Chapter 334
Roar of a King (XV)
Tessa, Belk, and Syna were sitting awkwardly in the central tent, their moods varying from concerned to even more concerned, eyes shifting from the woman sitting in front of them and looking through some papers to the man sitting on the side, enjoying some alcoholic beverage and occasionally glancing at them with a smile.
These two were the ones they saw tanking the behemoth during the fight, taking hits the likes of which would likely leave all three of them permanently crippled if not dead, and taking them in succession at that. Seeing the fight with their own eyes and the struggle that came with tanking the beast was one of the reasons they didn’t voice themselves when questions about the tanks came--but they were somehow found out anyway.
What was even more nerve-stringing was that neither of the two spoke for the last half hour the other three were sitting. The woman continued to sift through the papers while the man continued to sift through the alcohol. It was as though they were waiting for the trio to break down and start talking themselves, but all three had made a solemn promise to stick to the ‘I won’t tank’ policy no matter what happens.
“I just want to know,” the man suddenly broke the silence and walked over, hands in his pockets. “How is it possible? Back on my world, getting a single good tank was like discovering a diamond in the sand. And yet, three here sit together, from the same world, and unusually young at that. Not to mention talented. Have you realized it, Quinn?”
“Yeah, none of them are even thirty,” the woman replied with a sigh. “To be honest... I’m kind of reluctant now.”
“Know what you mean,” the man said, sitting down, keenly observing the three. “Too risky to rely on them.”
“Maybe if we use them as one person?”
“Eh. I can still do it better than them.”
“Yeah, but we need someone to soak up a few hits. Maybe if we tied them together and used them as a shield? You don’t have a shield, right?”
“H-hey! We can tank! What the hell?! We can tank great!” Belk exploded, while the two younger women next to him sighed. It wasn’t that they blamed him for falling into a trap. In fact, a few more minutes, and they likely would have dipped into the well as well. It was that the old and murky duo was aiming for this the whole time.
“Good, I’m glad,” the man laughed and patted Belk’s shoulder. The latter, halfway between standing up and sitting down, finally realized what happened.
“No, I--”
“It’s really nice having volunteer tanks, eh?” the woman interjected.
“You said it. Hard to find young people these days to take a beating for their fellow man.”
“Alright, alright, you proved your point,” Tessa said with a sigh. “Can we drop the charade now? We’ll tank, okay?”
“Good,” Quinn stood up and tossed the papers away. “I leave these three to you. I’ll go look for healers.”
“Sure,” Cain waved her off while pouring himself another drink and leaning onto the desk, looking at the three.
“How did you know we are from the same world?” Tessa asked.
“Your Mana,” Cain replied. “It’s almost indistinguishable. Besides, you and the other girl are even using the same Class.”
“Hey, we aren’t girls, we’re women!” Syna protested.
“Yeah, well, you are girls to me,” Cain shrugged. “I’ve a daughter almost your age.”
“Wow, so, you are... old old?” Belk exclaimed.
“Just ‘cause I’m old doesn’t mean words can’t hurt me.”
“Oh, I--I’m sorry.”
“You guys are really gullible, huh? How the hell did you even survive up until this point?”
“That’s none of your business,” Tessa said. Cain zeroed in on her as she seemed to be the most level-headed of the bunch. “So, what do you want us to do? I’ll tell you right now--we can’t be the main tanks. None of us are strong enough or well-equipped enough to tank that thing head on.”
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“And we’re not asking you to,” Cain said. “It’s job of the old and the decrepit to protect the young and the hopeful. And we’ll do that. However, we don’t know how long we’ll have to fight that thing. Or what it can do in the entirety. We’ll treat the fight as a raid--and every proper raid has reserves ready to step in in case something goes terribly wrong. You’ll be just that. Well, you will have to tank the thing on the occasion--Quinn and my cooldowns don’t align perfectly well enough for a two-tank raid. You three will be the in-between.”
“... how hard does that thing hit, anyway?” Belk asked.
“Pretty hard. But don’t worry--you’ll have some of my supportive cooldowns.”
“Huh?” Tessa arched her brow.
“They share cooldown.”
“Oh,” she exclaimed softly and blushed at Cain’s all-knowing smirk. “What about your Mana?”
“I’ll always have some for you,” he said, taking a sip of the drink and putting it down before crouching directly in front of the three, his expression turning deadly serious, his eyes boring into their souls. “I won’t let anything happen to you three, okay? If even for a second it starts to seem as too much, I’ll pull you out. I’d rather face that thing alone than have people die under my watch. So, don’t worry.”
“... that’s some major confidence of a pitiful simply Awakened,” Syna scoffed. “Maybe, maybe if that woman told us this, we’d believe her!”
“Have you ever wondered why that woman listens to me and not the other way around?” Cain asked with a smile, returning to the desk. “Besides, I’m technically twice-Awakened like you guys. It’s just that I got stuck here and couldn’t Awaken properly.”
“What can you tell us about tanking the boss?” Tessa got back to the business of things.
“It won’t be easy,” Cain replied, pouring all three of them some whiskey and spicing it up with coke. “Every hit will feel as though you’re back to being ordinary children being beaten by your parents.”
“We... we were never beaten as children?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cain said. “The more people I meet, the more I realize my childhood was an irregularity. Anyway, imagine if you were. You would feel helpless. This is pretty much like that. One advice is to go with the punches--Quinn and I can dissipate incoming Mana and lessen the blow, but you guys probably can’t so you’d take the brunt of every strike. Two of those and all your bones would be shattered. So, if you feel as though the attack is knocking you back relentlessly, let it. I’ll keep an eye out on you and help you stabilize in that case.”
“Can’t you just teach us how to dissipate Mana?” Tessa asked.
“No,” Cain replied simply, shaking his head. “It’s one of the things that you just pick up the more you tank.”
“You’re not even a tank, though.”
“Yeah, but I’m old. And I used to be a quasi-tank.”
“Used to? What?”
“Nothing,” Cain shook his head. “But it’s the experience. Tanking, in general, is all about getting repeatedly beat an inch from death and learning something from it. If I ask you to teach someone who’s never tanked before how to purposefully take a blow that nearly kills him because it’s necessary, how would you go about explaining that?”
“... you can’t,” Tessa said.
“Exactly. They’d just look at you as though you were insane and, in the best case scenario, a major masochist and just move on. Besides, even if I could teach you dissipation, I sure as hell wouldn’t fuckin’ start with that thing. Even Quinn can barely do it, and she’s more than twice the age of all three of you combined. So, forget about the dissipation for now. Just focus on seeing where the hits are coming from and using all your cooldowns to block ‘em. Quinn and I will cover for you, so if something gets past, don’t worry--you won’t have caused any deaths.”
“Heh, sounds easy enough,” Belk scoffed confidently. “The three of us could probably solo tank that thing anyway!”
“Shut up, Belk,” Tessa said. “You’re being too nice to us. What’s the catch?”
“The catch?”
“Yeah, the catch,” she said. “You’re reaffirming, repeatedly, you won’t let anything happen to us. And, the worst part is, I... I want to trust you. When you could have just told us to suck it up and tank for the greater good, for the chance that we can actually leave this place. Why are you going out of your way to be like... this? It’s creepy.”
“... ‘suppose it is,” Cain said with a faint chuckle, sitting down. “But... it’s fine. You’re right. I could have just played to your egos. To the want to be the savior. To any other number of things that stokes the flames stirring in the souls of the young people. But... I don’t want soldiers, little ones. I don’t want an army to die for the flag. I don’t want a wall of bodies inflamed by something greater than themselves. There’s nothing greater than you in this life. Nothing.”
“...”
“What I want... hah, what I want is for this to have never happened, to begin with,” he added, sitting on the desk and looking at the three with a gentle gaze. “I wanted for all of us to get out of this place never needing to fight this thing. I’ve sat in your chairs and walked in your boots. And I have a myriad of people just like you, wondering, back home. Wanting to make that leap. And they’re all my family. Whatever you are to the world, no matter how hard-powered your fists may be, to me... to me you’re just kids. Kids scared for a big monster. Kids wanting to prove themselves, balding a front for the whole world to see. Kids digging their nails into their palms to forcibly calm their terrified souls.”
“...”
“They say that the revolution is a young people’s game,” Cain added while the three quieted down, their lips quivering. “But I’ve found it is only so because... well, because nobody hears the cries. You’re bigger than this fight. Larger than whatever fight you’re fighting to prove yourselves. And I’ll be damned if I let any of you hit a wall here. Just like I used to tell my daughters--I’ll give you the wings and I’ll watch you fly. So, that’s why. I don’t need soldiers. I need friends willing to fight by my side, even if temporarily. I know, I know, I’m cheese overload,” Cain laughed, finishing his drink. “But I’m old and yearning, I’m afraid. Nostalgia hits me like a truck, and a fatherly sense of wanting to protect anything lookin’ remotely younger than me is... it’s a disease, honestly. But, oh well. You’ll only have to deal with it while we’re here. Anyway, we’ll have a more detailed discussion of the fight later on when Quinn gathers healers. Until then, you guys are free. Go about and frolic. I’ll take a nap. Shit, I’m so tired...”