Stumbling Up: A Loser's Guide to Progression - Chapter 69: Heartbreak

Why am I only the ‘boss’ when things are going wrong?

Richard sent me a rudimentary image. I didn’t even know he could do that.

The Legendary Rock Mistress we'd been following joined a whole swarm of butterflies over a crystalline pool. They were beautiful, and exactly what I didn’t want Leo to see.

Shit.

“I’m not sure there’s…” I didn’t want to lie outright to my team. I grasped at anything. “There’s not much point in going over there. Seems like it's a dead end,” I finished lamely. I was not quick-witted like Tandy in these situations.

Tandy caught my eye and gave me a what's going on look.

How much damage could a little butterfly do?

Leo had stopped digging and had sat back on his haunches, covered in gritty mud. Meredeath and Ash were leaning against the rock, trying to help Richard climb down.

There wasn't an easy way to tell Tandy what was going on, so I just shared the text of my quest with her. I should have done it earlier, but I’d just wanted a little bit of the adventure for myself, and I was afraid of Leo’s reaction.

Tandy's eyes went distant as she read the pop-up. I walked over to Leo, offering my canteen to help clean off his hands.

With the angle and direction of the canyon, the dregs of the afternoon sun beat down on us. We had four or five hours of sunlight left.

"What do you say we go back to that tributary canyon and look?" I tried to make small talk, but Leo looked pretty down.

He waved off my canteen and just sat in the mud. "Yeah, we can." He hadn't raised his downcast face, and from his agreeable words, I got the impression it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Come on. You didn't think this was going to be as easy as 'follow the path' directly to the monster we're supposed to kill, did you?" I felt like a jerk.

I idly watched Richard pretend he couldn't climb down the sandstone as Meredeath and Ash tried to figure out how to climb up and reach him. At the moment, Ash had gone down on all fours so Meredeath could step on his back and get closer to Richard.

Leo looked up at me now, his hazel eyes squinting in the sun. "I didn't, but I did. This new class I've got, [Provisional Paladin of the Hunt], it calls to me. I thought that if it was truly meant to be, then it’d be easy. My instincts would pull me to one of these beasts. That this was my moment."

I felt terrible. He was so genuine that hiding the Rock Mistress felt like I was kicking a puppy. I knew what he was feeling because I felt the same about my quest line. I glanced at Tandy, who was still deep in her notifications, a dark frown painted on her face.

"The day's not done yet. You still have time to find one of the Legendary Beasts. Or we could find success on some other sort of hunt? Maybe one that's less impressive, that doesn't involve mythical creatures?" I tried. The betrayal burned in my chest.

Leo stood, nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Even if I don't get to keep this class, there will be other opportunities." His words agreed with me, but from the slump of his shoulders, I could tell he didn't really believe it.

"Wait, what do you mean even if you don't get to keep this class?" Tandy asked, joining the conversation.

"Didn't I tell you? This is a one-time opportunity. The quest for the class is limited to this [Raid]. Apparently, that's why there's so many hunters this time. They said the last time the Patroness of the Hunt put a call forth like this was over a hundred years ago. If I don't hunt down at least one of these Beasts, then the class won't stick." He had mentioned this being a unique opportunity, but I did not know it was that exclusive.

Tandy looked at me, pinning me in place with judgement. Shame colored my cheeks. I bent down, picking up a pebble. Looking over, Ash was now on Meredeath's shoulders, hands reaching out for Richard, who was still several feet away.

I met Tandy’s gaze. I could read her mind. Why did you make me part of this deception? I could see it in the absolute disgust on her face. I was a worm wriggling on the street after a long rain, and one of the local kids had handed me to her—rubbery, squirmy, insignificant. Every bit of that smallness sank into my chest.

[Skill Downgrade: [Heart] has downgraded to [Heartbeat]. While you can understand the link between your party members, you no longer embody the responsibility of that understanding.]

No matter what I did, I wasn’t winning in this scenario.

Regardless of my quest, however, I couldn’t bring myself to regret saving the Rock Mistress. The creature was beautiful, flickering in her domain. She hurt no one in this blasted maze of canyons.

Meredeath toppled over trying to reach Richard. She and Ash sat in the mud, realizing Ash sitting on her shoulders would not work either. Ash looked a little dazed, covered in wet, muddy sand.

"Richard, stop kidding around. Let's go!" I called up to my difficult friend. His tentacles, which had been waving happily in laughter, looked right at me, as though accusing me of spoiling his fun. "Get down here!" I wasn't in the mood for his antics.

He gave a slug equivalent of a sigh and started oozing his way forward, using his extra clingy slime to glue himself vertically as he inched down the rock. By the time he got to a grabbable height, Meredeath had crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a dark glare.

Turned out neither of us was going to be popular today.

I walked over, holding my hand out for Richard, who smugly slimed along my arm to his normal shoulder perch. "Why do you have to be such an ass?"

Why didn't you tell Leo the truth?

Touché.

Everyone got to their feet, and we began the trudge back. It shouldn't have felt like defeat. There was every reason to think that the side canyon still would deliver something, some sort of creature to make the journey worthwhile. Some hint of adventure, something to satisfy the ever-burning guilt in my chest.

A hunting horn sounded behind us, obviously on the other side of the boulder. My heart sank as Leo turned to look at me in disbelief.

"How could someone have found something back there?"

Richard didn't help. He retreated guiltily behind my neck.

I didn't know what to say. There weren't words that were going to make this better.

"Why?" The betrayal in his eyes burned in my memory.

My mind thrummed with words. It’s wrong to kill the Rock Mistress. This isn’t the way. But the words stuck in my chest. Coward. An ooze of slime dribbled down my back.

"He has a competing quest line. That's why he didn't tell you." Tandy found the words where I couldn't. Her explanation made me sound so selfish. Maybe I was.

More horns sounded.

Leo drew his axe. He stood tall, muscles flexed. Dust, sand, and sweat marred his new armor. He looked every bit the hero. Ready to spring into action.

"You betrayed me for a quest?" Leo's voice broke. He walked towards me, axe held out. For a moment, I wondered if he was going to use it on me. Anger flared in his eyes.

Before his rage, my reasoning was useless. This feeling of wrongness was inexplicable.

Tandy opened her mouth to deflect, to make an excuse for me. Anything to make it better. Leo's look made her mouth shut with a snap.

"I want to hear it from him."

There was nowhere to hide. No excuse to duck behind. Leo, big, lovable Leo, stood towering over me, a pinnacle of righteous rage. He’d been my best friend.

My body trembled. I clenched my muscles hard. My throat closed up. What could I say? Yes, I hid the legendary beast from you for my own personal gain? That killing the beast—the very quest we were on—felt wrong?

My mind raced, throwing all the reasons at his stony face.

I went with the only thing I could really say. "I'm sorry."

Even as I said it, I knew it wasn't enough. My apology was simply an admission of guilt. Not a reason for the betrayal. I’d dug the hole so fast.

He rounded on Tandy. "And you knew too? You knew the details of his quest?"

Tandy's eyes were wide. "I just found out. I..." Her voice trailed off. What could she say?

He turned back to me. "How long have you had this quest?"

"S-since I went fishing with Ash."

He rounded on Ash and Meredeath. Ash had shrunk back, displaying his own guilt by hiding behind Meredeath.

As for Meredeath, she stood firm, unintimidated. "I didn't know, if it makes you feel better." She stared him down, dark eyes unblinking.

It looked like Leo’d gained a battle rage [Berserker] skill. Something changed in him as his musculature grew. He turned his back on us and took large, sand-eating steps back toward the dead end we'd vacated.

Tandy and I looked at each other for a moment. Her face mirrored mine. Guilt and horror.

We followed our friend. Tandy had to jog to keep up.

"What are you going to do?" she called to Leo.

He jogged, ignoring us both. His axe swung freely as horns frantically blew. The fight with the creature had obviously begun and wasn’t going well.

Blasts of sound echoed off the canyon walls. A raven added its own caw to the cacophony. I looked up, seeing a lone raven perched on a ledge examining our party. Watching. Foretelling.

We got to the dead end, but Leo didn't stop. Instead, he swung his axe singing through the air.

“[Unstoppable],” he called. The axe hit the boulder, and half of it disintegrated in a shower of sand.

He’d used his rarest skill for a chance at the Rock Mistress.

Leo looked back at Tandy and me. My jaw was on the floor. I couldn't believe the power he'd just unleashed on the rock.

"The funny thing is, I'd been holding back for the two of you."

[Leo has left your party.]

He swung again, the second swing pulverizing the rest of the boulder as he strode forward in the dust. Leo joined the chaos of the Hunt.

The harried team waved him into the fight.

Leo took his axe, activating another skill as he swung. He joined the battle as a wave of energy hit the butterflies. They’d already been stunned by the blast of his entrance. Half fell from the sky. Leo began spinning and batting the creatures out of the air. Energy attacks flew from the other side of the canyon.

The resentment that had been building up over the Hunt drained out of me as he destroyed the Rock Mistress and her swarm. He was right. We'd been holding him back. Neither Tandy nor I could inflict that kind of carnage on a foe.

Leo deserved to be a proper hero. His build was fixed. If he hadn’t been [Broken] in the first place, he’d have been on Team Abs all along.

I couldn't look away from the slaughter. He was also wrong. This wasn’t how one ascended to the ranks of heroes.

Darts of magic picked off the magical butterflies from the other side of the canyon, relentlessly assassinating them while Leo swung the flat of his axe across the swarm.

The queen sat at the center of the horde. She was several times bigger than her harem. A bolt of orange magic shot from her. The assassin [Mage] cried out in pain. More than half of her swarm lay broken on the sand.

The queen turned towards Leo. Ten of the butterflies broke rank, formed into a wedge, and dive-bombed him from above. He laughed as he ignored the peppering magic bouncing off his armor.

I realized at that moment the truth of this Hunt. They were hunting the Rock Mistress not because she was difficult to kill, but because she was rare. This wasn’t a hunt for a marauding leviathan. This was a purposeful snuffing of a unique beast.

I watched in outrage as Leo realized the kill was available for taking. Several more parties had joined the fight, sending arrows and magic bolts at the swarm. It was only a matter of time before they hit her.

A resentment burned. This wasn’t why I’d become an [Adventurer], this wasn’t heroic. This was a slaughter for the sake of glory. They should have cut the line and let the Rock Mistress go.

With each moment, as the battle drew out, more of her swarm lay out on the red ground. Fragile wings broken. My anger blazed. I fed my shame and guilt to it.

Even so, I didn’t defend the creatures. How could I stand against a proverbial army of [Adventurers]? My hand tensed, knuckles white against the shaft of my hammer.

Leo took one last look at us and, with his maniacal, berserker grin, he turned back to the queen. He triggered his final skill and leaped. The air cracked with the velocity of his swing.

The Rock Mistress must have known her death was imminent as she triggered one last spell. A ball of blue light, too painful to look at, shot out at the ground as Leo's axe went straight through the legendary beast.

[You have failed to protect the legendary beast: [Rock Mistress of the Canyon]. Consequently, you lose 100 reputation points. Your reputation with legendary beasts has now dipped below 0 reputation points. You have lost [The Mercy Ledger: Beasts]. You have lost [Mark of Mercy]. You have lost [Thread of Mercy].]

A new shame burned in my chest. I should have acted.

The queen’s brilliant death pillar faded, leaving us with a monument of her life. A glass-tiled perfect hole sat in the clearing. The molten shards of glass glowed with her defiance. The swarm of butterflies that had been working on defending her dropped to the ground, collectively dead. A dull rumble sounded.

I think we’d better leave.

The rumbling grew louder. I agreed with Richard when a geyser of water shot up from the hole. Leo was in the blast zone. His body flew, hit by a gush of water. One of the other teams ran in and pulled him away.

Steam came off the water as a pool formed. The depression in the landscape caused by the battle was quickly filling as the geyser kept shooting in the air.

"Guys, I think we need to leave now." The forceful statement came from Ash, of all people. I looked back. He was tugging at Meredeath. "Really, guys. I think I know how these canyons were formed."

I looked back. The geyser was not slowing down. Another rumble, and the ground cracked. More hot water leaked through the earth.

Tandy tugged at my elbow.

Part of me wanted to stay. We had to save Leo. I didn't deserve to survive this. My heart lay out on the sand, broken with the delicate insects. A third of it was simply missing. Another tug pulled at my elbow.

"Let's go. He'll be fine." Ash pointed at the [Adventurers] picking up Leo to take him with them. Water had filled up the crevasses, and another quake hit. A small wave hit my feet, burning them.

The pain woke me up. I let Tandy's next tug pull me backwards.

The ground shook this time, knocking us all sideways. I slammed into the wall to my left, hitting my elbow hard.

I think you need to run faster.

Looking back after Richard's comment, I had to agree. The narrow canyon was filling up with water fast. A knee-high wave was headed our way.

"Run!" I screamed, seeing the steam rise above the hot water.

Each step took us closer to safety and further from who we used to be. We sprinted away from the trio of childhood friends who spent summers building tree forts.

Each step was further from Leo. From what he’d done.

A powerful earthquake rocked the canyon walls. Dust and debris choked the air. A lone raven cawed its last judgement as it took flight.

When the wave of water hit us, I finally felt like I was getting what I deserved.