A Doctor Without Borders [Healer | Slow-Burn | Medical Fantasy]

Alone again with just my thoughts, I could confirm the two things that I had already suspected: First, I had managed to pour some of the potion into Eiræk's mouth. Judging by what dripped from my fingers, I hadn't lost too much. I tried to conjure a memory of the vial's weight, but I couldn't manage it. Still, I bet I dosed him with more than a third but less than half. Not much, but empowered, it permitted Eiræk to unleash whatever skill he had used earlier in the tunnel. As hoped, it mimicked the effect of the Verndari's skill. And the second thing I confirmed…the shade stalker had made it right next to us.

Whatever Eiræk had done with that shout had not affected the shade stalker. Its dark whip, which sucked in all the light around it, was raised ready to end me.

Damn. Not how I had expected to go.

I braced myself. If this were all a dream, then it didn't matter. If not, at least I'd helped. There was peace in that. I took a long mental breath and waited for the end.

I dropped [Quicken Thoughts].

The end didn't come.

A dark-green, muscled arm glowing with crimson fractals shot forward, interdicting the strike. The hærlið only grunted when the whip pierced his flesh. His Marks flashed, and the body of the shade stalker stretched as he pulled his shadow-wreathed arm back across his body. With another twist, he rotated his torso to pull the creature into an open stance. With a final jerk, he snapped the shadow whip.

Even freed, it was too slow to dodge Eiræk's other fist coming straight for its center. The hærlið's knuckles, crackling with crimson energy, landed square in his torso. The blow should have been weak given the terrible angle, but Eiræk made up for that with raw Energy. A crimson light flared in a ring around the impact site. Then a ball of crimson exploded from the shade stalker's solar plexus.

A hideous wail erupted from the center of the shadowy figure before a shockwave from the blow knocked me off my feet. I landed with a thud, but I never once let my thumb slip off the top of the vial. I blinked away the pain before scrambling backward and getting a gauge of the situation.

The shade stalker had started to pull back, for good reason. While it still stood, the explosion had done something to the monster. The silhouette of shadow shuddered, then glitched, segments flickering erratically between an amorphous, inky blob with tentacles and a humanoid shape. Eiræk attacked again, and the black appendages flailed in an uncoordinated defense. It quickly collapsed to the ground and darted toward a patch of darkness.

With the retreat came a lessening of the weight of what had to be an aura, and around me, the members of our company began to stir.

Dorian stumbled toward us. His voice still shaky, he shouted. "It overextended. Don't let it retreat to the shadow. It can feed on the dead, and if it reinvigorates itself, it will reassert the despair aura."

As it slid across the cavern floor, it shrank at an increased pace, folding upon itself. Its deadly appendages thickened into brutal whips. It had diminished to half its original size when a red arc streaked towards it. One of the tendrils slammed into the projectile, severing the arc. The blade of Energy vanished without a trace.

The inky ball shuddered. Opposite the blow, it disgorged a hideous tentacled mass pulsing with violet markings so dark they verged on black. In a blink, the abomination transformed back into a shadowy humanoid. A wave of despair tried to overtake me, but unlike before, everyone around me easily shook it off. Still, it gave the shade the time it needed to flee.

Eiræk didn't immediately run after it. Instead, he turned to me. "Get that potion to the other hærliðar."

Eiræk didn't even wait for an answer. He chased after the shade stalker as it fled towards the partner that had been pushing back the Verndari.

As if reading my mind, Rægnor pulled me to my feet. "I will protect you."

I followed him, the rest of our group moving to reinforce Eiræk. I stole a glance as we rushed between Ættir, still frozen in fear. The hærlið's skill had a limit, and too many Ættir remained beyond it.

We dodged between them, and for once, I didn't struggle to keep up with Rægnor. He was not moving as fast as normal, and as we approached the hærliðar, I realized why. The heaviness had returned, its intensity growing the farther we got from Eiræk. The shade stalker's aura exceeded the range of Eiræk's. Rægnor stumbled. I reached out to steady him and caught the look of fear.

"Are you going to make it?"

Rægnor staggered. I moved to pour the potion into his mouth, but he pushed it away.

"No. Don't waste it. I just need to get closer to the hærlið."

He wasn't wrong. It was far easier to keep the aura away once shrugged off, but going back would help. He needed to stay within Eiræk's reach, else he'd risk falling back under the aura's spell. He wouldn't help me paralyzed by despair, but I didn't need his protection, not this far from the action.

I glanced back at the shade stalker. Eiræk had caught up to it, stopping it from flanking the Verndari. A good thing. If the monsters incapacitated the Verndari, the potion's effect alone might not have sufficed in protecting Eiræk from despair. From there, the dominoes would fall until none of us remained.

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However, it still had some options available to it. I missed the exchange running through the lines, but somehow the shade stalker had maneuvered Eiræk near the shadows extending from the tunnel. It didn't matter that the move exposed its back to Dorian and the other Ættir. With inhuman flexibility, it twisted and bent to block and dodge blows no matter which direction they came from. It was as if it could see in all directions, and maybe it could.

I pushed Rægnor towards the battle. He would be useless to me the further we moved away from Eiræk. "Go. They need you more than I do. This close, I should be fine."

He barely eked out a nod as he staggered towards Eiræk. I continued towards the hærliðar, grimacing. The increase in the distance forced me to channel more energy into [Resist Disease], and after everything, my limit approached.

I just made it to the first of the three hærliðar when a dark wave slammed into me. I stumbled, grabbing onto one of the hærliðar. I forced more Energy into my skill, barely registering the moans of terrified Ættir that echoed through the cavern. I gritted my teeth. White-hot spikes lanced through my right eye. I raised the potion to the lead's lip. For a split-second, surprise replaced the terror on his face—or at least on the third that I could see. I had lost vision in my entire right visual field.

Not good.

Stroke? Migraine? Did it matter if I was dead?

I steadied my hand, carefully pouring some liquid into his mouth. The effect was near instantaneous because he let out a roar. The mental pressure left me, but stabbing pain and vision loss lingered, though they too had begun to wane.

I hadn't taken a step when a huge hand encompassed my own.

"How much do I take, Human?"

I raised my head, blinking. It was another of the hærliðar. "A quarter should be enough." His eyes narrowed, and I hurried to add, "I enhanced the effects."

"Just enough for me, then. It will have to do."

I let him take it from my hand. He wasn't wrong. Even enhanced, trying to share the potion wouldn't work. A quarter of the typical amount had to be pushing the limits. If not bolstered by another hærlið's skill, it might have been ineffective.

He drank it, shaking his head at the last hærlið. Both were off as soon as the second hærlið had finished taking his potion. Neither let out a roar, but it wasn't needed. Around me, Ættir were already coming out of their prison of fear just in time to meet another familiar screeching.

Whatever had kept the terrorvoles away had vanished. Frenzied rodents streaked towards the shattered lines. Ættir shifted to reinforce them, but wounds exploded into my perception. I made my way towards the worst one, but every few steps, I had to halt to dodge a terrorvole that had snuck through.

I spared another glance at the shade stalkers. Energy-coated strikes rent their shadowy flesh, but it reformed in seconds. It took strikes that would cripple a person without missing a step, its resilience allowing it to land vicious blows even while outnumbered.

Multiple times, soul-shattering despair tried to return only to be driven away by an invigorating shout. The hærliðar and Verndari were winning. We just needed to stand long enough against the lesser monsters.

I slid to a stop next to an Ættar that I had helped earlier this week. He held a potion in one hand and pressed the other against the gash on his stomach. "Let me enhance it."

He at least didn't hesitate. Through [Enhance Medicinal], I poured Energy into the potion. The red potion gained greater iridescence as the Energy flowed from me.

A low moan echoed through the cavern, and the heaviness disappeared.

Did we win?

I turned my head to try to see when Dorian shouted over the din of battle, "The other one shadow-walked. Watch the back lines."

Seconds passed, everybody tense. Then a scream came from behind me. My head snapped back to the rear of the formation. Somehow, the shade stalker had shifted positions without being seen. It stood, its back to the shadows along the cave wall. Though half its original height, it still had enough mass to generate long tendrils of razor-sharp shadow. One of these midnight-black appendages had gone rigid and was buried in an Ættarsk chest. It pierced his thickly muscled torso, its tip extending inches from the back of the Ættar. The shade stalker didn't remove the blade. It paused, growing darker as the young Ættar stood frozen, looking down at the lethal blow. As people around me responded, it shifted. The impaled Ættar would have lost his head if not for another Ættar interposing his pickaxe in the way of the deadly swing.

It was a valiant, but dangerous move that left him open. The shade stalker withdrew the limb impaling the other Ættar, the deadly appendage losing all tension the instant the shadow stalker retracted it from Ættarsk flesh. In a single fluid motion, the shadow stalker whipped the tendril toward the rescuer. The dark edge pulsed as it struck, cutting deep into the rescuer's body.

The monster didn't slow. The shade stalker tore into the nearby Ættir. Many escaped injury, but some fell. [Sense Injury] crushed whatever hope I had of these having the nonlethal intent of the horror's earlier attacks. It was no longer playing. These were killing blows, and everyone back here was too low or too cowed by the aura to stop it.

Something slammed my body to the side. "Clear the path," said the Ættar, whose potion I had just enhanced.

Just as the words finished leaving his mouth, a blazing crimson disc flew past my face. Its path bent toward the shade stalker. The monster raised shadowy tendrils to intercept the projectile. The disc crashed into the center of the shadowy figure. Unlike the arcs of energy, it didn't lose its coherence or all its momentum. Its color dimmed as the shade stalker's limbs cut into the blade. It spun against the shade stalker's guard, slowly pushing the monster backward. As the disc's rotation slowed, its center expanded into a sphere.

The disc flickered, contracted, and then suddenly collapsed inward. It vanished in a flash, followed by a thunderous clap. A concussive blast that threw the shade stalker away from the rear of the formation. Unfortunately, the move had caught the Ættir around it. [Sense Injury] flared, though I didn't catch much of the details. The blast had pushed me back. I stayed on my feet thanks to whoever had pulled me out of the hærliðar's path, but my ears still rang from the explosion.

Another one of the hærliðar barreled past me. I tried to run forward, but a strong arm held me back. "Don't be a fool. You stand no chance in there."

I tried to jerk my arm away to no avail. "I know, but I need to get to the injured. The blast caught more than a few. They don't have much time left."

The hand let go, and I bolted forward. Safety was a luxury, but the Verndari's subordinates had driven back the shade stalker. They surrounded the creature in ceaseless arcs of light, not daring to give it a chance to escape again. The display could have rivaled a laser light show, but I had no time to watch, not with the six fallen Ættir scattered before me.

I mentally braced as I let the full brunt of [Sense Injury] wash over me. My vision went white as the flow of information stretched my capacity. Before I could stumble, I activated [Quicken Thoughts]. I couldn't see, but that wasn't important. Right now, only the ability to think mattered. It could be worse, but things were far from good—just another Monday in this world.

Only three of the six Ættir were seriously injured. However, those three had minutes left, and that was being generous.