Chapter 58 : Bloody Result
Agni’s voice was stuck in her throat as she watched Katrin sink to her knees. A sense of panic set in as she watched her first party mate, her friend fall flat in a matter of seconds. She made to move but a sharp pain in her thigh caused her to reconsider before Shula’s voice echoed in her mind.
*She’s still alive, but you need to act fast! Her health is fading fast. Use a potion on her!* Shula said. Agni ventured a glance at Katrin’s health bar and realized it was true, though her health was dangerously low and fading by the moment, Katrin was still hanging on by a thread.
“Dammit! IC: Yue Potion, Katrin!” Agni shouted as she cursed her own lack of preparation. Never in her wildest dreams did Agni believe she would get pulled into a life or death battle inside the city of Grenvale. Despite all of Bracha’s low key warnings to stay on the well traveled path she had found herself in grave trouble almost immediately without hardly any restoratives to her name.
Meanwhile Katrin’s world was spinning. Her lungs struggled to intake the air she desperately needed as blood began to fill them and her heart was on fire as blood began to spurt from the wound in her chest. She could feel her life force slipping away as she began to grow cold. Her only solace was in the fact that she’d taken out one enemy by herself.
In her previous life Katrin was a nobody. A wallflower that most everyone she encountered would easily forget. She didn’t get on well with her coworkers due to her shy and inward nature. Her family was non-existent from the age of twenty and thus she was forced to make her way in the world on her own.
She had a few flings, as any woman had, terrible luck at romance and even more terrible times with building a career. In the end, she remembered dying before she reached old age, yet as a middle aged woman she was full of regrets. She had no doubt that these lingering thoughts were enough to answer the call of Adventia.
When Katrin found herself in a new land with a young, attractive body she took it as a second chance at life. She was determined to grab it with both hands. Though she only remembered key portions of her past life, there was a strong sense of determination to make full use of the one she currently had.
She started by pulling the knife out of her lung first and tossing it to the side. This was no easy feat as her limbs were heavy and lacking feeling. She doubted that she would even have the strength to do what she needed at this point -- to pull out the remaining dagger and heal herself before bleeding out.
“Dammit! IC: Yue Potion, Katrin!” It was Agni’s voice, which forced a pained smile across her bloody lips. The blood within her began to recede as the wound in her lung burned and tingled. This was a sign of her wounds healing, as she’d felt many times under the effects of healing potions. The way healing potions worked were a mystery, much like magic in such a world, yet they would address any wounds first, then focus on restoring health.
Because Katrin still had a dagger embedded in her heart, that wound could not be healed. The potion instead focused on healing the rest of her bruises before finally restoring a bit of health. She was around 10% of her HP by this point and her limbs now had the strength to move once more, yet she was fading fast.
With another labored push of both willpower and strength Katrin pulled the other dagger from her chest as a wellspring of blood issued forth. This time she used the second potion herself. While Agni was busy haggling over prices, Katrin was looking at various things in Gadsten’s shop. One of which were potions of various types. She found a few that could help them in their travels, and though they were expensive she grabbed one of each at the time.
“IC : World Dew Potion.” Katrin said hoarsely as a second wave of healing washed over both her and Agni. The potion she used was a combined effect potion which restored 300 health and 150 mana for each member of the party. It had cost a pretty penny and it was something she was hoping to save for dire emergencies, this was one such emergency.
Agni felt the tingle of healing overcome her, but that sensation was overshadowed by her enemy who had gotten to his feet and managed to deliver a crushing blow to her abdomen, kicking her in the ribs and cracking them in the process. With her attention divided and his numbers dwindling, Glint the wounded and remaining snatcher had to act.
*There’s no fucking way I’m going back empty handed. I’ll be flayed alive!* He growled inwardly as he took action with an almost murderous intent.
Meanwhile Katrin struggled to wipe the blood from her lips as she felt the wound on her chest slowly sew itself shut. In the process she’d sacrificed almost all of the potion's health restoring benefits to heal the deadly wound, thus her health only bordered at 15% of her total while her mana was brimming full.
She allowed the pain to subside fully before attempting to get up, unfortunately she was completely unprepared for what happened next as the charred face of Fargo appeared above her and stomped her chest viciously.
“I can’t believe...you nearly killed me!” He growled as his foot came down on Katrin’s diaphragm. The resulting blow shattered her ribcage, forcing several shards of bone into her once healed lungs again. Fargo had no intention of allowing her to use another potion so he reached into his own inventory and pulled out an amulet, holding it upwards as he spoke.
“Glint. Weaken her, but don’t kill her. We’ll lose our heads if we come back empty handed after all this trouble.” Fargo’s rage was unmatched, yet he spoke clearly and decisively. This was because, despite his anger he was happy that someone could bring him to such a state in an exciting battle. In a different place and time, he’d have congratulated Katrin but when dealing with monsters there was no room for complacency or camaraderie. And *he* was not to be trifled with.
The amulet shone with a flicker of purple aura as it’s effects took hold.
[Utility Seal : Item and Inventory access has been sealed.] This was the alert which flashed in front of Katrin and Agni’s eyes. The truth is, even if they wanted to continue healing themselves they had no ability to do so. Katrin used the last of their healing potions just moments before Fargo’s sneak attack. His foot was still pressed against Katrin’s abdomen and she was aware that he could have crushed her further if he chose to do so, yet he didn’t. He watched her like a hawk as the purple colored magic filtered upwards into the sky and formed a half-spherical dome. All people within this barrier would be inflicted with the Utility Seal ailment, including Fargo and Glint.
Katrin’s mind raced for a way to defeat her enemy, but she knew the moment that she reacted Fargo would intercept her attack. She only had one card left to play. It was a dangerous one, but she would do it anyway. She took several deep breaths, as best she could with the weight of Fargo’s foot on her. It seemed as if the amulet was the type that required mana to be constantly fed into it to achieve its effect. She suspected as much because though Fargo had her pinned, he hadn’t taken action against her nor was he using his enchanted Guardian blade. Thus it would come down to focus and speed. Katrin wasn’t confident in either category, so she calmed her mind as best she could before grabbing at a scroll she’d stashed beneath her garments.
It was moist, filled with her own blood but it unfurled just the same as she activated the magical item in one swift motion. Fargo grinned at first, before the biting flames leapt out of the scroll. When Katrin knocked him cold and nearly killed him due to shock and sheer damage, a fear was implanted in Fargo. This was the only reason he stepped back initially, after all in his mind a Rank 0 Scribe’s flames would be child’s play if he had his weapon at the ready. Unfortunately he didn’t and so he decided to play it safe. The stream of flames were so powerful that he felt his charred face tingle with pain, they even managed to further damage his foot which was closest to Katrin.
“T-These aren’t the flames of a novice. That would have easily killed me!” He grunted in disbelief as a cold sweat overcame him. This was the same scroll that Bracha enchanted with rune magic and allowed Katrin to keep. She’d been tempted to use it many times, but after seeing its powerful effects she decided to save it for a dicey situation. From that moment on she’d carried the scroll on her person as a last ditch safety measure.
The moment Fargo lifted his foot, Katrin got to her feet, leaving the magical scroll fixed in its cast position just centimeters above the ground. Her body groaned as bones pierced into her flesh, but she gritted her teeth as she quickly began creating another makeshift spell. This would be her last attempt to end Fargo once and for all. The item he was using worked both ways, she was sure of it -- otherwise he’d have healed himself by this point.
Fargo was taken aback by both the strength of the flames and Katrin’s movements. He lost a precious couple of seconds, but that was all Katrin needed as she finished her spell and tapped her chest, shooting forth a thick, spear shaped earth spike which was aimed directly at Fargo’s face. The next few moments played out in slow motion as the spire traveled forth, threatening to impale her foe instantly. Only Fargo’s skill and experience were enough to save him. His footing was awkward, thus all he could manage to do was use gravity and his own weight to alter his position. The earth attack gouged a deep cut into his already scarred face, grating against the bone as it passed.
Fargo summoned the remainder of his experience and sheer will to step forward and deliver another crushing blow to Katrin’s abdomen. This time the air rushed from her body, lifting her several centimeters from the ground as she doubled over, yet refused to fall. This single move was enough to end the flash earth spell she cast, causing the earth spire to crumble in mid air. She moved to bring her hands together once more to weave symbols but Fargo was much quicker. He grabbed her right wrist and pivoted, bringing both himself and her arm behind Katrin’s back. He then fell forward with all of his weight, forcing Katrin to the ground. His next move was to lay her on her back with her hand still behind her back as he mounted her so that she could no longer escape.
Fargo managed to do all of these things without disrupting the effects of his amulet, using his position as a straddler to push his hips down and secure Katrin’s pinned arm while using his free hand to pin her left. With all of her movements sealed Katrin was surprised to find that Fargo’s eyes no longer spoke of anger, but respect and admiration.
“Give up. There’s no way you can win. Hell, I’m a rank 2 Guardian and even I’m still losing.” Fargo said, his voice was firm, but sincere as he gazed down into Katrin’s eyes. He meant every word, and in fact he was beginning to identify with his foe more and more by the second. He even considered letting her go, if not for the consequences such an action would bring down upon him. This thought forced him to try to use words of reason to get through to her.
“I’m a Rank 2 Guardian. You’re just a Rank 0 Scribe. Your class isn’t suited to combat, so you never had any hope to defeat me from the beginning. Just stop struggling, it will make things easier from now on.” Fargo’s words were meant to share some semblance of resignation with Katrin, but for her it only reminded her of the life she once sought to desperately escape.
What bubbled up from within her heart was not the will of one who would submit, but rather something else.
“Ah.” She said with a sigh as she finally stopped struggling.
“Agni’s going to be pissed.” Katrin said as she looked up at Fargo with a devious smile. The look in her eye and the tone of her voice set Fargo on edge. He’d seen it before, and on occasion worn the same expression. It was that of a person who managed to win, despite the odds. She activated her final trap card as a massive earth spike ripped through her abdomen and pierced Fargo in the same movement, impaling and lifting them both.
Damn, all those turn arounds during the fighting kept me riveted. Nice job!
Thx
No no, thank you dear reader.
Hey I just bing read this entire series and am taking this opportunity to give my thoughts since I'm caught up. For starters I have liked the series so far, there were some bad and some good parts. Overall not amazing but I'm still reading and waiting for more. I think there is potential for the story to be really good if the MC decides to start acting like an MC. keep up the good work!
I think most people assume the main character of any given story should act the way they have in mind.
The reality is, there are many different types of people.
So..what does "act like the MC" really mean to you?
@DreamOfRen agreed I'm bored of the typical mc
@DreamOfRen I just feel like the mc doesn't have any motivations or goals yet. The only reason they do anything seems to be because someone else told them to do it or because they were forced to. The only motivation she has had is basic survival. This is okay early on because they are figuring things out, but I want them to start doing things because they want to. She can still follow directions but follow them for other reasons than she was just told to.
@sailor345 I see. Well, for some context..
By this chapter she's only been in this world a total of maybe 12 days or so. Just shy of 2 weeks.
All of that time was spent in training for the most part and learning to survive.
In your opinion, how would one happen upon their reason for living 12-14 days after having been reborn?
Also, that brings into consideration the question of why would I, as a writer, rush to reveal something like that so soon?
It's somewhat unrealistic from my perspective as the author, and character development is important in many fictions. I don't really understand when readers are upset by character development.
It's not all sunshine and daisies. Real growth is change and a plethora of experiences. Naturally that takes time as well.
@DreamOfRen I think you misunderstand about my perspective. I understand that it will take time for her to find her way in this new world, I'm saying I'm excited and looking forward to when she makes that development.
You're right, she's only been here for two weeks, but this has been over 50 chapters, so I guess it depends on how long you think this series will be.
I understand what your trying to do. Plenty of series move at such a fast pace it becomes a confusing mess where the mc has become king with a harem of 20 women by chapter 10. But moving too slow similarly has it's disadvantages, mainly a lack of progress.
@sailor345 I understand. There are plenty of fictions which have hundreds of chapters behind them.
I've yet to break 100 as an example, I'm actually at 80 as of yesterday.
I'm less concerned about how it will be perceived and more concerned about properly building the world, lore, characters and eventually the enemies.
Not every person or character thinks or would react the same. Not all people would turn into raging ego maniacs the second they obtain a fraction of power. In fact, a great deal of them wouldn't.
They tend to get outraged at perceived slights, when the reality is the most Agni has had to deal with at this point is being overcharged less than 100 gols, having a few level 1 items stolen from her and being ignored for half a day. Compared to many stories that's absolutely nothing.
I read wuxia fictions where entire family lines are murdered and no one bats an eye. Injustices abound...and sometimes people rejoice and identify with the abusers. Why?
That's because, in the grand scheme of things, the things people seem to latch onto are pretty small to me personally.
If that's all it takes to make someone quit the story, they probably won't like the direction it continues in. That's not to say I'm some masochist who enjoys torturing characters. But..if tasting bitter defeat is required for a character to grow, I'm not going to avoid that, nor should I have to.
Character development requires learning lessons and meaningful, sometimes difficult experiences. I won't shy away from this, or speed up the process prematurely-- nor will I drag this process out. The assertion or implication that I'm stretching it out for money's sake is a moot point when I barely average 100$ currently via the patreon support (which I greatly appreciate don't get me wrong). But the reality is, I do way more work than your average author, so much so that 100$ a month doesn't cover it. Period.
I started this fiction on Aug 25th of 2020 and I'm already 20 chapters sans of 100. Most writers don't even reach that amount of word count in a year, much less 2.5 months. This is also true of most web authors, especially ones who generate thousands of dollars a month with their author pages.
Couple that with the fact that this also isn't the only fiction I work on, I have 3 others as well (one more popular than this which is currently suffering because I need to write chapters for it) and the idea that I'm dragging out my chapters is just silly, if I'm being honest.
@sailor345 There is no definitive way that an MC is supposed to act. An MC is the MC because the story revolves around them and their actions, regardless of whether they have a goal or purpose in mind. The author has also already stated in previous chapter notes that they expect this story to reach a couple hundred or more chapters before the end which implies there will be lots of character and world building and development. It seems you are coming into this story seeing over 50 chapters and expecting the story to be wrapping up just because that is about the length of most longer web stories that aren't comic based.