? AAAHHHHH! WHY!? It makes no fucking sense, they have fire too! If this is how their ability works, then why not do it in the first place!?

My attention snapped back to the warrior we were fighting, my kick connecting with her torso and sending another wave of flames, further burning her. She was panting, moving sluggishly, and not just because of our own attacks, but also because of the spreading smog of death.

Is the poison affecting them too now?

If so, then the scattered wool might have been strategically placed to at the very least not affect the back line who are now also hacking and coughing, even the one that had made the poison in the first place.

I get it. It's like my flames that can get out of control. Doing it this way also harms the caster.

That, or they're just too dumb to figure out the synergy.

I coughed and choked, further healing both myself and Flaze as she changed out her clone that had cooked under her own melted armor.

We quickly took care of the remaining sheep Warrior. A kick of mine unhinged her jaw, and Flaze stuck her word into the now perpetually open mouth.

Now only the Handlers are left.

The world truly hates me it seems, it bent reality just to jinx my success. For in that very same moment, we heard from behind us, the horrific bleating of many sheep, their footsteps overlapping.

More sheeptaurs.

Three of the monsters came into view, and I knew then that I shouldn't have charged ahead without regard, leaving our rear with enemies that may wish us harm.

Ah... I fucked up again.

My eyes nearly grew misty from the regret, and the annoyance with myself.

I just wanna go home.

I want to get out of here.

Flaze stepped behind me, having my back. She raised her shield against the new wave of sheeptaurs coming to kill us. "Alright, Jackal. We have to-- Hey, wait! Where are you going!?

I had ran towards the stairwell, towards the Handlers that had taken refuge within, lobbing burning or poisonous wool at us while they kept themselves safe.

I galloped past Flaze's clone. I saw her hand reached out, and I heard her same voice shouting for me to stop.

But I did not listen.

It was my fault we were in this mess to begin with. So I'll be the one to get us out.

I'll pave open a path. I'll carve out all those who stand in the way of our retreat.

I neighed a war cry. I cast my heal on myself, to remove the sluggishness that had piled up from the poison.

A burning piece of wool flew at me, which I easily dodged. I jumped towards the source and shot a Hellish Fireball at him. His wool caught entirely on fire, even stronger than usual, overpowering the toxic smoke for a second with the smell of lamb.

The other sheeptaur one had only shuffled away to lob her projectiles near me from afar. I didn't bother to dodge, given the nature of the attack, as even the offender gave no care to whether they actually hit, the goal to control the mist around myself. A strong and indirect strategy, but nothing I cannot heal.

Another ball of flaming wool flew at me. A material that I noticed was unlike what the other sheeptaur's have, burning brightly, but not diminishing very quickly. Or perhaps that's because of the yellowish liquid that had soaked it entirely.

I dodged the attack, but more followed. The creature had become desperate as his flesh fell apart. His wool burned ever brightly, unwilling to be extinguished, so now he's pulling them all off and tossing them at me, in a desperate ploy to free himself of the flames of hell.

[Hellish Fireball]!

[Hellish Fireball]!

I tossed out my own burning constructs, utilizing their explosions to alter the trajectory of the oncoming attacks, and even deal further damage to their source.

The world had become a mess of varying shades of red, obscured by layers of toxic green smoke. I healed myself again, against the debilitating fumes. A flash of bright orange caught my vision, and then I felt something hot land on my torso.

[Your Party has defeated a Level 52 Handler!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 49!]

It was the sheeptaur's final act, a conflagration that quickly traveled up my body, sending my mind into a panic.

My heal activated, out of sheer instinct.

[Blessed Heal]!

I neighed and reared up. The pain eased for but a second, I felt my flesh fight back against the fire. But then it returned, for I have not gotten rid of the burning wool stuck to my body.

[Blessed Heal]!

[Blessed Heal]!

[Blessed Heal]!

I cast my spell over and over, until the piece of wool finally fell off. I breathed a sigh of relief, having been freed from the agony.

And then I wobbled. I nearly fell down, and fainted for good. Not just because of the collective damage I'd taken, but also because I'm just about running out of mana, of energy.

But there are still so many enemies left to kill.

I walked forward, hearing the sounds of battle from behind me. Flaze was facing the three new monsters by herself.

Don't worry. I'll kill this one, and then we can escape.

The poison sheeptaur had retreated all the way to the landing, at the base of the stairs. She reached behnd her back, only to find that she'd nearly gone bald. The wool that was her weapon was now gone.

I took one deep breath, and jumped down the entire flight of stairs.

My landing missed, the vibrations of my fall seeped deeply into my bones even though that distance should have been perfectly manageable.

My breathing grew even heavier, I felt a kick land on my gut. The sheeptaur had yet to give up, and she switched to hand-to-hand combat, showing surprising proficiency, for a Handler.

I stumbled back, against the nearly hairless sheeptaur. My thoughts drifted towards Hellish Fireball, but I decided against it. I'd only empty out my reserves even further.

So I neighed loudly, and reared up, basically punching my enemy with my front legs. I managed to push her back, every cast of my gambit depleting my already dried up reserves. But the monster did not give up either, it was an entire slugfest of ourselves slamming our fists and hooves at each other, both our faces a bloody mess.

Her body was taken over by my flames, and my body by her poison. The entire world melted together in my perception, every movement taken under the pressure of the deep blue sea.

I grew more sluggish, and so did my opponent. The pain faded, and the elation of inflicting it also disappeared.

My body no longer moved.

The kaleidoscope of color that had become of the world grew more muddled, a darkness overtaking it all.

Until all that was left was an unvivid painting of the void.