“The heck are you doing, Seth!? Damn, waste! Where’s my heal!?” That goddam troublesome knight-like bastard screamed at me again.

“Should I let him die?” I thought.

I seriously contemplated it.

Controlling the muscles of my face with strained effort, I deadpan looked across the battlefield at his angry red face that glared unsightly in my direction.

Masking my emotions, I continued contemplating silently inside. But I sighed.

Ian wouldn’t die. The tanky musclehead was rather tenacious. He was like an undying cockroach that even a dragon would have trouble ending. The bulky guy had a freak-like vitality.

“This piece of shit! Are you seriously zoning out during a boss fight!? I said where’s my heal?!” Ian screamed at me again, but now with a hint of worry in his voice.

The annoying shouts broke me out of my thoughts.

I refocused on the battlefield.

Destruction lay before me, but not all were from this fight.

Ruins of a golden era where humans once ruled the earth were all that was left in the depressing surroundings. Decrepit tower-like buildings with their husks of metal and earth littered the landscape: a testament to humanity’s once greatness. However, now its remnants were only a stain to remind us of our powerlessness.

Long gone were the structures' supposed glistening brilliance and luster. They were now only broken shambles, festering the overgrowth of wild vegetation.

A bulky naked ogre, almost the height of three men, bellowed out an ear-piercing warcry. Holding thick stone clubs the size of two men in each hand, the monster beat his chest like drums, displaying his prow.

Lifting both clubs high above its head, the orge blasted an earth-rumbling roar, slamming down his clubs on Ian’s overly large shield.

A loud boom of screeching heavy metal echoed in the area. The ground trembled, knocking me off balance. Ian grunted heavily in pain, but he withstood the immense attack. His feet dug into the ground, leaving a trail as he was pushed back. But the warrior stood strong with his overly large shield and held his ground.

Moans from my side directed my attention back to my immediate surroundings.

Half of my party of ten lay beside me on the broken and ruptured roads.

“Heal. Area heal,” I recited my spell while raising my staff.

Divine power burst forth from the crown of my head. A mist of gold glowed around my head. Healers called it the ‘crowing halo.’ The cool refreshing feeling submerged itself into my body. As it circulated, I felt my body strengthen and all my senses enhanced as divine might surged from within me. My eyes glowed with a white gold. Countless symbols and text flooded my vision.

A soft dome of light enveloped the five by my side, slowly healing their open wounds visibly to the naked eye.

The pig bastard Ian also glowed, sighing a breath of relief as his wounds slowly closed. He roared, taunting back at the boss monster and beating his chest just like the ogre.

“Fitting,” I muttered. “Both muscleheads. The two must be related.”

The others helping Ian fight off the ogre luckily did not need healing. I looked down at my five new comrades around me. My hands were tied with my downed party members.

Looking back at the fight, I suppose Ian was under immense pressure, personally holding back that naked ogre. However, Ian’s burdens couldn’t compare to mine. We fought different battles.

“Restoration,” I chanted, clearing the debuffs on my knocked-out party members.

The corner of their eyes slowly twitched open as they regained their consciousness.

“Time to get back to work. The boss monster is smacking Ian around,” I plainly stated to them a reminder.

Lance immediately jerked up into a sitting position. He jumped up from his spot onto his feet and slapped the others awake.

“Fools! Lancelots! On your feet! Kill the boss monster!” The party leader shouted to the other members.

I cringed at the name of the party I joined for this expedition and future excursions. I lamented that I too was now a Lancelot.

They all rushed forward to Ian’s location further ahead.

“Not a single word of thanks,” I whispered. “I hate being an undervalued healer.”

Such was the life of a supporting role. Only the knights and mages had a claim to glory. Those like me by the sidelines were forgotten.

The large husky orge swung out his stone club at Ian’s full-body shield. Bracing again for impact, Ian gripped his large tower shield and clenched his jaw. The club and shield made contact. Another loud and heavy thud rippled into the surroundings. Even I felt the blow from the sounds of impact.

Ian’s shield warped with a concave chasm from the blow. He grunted, pushed to the side from the powerful strike. That bastard Ian lived up to his name as an undying cockroach. Such a powerful attack did not keep him down. He retaliated by returning the favor with a warcry, charging head-on with his shield right back at the ogre. Knocking the ogre off balance, Ian screamed at me again.

“Seth! Where’s my heal?!”

My face twitched, wrinkling from anger and annoyance.

The guy's brain was pure muscle. It had to be. He didn’t even bother dodging any attacks at all. However, he could and did, spout endless and thoughtless demands from me.

“Does he think I have infinite energy? Idiot.” I whispered.

Being newly added to the Lancelots, I didn’t want to get on their bad side so I held in my complaints.

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“Heal,” I begrudgingly chanted.

I made a mental note to plan a talk with Lance and my new party, as this would not work out in the future. If more fools join his bandwagon of recklessness, even my unusually large amounts of divine energy wouldn’t be enough to save them.

This party truly knew not how lucky they were to have me as their healer. Anyone else would have run out of divine energy and sucked all their mana pots dry.

“Good holding up, Ian! Now, everyone, back up! It’s time we finish this! Hans. Thena. You twins know what to do!” Lance shouted out commands.

I noticed the pull on the ambient mana in the air, gathering towards the twins.

“Quite a big spell this should be. I hope they don’t destroy too much of that ogre’s body,” I prayed.

Two young siblings, in similarly dressed leather armor like mine, lifted their staffs up into the air and pointed them at each other. A sudden flash of red blazed at the center point of their weapons.

The mana in the air pooled into them like a raging whirlpool. As a result, the blaze grew tenfold. Yet, it didn’t end there. Mana continued pouring into the fire. The red mass of fire burned an almost blinding white.

“Take this! Heaven's wrath! Purgatory Inferno!” The twins shouted and unleashed their attack.

I couldn’t help but cringe a little at the name of their attack. It wasn't the worst I heard, but it was over-the-top to associate their spell with the heavens.

The names of chants were up to the users to decide as they ultimately were meant to help the caster with focus and clarity. A consistent image while evoking the channels and components was crucial to the successful casting of a spell. Chanting can better focus the mind on recalling the proper pathways.

Chants are meant to assist in this manner. However, I couldn’t fathom not being embarrassed by uttering such words. I liked my chants short, simple, and not embarrassing.

The twins grunted from the overdraw of mana. No longer able to hold out, they launched the white fireball launched forward with a flash and struck the ogre.

The massive white fireball exploded on contact, engulfing the ogre and the immediate area.

A blood-curdling scream bellowed out from the ogre. It tried to roll on the ground to put out the fire. Its actions were useless. Even with powerful regenerative abilities, the ogre, a distant relative of the troll, could not overcome the fire.

The white fire burned regardless of its attempts to diffuse the flames. The creature stopped moving, and the fire completely obliterated the ogre’s body.

With the orge’s body incinerated, all that was left were the loot that drops upon the death of all monsters. The body would have remained as well had it not been incinerated. I sighed at the loss of coin we could have obtained.

My new party cheered at the defeat of the boss monster. I clapped, but internally I swore endlessly. Though I dared not vocalize my ungentlemen-like storm of swearing.

“Great job, muscleheads,” I whispered sarcastically. “That could have been a couple of gold coins.”

I had a feeling my new team and I held different values. I should have asked if they were part of the faction that believed in the complete annihilation of monsters, which would explain why they didn’t try to keep the monster’s carcass.

But hunters with such beliefs were rare to the extent of being nonexistent. I never asked. All men and women needed to feed themselves, even if that meant stripping a monster’s body for resources. Yet, here we are.

“Just my luck,” I sighed. Still, I sucked up my reluctance and instead thought about the loot.

The dirt around the impact of the massive white fireball turned smooth like glazed glass from the high heat. All of us Lancelots rushed toward the fruit of our labor to see our rewards. The smooth ceramic-like ground cracked into shattered bits under our feet.

The ten of us surrounded the loot and looked down with greedy eyes. Yet, all of us knew better. The items would be distributed fairly.

Or so I thought.

A sudden shove knocked me hard to the ground and onto my side.

“You useless healer! You got to be the worst healer in the world! Zoning out during a boss fight! You freaking noob!” The musclehead Ian once again screamed with spit flying at me.

I dodged the rabid pig’s disgusting spewing of saliva and spouts of nonsense.

I clenched my jaw to keep my mouth shut but lost my cool. Even if I wanted to get along, I could not let my new team see me as a pushover.

“Says the guy that doesn’t know how to dodge properly! No other healer besides me could have kept up with constantly healing you! And I was healing the others as well, musclebrain!”

“You bastard!” Ian lunged at me, pinning my arms under his knees and to the ground.

I seemed to have touched a sensitive spot.

I was not a small guy. But in comparison, Ian was simply part ogre. The two had to be related. He was physically much larger and more muscular than the average man.

In hindsight, I didn't even think he’d fight me for the remark. So I didn’t think he would attack me when arguing against him. But realistically speaking, Ian was able to go toe-to-toe against the ogre boss with that large body of his. He even knocked over the massive ogre. The odds were not in my favor in this fight.

The first punch to my face knocked stars into my head. However, I healed myself quickly out of habitual instinct, but my head was still spinning. With my arms pinned under his knees, I couldn’t defend myself.

Chaos broke out. Some egged him on. Others shouted at Ian to stop. But none actually did anything.

Ian pulled his other arm back, readying himself to swing full force down on me again. However, I was not going to be a punching bag and take a beating. It was fighting dirty, but there was no other way against a brute of this size.

With all the might I could muster, I drove up my knee and slammed his jewels. Ian's face turned blue. He stopped mid-swing to cover his lower parts, but the momentum from his swing already set a path for his body to slam on top of me into a flat pancake.

No longer pinned, I jerked my arms up in a hurry and pushed his large frame slightly to redirect his fall to the side. His big body fell down with a loud thud as he moaned in agony, holding his crushed jewels.

I quickly got up and dusted off the dirt. The others looked at me with distasteful eyes, but what could I do? Take a beating? No thanks.

“Cheap shot.” Hans quipped.

“Then you try doing something when being pinned down by that bear of a man. Besides, I said nothing wrong. Ian started this.” I retorted back.

Hans huffed, and his twin looked at me with those disdainful glaring eyes. They all did. Not too surprising, seeing how they were all one team from the start. They only just added me. Being glared at was unbearably uncomfortable. So much for trying to fit in.

“I don’t like this one, Lance!” Ian growled, struggling to stand up while still holding his lower half.

The rabid pig seemed to be ready for another round. I wasn’t sure if I could pull the same trick twice on the musclehead. His fighting abilities were much better than mine. That much, I could admit.

Lance sighed. “You wanted a healer so we got you a healer. Now you don’t want him?”

“Screw him! He dared to bite the hand that feeds him! We’re risking our lives while he sits back! Who knows if he’ll screw up again and get us killed!? There’s plenty of other healers better than this loser!”

I glared at Ian. We shot daggers at each other, but internally I felt alienated and unappreciated. I knew this whole team thing was not going to work out. At least, not with the way things were heading.

“Just pay me for this expedition, and let’s go our separate ways. I can’t work with a birdbrain anyways.”

“Why you little ungrateful waste!” Ian blasted, launching himself at me again. However, the others caught him and held him back this time.

But not only did he chime in. Others in the group started shouting out similar thoughts they held in their hearts.

I looked around, slightly taken aback. It wasn't just Ian who had issues with me. Others opposed adding me from the start or maybe due to the recent event.

Lance sighed again before shouting. “Enough!”

The Lancelots went silent.

The leader that recruited me turned solemn. Something in the way he held himself changed. His attitude towards me instantly shifted. He was no longer welcoming.

“You said it yourself, right? We go our separate ways? Here, take this and go.” Lance coldly commanded.

He went and picked up the smallest item of the drops, a dull small little black bead that no one had ever seen before, and tossed it to me.

I grasped it in one hand. I did not recognize the small dull bead, but I knew I got some garbage they didn’t want. I heard from the others on the way here that Lance had a good ability that could identify an item’s rank.

Obviously, he gave me the worst of the loot. I was going to complain, but the others at the party held the same cold look. This was no longer my team. If anything, we were borderline enemies now.

“Best go on your way now, Seth. You’ve got your fair share. This is where we split. Notify the guild about your departure, and we will do the same. You can tail us back at a distance, but we won’t help you should any danger arise.” The leader of the Lancelots plainly stated.

A rare few seemed reluctant or indifferent. Some snorted. Others gave a ridiculing chuckle. But Ian belly-laughed and pointed at me like this was the funniest joke he ever heard.

I was unamused. I narrowed my eyes at the imbecile laughing uncontrollably but held back my anger. It was one against nine. I was lucky they didn’t all-out attack and murder me right here and now in the Wilds.

Lance’s words showed me one thing at least. Though seemingly righteous, he looked down on me as a healer. Nothing new, but I thought he was different from the others. At least, that’s how he came off when recruiting me. Not that it mattered anymore anyway.

I snorted at Ian and walked back to the Neithern Kingdom. I was not some sort of abandoned dog, following them from behind.

“They would be the ones following me!” I swore to myself and stormed off.

“You better stay clear of my path, you waste! I’ll pound you into a bloody paste, I swear!” Ian threatened with rabid shouting at my back.

I wanted to jerk my head around and swear back at him, but I refrained. I didn’t know if his chummy party members would join in. But they did anyway.

Laughter and taunts flung at my back, but I pressed forward. I clenched the dull black bead in my hands in anger.

“I hold my grudges, Ian. It wasn’t the worst I’ve experienced, Lancelots. But I’ll remember this favor you all did to me. I always do.”

I swore to myself, walking away as the laughter echoed out of range.