Chương 417: (410) 6.24. Thanks for the Help. Really.

Vin let his spells end, but the damage was already done. As bloody water splashed down and spilled across the park grounds, he stared in shock at Curash's bolt-riddled body as the Hunter of Men collapsed to the ground, landing heavily on one side. Vin had been 'talking' to the man mere seconds ago, and yet here he was, almost certainly dead at his feet.

Flashbacks of witnessing Patty receive a crossbow bolt to the eye in the midst of their conversation flashed through his mind, and Vin whirled toward Waltz, who had finally stopped sprinting around. The beastkin stood there, panting heavily as he stared down at the man he'd once called a friend." Second Shot," Waltz muttered, shakily lowering his crossbows as he seemed to almost deflate now that the deed was done.

Before Vin could even start shouting at the beastkin, he jerked back as Phil smashed into Waltz' side out of nowhere, driving him into the ground and slamming his head into the earth. Kicking away the dual crossbows, Phil shouted in his ear as he pinned him down, holding his sword to the beastkin's throat to ensure he didn't try and utilize his superior speed to go anywhere.

"Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how many innocent people you hurt with this stunt?!" Blinking slowly, as if waking from a dream, Waltz looked around, taking in the scene surrounding them for the first time. James and his supply crew had already returned from their earlier race to the hospital and were currently grabbing more people who had received surprise crossbow bolts for the crime of curiously trying to figure out what was going on.

The once-green park had splotches of blood painting it red all over the place, and cries of pain could be heard from pretty much everywhere. Waltz' face paled as he realized what he'd done in his hunt for revenge, and his eyes went wide.

"I didn't mean for any of this…" he whispered, his words barely even audible to Vin with his high focus.

"... I'm sorry."

"Well, thank God for that," Curash gasped, nearly causing Vin to scream as the Hunter of Men abruptly sat up, coughing something fierce as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Curash still had over a dozen bolts sticking out of his body from multiple angles, and Vin stared at him in bewilderment. He half expected to see Waltz fly off the handle again, but Waltz didn't even seem to notice Curash's sudden reanimation, the beastkin's eyes still stuck firmly on the carnage he'd caused.

Once he was sure Waltz wouldn't try to kill him again, Curash turned toward Vin.

"Vin, you know healing magic, right? I could use a little pick me up if you don't mind." Quickly getting over his astonishment, Vin dropped down and began casting Renewal, washing the life mana over the man's body as Curash yanked out one bolt after another. Once he was certain this wasn't some crazy last wind before he keeled over for real, Vin spoke.

"…How are you still alive?"

"Waltz isn't the only one with a useful Capstone," Curash grunted, yanking another bolt out of his chest and tossing it to the side." Flesh Of My Men. Sounds gross, I know, but it's incredibly useful. I can borrow the physical attributes of my subordinates in a pinch. It was a lot more useful when I was leading the Red Dawn, but even if my subordinates have been culled down to one at the moment, I'm more than happy to rely on him."

"Trod's constitution and ridiculous durability," Vin realized, understanding dawning on him as he looked more closely at Curash's bolt-riddled body.

"Even for an orc, Trod is a monster in that regard. So what, does he take the damage instead?"

"No, nothing so nasty," Curash said, wincing as he yanked the last bolt out of him.

"It's more like I copy him, which is why I asked for the healing help. If my Capstone wears off before I get these holes patched up… Well, Waltz won't have to worry about making another attempt on my life." The good news was that with Trod's vigor helping out, Vin managed to patch Curash up in no time, even with only the incredibly basic Renewal spell to his name.

Frank had long since eclipsed anything Vin was capable of when it came to healing, but seeing as the Healer no doubt had his hands full trying to help everyone Waltz had accidentally shot, Curash would have to settle for him. While Vin helped Curash to his feet, Abby and a full dozen guards finally reached the park, forcing their way through the onlookers none-too gently.

Taking in the scene in an instant, Abby ordered her guards to keep everyone back and help James' team with the wounded before she walked over to the four of them.

"What happened?" she demanded, her eyes going from Phil pinning Waltz to the ground, to Vin helping a man with a dozen tears in his clothing to his feet. It took a moment for Vin to realize Abby never would have met Curash, and he didn't miss how she turned to address Vin with her question rather than Phil.

"Long story short, this is Curash, a fellow member of the Bands with a bit of a rocky history, to say the least. Curash was off hunting down the last few members of the Red Dawn who escaped our ambush in the Sacred Forest, and upon him finishing up and returning, Waltz decided to try and kill him. At least, that's what it looked like to me. I missed the start of the fight. For what it's worth, I didn't see Curash fire a single arrow from his bow the entire battle.

He was focused solely on dodging and blocking Waltz' attacks." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"I saw about the same, though I didn't have nearly as good of a vantage point as Vin did," Phil said, his blade still pressed hard against Waltz' throat.

"However, Trod got in my way and prevented me from breaking up the fight as fast as I could have, resulting in more people getting injured. And Trod is Curash's subordinate, so let's not pretend like he's innocent in all the mayhem that was caused."

"I knew that Waltz needed to quench that burning desire for revenge," Curash tried to explain.

"The plan was to dodge his attacks for a little bit before letting him hit me and 'dying' as I slipped up. I can't say I appreciated the help, because I was only planning to take one or two bolts to the chest. Not fourteen."

"That's a terrible plan! What if he decided to finish you off with a bolt to the head after you went down!" Vin asked.

"Waltz isn't the type to double-tap like that. Which is sort of ironic, what with his dual crossbows."

"Enough!" Abby shouted, shooting Curash a frigid stare before whipping out her staff and cracking it down onto Waltz' head. Even knowing she had a passive that made her strikes nonlethal if she so wanted, Vin still couldn't help but wince as Waltz' eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went limp. Thrusting her staff at Curash, she narrowed her eyes.

"Do I need to give you the same, or will you come quietly with me to the guard house? You're both under arrest until we can figure out what to do with you."

"I'll come quietly," Curash said, pulling off his quiver of arrows and handing it over to Vin.

"Mind holding onto these? I've had opportunistic guards steal my stuff before on my own world, and I'd like to get those back." Abby didn't rise to the bait, remaining silent as she motioned for Phil to get off Waltz. Hefting the beastkin over her shoulder, she summoned two other guards to each grab one of Curash's arms, forcing him to follow behind her as they headed over to the guard house. Suddenly, it was just Vin and Phil in the center of the park.

"Where are the others?" Vin asked.

"I can get Alice and Witherson not wanting to throw themselves into an active fight, but I'm surprised Spur isn't here."

"Spur and Golrim are in talks with Erik over in the Sacred Forest right now," Phil grunted, still staring at where Curash had vanished into the crowd despite the fact the Hunter was out of sight.

"This timing is bad enough I can't help but think Curash waited for it. He can sense Golrim's location, can't he?"

"I'm pretty sure their soul-bond works that way, but I don't know the details," Vin admitted.

"But why would Curash wait for Golrim to leave before entering Terra?"

"Maybe he thought Golrim would try to stop him from his plan to make peace with Waltz," Phil shrugged, wiping the blood from his sword before sliding it into its sheath.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. Both of their actions resulted in people getting hurt. In my opinion, they're equally guilty."

"Is Trod okay?" Vin asked, only just then realizing that if Phil was here, that meant he made it through the lumbering wall of deadly muscle.

"He's disarmed, but he'll heal," Phil grunted.

"…Did you cut off his arms?"

"He got in my way," was all Phil answered, walking with purpose out of the center of the park. Vin didn't miss how the crowd magically seemed to part for the leader of the combat classes, nor the fact that Phil didn't have so much as a scratch on him. He knew the man was practically a genius when it came to fighting, but it had been some time since the last time he'd seen Phil in action.

Alone and in the center of the park, Vin stared down at the well-maintained bow and the scattering of bloody bolts all over the ground. Despite the fact that Curash had lived, that didn't change the fact that Vin himself had failed. He'd tried his best to protect the Hunter from Waltz, and even if it had all been part of Curash's plan, Curash had still ended up getting turned into a pincushion. If this had been a serious fight, or Curash hadn't had such a powerful Capstone to rely on…

That would have been one more body weighing on Vin's conscience. I need to work on my combat-applicable spells… At least for defense even if I don't want any more offensive ones for the moment. First the ranker king, and now Waltz and even Phil. High-level combat classes are dangerous, and I need to be able to not only keep up with them, but put them down if need be.

Shia had told Vin ages ago that the greatest threat any aspiring mage faced was a high-level combat class, but he hadn't quite understood what she'd meant until that moment. The ranker king had been so ridiculously overpowered that it was easy to treat him as his own thing, more like an unstoppable force of nature rather than just another human. But seeing the others in action made Shia's meaning abundantly clear. Sure, mages were capable of wonderful, incredible things.

But when that came at the cost of placing points into vigor, dexterity, or strength… Their lives could be snuffed out in an instant if they weren't careful. Realizing he was wasting time lost in thought when he could be being useful, Vin shook his head to clear it. Just as he was preparing to head to the hospital to help Frank however he could, a new voice called out to him.

"Vin! The Roamer! Do you have a second?" Following the sound of the voice, Vin spotted a woman he'd never met before slip through Abby's wall of guards and rush over to him. One of them turned and went to chase after her, but Vin motioned that she was okay, and the guard only hesitated for a second before nodding and going back to trying to disperse the crowd. Smiling her thanks, the well-dressed woman cleared her throat and flipped her hair over one shoulder as she held out a small notepad and pen.

"Avaline Charter, Writer and owner of Terra's official newspaper. Do you have a minute?"