Chương 10: Baby's First Mission

Sid wasn't buying it. This whole time, even before he was born, his mother was apparently following a master. No, that wasn't Rina. She had to be playing the queen of demons. If the Thorned Devil returned to Earth, every ambitious witch with absorption powers would be frothing at the mouth for a chance at that prize. Is it so hard to believe I have a higher purpose than myself? Yes. Come on, the Thorned Devil powers my system and all of your skills! I couldn't do this without her.

"That loon keeps saying the same thing," Violet said.

"Even if we could, no one at Embrace plans to break that seal. The Thorned Devil can fuck herself in hell for all eternity for all I care." The utility vehicle pulled up next to Dalisay's booth on the shore. Sid waved goodbye as they drove away. Violet said a quick prayer under her breath, asking for the Rose to protect Dalisay. Sid followed along with her. Though he wasn't a true Rosaecean, he did want Dalisay to stay safe. He was glad to have stumbled upon her on his first day. Haruya was notably silent.

"Not the praying type of mystic?" Sid asked. Haruya glanced at Sid with his head resting in his palm.

"No."

"Uh-huh…"

"I don't care if he's quiet as long as the spells work." Violet added. Great. Sid was loud and his spells didn't work. He found himself actually praying in his head that no one got hurt on this trip. Maybe he could pass first-aid off as magic? He was quite good at it. Rina made sure of that. Doctors like her were a relic of the past. Barely any magic healers knew how to set a fracture or relocate a joint.

Those things were instant, and most mystics wouldn't know the difference between popping in a shoulder joint and magic. The truck continued to plow through the sand, passing a few shipwrecks as they moved to uncharted land. Scouts ran back and forth gathering whatever useful scrap metal was left by the crash.

"The steel can be used for weapons, but it makes lousy ammunition. Unless piles of lead and copper appear on the shore, we need to find an actual mine," she explained.

"We were lucky enough to have a few mines nearby, but they were pretty small. Any leftover ore is so deep it's almost impossible to get it out." Sid smiled.

"The people that built Embrace from the ground up made good use of that metal. Having an industrial base is a huge advantage."

"We're not the only ones. Every large community has something similar."

"The witch hunters have more," Haruya said.

"I've been in their territory. I've seen it." Sid raised an eyebrow.

"Witch hunters have their own territory? Why aren't they at Embrace?"

"The witch hunters that landed here aren't as noble as you might think. They have very different ideas on how mystics should be treated. Davine's a saint in comparison. Dalisay had to negotiate my release from them."

"Some witch hunters think they're God's gift to Earth," said Violet.

"Real pieces of work." Sid wanted to ask Haruya more about them, but he stopped when he noticed the sparkle of fear in Haruya's eyes. It couldn't have been a pleasant experience. Best to leave it alone while he was still prickly towards Sid. Once they were a good twenty kilometers from Embrace, they turned away from the ocean and drove at the edge of the jungle. Violet had Sid take the wheel of their truck and moved to the passenger seat. She stuck her whole torso out of the window to survey the area.

Hours passed, but her position never faltered. She slapped the side of the vehicle just as they came across a clearing.

"Stop!" Both cars came to a halt. Violet hopped out of the window and walked around the clearing. Sid joined her, noticing patches of grass missing and fewer bushes than the surrounding jungle. As they walked inland, they noticed the ground rising to surround the mouth of a ravine filled with rocks and stagnant water. Violet knelt down and sorted through rocks in the water, picking up a few dull silver and green-stained shards of rock.

"This is the place," she said.

"We'll move up the ravine until we stop seeing fragments. Then we dig, and hope for the best; I'm no expert prospector. Pray to the Rose we get one of those at some point." The burliest scout on their team hoisted a gas-powered drill out of the truck bed and strapped it to her back. Violet kept her eyes on the rocks as they followed the ravine uphill. Similar shards to the one she found before became larger and sharper every few hundred feet. Only twenty minutes passed before their rock trail abruptly stopped.

She rubbed her hands together.

"Alright, let's get started. If we hit gold, we bring the carts back here." She turned to Sid and Haruya.

"You boys wait back here. We need you in top shape in case someone gets hurt." That sucked. Sid wanted to try using the drill. Oh well, maybe they'd let him try it when they were done. Sid and Haruya stayed twenty feet behind them, twiddling their thumbs on the largest dry rock they could find. Sid watched one scout chip away at the ground while the rest stood around looking for any signs of danger.

Haruya was quiet, which meant being alone with him was boring, but Sid had to deal with it at some point if he wanted to convert the man to his side.

"So, how long have you been here?" Haruya raised one eyebrow as if he couldn't believe Sid had the nerve to talk to him.

"Three years."

"Who did you come with?" Haruya sighed.

"Peter. Our monastery was traveling by sea for a medical mission. The rest aren't here now…" Sid gave Haruya a minute of silence before placing a hand on his shoulder. He tensed up and shoved it away.

"I'm sorry," Sid said.

"I…I know what it's like to lose your monastery. Witches killed all of the teachers at my school just after I graduated." His eyes widened.

"Witches? How did you escape?"

"The woman I came with — Allani — she showed up in a boat and rescued me. She wasn't able to save any of the other students…"

"Shit. That's horrible." Haruya's head sank into his hands.

"I try not to-""WATCH OUT!" This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Their heads snapped towards the scouts. Violet grabbed the driller and pulled them both away from the newly formed hole. Allani and the others scattered as a cloud of dust and rock exploded out of the dig site. The sound of the blast left Sid's ears ringing. He and Haruya got up and waited for the dust to settle. Once it was gone, they saw their scout friends lying prone in a crater.

Haruya took a step forward. The ground beneath them started to shake as a crack formed at the edge of the crater. It crept towards them before spreading into a near perfect circle around their feet.

"Fuck," Sid whispered. The ground gave out, and Sid felt his stomach rise into his throat. The dizzying sensation gave his numb mind a small jolt of panic. Dust flew into his eyes and past his face until he felt a crack and a heavy thud. He opened his eyes and saw a dark cavern ahead. Light was coming through the hole above them, but it only covered a small area of whatever cave they fell in. Haruya was lying down next to him, and his eyes were glued to Sid's ankle. You've taken 15 points of resistance in the fall.

You gained the condition [Compound Fracture - Medial Malleolus], and your movement will be severely penalized until the injury is tended to. Nerve damage is possible. Sid checked the ankle Davine had patched up, and sure enough, the bone was sticking out of his skin. He only felt a dull ache where the injury was. The rest of his foot was numb. Within seconds, the clean bandage around his ankle was drenched in blood. The color started to drain from Haruya's face.

He couldn't focus on anything but Sid's injury and the darkness ahead of them. His stoic facade was cracking, which gave Sid an opportunity to wriggle his way in. Only he'd have to do it with his ankle sticking out.

"Hey, it's alright. I can barely feel it! You just need to use your magic; you can do that, right?" Haruya gulped and nodded. He got on his knees and placed his hands over the wound. Sid gasped with relief as the bone started moving inwards. All was well until they heard a growl coming from the darkness around them. Haruya stopped concentrating and the bone snapped out of the skin once again.

"W-what was that?" he whimpered. Allani's head peeked over the hole above.

"Hey are you two okay down there?" The growling got closer. Sid could only make out a large furry figure in the darkness.

"Not anymore." The creature was approaching slowly. It probably wasn't an offensive animal by nature. Most likely, Sid and Haruya just had the misfortune of stumbling into its territory. That bought them a few minutes of posturing before the creature started attacking.

"Allani, go find a rope, or a vine, or anything you can use to get down here!" he commanded. She ran off, and soon there were several scout heads leering down at them. Haruya hadn't moved. His hands were trembling, but he wasn't even trying to back up. Sid took back every complaint he ever made about his defective brain. Fear was overrated. But he wasn't doing any better with his injured foot. He dragged his body in front of Haruya's and grabbed the man's face.

"Haruya. Look at me. Look. At. Me. I'm just a beginner. I don't have any skills that can defend against attacks. You need to save us."

"I don't…I can't!"

"Come on! Breathe with me. I need you to think about your skills." As Haruya tried to catch his breath, Sid felt a huff of air against his neck. He turned around and found himself looking straight into the mouth of the creature. Drool splattered across his face as it snarled at him.

"Okay. Fuck that." [Forced Move] activated on Haruya Sora. Please choose one of the skills below to activate. [Last Rites] lvl 1, [Hallowed Ground] lvl 3, [Thaumaturgy] lvl 2, [Absolution] lvl 1 He was really hoping a skill like "shield of faith" would come up in the list, but life was never that easy. Welp, there wasn't enough time to agonize over a decision. He just had to make an educated guess and pray that God did love him after all. [Forced Move] activated [Hallowed Ground] for 20 FAITH.

A flash of white light circled the two boys before jolting upwards into a protective wall. It went straight through the tip of the creature's snout, taking it off with a small splash of blood. It let out a pained whine and backed up. Now that there was a strong light surrounding them, Sid could see that the animal resembled a mole. But moles that big weren't supposed to exist. Sid threw his hands up in the air.

"That's right, get out of here! This circle is our territory." The beast wasn't impressed; Sid's intimidation would've been more effective had he been able to stand up. It brushed its paw against its bloody nose before charging blindly at the barrier. Every hit made the light flicker for a second. It came back darker each time.

"Hold on, we're coming down!" Allani and Violet came holding onto a vine. It lowered them to the center of the circle and remained hanging. Allani ran towards the mole and firmly planted her hands on its head, using it as support to hoist her entire body upside-down into the air. Her feet came down and landed on its back. [Board Vision]: I don't know why she did that, but she looked good doing it! ALLANI ABBASCIA gains +80 XP! She raised her right hand and a shimmering purple light appeared over her marotte.

The same light then washed over her body and brought back her clown outfit and make-up. She had a wide, almost creepy smile.

"Stand back and watch a professional at work!" The mole immediately bucked her off. A jagged rock lay beneath her face as she fell. Allani activated [Rubber Bones] lvl 1 for ERROR resonance reserve points. She landed face-first, and the impact forced her neck to snap backwards. She lay motionless for a second before blinking twice. She then turned her head towards the darkness.

"I practiced this move for weeks!" Was that supposed to be some clown act? Geez, Allani was even more invested in her role than Sid was. She avoided a lethal blow, but that still costs 25 points of resistance! She stood up and her neck bounced back, as expected, like rubber. She continued stumbling around like an idiot, waving her marotte in the mole's face. It raised its paw and whacked her head so hard that it spun 360 degrees. Ouch… that's another 20 points of resistance.

As her neck untwisted, she swung the marotte right into the raw snout. The mole jumped back with a screech. Violet was standing in front of it with her rifle drawn. She closed her eyes and started whispering. Light flowed from her hand to the barrel of the gun. A thin purple line blasted out of it and went straight through the mole's head. It fell over without a peep. Allani Abbascia and Violet Merea defeated my beautiful giant mole for +100 XP! Ring has excellent fauna, doesn't it?

The scouts pulled everyone out on the vine one at a time. Piles of ore rested in the crater of the dig-site. Whoever left the explosive trap there ended up making their job easier with the drill and blast method of mining. The scouts began hauling the ore back in carts while Haruya and Sid rested.

"Sid, why haven't you healed yourself yet?"

"Oh…I'm still not a proper mystic yet! I haven't healed a warrior. So…no magic healing for me." Haruya squinted.

"That's bullshit. You asked me to heal you down there."

"Right… here I go!" Sid grabbed a canteen of water and poured it over the wound, gritting his teeth as it passed over the open flesh. He then grabbed his foot and slowly pulled on it. The exposed bone started moving inward, and Sid wanted to throw up for every second of it. He probably wouldn't have been able to stand the pain if Rina hadn't boosted his resolve. He tried whispering a prayer during the process, but every word turned into a pained mumble.

Eventually he felt a snap and an explosion of pain spread up his entire leg. The world went dark for a second, and he found himself laying on the ground. He had set the fracture, but the wound was still open, and he certainly introduced some bacteria into the area with his little stunt. But at least he proved he could do something with his hands.

"I've never seen healing like that. It looked painful, and you didn't even finish closing the wound…" Sid sat up. He drained every bit of light from his face. He looked at the ground and let a shadow form over his eyes.

"My magic's been messed up ever since the massacre. Every time I try, I get something wrong, and bad things happen." Haruya was a natural skeptic, but luckily for Sid, there was no better social lubricant than a shared trauma. Especially when Sid saved both of their asses.

"Oh… I see. Don't worry, I'll heal that for you." YES, GO MY SWEET BOY! DRAIN YOUR TEACHERS' BLOOD FOR XP AND TURN WHAT'S LEFT INTO YOUR SOB STORY! AHAHAHAHA. Oh no. Sid didn't like that one bit. Oh yeah, you get +100 XP, +2 [Resolve], and +40 FAITH for your hard work ^_^ You lost the condition [Compound Fracture - Medial Malleolus]. I hope you can feel your foot again. Objective progress: 3/4 little mystics converted. PS: don't ever try to set your own compound fracture again!

You're lucky you didn't tear an artery, mister. I can't have you dying on me before things get interesting.