It didn’t take long for the first hollowling to attack them. Liam took care of it with ease. Another one soon followed, and then another. They were making good progress; they hadn’t yet run into anything Liam wasn’t used to. Something that was bound to change soon.
After he dispatched a fifth hollowling, something fell out of the tree, something large. It was a green spider the size of a wolf.
“Careful, Liam, their bites are very poisonous. One bite kills an average man in about twenty seconds.”
The warning was just in time for him to dodge out of the way without thinking about letting the creature bite him just to bait an opening.
“For future reference, I’d prefer an earlier heads-up, please.”
“Oh, you worry too much. I would have healed you anyway. I told you once, remember, I will not let you down for as long as you have that fire to keep burning in you. Unfortunately, even I cannot heal that if it ever goes out.
He could recall the conversation, and the comfort he’d felt when she told him that. For some reason, hearing it again now just meant a little more, despite it only being a few days.
Shit, don’t get distracted during a fight, dumbass.
He managed to get out of the way of another bite. He didn’t particularly love spiders when they were smaller than his palm; he couldn’t say he loved one that was this large either. His dislike peaked even higher when it tried to spurt webbing at him from its back.
I might prefer the poison to that… It looks disgusting.
The spider was surprisingly agile despite its frame. Moving around much better than the hollowlings. Perhaps it was just smarter. The fight was starting to drag, mostly because he was trying to not get bitten, his own apprehension about spiders overriding logic. He trusted her claim; he just didn’t want the creepy crawler to touch him if it was possible.
He swung his sword and the creature ducked away, returning the favour by trying to spray webbing on him again. He rolled to the side.
“Liam, you do realise the longer you take, the more likely it is that another will come across us, right?”
Truth be told, he hadn’t considered that at all. He weighed the options in his head.
I don’t want to let it touch me, but I think I hate the idea of having a second or, gods forbid, a third one joining even more. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He let out a defeated sigh. He was stubborn to a fault sometimes, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. The choice was clear at least to him.
Fuck it.
He didn’t dodge the next bite attempt. The pain was more than he expected. He was used to feeling claws or blades tearing at him, having something shatter his bones. This, however, was an entirely different feeling. The initial piercing was sharp yet tolerable. The feeling of the fast-working poison slowly dissolving veins and bones, on the other hand, was less than ideal.
He still held on. His sword thrust down, stabbing into the spider’s head and then down onto his own arm. He couldn’t help the small scream of pain that escaped his lips at the combined sensation. He couldn’t see the smile on Melissa’s lips either.
The spider collapsed, its lifeless body now on the ground as Liam went down on one knee. It took a few more moments before a familiar warm sensation washed over him. The poison had stopped damaging his insides. The damage was slowly reversing, his veins and flesh knitting back together as the bones regrew.
No matter how many times this happens, it still feels weird. It’s like the academy healers, yet somehow different at the same time in a way I can’t quite put my finger on.
He shrugged mentally; the lingering pain was still a bit too much to do it physically. He didn’t really care about the particular mechanics of her healing; what mattered was that it hadn’t failed him once. She was always there, and had never failed to patch him up. To him, that was the most important thing at the moment. For the first time in his life, he was feeling like somebody gave a crap about him.
“Give me a few minutes until the pain dies down, and then we can keep going.”
He had no plans to stop just because he was a little hurt. He still wanted to make it down to that boss floor with her. He wanted to prove he was better than the others who’d accompanied her before. He needed her to see it; he needed to know he was better.
Such ambitions had never crossed his mind before meeting her, but ever since he’d managed to take those three goblins down and had been praised by her, he felt this ever-growing need to push further. Perhaps this was what he had always been like; he just didn’t have the chance to act on it before. It’d certainly explain why he paid so much attention to the instructors.
It didn’t take long for him to recover. His newfound competitive fire and stubbornness were a combination that simply demanded he keep going. He stood up and without saying anything started moving, his stride more sure of himself than it was before.
He killed a handful of hollowlings and a couple of spiders as they made their way towards the opening that led further down into the bowels of the dungeon.
Only three more floors after this one and I’ll be as deep as she’s ever been. Finally we’ll be proper equals.
That singular thought made him pick up the pace even more. He was getting more and more reckless. The bites he hated the idea of were landing rather regularly. He didn’t care. Every hit he took was an opening he could exploit, and everything that sped up a kill meant faster core gathering and progression. The pain was immense, and it was very visible in his face every time he was bitten, or claws tore into his organs, but he pushed on nonetheless. Until he no longer could.
Halfway through the sixth floor. The two simultaneous bites he’d taken right before downing both of the arachnids had proven too much. He collapsed next to the two bodies. His breathing was shallow and strained. Still, he was alive thanks to the healing, even if mentally exhausted.
“I suppose we should camp for a while. It seems you have reached your limit for now.”
He didn’t reply. He couldn’t speak right now. He simply nodded.
She took the backpack from him and started making camp, right after she carved out the cores from the last two spiders he’d killed. Liam just lay on his back on the grass, admiring her work with side glances. Even when carving a monster or setting up a camp, there was a certain grace to her movements. It was fascinating, to say the least. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Much like her healing, it seemed her camp setting up was also rather efficient. She’d taken slightly longer than Liam had done, but nobody could claim she was slow either. He’d barely managed to sit up by the time she was done with everything.
The sun was already setting by the time he could actually walk around camp. He made his way towards the fire pit, sitting down next to her.
“If you knew how to make camp, why didn’t you help me earlier?”
She just chuckled and took out a pack of rations, extending it to him.
“You had it under control, and it is dreadfully boring to set up camp. It is something I avoid doing myself if I can get away with it. Please tell me you are not going to make me help with that now that you know I can do it.”
Liam just stared at her with disbelief before he started laughing. He took the pack, still laughing. He hadn’t exactly expected boredom as a reason to avoid a task of survival.
“Really? You don’t set up camps because it is boring?”
“Yes, really. Truth be told, I avoid most things I find boring; that is one of the reasons my last party and I did not work out. Adventuring together went from interesting to a chore, so I left. There is no real reason to do something if you are not having at least a little fun. At least that is how I have always lived, and I have no intention of changing.”
He took a bite from the packed jerky.
“I suppose that means I really should try my best to not become boring, eh?”
His tone was light and playful, perhaps even a little flirtatious. She simply smiled and nodded.
“I do so hope you never become boring like them, Liam. I would much rather not have to split my way with you the same way I had to in the past.”
To Liam, that was confirmation that she enjoyed his company. Why else would she admit to not wanting to disband their party? Clearly, she didn’t have any issues with doing so in the past. He must’ve been special to her.
He took another bite, somewhat lost in his own thoughts about being special. He didn’t notice the underlying chilling detachment in her voice when she’d spoken about her past.