As they approached the second layer, Warden parted ways with Agnes and Jenni, maintaining his role. On their last day of travel together, they encountered quite a few people, leading him to conclude that being seen with Agnes could jeopardise their plan.
He made sure nothing nasty was left inside Jenni's channels that would hamper her anymore before departing. The girl had been strangely quiet the last couple of days after her injury. While she sparkled with her bright personality every now and then, she seemed to have made up her mind about becoming compliant and docile while interacting.
Honestly, Warden liked her more when she was more wilful and talked her mind. She probably felt indebted to him for healing her. She even bowed deeply on his departure. Perhaps not opening up to her about his identity was a good choice. Warden deliberated over before departing, but decided against it, thinking she might become confused about how to act with him.
Warden would rather see her acting as she normally does. Let her be indebted to some imaginary character that I took on to amuse myself... It is likely, that this character will not see the light of day after I come out of subspace.
Warden held the broom in hand and muttered. "I'm going to miss you, [Bane of the Calamity], but before I resign, I must find a good candidate to hand over the mantle."
Moreover, he needed to reunite with his own team, uncertain of how many nights they had endured in the sunless subspace on an empty stomach.
During his journey, he was unfortunate not to encounter another moonspawn, but he did come across more forsaken. His lack of moonspawn sightings was likely due to the forsaken, who gathered the moonspawns for some malevolent purpose.
Regrettably, he lost the chance to further sabotage their plans but continued to eliminate them, nonetheless. The trolls contributed valuable points to his Recovery, a seemingly divine attribute to possess.
By the third day of his departure, Warden realised he was somewhat lost. He soared above the tree canopy to ensure no deceit was afoot, eventually stumbling upon a few members of his crew. Not his crew. Marcus's crew.
May, the half-elf healer, and Cole, the runesmith of their group, were besieged by gigantic centipede-like creatures, each towering over a metre tall and capable of growing up to a dozen metres. Fortunately, several soldiers were with them, sparing them from facing the demonic beasts with their limited combat skills.
Warden acknowledged the healer's proficiency; she adeptly cast barriers and wards to contain the monsters, while Cole demonstrated his mastery of several spells, aiding the soldiers in combating the centipedes. Unfortunately, his spells weren't potent enough or else they wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.
Still, they might have managed to fend off these creatures on their own, though not without sustaining injuries. Warden wouldn't have been surprised if some had lost limbs. The centipede monsters, with their numerous appendages for swift movement and tough exoskeletons, were formidable adversaries that no ordinary mage could despatch with just a few spells.
One of the warriors wielded fire-based powers, yet his flames struggled to make an impact on the segmented insectoids.
Without hesitation, Warden dived directly onto a centipede as it gnawed through May's ward. His heavyweight made the huge monster clamp on the ground as it let out a large squeak. Warden silenced it by shoving his broom to pierce the weak points between the segments of the creature. He pushed for his intent and pierced the creature in half.
"It's this janitor's fortune that you remember me at all, Lady May," Warden greeted her.
May snorted as she attended to her companions' wounds. They were minor fleshly wounds. She only needed to throw a few spells to heal.
Once done, she faced him again. "So, aside from being a mysterious fighter and a cook, you're a healer too, huh?"
"Barely," Warden admitted. "I've learned that one needs powerful cleansing abilities to eradicate the filth from existence. I still have a long way to go, as my power is, but a trickle compared to the brilliance of Lady May."
"Okay, this is getting a bit cringeworthy," May said with a glare. "Speak normally."
"This is normal, My lady," Warden said. "Anyway, I have a few questions regarding healing, I hope my lady can enlighten this poor Janitor."
May narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. "Did you acquire the light attribute after entering the subspace?"
"You can say that. While there's no fortune without embracing the misfortunes, I can safely say the fortune outweighs the great power of light that I wield."
Honestly, Warden naturally changed the way he spoke when he descended on the battle. he wasn't like that with Agnes, which was mostly because she knew his real identity. Well, considering he was in a role, he didn't correct himself. Besides, he thought the accent and the way of his speech were required for his role to work.
"So my lady, will you help this poor janitor in clarifying some mysteries of the art of healing?" Warden said. "The subject is so fascinating and complicated that I cannot fathom how to advance in this path without your help."
Warden genuinely required some clarification on how to use the healing on another person. While his instinct did let him do some of his power on others, it wasn't by any means as intimate as his combat powers. Which could only mean that his mysterious fourth power wasn't healing.
May snorted. "Make me something great to eat and I'll think about it."
Warden smiled. It was as they say the door to one's heart was through their stomach.
"The poor janitor is at your service..."