Chapter 29: Sudden End to Exploration
The name above Maxwell was now glowing brightly as Lucas focused on it.
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"Get back, Lina!" Lucas said quickly to which Lina just looked back at him in confusion. It was then that he saw it. It was a beast that was about 10 feet tall and was built almost entirely out of the muscle.
It resembled a wolf but had a snout like a pig. It bared its teeth and leaped through the air towards Lina with a speed akin to a speeding car.
Lucas looked in hopelessness as the creature approached her as he could only move forward slowly with his low dexterity.
The beast noticed Lucas and continued forward despite his intimidating aura. Max's face slowly contorted into a horrifying grin and he began laughing slowly.
Lina turned around to look at the beast that was approaching her and she shrieked in return.
Lucas had thought that she was finished, but contrary to what his instincts told him what he saw was completely different.
Lina screamed at the top of her lungs and as she did so her wings folded in front of her in a sign of protection as the beast bared down upon her she actually managed to shove the beast to the side, though damaging her wings in the process.
The beast finally slowed down as its four mighty legs skidded to a full stop, giving Lucas enough time to move forward and confront it.
He quickly ran forward and tossed his bat at the same time. The bat soared through the air, and with the aid of his mind, hit the beast squarely in the chest causing him to move a few feet and roll on its side, its entire chest slightly caving in due to the blow.
The creature turned its head towards Lucas and released a sickening growl before charging forward.
The beast's massive legs seemed to turn into an engine as its muscles pistoned in and out of place and seemed to be filled with endless energy.
'Come back you stupid bat!' Lucas thought as the bat rotated and flew back towards his outstretched hand.
The beast was about to barrel into Lucas with full force, but Indissolubilis managed to reach Lucas's hand at full speed and with that speed, Lucas spun with the momentum and turned it towards the Beast that was mere feet away from him.
Lucas pushed his mental energies to the limit as he tried to strengthen the blow he was about to deal with as much power as possible.
The razor-like knives protruded out of the bat and cut deep into the beast and as the bat made contact with the beast it was sent writhing backward.
"My beauty! What have you done to my beauty?!" Yelled Max from the distance.
"Rejuvenate!" Yelled Max, and as he did the beast mended most of its wounds.
'What the hell is up with this guy?!' Lucas thought to himself as he threw his bat at Max at full force while making sure to be ready for whatever the beast was about to do.
'There is no way I can let this guy continue to heal his 'pet','
The bat curved through the air in a magical ark and the beast seemed to understand that its master was in danger as it sprinted to prevent the bat from hitting its target.
But to no one surprise... the bat hit its target and the head of Max became a gooey mess as it exploded into a thousand pieces of bone shrapnel.
The beast slowly lost its momentum as it moved forward and its muscles began to shrivel into nothing as it seemed to de-age.
'What the hell is this class?' Lucas pondered as he wondered how many strange classes were out there that could hold a candle to his own.
Lucas nodded to himself at the gains before quickly disregarding them as he ran towards the injured Lina.
"Lina! Are you okay?" He asked, worry clear in his voice.
Lina's wings seemed to be cracked and broken but as he approached, other than a few scratches, she seemed completely fine.
Though other than her physical condition, her mental condition seemed to be truly negative.
She sobbed silently and was rocking back and forth gently.
"My wings... My wings... my wings... my wings..." She repeated over and over again, each time getting quieter and quieter.
"Lina... What's wrong? You seem to be okay except for your wings..." Lucas said naively.
Lina broke her eyes away from her wings that were crumpled and damaged and raised them to look at Lucas's.
"My wings... they are gone..." She said gently, tears streaming down her face.
"What do you mean? Can't they be mended?"
Lina shook her head sadly.
"No, they cannot... Not unless we find someone with fairy magic stronger than most," She said in a defeated tone.
Lucas lowered his head in shame.
'I should have been more careful,' Lucas thought to himself, anger building within him. 'There truly are no good people left in this world...'
"I promise you, Lina... That we will fix this, as long as it matters to you, it matters to me." Lucas said as he ground his teeth in frustration.
"You don't understand Lucas! A fairy's wings are irreplaceable... They cannot be fixed by simple means... They are what makes our magic strong and what shows others that we are true fairies,"
Lucas shook his head.
"You don't understand me then... I will do anything to get this fixed. You are the first person in my life... for a long time... that has shown kindness and warmth towards me. That matters to me," Lucas said.
Lina shook her head gently and remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Lucas walked forward and gently put one of his rough hands on her shoulder.
"It will be okay Lina. I promise. I know I don't understand much about fairies but it seems that your wings are important to you,"
"So they are important to me," Lucas finished.
Lina finally stopped shaking after some consoling but no longer seemed like her cheery self. She was instead... down and depressed. Hopeless.
'It's my fault she got hurt... I should have been faster!' Lucas thought to himself as he put the 25 stat points he just gained into dexterity.
Lucas felt a warming sensation flood through his body as he felt his muscles reforge themselves and made themselves more suited to move quicker. He also felt his sight become more refined as his reflexes seemed to improve considerably.
'I put way too many points into endurance... I may not take damage easily anymore but it came at a cost,' Lucas realized as he noticed that he didn't have a scratch on him, and even if he did he would just heal it after a few moments.
Lucas searched through their packs for a moment and found some medical supplies that the hospital had packed into their bags and he quickly tried his best to patch up Lina. It wasn't his first time doing this and he doubted it would be his last.
After about half an hour Lina's wings looked to be at least in a condition to where they wouldn't deteriorate any further.
He gently lifted Lina up onto his shoulders and headed back to the Laundry Mat which he would be calling home base for quite a while.
---
After a few hours, he finally reached home base and found that the lights had dropped and it was pitch dark inside.
"Has your magic been dispelled, Lina?" Lucas asked as his danger sense started to flare up.
"No, Luke. After my wings got damaged... I lost a large chunk of my magical powers. It's even worse than before I had wings."
Luke calmed down and nodded before entering the laundry mat and lighting the room up with some flashlights he had.
He pulled out a journal that he had found in the packs and began to write down notes from the small expedition they got to make.
---
Encounters:
-Maxwell Blacklock and pet Hell hound.
No loot was collected on bodies. No useful materials were found on Hell Hound.
-General City condition: Dangerous but stable.
---
He continued to write about the finer details and a solution slowly formed in his mind.
He called up the system map and narrowed down the search results for fairies and found a few signatures.
'Hmm... It seems like she isn't the only fairy in the city.'
'It's a shame I have to actively have this open and be looking at it with great detail or else I would have known that the guy had a beast ready for an ambush,' Lucas realized.
'I wonder if I narrow it down by mana density...' Lucas thought as he did just that.
He saw 4 fairies in the city in total, including Lina.
Only one of them seemed to have an abundant amount of mana around them while the others seemed slightly more powerful than Lina had been.
'So it looks like this blip is our best bet...' Lucas thought as he moved towards the outskirts of the city, near a small desert restricted area that bordered 'The Sundered Lands'.