Chapter XLV - Resurgence (part 1)

The sound of jumping coming from the ascended species of the mantises can be heard throughout the whole dark room. 

And yet, not a single one of them attacked yet. Are they fighting it out?

I kept on waiting for a confirmation, and I could feel my senses slowly getting sharper as I listened.

Suddenly, all the hair on my skin stood up when the first mantis attacked. It approached from behind, so I simply ducked and left my sword where my body was located.

TANG!!!

The hit of two hard metals can be heard. Though theirs wasn't exactly a metal, it's similar to one.

I thought that the mantis was dashing and planning to throw me off by pushing me, so I put my sword upwards. I didn't think of the possibility of it using its hand and tried to cut me in half.

Just from that contact, a small spark of fire came out. My face and the red adult mantis's face lit up for a moment before the mantis jumped out while I tried to regain my balance.

And from seeing that spark just now... I have an idea.

I gripped my left hand where my space ring is at, and summoned a bottle of oil that I kept in case of situations like this.

Very quickly, I poured the oil on my orcish sword and threw the bottle away when it's empty. Then I summoned my knights sword and made my next plan.

TANG!!

I hit my swords at each other and created a spark of flame, which lit up the oil on my orcish sword.

VWOOOMMM!!!!!

Thank god the orcish sword doesn't melt easily. If it's the knights sword, the flames would totally melt it. And now, I have a fiery sword on my hand. The cave was lit up a little bit thanks to my orcish sword burning.

The sad news is, even though this idea was excellent, I was panicking. I accidently poured the oil a little too close to my hand. And now the flames had reached my palms, burning it. 

But, I suck up the pain. It's still much better than dying to these ass bugs. The flame has already gone from my hand, but the burning pain is still there.

Damn it... Healing magic would be nice. But, I need to focus. Now isn't the time to think about things I don't have.

Now that I can see it a little bit better, I can at least do a counter attack. And just when I thought it was high time for them to attack, my senses quickly shivered again. 

A mantis is coming. This time from the left.

I quickly jumped to the right when a mantis tried to slice me up. I noticed this one is a lot slower than the one prior, so I had some confidence with my movements. 

When my feet landed, I dashed back to the mantis and swung both of my swords.

SRESSH!!!!!!

"SHRIIIEKK!!"

The mantis was sliced by both of my swords. In that instant, I knew right away what I did was right.

The flames from my orcish sword had moved to its body and slowly burned its entire body. That mantis's entire body is glowing in bright yellow flames, lighting up the room even more.

"SHRIIIEEEKKK!!!!!!!!---"

Now that the room is bright, I can see the walls and ceilings faintly. The other three mantieses were just watching from the ceiling and walls, not doing anything. 

Why... aren't they doing anything? They're not even attacking me to try and save their friend.

After burning for fifteen seconds, the mantis stopped screaming and fell down to the ground. A little bit of the flames are still up on its dying body, and I already knew that the mantis is incapable of standing up anymore.

The other mantises finally made their move. My whole senses quickly shouted at me to dodge when all three other mantis jumped, but I had no idea what to do. I can't dodge all three mantises at the same time. 

This is the end... Or so I thought.

The mantises were actually going towards the burning body of their ally. But instead of caring for it, they started... munching.

CHOMP!!!!

KROAKK!!!!!!!

Sounds of the mantis preying on the unfortunate other can be heard inside the cave. They are so busy eating their dead family members that I think they probably didn't even realize I'm here.

This is my chance... I have to escape.

Using my bright flaming sword, I looked for the way out. When the way out was finally in front of me, I glanced towards the mantises. They are too busy eating, so I sped up my run.

I left through the way out, and slowly made my way back to the top. My sword's flame had died along the way, but that's fine. The sunlight is right in front of me already. 

After running as fast as I can, I finally can see the sunlight. As soon as I came out of the small tunnel, I quickly sliced the wall above the tunnel with my sword.

BRUKKK!!!!!!

The rocks above the cave immediately fell down to the floor, completely covering the path I just came out of. The amount of rocks covering it was quite large, and I begged that this would be able to hold them out for a little bit.

However... I knew deep down that breaking out of these rocks should be easy for that red mantis. And if the other manties worked together... these rocks ain't nothing.

Then, I ran outside. My eyes spotted Cony just outside the cave, kneeling on the ground.

"Rize!!!"

Cony called from outside the cave, beyond the trees. Heavy tears were falling from her eyes, and I realized something was wrong.

I quickly got confused by what was wrong with her, then I looked at the two sleeping next to her. And my heart shrank, rendering me unable to breathe.

Valey and Barett weren't just punched to the walls. They were slashed.

Large marks of a cut can be seen diagonally on Valey's body and nearly vertical on Barett's. Cony had opened their clothes and now I can see their wounds very clearly. 

It's... nearly impossible to save them. Their wounds are already very deep, and they have lost too much blood. They need to be handled asap, but the village is still quite far away from here.

This is... my fault, isn't it?

I bit my lips a little too hard, and now it's also bleeding.

Slowly, I approached them. I put both of my hands on top of them. And then I begged.

I begged myself.

Please.

Let me use it.

Even if it's my last chance.

I did this to them... don't let this be the end.

Let me save them.

Please...

Without realizing, tears fell down from my eyes. Cony can clearly see the burn wounds and bruises on my hands that are shaking on top of Valey's and Barett's dying bodies. Tears also fell down from her eyes as she watched and mumbles my name.

"Rize... Valeyy... Bar... Hod... Please....."

She wiped her tears using the sleeves of her arm, while continuously praying.

Please. Wake up.

I need you. More than ever.

Let me use this strength... Lend me your strength.

I kept on trying to control the magic inside my body. The magic is there, but I just somehow needed control.

Please... please...

'You got it... It's okay.'

My eyes were opened widely, and I realized that something inside me has changed.

With all the breath I could get, I pushed my magic energy inside my body as hard as I could towards my hands. A ton of magic energy was forced towards my hands that it felt like burning.

This... this is!?

My palms became slightly glowing. I quickly gasped for air and chuckled a little with what little air I have in my lungs. However, I did not stop putting in the effort.

It's healing magic. And it's healing Barett's and Valey's wounds... at a high recovery rate.

It's... healing. And it is very fast. Incredibly fast.

It is also expensive. A ton of magic was required to cast it. However, I realized that this was for the better.

For sure... this felt different. It's new. It's not an Intermediate tier. It's...

"Knight tier...? Seriously!?"

My sudden laugh surprised Cony who was hiding her face with her hands. She thought I went crazy and refused to open her face.

"Cony! Look!"

Cony peeked one of her eyes by moving the fingers. She looked at the wounds slowly closing at Valey's and Barett's chests. Her hands that were covering her face slowly fell down as the tears rushed down even heavier.

This is the Knight tier. Knight tier healing magic.

It's different, I know it. It's very different

Unlike the Intermediate tier or Beginner tier, the Knight tier doesn't use healing lights. At the Beginner tier, the healing magic takes the form of a light ball that does simple healing. At the Intermediate tier, the healing lights shaped like a ball were controlled by the long light ropes like a path, and all I had to do was control the paths and push the balls on the path to move.

But in Knight tier, the path itself is the healing piece. Maybe the healing ball lights dissolves itself into the whole long rope and turns the path into the healing thing itself.

I tried enveloping my hand in these long wide ropes, and the burn marks disappeared quickly, replaced with a smooth clean healthy skin. The bruises are also gone as soon as the shining white golden ropes touch them.

I also did the same thing with Valey's and Barett's body. I slithered their entire body in these healing ropes, and now their whole body is shining in bright golden.

I can feel my magic energy being pulled more and more, but that's fine. I have plenty to spare.

After three minutes, their large wounds were gone. Along with their sicknesses, if they have any.

The two slowly woke up as soon as I stopped the magic. Cony immediately hugged me at high speed, which confused them because I was still so shocked.

"Huh? Since when did you two become so close? And why are we outside?"

Valey tried to remove the headache she felt in her head by holding it with one hand, while the other is pushing her up so that she can sit. Barett is the same.

Cony then let go of me and hugged Valey and Barett, leaving me watching them. The tears on her eyes didn't stop flowing. Mine is already dried, but anyone can see that I had cried at some point.

Dang... I actually cried again. Why am I such a loser?