“Are you certain you wish to go out there?”
“You said the situation is under control now, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but.. your arms..”
I was standing in front of a Sun Priest, in what appeared to be an infirmary inside the MIS headquarters, sowhere on the second floor.
Earlier, the armored vehicle seed to have entered so sort of underground garage, likely through a hidden back entrance (well, perhaps it wasn’t hidden, as I simply never circled to the building’s northern side).
The short man did not linger, driving back outside as soon as we got off. As for us, I followed Alrox through a few corridors, and a set of spiraling stairs (both requiring his token to access, with the latter also requiring fresh blood), reaching the small hospital.
“Let it go. As long as his legs are fine, he’ll be fine, too.”
Alrox was leaning on the raised backrest off the hospital bed beside . Unsurprisingly, his right forearm arm was broken, and his left shoulder-bone had received a fracture from the blight’s mighty strike.
“But.. should he stay here to give his report?”
“It’s fine.”
The man who has been my partner, up until this mont, waved his left hand, dismissingly.
“We already gave the urgent report to the chief, on scene. I’ll write up the full report later. As for you…”
He turned his head towards .
“Visit HQ tomo- no, two days would be better. Ask for ember Alrox. I’ll leave instructions at reception to let you through.”
“Alright.”
I slowly stood up from the bed, both hands encased in splints and bandages.
“Get well soon, Alrox.”
There was a short pause before his reply.
“Thank you, Seb. Listen, if you need anything – you know where to find . And don’t you dare forget about it – I hate leaving my debts open for long.”
I flashed him a tired smile.
“Alright. I’ll see you in two days, then.”
“Take care.”
With those words, I exited the field hospital. To my relief, there was still a guard outside, who agreed to escort to the exit.
Unsurprisingly, there weren’t many guards around during our short walk.
The plaza outside the massive building was no longer pristine – dozens of black stains and cracks could be seen on the white stone surface, with vines and branches (mostly their smoldering or withered remains) still littering it.
I quickly estimated my routes – Stormcloud’s stables were 3 kiloters away, the temple was 6 in the other direction.
‘Might as well pick him up later… Wouldn’t want anything to happen to him on the road, in any case.’
With that in mind, I began making my way through the familiar street.
“Tensor’s Avenue.”
For the first ti, I took the effort to check the street's na, sothing I never truly cared about before.
It was the long street that connected Ordolion’s plaza, the one where the MIS HQ stood, to the Enclave of Faith, stretching over more than 3 kiloters.
‘Never seen it like this, though.’
Aside from the smoldering wines, which likely once ford a similar barrier to the one I saw earlier, the street itself looked… Rough.
Along the fences, I would spot more than one bloody stain. Often, those stains would be at the end of bloody trails, leading to nearby buildings.
Two tis, I even saw bodies – one man, one woman, with nobody nearby to take care of their remains. And, speaking of remains, I saw at least half a dozen vine and branch piles, two finely chopped, most of the rest cleaved through, one way or another.
Haa…
As the fighting was behind , the charred and iron scents have beco much more distinct in my mind.
Walking alone through the once-bustling street, illuminated by the soft yellow light of the self-igniting lanterns, hanging from the lamp posts, with occasional shouts, whispers and sobs reaching my ears, the true extent of the bloody desolation finally descended upon .
‘At least we prevented it from getting worse.’
The thought didn’t bring much peace to my mind, so, instead, I decided to find sothing else to occupy it.
【Na】Sebastian (Ǎ̸ͅḷ̷̆ê̴͕̳x̷͎̪̎ ̵̭͗͐S̸̞̒̉m̴̝̙̈͠i̶̟͖͐t̷͔̣͗̌h̷̝͘͝)
【Path】Spellblade (1)
I slowly started scrolling through the familiar panel. I noticed my level was finally reflected near the Path, yet, I chugged it up to my own perception – after all, this was sowhat similar to what happened back when I ‘decomposed’ [Charge Thrust] into its two ‘sub-Skills’.
[Soul Contamination] - Your soul shall be corroded in 1014 days
Unsurprisingly, the number didn’t change since this morning – a morning which felt so distant.
‘Well, I think I managed to break through with so of my Skills, at least.’
[Arc Slash] was in its early 2’s this morning, while [Charge Thrust] was nearly mid-way to level 4, with both [Charge] and [Thrust] around 80% of their way to level 3.
‘Lets see. Maybe I managed to to jump a whole level with Ar-’
Even my thoughts were cut off, as I silently stared at the translucent symbols that only existed in my mind.
—
【Skills】:
[Charge Thrust] - Lv4 (3/100)
|__ [Charge] Lv4 (12/100)
|__ [Thrust] Lv3 (3/100)
[Arc Slash] - Lv4 (12/100)
[Arcane ditation] - Lv1 (4/100)
—
‘...’
I even did a double take, scrolling to the (unchanged) Attributes page, and returning to Skills. However, the numbers remained the sa.
‘That’s… a lot.’
While [Thrust] ‘rely’ jumped by 23%, bringing it just above the threshold of the next level, [Charge] basically skipped Level 3 (or, rather, it probably got there during the 1st fight), and was now sitting at over 120% progression compared to this morning.
Together, the two ‘sub-Skills’ also brought their combined Skill over a quarter of the way towards complete mastery.
But the real shock was seeing [Arc Slash] jump not one, but two levels.
‘I guess.. realizing its versatility, finding the way to use it either as a fast or a heavy swing, was one of the major milestones towards mastery.’
Now, thinking about it, even this Skill wasn’t as simple as it seed.
‘Seriously, I should try to unlock more mories of his father. There may be more important stuff buried there.’
Regardless, didn’t this an I was actually close to jumping straight to Level 3?!
‘They say desperation is the biggest drive of innovation. If this was because of those near-death battles, maybe I should try them again sotis.’
‘...’
‘Nah, fuck it.’
I wanted to grow more powerful, and quickly, but throwing myself into battles with less than a
Reviews
All reviews (0)