Beltane grasped his staff in two hands as if he intended to use it as a bludgeoning weapon. The zombies behind us slowly lurched forward as we walked.
“ᚢᛞᛓᛐ ᛞᛅᛗᛀ (fortga framat).” Beltane gave the command to the zombies, and they moved ahead of us. We continued walking, following the zombies further into the manor.
After several seconds of silence, Beltane said, “Whatever killed Sir Walter, it wasn’t an orc. No orc on Rubigo or Saxum could overpower a level 45 Arcane Knight like that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, not fully understanding what Beltane was saying.
“His mission was to protect Countess Tabitha. Any knight in that situation would fall back the moment he wasn’t in a favorable situation. From the moment Sir Walter was wounded to the moment he died, he did not move from that spot. He must have been killed within seconds. Whatever killed him was significantly stronger than he was.”
“Hold on,” I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. “How are we supposed to beat something that could kill Sir Walter so easily?”
Beltane laughed darkly. “Our only chance is Blood Magic,” he said, holding up the rune burnt into his hand. “If we run into the killer, our only chance for victory is if I can pierce its skin with a blood lance. Once I’m inside of its body, I can destroy it from the inside out.”
I looked over at Beltane for the first time since we split up in the middle of town. Thick, black veins could be seen on all his exposed skin. Dark circles had appeared under his eyes, and his irises had turned an unnatural gold color. These were the effects of Mana Revival, and they would remain for at least a week.
Mana Revival required the user to essentially flood their body with a huge amount of artificial mana contained within an expensive gem. The process was very painful, and it could only be used once a week. It had its downsides, but every War Mage frequently used Mana Revival. Running out of mana in the middle of a battle meant death, and War Mages would do anything to get back into the fight.
After a few more steps, we saw a humanoid figure in the darkness of the hallway. In the back of my mind, I realized that someone or something had been destroying all the Hellfire sparks in the hallway.
As we got closer, we saw that the figure was laying on the ground. Blood had started pooling under the figure’s body, and a single leather-bound book had fallen out of the body’s hand.
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The body belonged to one of the maids working for House Feldrast: Melissa Thorn. She had been cut in the back, and blood still flowed freely from her wound. Her eyes were still open, and her mouth was open in surprise.
I knelt down next to her, willing [Triage] to activate.
Injury: Deep diagonal cut to the back. Severe damage to spinal cord. Left kidney and right lung punctured. Several major arteries have been punctured. Patient will die of blood loss within five minutes.
Malady: Patient is in shock.
She was alive! I did not hesitate for a second before I chanted the [Eight Prayer]. “May Nyx repay you for what you have done!”
Melissa’s wounds healed as I poured my mana into the conduit created by the [Eighth Prayer]. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped, and her wounds were closed. Despite the healing to her physical body, her eyes remained open, and her face was a rigid mask.
She was in shock. Based on the information given to me by [Triage], I knew that the System recognized shock as a malady. I had to use the [Twelfth Prayer] to remove Melissa from her state of shock.
“May those who mourn be lifted to safety,” I said, chanting the [Twelfth Prayer].
With this, Melissa’s eyes fluttered closed, and the slight trembling that had overtaken her body stopped. I reached forward and pressed my fingers to her neck. Her pulse had returned to a healthy pace expected from someone who was asleep.
“She’s okay,” I said, letting out a sigh of relief. “She’s just asleep.”
“Good job,” Beltane said, slapping me lightly on the shoulder. “You were able to save one of ‘em.”
Without further discussion, Beltane used his staff to lift himself to his feet and started walking further into the manor.
“Aren’t we going to take Melissa with us?” I asked Beltane. “She knows intermediate-level Elemental spells.”
“Not a chance,” Beltane said without slowing his step. “She’ll just slow us down. Considering what we’re up against, anyone under level 30 would just be a liability.”
That statement did not fill me with confidence. I asked, “Why am I here, then?”
“If not for your control over Hellfire, I’d make you wait at the entrance to the manor,” Beltane said. “As it stands, you’re necessary if we’re going to win.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Whoever did this is clearly a sword master,” Beltane said. “Based on the fact that he only deployed after Count Armond was pulled away from the manor, I suspect that he didn’t want to fight against a Hellfire expert. Maybe, just maybe, you can distract this sword master long enough for me to hit him with a blood lance.”
There was a blur of movement to our right. I knew from experience that the only thing in that direction was a table and empty wall. An intense feeling of danger filled my body, and a mote of Hellfire appeared in my hand. Simultaneously, Beltane turned toward the movement, his staff glowing a bright silver.
The bright lights of our prepared spells shone upon the source of the movement. There, crawling out of a previously unseen compartment in the wall, were Merrick and Miriam.
I let out a sigh of relief as my two siblings ran forward with tears in their eyes and hugged me. I barely had time to extinguish my mote of Hellfire before they reached me, and I was nearly knocked over by the force of the two children’s momentum.
“Thale!” Miriam and Merrick cried as they latched to my body. Miriam was larger than me at that time, so the hug was all-encompassing.