Phoenix Healer - A Meaner Azarinth Healer

Monica slowly raised the top half of the Loot Chest, eliciting another notification.

*Ding*

You have opened Loot Chest (Uncommon)!

*Ding*

You obtained Steel Talons (Uncommon)

Monica pulled out two gloves made of steel chainmail encased by laminated plates and looked at them with a wide grin.

“What is it?” Ted asked, looking over Monica’s shoulder.

She slipped both chainmail gloves on.

Above the chainmail, starting from her wrist, plates of metal covered the back of her hand and attached to individual steel digits that mirrored the joints of her fingers and ended in highly sharp, reinforced ends.

“That looks scary,” Ted said, recoiling.

Monica flexed the Steel Talons, feeling it move rather naturally over her fingers.

She extended her right hand in front of her as if she were looking at a new manicure and nodded, satisfied.

“I like Loot Boxes,” she smiled. “Why don’t we go get ourselves a few more on our way to rescue those kids?”

* * *

Ted hadn’t told Monica he knew many Adventurers because of his father. Not only did he know them, but he had seen them spar—even a few people above Level 300.

Ted had seen Master of Arms, Swordsmen, and all kinds of martial arts’ Classes above Level 100 fighting with each other, displaying skills that the young man thought were almost impossible to match.

But the person in front of him was quickly shattering that notion.

While Ted stood back, not knowing what to do with himself.

Monica had jumped in among three Cultists, putting the steel weapon covering her hands to work.

[Apprentice Cultist - Level 9]

[Apprentice Cultist - Level 11]

[Apprentice Cultist - Level 9]

Monica had just pirouetted in place, taking the spear of the first Level 11 Cultist who had attacked her under her arm, pinning it there, and slashing at its face, blinding the man.

She just flicked a globe of Obsidian Flame at it as it fell on the ground, not bothering finishing him with her Steel Talons since she had to take care of the two Level 9 Cultists.

*Ding*

You have slain [Apprentice Cultist – Level 11]

You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature five levels above you.

You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature with higher sentience.

Monica didn’t give the two a chance to coordinate.

She leaped toward the closest, letting him slash at her and inflict a deep wound across her collarbone. But, as the Golden Flame took care of the damage, she brought her talons to his throat, ripping it apart in one swift motion.

“This is much more efficient,” Monica said out loud to Ted. “The flames took longer, took Mana, and required more of my focus.”

She didn’t know where her battle instincts came from or what could have justified this knowledge of fighting, but the exhilaration that she felt both during the battle and when dissecting it and analyzing what was going on clearly told her she was a warrior of some kind.

“Monica!” Ted shouted, seeing the last Level 9 Apprentice Cultist taking out a throwing knife that now glowed and was clearly aimed at her head almost point blank.

However, with her increased Dexterity, Monica was upon the man in a second.

She sunk her steel-covered fingers in his raised elbow, bringing it above his head and stopping him from throwing the knife at her.

The Level 9 Apprentice Cultist, however, had clearly anticipated that and used the dagger to stab her in the abdomen multiple times with a manic smile on his face.

“Die, you bitch!” He screamed, thinking that he had just tricked her.

Monica took the stabbing in stride and looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.

After a minute and with Monica’s blood drenching the ground around them, the Apprentice Cultist felt his arm cramp.

“H—How are you—”

Monica now clamped harder on his raised elbow, tearing through the joint’s ligaments and then finally moving to clamp on his other arm.

She had used small bursts of the Golden Flame to keep the damage at bay.

The pain wasn’t much to her, and she needed the intimidation factor for what was coming next.

“Where’s the initiation?” She asked coldly.

Ted hadn’t known, apparently. As a novice, he hadn’t had access to most places in the temple.

“Fuck you!” The man shouted, trying to kick her and get free from her grasp.

Sadly for him, Monica had more Strength than him.

“Let me ask again,” she said, putting her talons deeper into his flesh. “Where’s the initiation?”

The man screamed in pain so hard that Ted had to look away as blood dripped from his arms onto his face.

She’s crazy, Ted thought.

But she also fought like no one else he had seen before, with such wild abandon and cold disregard for pain that Ted knew he would probably have nightmares about Monica the next time he fell asleep.

“It’s in the basement,” the man started crying in pain, “you just take the stairs at the end of this corridor! Please, it hurts!”

“You kill virgins and kids,” Monica said with a frown. “This hurts?”

She squeezed as hard as she could until she felt the bone starting to crack.

“PLEASE!”

“Monica—” Ted said, wincing and wishing the man’s suffering would end.

The redhead, dressed in a now-tattered cultist’s robe, nodded back at Ted and took a step back, letting the man’s arms fall limply at his sides. Then, without warning, she put a hand to his chest and let the Obsidian Flame consume him.

*Ding*

You have slain [Apprentice Cultist – Level 9]

You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature five levels above you.

You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature with higher sentience.

No new level, Monica thought. That Experience Modifier will make things tricky in the future. But these Skills are much better than anything the Cultists have thrown at me so far.

*Ding*

Offensive Skill – Obsidian Flame reaches Level 5

Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 3

Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 4

*Ding*

Auto-loot is on.

You obtain:

Apprentice Cultist Robe x3

Apprentice Cultist Boots x3

Silver Coins x30

Minor Healing Potion x1

A potion? Monica summoned it from her Inventory.

“Huh?” Ted frowned. “How are you doing that?”

Monica turned toward Ted as the three bodies dissipated in clouds of smoke.

“How am I doing what?”

“You did that with the robe, too. You just… pull things out of thin air?”

“It’s my Inventory,” Monica frowned. “You don’t have one?”

“An Inventory?” Ted looked confused.

“I have this space I can take things out of with a thought.”

“No, dude, I don’t have that,” Ted looked at her weirdly. “How did you get it?”

Monica tapped her head twice.

“Right, memory loss,” Ted said.

* * *

Monica looked at the stairs leading down to the basement, and she could hear many voices coming from there.

“I’ll need to take down this Sandoval first,” she told Ted. “If anyone tries getting in the way, you need to fight. As long as you don’t die on the spot, I’m confident I can heal your injuries.”

“Well,” Ted said while clutching a spear with trembling hands, “that’s going to be hard.”

“Avoid being attacked in the head and pierced through the heart,” Monica’s words came out of her mouth, as usual, without her even thinking about it.

Ted looked up at the high ceilings of the ruined temple and sighed.

“Ok, just… if I die, could you tell my father.”

“Sure,” Monica said. “What’s his name?”

“He’s the Headmaster of the Royal Academy in Valoria. His name is August Deadbane.”

“You’re Ted Deadbane?” Monica looked at him incredulous.

“Theodore,” he corrected her. “I prefer Ted, though.”

“Theodore Deadbane, son of the Royal Academy’s Headmaster,” Monica frowned. “How could you not know that you were being inducted into a cult? Your father sounds important.”

“It’s been a few years since I last spoke to my father and… dude, believe it or not, I thought the guy was actually talking about… you know…”

“No, I don’t,” Monica said, crossing her arms with a raised eyebrow. “What, Theodore?”

“I thought it was just a bunch of girls doing freaky stuff, okay?! That’s what I thought it was. I didn’t know there were real Cultists here!”

Monica actually believed him.

However, before she could say anything else, her ears picked up on something.

“Wait, did you hear that?”

Both stayed silent and turned to the door right before the basement’s stairs.

It sounded like muffled moaning.

Monica touched the door and tried to open it, but it didn’t budge.

So, she used the Obsidian Flame and soon burrowed a hole where the lock had been.

The door opened to a single cell where a blonde woman with icy blue eyes was currently tied up on the ground and gagged.

“That’s the kind of stuff I thought they were doing,” Ted said from behind her. “Just… consensual.”

* * *

[Healer - Level 9]

“Might his Healing Light bless you,” the girl panted. “Where are they? Have Adventurers come to our rescue? Are you with them? With such a low level? Wait, are you in the Church? I’ve never seen you around. And why are you wearing the robe of those Cultists?”

Monica looked at the blonde she had just freed from the cage and its restrictions and, for a second, thought of throwing her into another cage.

“Nice to meet you, Miss…” Ted asked.

“Heidi,” she said, clearing her voice. “You don’t have a Class?” She asked an instant later, frowning. “Why? Wait, are you two from another cult? Oh no, I—”

“Shut up,” Monica said, irritated. “The Cultists are about to sacrifice children. Do you have Skills?”

“I do, actually—”

“Good,” Monica interrupted her. “Ted, give her a dagger.”

“I don’t use common weapons. I am an ordained Priestess of the Healer, and I—”

Monica snatched the dagger from Ted’s hand and threw it at the girl’s feet.

“We’re going. Follow us or stay here. It’s up to you. If you follow, stay quiet.”

Heidi remained speechless, but when she saw that Monica had started dragging Ted out, she followed them and actually stayed quiet.

* * *

Dotty hugged her much younger brother Ronny close to her chest, swallowing heavily as she saw a bunch of Cultists muttering among themselves and their Elder, Sandoval, as they called him, waiting impatiently for something.

She caught a few whispers that explained what was going on.

“Where’s that idiot Novice?”

“Does he know the Elder will probably take his head off for this delay? I wonder if he’ll have the other Novice, Amalric, duel him.”

“Amalric against Ted? Amalric will eat that idiot alive. Have you met Ted? He doesn’t even know how to fight. Ted should only beg Elder Sandoval to be killed swiftly. What happened in Cynebald’s head when he brought him here?”

“I don’t know, but isn’t it weird that more than half of us are late, too? Maybe Ted has caused some problems? Maybe we should go check on him and Cynebald.”

“Silence!” Elder Sandoval finally lost his patience, making Ronny shiver in fear in her sister’s arms.

“I want mommy,” Ronny sobbed to Dotty’s chest.

“It’s going to be alright, Ronny, don’t worry,” Dotty told him.

They had been abducted after Ronny had gone outside the village walls to play and had not come back.

Dotty, who had just come back from a rabbit hunt, had thought that the boy had simply lost the sense of time, so she had gone to search for him.

What she had discovered, however, was that Ronny hadn’t been lost.

He had been abducted.

So, Dotty had managed to get herself abducted by some Cultist freaks while trying to rescue Ronny.

She supposed that among all the nasty ways there were to die, getting killed by these idiots wasn’t even among the worst ones.

Her entire village was starving, and each villager was either suffering from a disease or an infected wound had already claimed one of their limbs.

No one among them was rich enough to gain official citizenship in Valoria, the closest city-state metropolis and the wealthiest place within a thousand miles.

Dotty had been sustaining her family through her hunting skills, which had netted her four levels. However, she was still too weak to go and try one of the nasty Dungeons that she had dreamed of diving into to get their riches.

And all those dreams Dotty had dreamt, from becoming a legendary Adventurer, the first in a lifetime to claim a Dungeon, to making enough money for her and Ronny to live in the city, were all ending today.

In fact, when Elder Sandoval rose from his throne, a carved piece of golden stone that resembled a thousand bright feathers melded together, Dotty knew that their end was near.

“Prepare the children, Luther,” Sandoval said to a subordinate Cultist who wore metal gauntlets—Dotty had been smacked before by the man when she had tried to run, and she bore the signs, a giant black eye and possibly a fracture of her eye socket.

“Amalric,” Elder Sandoval called, and a man with a crazed look in his pale eyes rose from the throngs of Cultists. “Please come to the altar. Luther, bring us the little boy. We need to move this along. We’ll decide what to do with the girl at a later date. She’s probably a virgin, so we might use her for a ritual.”

Luther, the big bald man with metal gauntlets, probably six feet six inches tall, with shoulders that made getting through a door hard, got close to Dotty, ready to take Ronny.

“No!” Dotty screamed, shielding Ronny away from the man. “You can’t have him! Take me! Please, take me!”

“Shut up,” the giant man growled, raising a gauntlet hand. “Do you want more of this, you little bitch?”

Dotty held steadfast, keeping Ronny hugged to her chest, knowing that soon she would be struck by the hand, possibly extending the fracture around her eye to the entire head and killing her.

The one thing she knew was that she wouldn’t go with her eyes closed like a coward. And so, she stared defiantly at the man, even as the tears pooled in her deep blue eyes, like her mother’s.

Luther raised his gauntlet hand, posed to strike. Then, something happened. It was as if Dotty could see the giant fist getting closer and closer in a weird, slowed-down motion. Time felt denser and moving to crawl.

A few things flashed in front of her eyes, mostly memories of her playing with Ronny, seeing him being born, saying his first word, crawling his way out of the house they had lived in, and so many other things.

She remembered being abandoned by their father, their mother becoming sick and bedridden, not being able to contribute to the family anymore, and falling behind on the payments she owed to the chief of the village, which had almost got them evicted.

But then, her mother’s red hair flashed in front of them. But it wasn’t a memory.

No.

Their mother was there.

Wait, that’s not Mom, Dotty thought.

A woman whose clothes were on fire and upon whose arms two large black feathers burned angrily had landed right in front of her and her brother.

Then, to Dotty’s consternation, the woman swung a fist against Luther, the giant man, who raised his heavy gauntlet in response.

If Dotty had had a way of screaming at the woman for being stupid, she would have.

But it happened all too fast.

And what followed was even faster.

Luther’s arm and gauntlet folded like paper under the weight of a sledgehammer.

Then, the woman with black feathers over her arms spun toward the Elder as black flames spread over Luther and took his life.

Elder Sandoval had unsheathed his sword and looked maliciously at her, taking a fighting stance.

“You again,” the Elder said as the two circled each other.

“That was a lot of power,” Dotty heard a close Cultist murmur.

“Indeed,” another commented, “but Elder Sandoval is a sword master while Luther is just a brute.”

The other nodded wisely.

“It’s true. Below Level 50, I don’t believe there’s anyone as good at fighting as Elder Sandoval. It’s a pity that the old man never managed to level up beyond his current level.”

“Look. That’s a level 4 healer,” another snorted, seeing the Elder and the woman square off. “Facing elder Sandoval, who’s Level 25, “she will be crushed. Oh, yeah. Even if they were at the same Level. The others snorted. Elder Sandoval’s skills in fighting are unparalleled. Even with that much power, she has no chance. It would take a fighter of immense talent to even stand a chance against Elder Sandoval.”

“Yeah,” the other laughed, “what’s a Healer going to do?”