Chapter 953: Hero

The conversation around them quieted. Several soldiers looked over, and one of the mercenaries stopped checking the damage to his shield. Vlad frowned at the direction the exchange had taken.

"Harven."

"No. He stands there while everyone else fights. That sword hasn’t left its sheath once. Touched by divinity? My ass."

Vask offered no explanation. Father Pedri watched carefully, allowing Harven’s frustration to grow while the young knight pointed toward the weapon.

"You’re supposed to be blessed by the gods, aren’t you?"

"I didn’t say that." Vask replied.

"The priest did."

Father Pedri almost smiled. Harven either failed to notice or decided the old man could wait, because his attention remained fixed on Vask.

"You want to go to Solania?"

"Yes."

"You want people to believe you’re some divinely chosen warrior? Then learn what that means."

Vlad’s expression hardened as Harven stepped closer. The knight was speaking loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, and several soldiers had begun looking between him and their captain.

"Harven."

"A Hero doesn’t stand behind soldiers and watch them bleed. You should be first in line, not waiting in the rear until the hard part is finished."

Vask met his eyes without moving. Several soldiers looked uncomfortable, though nobody spoke in his defense. Harven’s anger sounded older than the fight they had just survived. Perhaps he had been carrying it since Hiro, or perhaps the Hero had merely given him another reason to feel that way.

And Vask definitely did nothing to change that fact.

"I didn’t act because there wasn’t anything worth acting against." Vask replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the room.

The silence deepened. Harven stared at him for a moment, apparently waiting for something that would make the answer less insulting. When nothing followed, he gave a short, humorless laugh.

"Nothing worth acting against? One man nearly lost his leg."

He pointed toward the wounded soldier behind them. Vask glanced at the man, then returned his attention to Harven with no visible change in his expression.

"He didn’t."

"That is your answer?"

"Yes."

Harven’s jaw tightened, and Vlad stepped between them before the knight could respond. The captain’s patience had run out, and this time he made certain Harven was looking directly at him.

"Enough. Not here."

Harven held his stare for a moment before exhaling through his nose. Then his eyes moved past Vlad toward the boy standing behind him, and his voice dropped to little more than a mutter.

"Coward."

Vask heard him and offered no reply. Harven walked away, leaving Father Pedri to look toward his supposed charge. Vask gave the priest the smallest shrug. The knight’s opinion was useful, and being underestimated left him room to act when he chose.

Vlad unfolded a crude map across a flat stone. Whatever Harven thought of the boy, they still needed to decide how to get the expedition out of the forest. The captain placed a finger against the route ahead.

"We continue northwest, we reach the old road here."

"Assuming the road isn’t corrupted."

"Assuming."

Harven had returned despite his anger. A mercenary joined them and pointed toward another line on the map, tracing it back toward the ground they had already crossed.

"We could double back and take the eastern path."

"That costs us two days."

"Two days is better than dying."

Vlad studied the route while Father Pedri moved closer to the map. Vask remained a short distance away, listening to the argument and watching the trees. The forest had gone quiet again, but something about the silence had changed.

The birds were already gone. That was hardly surprising after the fighting, but now the insects had stopped as well. There was no buzzing beneath the priests’ voices, no faint movement in the undergrowth. Vask turned toward a distant section of the forest just as something moved through it.

A trunk cracked, stopping the conversation around the map. Another broke moments later, louder and closer. Vlad raised his head while Harven tightened his grip on his sword.

"What was that?"

The ground shook beneath them. A tree toppled, followed by another, and something enormous pushed through the space where they had stood. It was breaking its way toward the expedition, forcing trunks aside without searching for a path between them.

Soldiers scrambled upright and reached for their shields. The priests turned from the wounded as the creature emerged, exposing a broad body built vaguely like a gorilla. Demonic growth covered it so thoroughly that its original shape was difficult to imagine.

Four large arms hung from its upper body, with two smaller, malformed limbs growing beneath the ribs. Horns crowded its shoulders and spine, while thick clusters of thorns covered its forearms and back. Its head sat low between massive shoulders, almost swallowed by muscle, and black saliva hung from a jaw filled with uneven teeth.

The uppermost horns nearly reached the branches above it. The creature opened its mouth and roared, shaking leaves loose from the surrounding trees. Vlad’s face lost its color as it lowered its body toward them.

"FORMATION!"

The mutated Demonling brute charged before the soldiers could finish closing their ranks. A tree stood directly in its path, and it struck the trunk with one shoulder. Wood burst outward, scattering across the ground while the creature continued without slowing.

Another tree broke beneath its advance, then another. The soldiers barely had time to raise their shields before the brute cleared the last of the undergrowth. Vlad planted himself near the front as the priests began casting behind him.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

"SHIELDS TOGETHER!"

Harven pushed forward, bringing his shield against the man beside him. The creature was twenty meters away, then fifteen, its heavy feet tearing through roots and loose earth. Within moments, the formation would be struck by something that had broken through trees without losing speed.

They used Aura abilities, whoever could and whoever learned. Coating their bodies and shields, they all knew that this aura wasn’t meant to stop the incoming behemoth. But at least hoped they’d survive the impact.

Light appeared behind him. Harven turned, expecting another spell from Father Pedri, and saw Vask’s hand closing around the grip of the rusty sword. Holy radiance shone beneath the corrosion as the boy began drawing it.

The old surface cracked and peeled away in flakes. Light escaped through every fracture, revealing clean silver-white metal beneath the rust. Even the leather wrapping around the handle brightened as Holy power gathered along the exposed edge.

Vask drew the sword completely, and the last of the corrosion fell away. A clear metallic note carried through the forest. Harven stared for an instant before the sound of the charging creature dragged his attention forward again.

It was almost upon them. There was no time to move the formation and nowhere for the wounded to escape. Harven braced behind his shield, only to see Vask pass him at a run.

The boy he had called a coward went straight toward the brute. He gave no warning and asked nobody to make room, slipping past the front line before the soldiers could react.

"Vask!"

Father Pedri called after him, loudly enough for everyone to hear. There was no panic behind the cry. He was playing the frightened guardian, and Vask had already accelerated beyond any need to answer.

Holy light stretched behind the sword as the brute raised one massive arm. Vask jumped before the fist reached him, twisting in the air while it passed beneath his feet. His blade came around, gathering radiance along its edge as he brought it down toward the exposed shoulder.

The shining metal entered without stopping. Flesh parted, followed by bone, and one entire arm came away from the creature’s body. Black blood sprayed across the forest floor as its roar broke into a scream.

Vask landed, slid through the loose earth, and turned to face it. The severed limb struck the ground behind him hard enough to crush a bush. Along the shield line, soldiers stared at the space it had left behind. Harven had not lowered his sword.

The brute stumbled, but rage quickly replaced its pain. Its remaining arms spread, and the thorns covering its body extended as black corruption surged outward. Vask raised his blade while Holy power gathered openly around him for the first time since they had met.

The priests recognized the difference immediately. This was more than the Holy magic they called through prayer, and no blessing from Father Pedri could explain what stood before them. The light surrounding the boy belonged to the kind of stories they had spent their lives telling other people.

The Demonling roared again. Vask pointed the newly revealed sword toward it, his expression still almost bored. Only his eyes had changed, settling on the creature with cold, steady attention.

Harven stood behind him with his weapon raised, remembering the word he had muttered only minutes earlier. Vask stepped forward to meet the brute, and this time, nobody needed to tell the soldiers who belonged at the front.