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[[Mana 0/100]]

I used my last skill while surging the force of a concussive «Eruption» through me, striking down the moment my eyes caught the motion of Koise releasing the arrow.

Tzzz.

The extra force and speed generated by the «Strike» aimed towards the ground I was standing on near the crevice in the snow sent me downwards at a speed that blurred my vision.

Even still, the arrow reached me in what seemed like a fraction of a second, a shot aimed for the center of my chest that ripped along my back as I almost managed to accelerate under it.

Pain lanced down my back, followed quickly by the bone-shuddering impact of my fist against the ground, concussive force blasting downwards and cracking the earth.

I only briefly had time to register the pain along my back, the impact up my arm, and a popping sensation in my shoulder before the weightless feeling of the ground giving way beneath me took over and I fell downwards into the passage below. Thuds registered through my body and the impacts set my head ringing, ones that would have likely left me with a concussion or worse if my Endurance had been any lower.

My fall turned into an uncontrolled tumble down whatever passage I had fallen into, a steep incline from the crevice further downwards along a harsh, rocky slope. I dropped until I crashed against the stone floor, bits of rocks and debris continued to fall on top of me for a few moments, followed by a dusting of snow.

***

Koise remained in place after firing the arrow, examining the fine cracks that had appeared in the bow’s wood with its loss of durability for a moment.

‘I’ll have to get a replacement when I return.’

Such weapons weren’t easy to make, and it was next to impossible to find one unless entering a dungeon that tailored the loot to the people clearing it, which was usually reserved for higher-difficulty dungeons that would take days to clear.

He cared much less that his prey had escaped, somewhat relieved inside that the hunt had not ended in such an anticlimactic manner.

Koise lowered the bow and approached the gaping hole in the ground.

The man had proved resourceful, and that last skill he had used showed a speed and power that would have been difficult for even Koise to completely avoid or dampen.

‘Was it an ultimate skill or a trump card?’

He believed it to be so. While it was unlikely to be an ultimate skill, as those were harder to come by and were usually only acquired from reaching level 7, it being a costly trump card with either a high cooldown or restrictive usage condition for a rare class wasn’t that unlikely.

The hole was easily as large as Koise was tall, the stone broken and cracked in a large radius from where the man had struck the ground.

It wasn’t the first time that someone had avoided his double «Draw», but it was still surprising to see it come from someone that was alleged to be of a significantly lower level.

Down in the hole, Koise could only see a slowly widening crevice that angled away out of view to somewhere far down below.

Despite wanting to continue the hunt, it would be irresponsible to follow the man down to who-knows-where while leaving the rest of the Lions behind. He wasn’t completely blinded by the hunt, he only craved it.

‘Next time…’

Already looking forward to their next encounter, Koise strolled through the snow to the edge of the cliff face and sat down, dangling his legs over as he watched the other Lions reaching the base of it.

He looked up and watched the delicate flakes of snow that melted seemingly before even touching his skin, watching the lightly obscured sun in the distance.

I lay at the bottom of the crevice for a while, the sharp pains in my body and the dull ache of bruises from my fall radiating within me and assaulting me all at once.

It took a few moments before the pain subsided enough for me to drag myself into a sitting position against the wall, faint light filtering in from where I had fallen high above.

At least it was warm.

“Shit…”

The arrow had still hit me.

I couldn’t see the wound, but it hurt bad enough that I could only imagine how severe it might be if I could.

The warmth was almost suffocating. The initial puff of snow from my fall was all that had been able to follow me, and even that had quickly melted into puddles of water, reflecting in the dim light. It was a good opportunity to refill my canteen if nothing else.

I was even starting to sweat in the balmy heat. I probably would have even taken the armored coat off if I hadn’t been in such immense pain.

Other than the puddles on the stone floor, the wall I was sitting against curved somewhat sharply on either side of me into the darkness.

I would need a light source to properly explore the cave. More than that, I had to figure out whether I was even in a good enough condition to explore the cave, cavern, tunnel, or whatever I had found myself in.

Drip, drip.

Water dripped down from where I had fallen.

“Ugh…”

First was my back. I could feel a long, reaching pain across it that started somewhere on the upper back and ended in a diagonal strip of pain near the opposite side of my lower back. I also felt the sting of the air on the wound where the arrow had ripped through the heavy clothing and armor and torn the line across my skin.

Other than my back, a sharp ache in my left shoulder accompanied by the inability to properly move my arm indicated that I had probably dislocated it in the fall.

Even so, I felt the distant presence of heat in the distance, the source of the warmth, and my only clue for escape.

I checked the quest log again, hoping that maybe I had fulfilled one of the conditions.

[[New Quest!

Defeat the enemy before you or escape!]]

{{New Quest!

Peacefully resolve the misunderstanding!}}

No such luck. I guessed that the entire deal with the Lion Guild would have to be resolved for good for the quest to complete.

‘First… My shoulder.’

It was the easiest problem to address first. Not only would my increased Endurance promote faster healing, but my increased Strength should have made it relatively easy to pull it back into place.

Leaning forward slightly from the damp, stone wall, I recalled old medical advice I had heard or read about in some book long ago.

I pulled the arm over my head in a backward motion and tugged it down towards the opposite shoulder, increasing the strength of my pull until I felt a popping sensation and a sharp tinge of feeling when the shoulder moved back into place.

The arm still felt tender to the touch and hurt a bit when I moved it, but at least it was usable again.

‘Next problem…’

Thinking about it, the next problem would be the injury on my back. While having a high Endurance would promote faster healing and tougher bones, ligaments, and overall body, having a high Endurance wouldn’t necessarily stave off infection or poison.

In fact, many poisons worked better specifically against high endurance, taking advantage of the increased circulation that those with higher Endurance enjoyed.

I didn’t think the arrow had been poisoned, as I wasn’t feeling anything off with the rest of my body—it was only the pain along my back that spiked when I twisted, moved, or bent my back.

The only really good news I could pull from the scenario was that I was safe for the moment and that I had to be one step closer to finding Rhil. I still wasn’t sure where Bernard or Velle had gone, but they weren’t my primary concerns. I knew that they could take care of themselves.

I stood up, doing my best to keep my back straight. The various bruises left behind on my body from the tumble also ached, but they felt like simple paper cuts in comparison to the lancing pain in my back.

Having no way of seeing ahead into the darkness or properly guiding myself through it, I followed the wall and my recently gained sixth sense, blindly stumbling through the darkness toward the source of the heat.

***

Elsewhere, in the same tunnel system as Aizen…

A woman’s ears picked out the slow, shuffling steps of someone new, someone different from the pair that had come not long before. The steps moved with a purpose, though a slow, faltering one.

‘Are they injured?’

Their hobbling gait and long pauses made her think so.

However, she was more curious about the path they took. It was a long, mazelike system, after all, yet they moved with a singular purpose towards the secret at its center.

A secret she had kept watch over for many years.

The woman stepped away from the small, dead-end offshoot in the tunnel that she called home. She couldn’t be seen in the pitch-darkness, but she had a large frame, greyish skin, and easily stood taller than the average human man.

An orc.

Her hearing had long adapted to the tunnels, and she no longer needed sight to truly “see”.

Every step lit up the tunnels with a bright sound that allowed her to pick out every detail around her far better than her eyes would ever have been able to do.

The woman strode silently through the tunnels, moving to the end of the path to wait for the new stranger. She hadn’t bothered meeting the other two, they had forayed down there but briefly before heading onto the city, naught more than passing travelers.

She had a duty to watch over the Relic that had granted her the very senses she used. She had exchanged her sight for the wonders of sound and magic, and she still believed it a worthwhile trade.

Her exchange had been innocent, a simple want for escape and knowledge, but she knew just how sinister the wishes of man could be. It wouldn’t be the first time she had to eliminate a would-be evildoer to stop them from using the Relic.

Indeed, she would have hidden the Relic away if she could have, but that wasn’t its wish or nature, and she couldn’t go against it, not after what it had done for her.