Unexpected Healer Book 2 -- Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The landscape flew by the racing Solitary Shaman, his steps sure as the anger and rage from the whole situation inundated his entire body.  He barely even noticed as he flowed around obstacles in his way, be it a rock in the middle of the road or a group of people; they were simply things that he didn’t want to run into.  Even in his current state, he was conscious enough of needing protection just in case he did run into something, so he had cast Greater Damage Shield on himself and considered that good enough for the moment.

When he thought that he was close enough to the Grotto, Thaden slowed down and looked around him, taking in the area with a first-hand perspective.  Placing where it was located based on a map was quite a bit different than seeing it with his own eyes.

All around the Ragewater Sea was the mountain range that basically acted as a boundary, and the inner space in between the range and the Sea itself was relatively flat, with a mixture of grassland and forests.  In a few places, ancient-looking rockslides created intrusions into this space, but for the most part, it was relatively clear of any rocks near the large body of water itself.  As for the Sea, it was also relatively uniform, with very little variation to its overall ovoid shape – except for his current location. 

The Bayside Grotto, which was aptly named because it was situated in a shallow bay of water that nearly extended inward all the way up to the mountain range, was essentially a large jumble of stone slabs stacked haphazardly on top of each other near the furthest point the bay traveled inland.  A large opening into the stone pile could be found by traveling through the shallow water of the bay, and even from his position a quarter of a mile away, he could just barely make out the distortion over the opening that indicated the entrance to the dungeon.  From what he knew of it, the Grotto had water-based monsters, though he hadn’t looked into it too far; after learning that it was controlled by a Guild, it wasn’t on his list of places to visit anytime soon.

It appeared as though he wasn’t going into it today, either, as his objective in coming was located outside of the Grotto.  An extremely large group of Contenders was standing around in what looked like smaller parties, though they intermingled as they casually talked with each other.

Behind them was what appeared to be a metal cage, something that reminded him of what a zoo would use to transport large animals, and inside the cage were people.  At furthest extent of his range, he couldn’t see anyone’s nametags or Levels, but he was able to get a fairly accurate count of what he was up against. 

Outside the cage, he counted a total of either 89 or 90 Contenders; it was difficult to be more accurate than that because some were moving around or were behind others, but he figured it was probably 90 because there seemed to be full parties of 5 waiting around.  As for inside the cage, he couldn’t see them clearly, but it was obvious that there were more than just the four he expected.  Not many more than that, perhaps 7 in total, but they were sitting down and leaning up against the shiny metal bars, which made it difficult to pick them out individually.

Seven people?  Six?  Eight?  Regardless of how many more than four there are, what does that mean?  I don’t know more than Gregory’s party around here.  Unless they were Charee, which he highly doubted because he’d only really interacted with the Vice-Leader of the Coalition and his new Concierge, he hadn’t really spoken with anyone else.

It only took a few seconds of watching the assembled Contenders before they noticed him back.  There wasn’t really anywhere for him to hide, after all, as it was fairly open around the area except for right around the Grotto, so a lone figure dressed in a black robe and hood kind of stood out, especially as it was nearly midday.  The only benefit for him was that there wasn’t anywhere for other people to hide in an ambush, unless they were invisible like whoever had placed the note in his hand, but there wasn’t really much he could do about that.

When they saw him, they all hurried to assemble in front of the cage, blocking it from his sight for the most part.  Appearing to be waiting for him, they didn’t move from their position, though he could tell that a few of them appeared to be nervous.

Good.  They should be nervous, because I’m pissed off.  I don’t have time to play these stupid games.

A little after he arrived, he started to calm down enough to think a little more clearly, especially after assessing who and what was waiting for him.  He was well aware that he couldn’t actually do anything to these people, as they were all a lower Level than him and any damage would be negated, but he was still angry enough to want to try – as ineffective as it would be.  Still, if he was able to free the hostages, whoever they might be, from under their noses and take away any power they think they might have, he might be satisfied with that.

Thaden started to walk forward slowly, preparing himself with everything he could think of.  First, he boosted his Mentality from 447 (which was what it was with his gear on) to 961, giving him just enough Mana to cast his Superior Support Sprite instantly, followed by Superior Overheal on himself; he instantly canceled the boost so that it didn’t strain his mind, even though it didn’t seem like it was hurting like it used to.  He supposed that because he didn’t boost it all the way up to its natural limit, it didn’t affect him as much, but he still wanted the boost gone because he wanted to be able to pump it into Celerity if he needed to run.

It was then that he cast Greater Dampeners, Greater Damage Shield, Greater Stacking Buffers, Greater Protective Barrier, Greater Protective Guards, and Greater Death Ward on himself, while preparing to cast Superior Affliction Shelter if it was necessary.

He then cast Greater Regeneration on himself followed by chain-casting Greater Mass Healing and Greater Healing Burst each time they were off cooldown to start his Overheal bonus Health going. 

The lightshow that he was putting on, even in the brightness of broad daylight, obviously unsettled some of the awaiting Contenders, as they began to shrink back and shuffle in place as he got closer.  Thaden kept his attention on them instead of watching what his Health pool was at, but he could sense that it was climbing rapidly; Regeneration and Afterglow, which were based on his maximum Health, were increasing in their healing rate by the second as Overheal started adding up.

Finally, he passed whatever threshold allowed him to see the nametags of the people waiting for him and he nearly missed a step when he saw that all of them were Level 20, which was a bit of a surprise.  But if it were really his “friends” in the cage, at least Gregory and his party, then if they had Leveled to at least 21 (which he knew they were planning to do as soon as possible, then being Level 20 was what it would require to kill them.

Therefore, the threat was real.  Again, it depended on who exactly was in the cage.

“You came,” said what appeared to be a well-equipped Fighter out front of the group that seemed to either be the spokesperson or the leader of the Contenders facing him.  “We had a bet between us that you would chicken-out and be a no-show, but I figured you wouldn’t be so heartless as to let your friends die—”

“What do you hope to accomplish here?” Thaden growled out, interrupting the one who had spoken, whose nametag said Martin. 

The man seemed slightly taken aback, even swaying slightly away from the Solitary Shaman as he approached.  The others also shuffled around and most seemed to want to look away from him for some reason.

Unfortunately for the Shaman, Martin seemed to recover faster than the others.  “Accomplish?  Why, we want to learn your secrets.  For instance, how is it that you’ve hidden your nametag?  Such a power would be powerful for those of us in the Execution Guild, as our targets wouldn’t even know we were coming.”

Thaden stopped approximately 30 feet from the line of Contenders and simply stared at the man, the anger beginning to rise up in him again.  Execution Guild?  Are they group of Contender killers or something?  As he glanced around at the others, who had originally appeared slightly scared at his appearance, he could slowly start to see a feral hunger in their gazes as they looked back at him.  It was a look that showed that they were excited to kill, to hunt down and execute those who couldn’t fight back; the feeling of power over life and death seemed to outweigh the moral implications of what they were doing – and enjoying it at the same time.

It made him sick to see it, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it.  As much as he wouldn’t lose sleep over killing these people who even now were fingering their weapons and appearing ready to attack him, nothing he did would hurt them.  The sheer lack of any power in this situation simply made him angrier, and he could feel a seething rage start to build back up inside of his body.

“More than that, we want to know how you not only lived through a visit to the Medial difficulty of the Gorge dungeon, but completed it,” Martin continued smugly.  “Ah, I see that I got your attention, didn’t I?  Yes, your friends gave you up, though they certainly took some… convincing.  Unfortunately, they were able to hold on to the secret of how exactly you all managed to do it, but that’s what you are going to tell us.  Or,” the man said, as he moved away from the cage behind him, followed by a dozen other people so that Thaden could see inside, “you’ll end up just like them.”

Now that he had a proper look inside the cage, he could see seven corpses all arranged in a row, propped up so that they looked like they were simply resting.  He had been wondering why they hadn’t been making any noise, and the fact that they were already dead certainly explained it.  All of them appeared to have had their throats slit and the blood left to cover their entire front side, coating almost every visible inch of their skin and clothing.

There was a lot of blood.  It also seemed to have layers to it, as if all the blood had been spilled once and then it happened again, at least a few times over.  Being a healer, he could only assume that they had been healed in between each throat-slitting… or they had actually been killed and then resurrected at least a few times.  Seeing that there were nearly 20 Support Class Contenders nearby, they could easily do something like that despite the cooldowns for them.

His anger started ramping up yet again, especially as he saw who it was that was inside the cage.  Thaden didn’t have to see their nametags to recognize Gregory, Carlos, Melindra, and David – but the other three required a peek.

Katelynn (Deceased – 0:00 Remaining)

Human

Level 23

Gabriela (Deceased – 0:00 Remaining)

Human

Level 23

Basma (Deceased – 0:00 Remaining)

Human

Level 23

Those women I resurrected when I first arrived near Rageharbor?  How?  Why?  I only met them the one time, and had been incognito to boot, but somehow these people connected me with them?  How did they find these three, anyway?  In fact, why aren’t Gregory and the others miles away by this point?

“You can try and run, but we’ll find you eventually.  When we do, and we will, you’ll tell us what we want to know, or you’ll die even slower and with much more pain than these worthless fools.  So, why don’t you just make it easy on yourself and tell us—urk—” Martin said, even as he was suddenly pushed down to his knees, along with everyone else around him.  “How… are… you… doing… this…?” he struggled to ask, even as he was forced down to his hands and knees.   

Thaden barely heard him, however, as his anger had hit the fevered pitch that it had when he decided to end this nonsense once and for all.  He could sense a physical pressure coming out of him, pushing the Contenders down and eventually causing them to collapse completely with cries of shock and exertion, their bodies being pressed against the ground without hope of release.  A small, detached part of his mind recognized it as the same Level Compression that Nehetmo, Monarch of the Dead, had used upon him and his party mates back in the Mausoleum; how exactly he was using it, he didn’t know nor particularly care about, only that it was working.

But the Compression didn’t actually hurt them, only kept them trapped in place.  He looked again at the corpses in the cage, anger and sorrow for their fate warring with each other, and he was hoping to see if any of them still had anything remaining on their death timers.  Unfortunately, they were all at 0:00, which meant that they had been killed hours ago; the Major Resurrection spell that had just been recently upgraded could now bring someone back from the dead if he got to them within four hours instead of three as the Lesser version did, but it still wasn’t enough to save them. 

As the pressure coming from his Level Compression continued to increase, still without actually damaging any of the murderous Contenders, Thaden couldn’t help but reflect on how unfair it all was here on Tarth and how lately everyone around him seemed to wind up dead.  As much as he felt guilty and wanted to blame himself for their deaths, the truth of it was that it wasn’t him that killed those people back in Forgestone, and it wasn’t him that killed Gregory and these others here.  While it was these horrible people from the so-called “Execution Guild” that did the deed here, what was ultimately at fought was none other than the Assimilation System.  It was its systems that allowed the massacre and destruction of an entire city, and it was what allowed Contenders to abuse the rules to kill other Contenders in the pursuit of power. 

None of it made any sense, and fighting against it seemed like a losing proposition every time he turned around.  His frustration leaked into his mind as he stared at all the Contenders on the ground, facing him like they were supplicating for mercy, and he felt the power of his Level Compression start to dwindle.  As much as it felt good to make them seem to grovel at his feet, he knew that it was ultimately useless and unproductive; without being able to hurt them, it was an empty gesture of power.

The futility of it all eventually broke through his rage and his Level Compression snuffed out like a candle.  It only took the Contenders a few seconds to recover from the absence of pressure, as they angrily got to their feet and stared at Thaden; a few seconds later, Martin seemed to get his wits back as he shouted, “Attack!  Kill him quickly!  We’ll Resurrect him in the cage afterwards!”

So that’s how they did it.  I was wondering how they managed to take the others prisoner; they just kill them and then essentially wake them up in a cage. 

Of course, Thaden wasn’t going to have any of it.  Even as he was immediately bombarded by more than a dozen spells and other projectiles, all easily blocked by his protections, he cast his Superior Affliction Shelter to avoid some annoying afflictions that might get through them, before getting ready to boost his Celerity with Mana Transformation to run away, leaving all this business behind him.  Before he could do that, however, a window suddenly popped up that consumed his entire vision.

As he quickly read through it, he closed it and looked at the poleaxed faces of the Contenders that had been attacking him just seconds before.

The Solitary Shaman smiled darkly at them, even if they couldn’t see it because of his Hood of Obscurity.  “Oh, y’all done fucked up, didn't ya?”