Accidental Healer-Chapter 137 - 51 - Meteor Tails

You have killed level 22 Armored Chaos Spawn Champion

Congratulations! Level up

The last Chaos spawn tumbled with a dull thump.

How poetic, I thought, eyeing the level up notification in the corner of my vision. After killing probably a thousand of the monsters, it was the very last one that tipped me over the edge of level 41. I'd felt it coming for the last day or so and the rush of added stats felt invigorating.

With a thought, I funneled my human bonus—five free points—into Sense. It had become a habit of mine for the past several level ups and it was already paying off. It was a bit hard to explain the sensation, but the way I thought about it was like driving a high-performance car with a limiter on it. You could feel it wanted to fly, but it never quite hit full speed.The sense stat became my answer to push the limiter back.

With a quick scan over my surroundings I confirmed that the last of the chaos spawn really was dead. Adrenaline still surging, I filled my lungs with air and released slowly.

This had been an enjoyable fight. Especially battling the scavengers. Over the past few weeks I'd developed a distinct dislike for the sneaky bastards. They moved in unpredictable patterns and had an uncanny knack for being in places you wouldn't expect. If it wasn't for Mischief, his Catkin and some others with elevated senses like the wolves and Nick the losses would be catastrophic.

Sadly, their efforts still weren't enough to keep everyone safe. Two elder gnomes, a guildian, and a catkin all fell victim. It wasn't many—but the losses still stung and we still had a while yet before the teleporter was finally completed. We were getting closer and were even ahead of Jared's predictions of five months, but unless something crazy changed we were looking at at least two more months of relentless fighting.

I imagined what two more months might look like when the crunch of approaching footsteps drew my attention.

"Your friend Alex might have a point about you and poses." Norso joked while walking up. "Truly inspiring, Sir."

I glanced down only now realizing I had my foot planted on the corpse of a chaos spawn with Tranquility resting triumphantly at my shoulder glowing faintly. Immediately I stepped off and looted the corpse, cheeks burning.

The Chaos spawn champion dropped leather, scuttled iron, chaos spawn meat, and 285 UBC's. A decent drop for one the spawns. Shards were getting increasingly more rare lately for some reason, but I was still pleased. My people would make good use of it.

"It wasn't a pose. I was distracted because I earned a level."

I said flatly.

"Gaining a level is a fantastic reason to strike a pose."

"That wasn't a pose, and I will actually kill you if you tell Alex I was posing."

Norso smirked. "Just don't pose on me if you do."

I glared at him. Nick and Alex were having a bad influence on him. But I was glad to see that Norso could have a sense of humor. To me, it was a sign that he was starting to settle into some level of normalcy.

"You'd be so lucky." I grumbled. "What about you? Did you earn any levels?"

"Two. I'm level 36 now."

The number didn't surprise me. Norso was gaining levels at mach speed. It was something I'd come to expect with him fighting alongside me. These waves were like drinking from a fire hose. He wasn't the only one power leveling either. Everyone was.

And when I said everyone, I truly meant everyone. It was all hands on deck, and my faction rose to the occasion. Sure, there were a few hundred children that weren't quite old enough to join in but aside from that our faction was blossoming.

My biggest regret so far was our inability to convince the last of the raids to join our ranks. The senseless killing left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It felt good to let some of my frustrations out on the Chaos Spawn.

"You're going to pass me soon. If you keep leveling like you've been, you'll hit your second evolution before me."

"If only to serve you better sir."

I shook my head. No matter how many times I'd asked Norso to stop saying things like that, my pleas fell on deaf ears. Which I found ironic that after all his proclamations of service he ignored my direct request for him to stop. When I pointed out his flaw in logic he explained to me that his greatest service would be to educate me on how to accept servitude. This led to another lengthy discussion about me not needing or wanting servants which also seemed to fall on deaf ears so eventually I just decided it was better to ignore him.

So instead I waved a hand back to the walls which was the signal for Gorff and his men to come and claim the spoils of war. But Gorff wasn't where I expected him to be. After a quick scan I located the blonde elf watching me from atop one of their towers. Not really sure why he moved, I waved again.

After a second he slowly waved back. A few minutes later a group of Elder Gnomes was outside the walls poking at the corpses I hadn't looted during the fight. Which reminded me, I had over one hundred thousand UBC's that I collected. Those coins should go to Gorff and his faction.

I produced a dimensional bag filled with the coin from the fight.

Since Gorff was still in his tower I decided to go to him. In seconds I was at the wall staring up at the tower. It was only about fifty feet away so I just jumped, catching the railing then vaulting over.

The Elder Gnome didn't seem surprised at all. He calmly stepped out of my way and clasped his hands behind his back. The elder gnome only came to my shoulder in height—if that—but his stoic posture made him seem taller somehow.

The two other gnomes in the tower goggled at me wide-eyed before falling over themselves to reach the tower exit hatch. Gorff ignored them and leaned over the tower railings resting his staff beside him. I followed suit resting my arms on the second

level of railings above Gorff and together we looked out over the looting gnomes.

"That really was—something." He paused. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You wouldn't be where you are if you weren't capable."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I relaxed against the railing, resting my weight on my forearms. From up above in the tower the scope of the chaos spawn devastation surprised even me. Piles of bodies stretched for at least half a mile or more.

"Thank you?" I said slowly.

"You really are quite powerful for this stage in your world. Remarkably so."

"Again—thank you…." I spared him a side-eyed glance. Although Gorff's words seemed genuine, I had the distinct impression he had more he wanted to say.

"You remind me of a man in a story from my own world."

"Was he a good man?" I asked, intrigued.

"The stories say he was, but who's to say? That's not why you remind me of him."

"Then why do I remind you of him?"

With hundreds of bodies left to be looted I had time to kill, plus I enjoyed hearing stories from other worlds.

"Mana and the power it provides seem to come naturally to you. Just like it's said it did for him."

"We've been lucky so far, but I wouldn't say anything has come naturally. I've worked hard and fought for what I have, just like everyone else here."

"And yet you continue to race ahead."

I didn't really think of it that way. Sure I'd been pretty lucky at the start getting a permanent five percent xp boost and the second class didn't hurt but Mischief was as at least as strong as I was.

"So what happened to the man?"

"He built our world's capital. A thriving metropolis of industry and power. Soltara."

"Sounds nice. Why did you leave?"

Gorff chuckled. "Oh I never got to see Soltara, merely heard the stories. Maybe one day."

"I don't get it, if it's so wonderful, why didn't you just travel there?"

"Why don't you just travel to see your family now?" He countered, making a clear point. I frowned and looked toward the mountains in the distance now capped in pure white. "My side of the world was not quite so fortunate. But words spread faster than we do."

"So Soltara still exists?"

"Oh—most certainly it does."

"Maybe we can both go there? I never imagined I'd have the chance to see other worlds, let alone that there were other worlds."

Gorff nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps we will."

"You never told me why I remind you of the guy though."

"You're a unifier, Layton. You bring people together and you protect what you build. Just like he did." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"I'm doing my best." Mitchell's lifeless green eyes materialized in my mind and I blinked it away. "So where is the Soltara guy now? Still protecting his city?"

"From what I've heard, no one really knows." Gorff shrugged. "According to the accounts, he vanished, leaving the city in the hands of his younger brother."

"Just up and left?"

"Those are the rumors. Gone or not, his legacy lives on in his people. He used his power to create something beautiful."

I turned to Gorff, offering him the bag of coins.

"What was his name?"

He reached up slowly and grabbed the coin purse. I stepped over the railing.

"Rukon."

Call me crazy but this story gave me the impression of the kind of story my dad used to tell me. It was like his subtle way of nudging me in what he considered the right direction.

"You don't have to worry, Gorff. I have no intention of becoming a tyrant. Thank you for the story."

With a kick, my body went weightless. Through the flapping of the wind my enhanced ears caught Goff's final words.

"It's not like we could stop you—if you ever did."

***

Mischief's paws kissed the earth, each beat a whisper in the night. Muscles tensed and released in perfect harmony propelling him forward, a shadow flitting through the trees. Ears catching every movement however small, nose searching.

Scavengers, for all their efforts at concealment, could never hide their scent. It was impossible to miss the stink of curdled milk whenever one was

nearby.

His nose scrunched, the sour stench of a creeping scavenger invaded his senses. Mischief crouched low becoming one with the shadows. Most of the chaos spawn moved with the horde, and that usually included scavengers, but lately random attacks had been happening outside of the normal waves.

It had become the sole purpose of the Catkin to hunt down such vermin and exterminate them before they killed more of his and Layton's faction.

Mischief relished the hunt. He lifted his head and followed the foul odor, creeping silent as a field mouse until the faint odor became a permeating cloud in the trees above his head. It was close. He craned his neck upward and sure enough—a pair of chaos spawn scavengers sat crouched on separate branches.

In the distance, lights flickered from the walls of the blue men's growing village. It would normally be an ideal target for the scavengers. Mischief couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional or happenstance the pair had chosen their target. It was hard for him to believe chaos spawn were able to reason in such a way. He'd tried repeatedly using his ability whispers of the abyss but the psychological attack didn't seem to have any sort of effect on the mindless creatures.

In fact it had been some time since Mischief had been able to play with the skill and he longed for another opportunity like the bandit camps. That was fun. But so was hunting down the scavengers, he just wished they were more fun to play with.

Well, no point dwelling on it.

"Why can't you hear me?"

He directed his thoughts at one of the Scavengers. Like always, it was like trying to speak with a rock.

"Why can't you be more fun?"

With a sigh, Mischief lunged. And as he did, the chaos spawn turned its head. He hesitated, for the briefest of moments.

Had the chaos spawn—heard him?

The moment was enough for the Chaos spawn to avoid an instant death veering just enough for the claws to rip into its ribs and not its spine. The other was not as fortunate. Dagger length claws punctured straight through its torso separating vertebrae. Mischief retracted his claws with a wet "shunk" and both scavengers toppled from their perch.

You have killed a level 24 scavenger.

Mischief didn't need the kill notification to tell him his job wasn't done. The surviving chaos spawn's right side was ribbons of meat and flesh, but it was still alive. It wasn't like him to miss a target, however, in this case he was glad he did.

Curious, Mischief crept closer to hover over the mutilated body. The sour scent of curdled milk assaulted his nostrils. He ignored it and used his paw to flip the body of the Scavenger to lay face up.

A black sword struck at his throat, but it was far too slow. Mischief recoiled casually, batting the sword away. The Scavenger hissed, meeting Mischief's bright amber eyes, showing nothing but contempt.

"You heard me, didn't you?"

In response, the scavenger gnashed its teeth, foam building on its purple wormy lips.

"Thats why you turned, you heard me…"

But whatever understanding the scavenger had displayed was long gone. All that remained was a feral beast. Mischief shook his head.

For a moment he thought perhaps things might actually get interesting for him. What a shame.

He rested his paw on the dying creature and released his claws and felt the familiar sensation of rending flesh.

You have killed level 26 Scavenger.

Level up!

Level 26 scavenger? That meant, it was evolved.

Mischief's pulse spiked. And was it just his imagination, or had there been fear in those dark black eyes before it died?

He glanced at his status screen. He was level 49.

His hackles raised. Maybe, just maybe, things were about to get fun.