Accidental Healer

Chapter 148 62 - The Scourge is over

I knew I wasn't dead.

Not yet anyway.

How did I know I wasn't dead? Because if I was dead, then I wouldn't have a sword shoved through my torso.

It was very dark though and I wasn't sure why. I was a healer, not a doctor. Was it possible my organs were damaged so thoroughly it caused blindness? That seemed possible.

Why didn't it hurt more?

Stupid question, just be grateful. Also, I really should get it out of there. But I wasn't ready to move quite yet. Sure, it didn't hurt—yet. But something told me that pulling a sword out of my body was no picnic.

Healing myself was out of the question. I'd learned that didn't work until the weapon was out.

Alright well, it wasn't going to remove itself.

Or was it? Could it really be so easy? I was pretty sure the scavenger who the sword belonged to was dead by now.

Not that I was sure that changed anything.

I closed my eyes and imagined the sword moving into my spatial storage.

To my great relief, it did.

Healing strands began working right away, mending organs, and sealing my skin.

The only thing the mana didn't heal? My blindness.

That was weird. But it did kind of make sense. It explained why the bruiser hadn't taken my head off yet.

It meant I wasn't the only one blinded.

That was pretty lucky.

Or was it? The longer I waited kneeling sightlessly the more I realized the darkness had a subtle sense of familiarity—like I somehow knew it. And the more I explored that sensation, the less restrictive the darkness felt.

It seemed weird to assign attributes to whatever it was surrounding me but there was just no denying it. Calm, intentional, proud, demanding, vengeful, thoughtful, reliable—playful?

The impressions saturated the atmosphere and it all became clear.

Mischief?

It made sense. He must've evolved.

So then what should I do?

Theoretically, everyone in the blackness was probably blinded. Well except, Mischief. Which seemed like a good thing. So then—I guess I should just wait?

It felt like a better choice than wandering around blindly. So I sat down cross legged and listened.

There was plenty going on to keep me from getting bored. For example, I could hear my faction still clashing with the chaos spawn horde. It felt far away though. Like I was listening to it with a pillow over my head.

I figured they would be at it for a while yet. After a minute or so I realized listening to the fight was much less interesting then watching it.

I sighed inwardly. The thought occurred to me that I could loot the dead scavenger and I was just about to when I thought better of it. What if I made noise? That could be bad.

The bruiser was still out there. What if it was right behind me just waiting for me to make a sound so it could shove that oversized sword in my back? I shivered.

What the hell was Mischief doing anyway? Probably taking his sweet time. He really did have a bad habit of toying with his prey.

"You should open your eyes."

Mischief's voice startled me and I realized with a start that I'd been sitting this entire time with my eyes locked shut. I must've closed them after the healing didn't fix my sight. It felt too unnatural to keep them open when I couldn't see anything.

My eyes slid open.

It was like I'd been teleported to another dimension, a dimension where the world was void of color.

I could see though. That felt great. Even if I'd been teleported into a noir film. Mischief sat on his haunches a dozen or so feet away. Before I could say anything he gestured with his head.

To my left, standing still as a statue, sword at the ready, was the bruiser.

"I assumed you probably wanted to talk with it."

I smiled. He'd assumed right. Why wouldn't I? I rested my hands on my knees to shove myself up when I noticed something missing.

Where was the scavenger?

Mischief must've noticed my brief look of confusion. There was a twinkle in his eye.

"I borrowed him." Was all he said.

Whatever that meant.

I decided not to think about it too much and shoved myself up.

My boots scuttled against the ground as I stood. I was forced to immediately launch myself backward as a spectral sword whooshed right past where I'd just been. My feet landed, dirt scraped and another blade flew. This time rather than launching myself I took a small step, just enough to evade the attack but not enough to make a sound.

The attacks stopped.

Well, it was good to know I'd been right. The bruiser was just waiting for me to make a sound.

Now that I was on my feet and had my vision restored though, I was interested in finding some answers.

And I figured there were probably a few ways to do that. The first and easiest way? Just start talking.

"You're wasting your energy." I called, ready to move if another attack came. Surprisingly though, the bruiser lowered its weapon.

The crystal fixed in its chest ignited and the helm opened to reveal the veiny face beneath.

"As are you." His voice sounded thick, like molasses.

"Speaking is a waste of energy? I don't think so."

"Will it save my life?"

My lips pursed.

I could lie, it might get me farther—but that just wasn't who I was, and I wasn't going to change that.

"No." I assured him solemnly. "You are going to die here."

Even though I was certain the bruiser still had no ability to see out of the darkness he tilted his head back slightly.

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"He would approve." His words seemed forced from his throat.

"He?"

The chest crystal began to glow again and his face disappeared.

"He?" I prodded. "Wait. You've said that twice, who is he?"

But it was clear. The time for talking had passed. Feeling resigned and more than a little disappointed, I readied Tranquility.

Blinded and alone, the result of this fight was already all but decided. It made me wonder, if these three chaos spawn were some kind of response to tampering, why not send more?

Mischief moved first. Or more accurately he left one space and reappeared directly behind the bruiser. Apparently one major benefit to his new ability was literally everything was shadow. It turned shadow jump from an already insanely effective movement skill to literal god tier.

The bruiser had no chance to defend and Mischief clamped his giant maw wide around the bruiser's upper torso and clamped down. The crimson barrier buzzed to life shielding the bruiser beneath.

It didn't panic. It simply shoved the claymore under its armpit where Mischief should've been.

But Mischief was already gone.

I used a piercing lunge and the spectre of Tranquility's blade rammed itself into the bruiser's stomach. The barrier held. Three more spectres followed each crashing into crimson.

The bruiser didn't even try to run. Didn't try to attack. Just stood as more and more of my attacks battered against his barrier. I knew that this fight ended with the bruiser being killed. But with him not fighting back it began to feel like an execution.

I shot off a few more piercing lunges and the barrier started to dim. Even though I knew it was impossible, I was convinced the bruiser was staring deep into my soul.

I closed my eyes.

There was an abrupt crunch.

Congratulations! You have killed Rainer Level 64 Elite Chaos Spawn Bruiser.

Level Up.

The elites were no doubt the most dangerous things I'd ever faced. I mean, they probably would've killed me and Mischief had he not evolved mid fight.

Clearly there was something bigger at play, but I was getting the distinct impression the rules of this universe were more strict than I previously assumed. And If I was reading this situation correctly, powerful opposing forces existed in the cosmos and through some horrible coincidence I'd attracted their attention.

There was a silver lining though. This world rewarded those who overcame adversity, the greater the adversity the greater the reward. The appearance of three powerful chaos spawn at the end of a grueling scourge trial?

That was some intense adversity. But we made it.

The darkness began to shift and swirl.

A slight gust pushed me from behind, tugging at the sleeves of my robe. The sounds of combat became less blunted and the noir world of black and white opened to the crisp greens and browns of late fall.

I followed the last trails of vapors as they rejoined their master.

Mischief waited prominently over Rainer, the fallen bruiser. Thin strands of mist trailed from his body giving the impression that he was engulfed in black flames. When he breathed out, puffs of thick blackness trailed from his nostrils, orange eyes smoldering.

"Well that was unexpected."

He coughed out a laugh and more tendrils bled from his mouth.

I glanced over his shoulder and saw the corpses of the other two elites lying near each other. The scavenger that I'd killed still had a polearm sticking out of it. I raised an eyebrow at my brother.

"You borrowed him?"

There was a twinkle in his eye and he shrugged.

"Should we loot them?"

I spared a glance over my shoulder to find Norso right where I'd left him before the fight, chipping away at the chaos spawn horde. Was he not aware that Mischief and I had been in the fight of our lives?

The dark elf used his spear to skewer the eye of an incoming scavenger. I guess he was pretty busy himself. For a moment I considered whether or not I should help him.

Eh, I survived. He'll be fine.

"Yeah, let's have a look." I said enthusiastically, jogging up to the dead bruiser.

It was a gruesome sight. Mischief had used his mouth like a compactor crunching the entire torso into a mangled mess. The helmet was open and a thick black ichor rolled down the blueish purple face. A quick search revealed that the giant claymore was nowhere to be found and the crimson crystal in the center of the chestpiece was cracked down the middle.

"Maybe we should wait?"

"Why"

"I don't know." Scrunching my face up. "It feels like opening our presents too early on Christmas or something."

"Christmas?"

***

"So this is where the two of you have been?" Alex panted, resting his spirit weapon against his steel plated shoulder. "Enjoying the nice fall weather are we?"

Instead of joining in to help finish the horde Mischief and I waited it out talking about his new evolution. The darkness was a new spell literally titled "mists of darkness".

It essentially did exactly what the title implied. He released a cloud of mist that prevented any light from entering. The reason I was able to see was a feature of the spell that Mischief only noticed a little while after casting that allowed allies to still have visibility.

All in all a truly devastating ability. His second new spell he kept a secret.

"Huh." I said, pretending to look around. "It is a pretty nice day isn't it? Wouldn't you agree, Rainer?"

I nudged the body of the dead bruiser.

Alex scrunched up his face as if just noticing the three corpses we'd drug together. Then he narrowed his eyes, possibly realizing these were different then the others.

"Why do these look different then the other chaos spawn?" He asked.

"You know what…now that you mention it—I suppose they do look a bit different don't they?" I teased.

"Were they the reason for the giant black cloud?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I forced myself up and brushed the dust from my backside.

"Why don't you give us a hand hauling these guys back and I'll tell you all about it?"

Not much later a group of us gathered around the three bodies just outside the courtyard of the teleporter. Jared was basically vibrating with excitement when we arrived. He jogged across the courtyard to meet us.

"He's done, Layton! Trasnik is done! They're installing the crystals now!"

His jog slowed as he noticed the three chaos spawn corpses lying on the stone street. "What's this?"

"Chaos spawn Elites, but honestly we can talk about them later. Are you saying the scourge trial is about to end?"

He beamed. "Literally any second now."

My chest tightened and I forgot all about the chaos spawn elites.

I'd been waiting for this moment now for months. Now that it was here it felt hard to breathe. I passed through the courtyard, under the marbled archway and into the hall where the portal sat surrounded by Trasnik and several other goblins.

They looked up as my footfalls echoed around the large chamber.

"Ahh Layton, you've arrived just in time." Trasnik beckoned me forward with a sly grin. "We're just about to place the final stone."

I stepped closer approaching the bronze stand that was situated between two sets of marble steps leading to the portal. My pulse was pounding in my ears. The group of goblins parted, permitting me to stand opposite Trasnik.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

My eyes turned to the portal. In a moment I'd learn if my parents were alive or if they were dead. Their faces flitted through my memories and my palms began to sweat.

"I'm ready." I whispered.

Trasnik placed the stone crystal into the bronze stand.

Congratulations! You have successfully survived your first Scourge Trial!

Your faction has faced the fires of adversity and come out the other side triumphant. Your sacrifices during this trial have not gone unnoticed.

Rewards for this trial are based on contributions. Rewards calculating……

Faction Rewards:

Each member of the faction Layton Mischief has earned the title, Born of the Scourge.

Born of the Scourge: You have faced a scourge trial and survived undaunted. + 5% to all stats.

Each member of the faction Layton Mischief has earned the title, Destroyer of Chaos.

Destroyer of Chaos: During the trial your faction killed over five million chaos spawn. + 10 strength, +10 agility.

The Faction Layton Mischief is rewarded 10 Universal Silver Coins.

The Faction Layton Mischief has been upgraded to settlement. (Bypassing population requirements)

Individual Rewards:

You have earned the title, Calm in Chaos. You have earned schematics - airship schematics. You have earned an item: Ring of the penitent.

Calm in Chaos: Leaders who can maintain composure in the face of trials are a rare breed. +50 wisdom

You have earned two levels. Congratulations you may now choose an evolution!

Bonus Rewards:

For defeating chaos spawn elites.

You have earned five resource upgrade tokens. You have earned one item upgrade token.

You have earned Rainer's Repaired and cleansed armament shard (upgradable)

You have earned five new levels (levels will be rewarded after class selection)

For a second, I thought the rewards might never end. Just the rush of new stats alone made my head spin.

Murmurs of excitement echoed around the chamber and from the scaffolding where crafters were spectating the completion of the teleporter. Shouts of victory could be heard outside and I craved to join them.

But my job wasn't finished. There was still more that needed to be done. First things first, I needed to choose my next class. The instant my eyes scanned the words I knew what I would choose.

The changes were immediate and the rush of power was intense as the system fed me the five extra levels. Boots scuffled the floor behind me.

"Holy crap, Layton…"

Startled, I turned around. I hadn't even heard anyone come in. Alex was staring at me slack jawed with many other members of my faction.

"Should we go find your parents?"