Chương 46: A Hard Fought Victory

Vin stifled a gasp, nearly releasing the snakeskin in his mouth as a burst of golden light erupted from him at the moment of impact. To his amazement, the force of the divine energy not only protected him from certain death, but also managed to push him and the snake into the air once more to ensure he wasn't pinned under the monster's bulk.

And while his divine boon had saved him from taking any damage, the same couldn't be said about the snake, who seemed even more shaken after having slammed its own head into the ground so violently. The snake's last ditch effort failing to dislodge him marked the beginning of the end for the elite monster, and with every second that passed after that the snake seemed to grow weaker and weaker.

Finally, after one last weak jerk of its neck, the monster collapsed, falling to the ground and nearly dislodging Vin at long last from the sudden impact. Realizing he was still screaming around the now blood-soaked snakeskin, Vin finally stopped. Even so, he refused to let up on his grip until he was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt the snake was truly dead this time.

Once he was finally certain the monster wouldn't be getting back up a third time, he released the snakeskin from his trembling fingers and bleeding jaw. Shakily getting to his feet, Vin looked up and discovered nearly a quarter of their camp standing there, staring at him with wide eyes and slacked jaws.

"What's going on? Why is everyone out of formation?!" He shouted, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His words were practically slurring together as he tried talking with what felt like a severely sprained jaw, and seeing as nobody answered, he wasn't even certain they could understand him. Scanning the awed faces, Vin tried to figure out what was going on. Based on the wooden javelins some people were holding, the crowd was a mixture of all three types of classes.

As he tried to make sense of things, there was a commotion amidst the crowd, and Spur pushed his way through, leaning heavily on an improvised crutch as he limped over to him. Vin stared at the colonel, shocked that the man was even capable of standing up looking like he did.

Not only was he covered in dozens of small slashes, bruises, and what looked like burns of all things, the colonel seemed to have a literal hole through his left calf that was seeping blood despite the hastily thrown together bandage, and a small chunk missing from his side to top it all off. Following his eyes, Spur chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to my passive finally turning off. Last to Fall. Gives me huge boosts to endurance and vigor as long as I'm leading my men into combat. Though even with that I'd kill for some good old fashioned morphine right about now." As Spur's words registered, only then did Vin realize what had finally changed. The sounds of battle had ended sometime during his wild rodeo on the giant snake.

No more screams, no more roars, no more cries for help or people begging for their loved ones as they were dragged back into the swarm of monsters could be heard. Slowly, Vin looked around, taking in the blood-soaked battlefield. What had to be hundreds of monster corpses could be seen scattered about all over the edge of camp, and while he spotted clumps of human bodies here and there, there weren't nearly as many as he'd feared. Turning back to the colonel, Vin stared stupidly at the man.

"So… that's it? It's done?"

"That's it," Spur nodded, reaching out and clapping him on the back.

"Trust me, I know it's hard getting used to, but most battles come to an abrupt end before you know it. Either you die, or your enemy does. One way or another, you often go from fighting for your life to just not in the blink of an eye. Takes time to get used to." Vin continued staring at the colonel. Despite all signs pointing to the fact that Spur's words were the truth, Vin just couldn't believe it. They'd been fighting with everything they had for what felt like an eternity. And now it was just… over?

Spur clearly had experience dealing with situations like this, as he gently pushed Vin forward, directing the stunned Explorer away from the scene of so much death and destruction.

"While you were fighting that snake, the rest of us finished up the final dregs of the monsters. Plenty of people wanted to rush in and help you in your fight, but I figured we'd just be getting in the way at that point. Though I'll admit, I thought I'd made the wrong call when the snake tried to suplex you into the ground. What even was that golden light that blasted out of you?"

"Divine magic," Vin said numbly, letting himself be steered through the crowd of onlookers and back into camp. He almost went into detail about his boon, but even in his shell-shocked state he realized he should probably keep some cards close to his chest. That small description was more than enough anyway, as Spur just shook his head at Vin's answer, barking out a laugh.

"Divine magic? I swear, every time we talk you drop another bombshell on me. You might not want to let people in camp hear you say you're using divine magic. I think more than a few of them are already close to worshiping you after you ran around healing their injuries before going out to literally strangle an elite monster to death with your teeth of all things." Glancing around, Vin did in fact notice more than one person still staring at him in wonder as Spur led him into the center of camp.

Even as people went about tending to the wounded and shoveling monster parts into designated spots, plenty of people found the time to pause what they were doing to give him an appreciative nod or a world-weary grin.

"Unfortunately, as much as I'm sure you'd like to bask in all your newfound fans, our work is far from done today," Spur sighed, leading them into headquarters. Entering the large building, Vin was surprised to find only one other person sitting inside, clearly waiting for them. He'd expected to find the rest of the council, but instead, it was only Lieutenant Myers who stood up as they entered, giving Spur a sharp nod.

Unlike Spur, the lieutenant seemed to have managed to avoid getting any serious injuries, and other than a light slash across her cheek the woman looked as professional as ever. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Somehow she'd even found the time to change out of her torn and bloodied uniform. Despite everything they'd all just been through, her fatigues weren't sporting so much as a single wrinkle.

There was a soft click from behind him, and Vin turned to see Colonel Spur locking the door before giving him a weak grin.

"Don't worry, I don't have any plans to kill you now that we made it through the battle or anything," he chuckled, limping across the room and collapsing into one of the wooden chairs, graciously accepting a cup of water from Myers.

"... Not like we'd be able to do that at this point anyway. You've got far too many surprises tucked away after all you've been through, not even including those strange companions of yours. In fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," he admitted, motioning for him to take a seat. Vin sat down on the couch across from the colonel, curious where he was going with this. With a groan, Spur pushed himself up into a more respectable sitting position and gave Vin an analyzing look.

All of a sudden, the flippant Spur he'd come to know was gone, and Vin found himself speaking to Colonel Spur for the first time.

"Frankly, you are too much of an unknown, and there are plans in motion that I can't have you interfering with," the colonel said, his words cold and his gaze calculating as he carefully watched Vin.

"... And seeing as I have neither the ability nor the desire to silence you, there remains only one other choice for me." Vin watched the colonel hesitate for only a moment before coming to the decision he was making the right choice. Leaning forward, Colonel Spur stared into his eyes, making sure Vin was fully focused on what he was about to say.

"Listen carefully, because within the hour I'll be committing an act of treason that would most likely get me summarily executed back home…"

"... and I want you by my side while it happens."

Vin stared at the remnants of their original camp as they waited the final few minutes until wave two was supposed to arrive. Their supplies were limited enough that Spur had ensured every last tent stake had been pulled up and moved with them to their new camp during their migration, but Vin was still able to make out the area they had camped those first few days on Edregon. It was hard to believe how much had happened in what had barely been a week and a half.

Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Shia off to the side arguing with Scule about something, all the while petting a happily sleeping Reginald in the crook of her arm. While Spur had asked Vin to stick with him for the arrival of wave two, he had requested his nonhuman companions stay out of sight for at least the first few minutes.

Despite how much he'd appreciated the help they'd given during the recent life and death battle, he'd pointed out that coming face to face with an actual elf and six inch tall man immediately after coming to this world might be too much for some people, and Vin had begrudgingly agreed. Naturally, he did at least have Alka echoing his form once again and his enchanted sword back on his person; both of which made him feel far better about whatever was going to happen in the next few minutes.

Someone with only minor injuries jogged up to their group, relaying a quick message to Lieutenant Myers before saluting and withdrawing to join the rest of the onlookers standing off to the side. Everyone who had still been capable of walking after the recent battle had been ordered by Spur to join them, and Vin was still shocked at how low that number ended up being when all was said and done.

"That's the latest report," Myers said, giving Spur a small frown.

"Frank said he believes anyone whose injuries were too severe has passed already, and that we shouldn't have any more surprises. The final numbers are twenty-six dead and seven with permanent injuries Shia won't be able to heal, such as missing limbs. Thanks to the actions of Vin and his companions, the number of dead ended up being far less than we were expecting."

Despite Myer's optimism, Vin found himself staring straight ahead, his mind preoccupied as different scenes from the horrific battle replayed themselves over and over again. The giant snake crushing and impaling over a dozen people on its own. All the people who died screaming to the monster horde before he could make it to them. Patty getting murdered directly under his nose in the middle of their very own conversation. There was nothing to be happy about regarding that battle.

Even so, that clearly wasn't how Spur and Myers saw it.

"It's thanks to Vin and his companions that we survived at all," Spur snorted, shaking his head.

"Though I'll admit, our people performed better than I expected as well. I'll have to come up with some sort of medal to give to Phil and Shredder for their contributions. As well as Alice and our team of crafters. We wouldn't have lasted five minutes without our defenses after all."

"Still," the colonel sighed, glancing up at the sky as though expecting to see an airplane touching down any moment.

"If you factor in those three crafters we lost early on, that's nearly a third of our initial hundred people wiped out within ten days. If we weren't about to commit high treason, I'd be terrified of handing in my report." Spur glanced sideways at Vin at the mention of treason, but the Explorer remained silent.

Vin had been confused at first after Spur's declaration, but once Spur explained what he was planning and why, he'd shrugged, telling him to go right ahead and confirming he wouldn't try and stop whatever was going to happen. He'd accomplished his goal of saving as many lives as he could. What happened next was all politics, and frankly, Vin was far too tired to care. Besides, Vin had far more pressing things haunting his thoughts at the moment than whatever Spur was about to do.

It had been over twenty-four hours since he'd last slept after all, if you didn't count the restless tossing and turning from the night before the battle, and Vin hadn't even had time to fully process the loss of his arm, let alone all the death he'd just witnessed. It was going to take something far more pressing than a little high treason to pull him from his spiraling thoughts.

Without any sort of warning or preamble, a thousand small holes were suddenly ripped open in the fabric of reality one after another, each one depositing a squinting and confused individual directly in front of their small band of exhausted and bloodied people. Just like when wave one had first appeared, Vin noted that the vast majority of the thousand people contained within wave two held a variety of medieval weapons.

'Look alive Vin, you'll have plenty of time for torturing yourself once we're done here. I have a feeling you won't want to miss this.' Vin frowned at Alka's jest, but he did his best to push the horrific images of those he'd failed to save from the recent battle aside in order to focus on what was about to happen. If things played out how Spur was planning, there was a possibility things were about to get messy.

Clearing his throat, Spur took a single step forward, clapping his hands together and calling out loud enough for everyone in the giant crowd of disoriented people to hear him.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to your new home away from home!"