Chapter 36: A Mutual Understanding

I felt Alina's magic reach Vincent. The wound on his arm healed almost immediately. Her power was useful, I had to admit. Though, it wasn't quite as powerful as Erik and the others thought it to be. While Vincent's wound was healed, he still seemed somewhat shaken, probably because of the pain.

That wasn't the only issue the group was having. Since Vincent had backed off, Erik was left alone on the frontline. While he was fairly strong, he was still only human. As more of the creatures focused their attention on him, he also started stepping back.

An arrow flew right past him and killed another one of the creatures. I glanced down at Samantha. She was focused on her archery. She hooked another arrow and released it as I watched. I followed the arrow with my eyes. She had just barely missed the eye of one of the creatures. The arrow hit its shell with a loud clang, then harmlessly fell on the ground. The creature didn't seem too bothered by it as it continued approaching Erik.

"This isn't working." I mumbled as I used Dark bolt. Three silent bolts leapt from my fingers and killed the three creatures, closest to Erik.

"What the hell?" He shouted, glancing towards me with annoyance. I didn't care as I shot another volley of Dark Bolts. I wasn't about to let his inexperience cause any deaths.

"Kai?" Vincent shouted as the three opponents he was facing off against died to my magic.

"Erik, look out!" I shouted as the remaining creatures attacked him. He tried striking one of them with his sword, but it bounced off its shell with a clang. I shot another volley, killing another group. With only five remaining monsters, I stopped casting and looked around. We'd made quite the commotion; it wouldn't be unusual to see predators come our way.

Soon, Samantha's arrows finished off the last creatures. The group gathered at the little opening as I jumped down the tree.

"What the hell was that?" Erik shouted as soon as I approached them. Confused, I raised my eyebrows. "I told you to look out for anything unexpected, why did you interfere with the battle?"

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. What had gotten into him? "You were in trouble, so I helped-"

"I was not in trouble!" He continued shouting. "We've dealt with creatures worse than this. Why can't you just do what's expected of you? What if something had attacked us in the rear while you were preoccupied with this?"

It felt as if he'd punched me in the gut. "What's expected of me?" I repeated his words. Unpleasant memories surfaced as I clenched my fist. "I-" I shook my head and took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. "Vincent getting wounded and being forced to fall back was unexpected. I did exactly what you asked of me." I gestured towards the forest. "I knew nothing was coming our way and even if they did, I could have alerted Joshua and Alina. Stop spouting nonsense."

"You-" Erik clenched his fist and took a step towards me, but Vincent stopped him by stepping between us. "Erik, don't you think you're being too harsh?" He quietly asked. Aline quickly shut him down. "No, he's right. We could have died if something like that happened. There's a reason we have a leader, what's the point if you don't follow his plan?" Her cheeks were slightly red as she spoke. She seemed angry.

"Let's try this again," Erik said, pushing Vincent aside. "Only interfere if something aside from what we're fighting attacks us. Ok? Is that clear enough?" His bright blue eyes were filled with hostility.

I responded to his hostile gaze with my own. "Crystal." Without waiting for his acknowledgement, I headed towards the next location. I heard the group scramble behind me. A little while later, we arrived at the location of our next quest. I climbed up on a tree and watched them fight the battle. And the next one. And the next one.

As dusk approached, we returned to Stonepatch Village.

"Let's go to the tavern!" Alina shouted and started dragging the silent Joshua along with her. Erik relented easily and Samantha reluctantly followed them. I silently watched as they left, their laughter echoing between the buildings.

"Are you ok?" Vincent asked. I shook my head, there was no point in lying. "I'm sorry about him. Erik, I mean." He said after a moment's hesitation. "After we thought you had died, he blamed himself for forcing you to play this game with us. He kept saying how he'd avenge you."

"It's fine." I said with a sigh. "You don't have to defend him. I know he's a good person. He's just going through tough times. All of us are." I didn't say how that didn't justify his actions, there was no point in discussing it. I turned my back to the village. "But you guys already have a working system among the five of you. All I am doing is disrupting that." I turned back to look at the young fighter.

He flinched and stepped back as I summoned my scythe. The crystalline curved blade let out a pale shine as the sun set. "I'll clear my head a little. You go ahead and join them."

"I told you," He said as he carefully approached me. "I'm done drinking." His sword materialized in his hand. "If you're going hunting, I want to come with. Do you mind?"

I hesitated, then shook my head. "No, let's go."

Unlike the Torchlight Woods, the forest floor here wasn't covered with moss. Our steps weren't as silent as I'd like. Vincent wordlessly followed me as I went towards the faint traces of magic I could sense. Soon, we spotted a bunch of horned lions.

I used Fallen Grace and Death's Scythe and dashed at them, leaving a trail of black flames and a confused and somewhat terrified Vincent in my wake. He didn't even get to lift his sword as I cut down these creatures. Once the last one fell, Vincent finally spoke up. "That was amazing."

"I'm trying to get used to the weapon." I cleaned the blood off the blade with a large leaf. Even if this was a game, it felt wrong to leave my weapons dirty. Besides, this world was so realistic that Erik's father may had even chosen to add such a 'feature' into it. Weapons degrading due to damage wouldn't be outside his ability.

"I don't know man; you seem pretty used to it already." He said with a grin. "They were dead before I finished counting them."

"Sorry you didn't get to do anything." I said, feeling a little bad. The situation now felt similar to when a new disciple joined the training hall. They wouldn't even be able to follow our movements. Both good and bad memories surfaces as a bitter smile appeared on my face.

We continued hunting for a few hours, though Vincent seemed a bit tired towards the end. On our way back, I finally asked him something that had been bugging me for a while. "Why are you fighting so defensively?"

He flinched. "You noticed?"

I nodded. I had noticed the moment I saw him fight the scorpion-like creatures. He never once did anything offensive in that battle, or in the following ones.

"Erik said that as long as we keep Samantha and Alina alive, we'd beat the game. Alina can heal insane amounts of damage and Samantha is an amazing archer. She can dish out more damage than any of us. Joshua makes for a great lookout and he's good at keeping Alina safe." He shrugged. "Erik is a paladin; his job is to be the frontline, but he can't do it alone. He needed someone to stand with him and the only person capable of that was me."

I shook my head. That thinking was wrong on so many different levels, I didn't even know how to begin explaining.

"I know what you're thinking." Vincent suddenly said as he grabbed my arm and stopped me. His sheer strength surprised me – his grip was stronger than Erik's. "You don't have to interfere. We've come to a mutual understanding with him and Alina. Look," He opened his status panel.

'Vincent Kestler – Level 19 Fighter'

'STR: 28 – CON: 20 – DEX: 18 – INT: 14 – WIS: 14'

Taken aback, I stared at him. "That's much more than Erik's strength."

"It is. Fighters don't get any of the cool abilities Paladins or, well, any other classes get. We get a whole lot of stat points instead. I still have some unused points too. Once Erik is strong enough to hold the line, I'll start working towards becoming a Spellsword." He grinned. "I'll be pretty strong when that happens."

I forced a smile. What he said was against everything I was taught, and it was exactly what Rina had warned me against yesterday. He was letting Erik and the others hold him back and hinder his growth. Yet, who was I to butt in and disrupt their relationship? I smiled, nodded, and let the way to the tavern.

"Come on, we have some drunk people to carry."