Chapter 48: Tidal Wave I

The string of notifications was the final confirmation he’d needed. Leo allowed his shoulders to slump back down. The fight was over.

He’d won.

Leo squinted, still struggling to process things through the pain. He found he had just enough mana left for [Renewal] and activated it, thankful that he’d used [Mana Recovery] earlier.

A familiar soothing wave passed through him, dulling the pain in his jaw and stomach and healing a few minor cuts and bruises he’d gotten during the fight. His shoulder still stung, but it was at a level he could somewhat tolerate.

Leo exhaled and quickly scanned the notifications. His eyebrows rose at the third one, and if he wasn’t so exhausted, his heart would probably be racing in excitement.

He’d never gotten bonus experience before. It and bonus points were one of those things that everyone had heard about, but only a select few received. It looked like he could choose how to distribute it too, unlike regular experience that automatically divided itself between party members.

The question was why he’d gotten it. The easiest answer was that it was because of the level gap between him and Sonia, but you never knew when it came to the System. It could just as easily have to do with the lake and the lingering fae magic.

He would deal with it once he was somewhere safe. Leo carefully moved over to where his dagger had fallen and sheathed it.

[Dagger Proficiency] was a nice addition. The System was finally rewarding his constant use of knives. He remembered Spade had a skill called [Blade Proficiency], which sounded like a more general version.

Leo looked around, trying to place himself on the island shore. His brows furrowed. His boat should be around here, but he couldn’t see it anywhere. Leo carefully began circling the small island while he distributed his points.

He was almost tempted to level up [Dagger Proficiency], but it was a passive that could level on its own, and he’d probably be using it a lot anyway.

Instead, he raised his constitution up by 2 and his strength by 1. He couldn’t keep running out of stamina like this in the next fight.

Leo stopped walking. His eyes widened. The water level had risen, he realized. The island was even smaller now, and if he looked closely, he could see the waves creeping further into the shore with each new push and pull.

He cursed, a hand flying to the amulet around his neck, but it remained cool to the touch. Was this the fae magic acting up?

He rapidly scanned the shore, searching for a way off. He had to leave before the entire island was underwater. He still needed to find Ivan and get the fragment.

“Leo!”

The [Fragmentholder]’s head snapped to the side, muscles automatically tensing, but he relaxed when his eyes landed on an approaching boat with two familiar figures seated inside.

“Over here!” Leo yelled. As the boat drew closer, he could see both Allan and Spade within.

Their clothes were covered in dried blood, mud, and new rips. Spade’s arm was wrapped in a bandage, the wound quite nasty if the amount of blood soaking through her torn sleeve was any indication, but they otherwise seemed fine. Leo’s shoulders slumped in relief.

The boat lightly hit the shore and Allan jumped out, running over. His eyes were wide, rapidly taking in the former [Thief]’s injuries. Leo cut him off before he could scold him for his recklessness.

“Not now. We need to get off the island first.”

Allan’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. Carefully, he helped Leo over to the boat, making sure not to put any pressure on his injured shoulder. Spade kept the boat in place as they got in, and Leo winced as he accidentally bumped his arm.

He gritted his teeth. “Let’s go,” he said. The fog, he realized, was starting to thin out. Combined with the rising water level, he got a very bad feeling about the whole situation. The faster they got off the lake, the better.

Spade pushed off the shore and began rowing while Allan looked over his wounds.

“What happened? Did you fight Ivan?”

Leo snorted, then immediately regretted it when the motion caused his ribs to sting.

“The fragment was there. I was gonna steal it from him, but Sonia showed up.” He winced as Allan carefully lifted his arm to get a better look at his shoulder.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Leo continued. “I managed to throw her into the lake, but Ivan left with the fragment,” he muttered. He stared down at the wooden floor of the boat. “I’m sorry.”

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“Shut up.”

Leo looked up in surprise. Allan’s eyes were hard.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. You fought Sonia by yourself and won.” He raised a hand and activated [Mend]. A now familiar ultramarine glow lit up the boat and the remaining few wisps of fog.

“Don’t worry about the fragment. We’ll just find Ivan and take it back.” There was zero room for question in Allan’s voice.

Leo felt a wave of relief wash over him as the cuts and broken ribs from the fight began to heal. This seemed a little advanced compared to past uses, but when he checked Allan’s stat sheet, he saw that [Mend] was now level 3. He must’ve used all his points on their recent level up to raise it.

“I have to set your shoulder before I can use [Mend] on it,” Allan explained. He frowned at the offending wound. “Will you be okay until we reach shore?”

Leo smiled crookedly. “It’s not like I’ve got much of a choice here.”

The [Healer] shook his head, but returned the smile.

“What about you? Did you run into Douglas and Dalton?”

Allan’s eyes darkened at the mention of the two Hounds. Spade was the one to answer, the [Executioner] continuing to row through the increasingly thin fog in smooth motions as she spoke.

“We fought them,” she said simply. It didn’t need to be stated who had won, given their presence here. She glanced back at Leo. “Any ideas where the other one landed?”

She must be talking about Ivan. Leo shook his head. “Probably not too far from Clearside,” he guessed.

“I’ll land a little ways away from the village then.” She gestured with her head, and through the rapidly vanishing fog, Leo could see the shapes of other boats atop the lake’s surface.

His fingers squeezed into a fist. The remaining Hounds would get a notification that their party leader had died, and while he didn’t know how many among the mercenary group were loyal to Sonia, he’d rather not risk a confrontation right now.

He nodded, and Spade carefully rowed the boat in a diagonal angle. Leo’s brows furrowed. Maybe it was his imagination, but the waves looked much stronger now.

The chill from before returned. Leo turned back towards the center of the lake. It was faint, but he swore he saw the surface bubble, pulsing like a breath. He heard Irving’s voice in his head telling him about the other village that had been destroyed. About the sudden wave that had risen.

Cold dread settled in Leo’s stomach. His heart raced.

“Head to Clearside,” he blurted out. Spade glanced back, raising a scarred eyebrow. Allan shot the [Fragmentholder] a confused look.

“The lake. I think there’s gonna be another tide, like the one Irving was talking about.” His hand grabbed the amulet, its cold, solid weight a steady comfort. “It’s gonna take out the entire village if it’s anything like he said. We need to warn the villagers. Hell, the Hounds too.”

Allan frowned. “Wouldn’t it be better to stay away? There’s no reason to risk getting close.”

Leo shot the [Healer] an incredulous look. “Are you kidding? I’m not letting a whole ass village die if I can help it.”

As far as he could tell, the residents of Clearside were perfectly normal people who’d ended up in a shitty situation. They definitely didn’t deserve to drown.

He was more iffy on the Hounds, but even if they’d had conflicting interests by virtue of the fragment, he didn’t want them all to die. He would do what had to be done to get the fragment, but he wasn’t going to let a senseless massacre occur just because some leftover fae magic had gone haywire.

The boat turned, pointing back towards Clearside’s silhouette on the shore. Leo stood in the boat as they drew closer to the remaining Hounds.

He could see heads turning in their direction, a few hands flying to their weapons. Sucking in a breath, he yelled with as much force as he could.

“Get off the lake!”

There was some hesitation at that, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t help that his lungs still felt tight and his voice wasn’t nearly as loud as he’d like.

Leo waved his uninjured hand, gesturing towards the center of the lake where the water was now visibly bubbling.

“Just see for yourself! If you don’t get to shore now you’ll get caught in the wave!”

That got a few more people to stop, and some of the Hounds glanced at each other. Some saw the bubbling and started rowing away, but others still seemed hesitant. Leo lowered his hand in frustration.

The boat shifted, and Leo felt a presence at his side. He turned to see Allan had moved beside him.

The [Healer] leaned forward as their boat drew closer to the remaining groups of Hounds, dark eyes narrowed and so cold that Leo had to remind himself this was Allan. He turned on [Judgement] almost instinctively as the man yelled at the lingering Hounds.

[Allan has equipped [Intimidation]]

Leo blinked. That had to be a passive. Their party stat sheets only showed equipped passives. He’d never seen Allan use that skill before; he hadn’t even known that he’d had it.

Leo snapped back to the present. He’d missed what Allan had said, but it seemed that it combined with the growing bubbling across the lake’s surface had finally been enough to get the rest of the Hounds scrambling.

Allan sat back down, eyes back to their usual warm black. Leo studied him for a moment, trying to find a trace of that intensity, but it had vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

“…Thank you,” he said quietly. Allan nodded at him, and his smile was completely familiar.

“No problem.”

The boat sped forward, Spade rowing rapidly through the churning waves. Leo’s muscles tensed as they drew closer to the shore, where he could see a crowd of villagers had gathered. Perhaps they’d watched the Hounds when they’d initially set out, or maybe they’d noticed the thinning fog.

The waves kept rising, and Leo’s fingers squeezed around the hard edge of the boat.

He hoped they weren’t too late.