Ethan’s claws smoothly carved out another chunk along the felling-cut of the burning mushroom-tree before he took a step back and called to Gerard. “Now!”
The man huffed and pushed, and it barely took a second for the soft-crack to resound out of the giant mushroom right before it careened down and slammed against the soft forest floor, then it continued merrily burning in the small clearing while Ethan moved back toward the last survivor of Lance’s group. Barry. The healer.
Gerard was going to cut off everything that wasn’t on fire, and the remains should burn out safely in the center of the clearing. They’ll be watching it to make sure the fire doesn’t spread, but it should be fine. He saw Aaron come back with one of his students, who raised a wand and began spraying the giant mushroom cap with a thin jet of water.
That looks like a useful spell.
He passed Audrey and Liz, who’d been watching the healer, and came to a stop a few feet away from the anxious mess. Barry fearfully glanced up at him, and Ethan raised a hand to forestall any further begging. Further away from him, the two still smoking corpses lay in a small ditch, but the healer couldn’t help himself from looking back at them every few seconds.
He turned to Liz and Audrey. They were both grim. “Are you sure we can’t take the healing spell from him?”
Audrey shook her head. “We tried. Doesn’t seem like it’s possible to remove a spell once it’s in you. There might be something for it, but none of us know or have it.”
Glancing around, Ethan noticed that Amelie was gone. The short battle might have disturbed her, which was… perfectly understandable. Right now she was checking on a couple of injured students. Apparently, out of around six spellcaster-wand users, none had gotten a healing spell.
Healing spells might not be that common… even if there are two right here and now.
Ethan glared down at the healer. “What do you know?”
The man cringed. He moved his lips wordlessly a couple of times before clearing his throat and trying again. “Th—there are tunnels. Leading down. In most caverns.”
Ethan waited, then began frowning when nearly ten seconds passed without man saying anything more. He kept looking fearfully around. Amelie—who had come back already and to Ethan’s surprise, didn’t seem as shaken up as he assumed—spoke up. “Details. What’s down there? How do you know? Etcetera.”
The man startled once more. “I haven’t been. I only heard Lance and…Robert. I heard them talking. They’re at the center of these caves. High level monsters. Stronger lizardlings. It keeps going down. There’s someone they know. Knew. They could move discreetly but they didn’t get too far down there. That’s all I know. If there’s an exit, it’s probably down there.”
Ethan felt a thrum of excitement run through him and he embraced the distraction from the grim mood. Stronger monsters and lizardlings? He liked the thought of that. He didn’t believe there was still too big of a challenge in this area. “How high are the levels?”
“Thirty and higher. I heard forties and fifties, even.”
Both the coach and Liz cursed at that, while Ethan couldn’t help the grin that stretched across his lips. Gerald had a worried frown on his face, while Audrey had both eyebrows raised in surprise, but she didn’t look scared.
Amelie had a wide-eyed smile that Ethan found a little disturbing, though he was very aware he wasn’t one to talk.
Ethan glanced around to see the others mumble and talk between themselves, discussing the dangers that waited for them below. Only Amelie didn’t partake. She shared a look with him, aware of what was not being said and looked past him at the remaining individual.
He was part of the problem. Though he might have also been a coward. He could be a liability, or he could save people with his healing.
The weight of Lance and Robert’s guilt made it a lot easier to deal with them. Their arrogance and their malicious tendencies helped as well, but the disheveled trembling man in front of him made his arms feel heavy. In this man’s case, he didn’t feel like he knew enough about him to take the final step.
Ethan turned to Liz and her team. They were still talking until Amelie elbowed her sister who stopped and looked back to Ethan who finally asked the question most were probably thinking. “What do you all know of this guy? What do we do about him?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
***
In the end, Barry was complicit by being a coward. He apparently hadn’t abused his power or mostly followed the other two at their orders, but he also could have grown a spine and done something about what was happening around him.
The fact that he didn’t was a problem. Was it enough for Ethan to kill him and not lose sleep over it? No. It wasn’t. And he wasn’t alone.
“We’ll remember your face,” said Amelie, towering over the kneeling man. “We’ll remember your name. If you survive and when this is all over.”
Audrey continued. “Go heal people who need help in camp. If they’ll let you. We’ll come and check if you do.”
Ethan stared down at the wide eyed man. “Make yourself useful. If people aren’t singing your praise when we come to check, you’re done. Got it?”
Barry nodded fearfully. Slowly, trembling, he got up and then took a step away. Still staring at them wide-eyed. When he wasn’t vaporized, he picked up the pace, then soon began sprinting and quickly disappearing in the brush.
Ethan looked at the two corpses a small distance away and at the shield and bow next to them, then he glanced sidelong at Gerald. “Take Lance’s fragment, Gerald. He got you in the stomach. I’ll take the other one.”
Gerald gave him a surprised look, then nodded.
After that, Ethan and the group walked in silence for a while. A couple of them were pale, but the rest of them were growing familiar with the new world. On their heels, Aaron and his students followed. They’d been hiding in a pretty small and open cave, so Ethan told them about the couple of lizardling caves he’d cleared and when they learned about the pond, they’d been very willing to move.
They might have also been trying to get away from him, but he didn’t mind that. He didn’t mind being the big bad guy if that meant no one else would have to take an arrow from Lance. Or be shot through the head by a random stranger as they were to turn a corner.
He checked his notification for a second, then quickly dismissed them.
You have defeated [Human - Level 23]
You have defeated [Human - Level 21]
Prime Wand: 27 fragments collected.
After they left Aaron and the high schoolers in the first cave Ethan had found, they made their way toward the center of the second forest.
He didn’t mind hanging out with Liz’s group for a bit.
Minutes after they left Aaron, Liz finally broke the silence. “Do you guys think someone will come after us for… you know. Lance? Like the person that found the tunnels we’re looking for?”
Ethan glanced at her for a second, then shrugged. “No clue.”
“You don’t seem worried about it,” Audrey noted. She had dismissed her tower shield, but Ethan noted how her head was on a swivel, continuously scanning the brush and their surroundings for any danger.
“Not much I can do about it, and I don’t plan on resting on my laurels. Either they’ll make for a good challenge—which I doubt—or that’ll be curtains for them. I’ve got more to worry about than people with a grudge.”
Gerald grunted. “We should do the same. Get stronger. They might still come after us.”
Liz peered over her shoulder, then nodded as well, crossbow still in hands. “I think the next time someone comes after us, we’ll be ready.”
Ethan eyed the crossbow for a second. No bolt was primed, which he assumed was a safe habit to get into. She seemed a bit different from the first time he’d met her. More focused and less nervous. She turned to him, her eyes bright. “What are you planning? Do you need backup? I know we’re still low-level but we can help watch your back.”
“Mmmhm—ugh! Stop that,” Amelie said as she rubbed her side and glared up at her sister.
That made him chuckle. The overt flirting, that is, not the proposal. Frankly, he wouldn’t mind having them around, as long as they were a few steps behind. They were too weak to help in big fights, but they could clean up behind him and level. At this point, anything below level 25 was barely worth the effort for him, so he’d rather focus on stronger opponents.
On top of the company, he’d have a fallback point to get some sleep and rest. Once he was sure he could really, really, trust them.
Which was supposed to be Ember’s job. Where is that cat?
Ember was no show as of yet, and who knew when she’d show back up. Also, now that the adrenaline was out of his system, maybe he should have included something about his safety in that pact. Were there some inherent protection clause in the pact, or could that cat turn on him when he was asleep? He had something it wanted, sure, but was he really safe from it?
Oh, well… I just need to be at a higher level than her. And maybe pick up something other than fire in case I need to fight her.
Ethan turned to Liz and her teammates and finally gave them his answer. “I plan on finding those tunnels and exploring them. I don’t mind if you join up, but you’ll need to stay back and work on your levels. We can work our way down the tunnels once we find them. We need to locate the exit as soon as possible… because I don’t think it’ll just be a door that leads out. This all started in the castle with weak lizardlings, and the deeper we go, the stronger everything’s getting—”
“—so there might be something watching the exit. A boss,” breathed out Amelie, eyes shining.
Ethan glanced at her, surprised. After a second, he nodded. “I haven’t thought of it that way at first… but yeah, probably. If there’s a guardian, we might not have to beat it for the main quest, but I’m sure there’ll be a side quest for it.”
Amelie grinned. “Yes. Classic game logic.”