Rise of The Living Enchantment [LITRPG REGRESSION]

Oncot stood amidst a sea of corpses. White and dull, limbs and heads and torsos littered the floor around where he stood. His shoulders heaved as he panted like a war torn warlord. White liquid stained him in different places, dousing his shoulders like an extremely thin mantle. In front of him was the remains of a [Doppelganger] too large and big, at least three times his size.

In what was supposed to be his off hand, Oncot held his cleaver. His dominant arm was a mess. Twisted and broken it barely hung on to itself at the shoulder, kept in place by nothing more than a strip of flesh.

In the darkness of the cave, the white blood of the [Doppelganger] glistened, making it the easiest thing to see him.

Oncot turned finally, looking back at the rest. His panting did not stop. Pain was a visible stain on his face. Still, within the midst of it all, he grinned like an unrepentant sinner who had just discovered a way to kill God.

Aiden held back a sigh at the sight of the man and the mess he had made of the cave. Was he going to be like this throughout the expedition? Aiden hoped not. Because if he was, then he would end up leveling up a little too fast.

Behind him, the [Healer], Elami, pushed past him and walked forward.

"This," Elami said, "is why you need a healer."

He approached Oncot, a soft green glow emanating from his fingers as he met the large man.

Dreg walked up to Aiden, stood beside him. He clearly had something to say.

"Why did you stop me?" he asked, as everyone else gathered their wits about them, cleaning their weapons and returning themselves to a state of mind that depended less on violence.

Aiden's answer to Dreg began with a shrug.

"What do you know about Oncot's heritage?" he asked, noting how Oncot kept his eyes firmly fixed on him as Elami treated his injuries, stitching flesh and fixing bones through the help of a skill and mana.

"Nothing," Dreg admitted. "He just came to us one day with one of our signs that said we were looking for members."

"And what do you do when he goes into a frenzy?" Aiden asked, never taking his eyes of Oncot.

"We stop him by ending the fight quickly."

Aiden snorted. "He probably hates you guys a little. His people are born for war. It is considered the blessing of the gods to die in battle. And if you cannot die in battle, at least give the gods a frenzy that is entertaining to watch." He looked at Dreg. "You guys have been stopping him from giving his gods a battle that is entertaining to watch."

"We are a group of mercenaries," Dreg pointed out. "We don't go around killing as if we are somehow insane. We've told him time and time again. If his people are nothing but blood thirsty savages, there is no place for that here."

"Not blood thirsty savages," Aiden said, finally looking away from Oncot to check on Ted. "Just civilized nomads who like their fights. Don't judge someone's entire custom by the blood thirsty part of it."

Ted was busy rubbing his pink panther familiar behind the ear. The creature purred against his touch, rubbing its head into his chest. He smiled, enjoying the entire process.

Jang Su stood in one corner, checking his swords. He had a look Aiden couldn't quite place on his face while the twins stood with him saying nothing.

Valdan stood with folded arms, looking down at the corpses of the monsters. He had a contemplative look in his eyes.

"Your men pulled their weight," Dreg said.

Aiden nodded, saying nothing. Taeli was busy digging into the corpse of a [Doppelganger] with a dagger, displaying a deftness born from countless occasions of performing the singular action.

She was probably harvesting the creature.

"Done," Elami announced suddenly. Grey eyes moved over to Aiden as if his words were not enough.

The moment he made the announcement, Oncot took his cleaver in both his hands and held them up in a ceremonial fashion. That made everyone pause. All eyes moved to him in confusion and wonder.

Aiden was certain the large man had not done this before, at least not in front of his teammates.

Cleaver held up in both hands, he walked straight up to Aiden. Being significantly taller than Aiden, he lowered the sword so that it was now at Aiden's chest level.

"Blood," he said in a very bad accent. "For the blood man."

Aiden looked down at the blade of the cleaver. Oncot had stained it with the red of his own blood since the monsters' blood were white.

"He speaks the common tongue?" Taeli asked, flabbergasted.

Ted raised a brow at her words. "It's kind of difficult to believe that he can understand it but not speak it at all, wouldn't you say?"

Taeli scowled at him but nothing else. She reminded Aiden of something often said about short people on Earth. Most people said that they were always angry, as if the world had offended them somehow.

Oncot kept his eyes on Aiden in expectation.

Oncot's people had a way of showing favor to those who bring them the closest to their gods through battle. Normally, this fight would not be considered anything out of the way, but since Oncot had been with mercenaries that served as guides and liked to be civilized, he was sure the man had scarcely seen any altercation he could possibly have considered true battle.

Not blood man, Aiden signed up at him, knowing very well that what Oncot had said was not the proper praise. The large man had adjusted the praise to seem more suiting.

"You bring blood," Oncot replied in the common tongue.

Aiden sighed. Not enough blood, he signed. Not this time.

Oncot paused, not happy about the direction the conversation was going. Still, he conceded in the end.

He moved his cleaver behind him and strapped it back in place. A frown touched his lips but he didn't let it persist. His attention moved over to Dreg who was still standing beside Aiden and he tsked before turning away.

Dreg's jaw dropped. "What was that about? Blood for the blood man?"

Aiden shrugged. "He's your teammate."

With that, he turned and walked over to Ted, leaving Dreg to his confusion.

As he drew closer to Ted, the pink panther turned its attention on him, shrinking away very slightly. Ted kept his hand on its head, rubbing it behind the ear as his attention also moved over to Aiden.

"What was that about?" he asked when Aiden was standing beside him.

"Your familiar or the big ass dude?" Aiden asked.

"My familiars are all scared of you," Ted said, making a dismissive gesture with his free hand. "I've made peace with that. I'm talking about the big guy."

Aiden lowered his voice very slightly as he answered. "In his tribe, when a man brings the greatest battle for the sake of battle, he is considered special. If the battle is one capable of destroying the tribe, yet, the tribe survives, they offer the blood of their enemies to him."

"I don't see why you didn't just take his offer."

"How do you know that I didn't?"

"If you did, he wouldn't look like that."

Aiden looked at Oncot. The man looked unhappy, as if the only reason he wasn't crying was because he was a man.

Sighing, Aiden said, "In his tribe, there is no such thing as 'blood for the blood man.'"

"Then what was that about?"

"He was trying to show me his respect since he hadn't fought a heavy battle for a long time." Aiden shook his head. "The real saying is 'Blood for the blood God.'"

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"Sounds badass," Ted mused. "So why didn't he use it?"

Aiden gestured around them. "This is no where near enough blood for that, brother. This is barely even a bloodbath. That, and the fact that the actual saying is used to nominate a person as leader of the tribe. If all the warriors give you the acknowledgement, you gain the title of ruler."

Ted looked contemplative, stroking his jaw with one hand.

"Blood for the blood god," he mused. "An interesting take on things. Maybe I'll just…"

"No," Aiden said firmly. "You do not want to have that title. It does nothing good."

"There has to be some benefit, though."

Aiden closed his eyes, trying not to think too much about it. "It's not worth the consequence."

He'd never had the title, obviously. But he knew enough about the tribe and what came with it. If you gained candidacy and, ultimately, the position of ruler, you gained the attention of the Blood God.

The attention of the Blood God automatically came with the title of [Berserker]. It wasn't exclusive to their tribe, thought. All tribes that had a bloodthirsty part of their custom garnered the attention of the Blood God.

Aiden took a deep breath and let it out. "I would assume that nothing good would come out of it."

As if waiting for their conversation to be over, everyone moved together, converging on his location with Ted.

"What's next?" Elami asked. He sounded bored.

"We follow the path," Aiden answered. "Hopefully, it shouldn't take too long to finish this."

Jang Su turned and looked down the path that led deeper into the cave. "Who's keeping track of the path?" he asked. "I remember a lot of branching paths."

"Taeli has a perfect recall," Dreg answered. "She has the map in her head as well as the path. We'll be fine."

Aiden also had the path in his head, but he wasn't going to tell them that.

"Alright." He clapped his hands. "Let's head out. Remember the formation."

The [Healer] frowned slightly. He was clearly unhappy with the formation. Aiden hoped the man wasn't one of those healers who wanted to be an active part of combat like the [Healer]s in the Order who wielded weapons and fought on the frontlines.

"Alright," Dreg said, preparing to move forward. "Let's start moving."

Everyone moved from the gathering but Elami sighed, moving over to Ted. Ted watched him, curious. He waited, having something to say but exercising patience.

Stopping in front of Ted, Elami kept his eyes on him as he squatted in front of him, bending down to one of the corpses present.

The pink panther snarled at him. He hissed back at it and it slipped behind Ted.

That's interesting, Aiden thought noting.

"How did you do that?" Ted asked, sounding genuinely impressed.

"When you've spent as much time as I have around summoned creatures," he said, running his hands along the torso of the [Doppelganger] corpse in a familiar way, "you learn a few tricks in dealing with summoned familiars."

Aiden watched Elami as he surveyed the corpse with a frown on his face. He looked reluctant, like a man making a gamble he had been hoping he wouldn't have to make.

Dreg had fallen silent once more. Taeli continued to cut into the other [Doppelganger] corpses, retrieving things like hearts and livers and any organ she felt would fetch a good price. Each item she retrieved vanished into a storage space.

Aiden said nothing. They had said nothing on the subject of how to share loot, but a civilized person knew that when such a conversation was not had, at times such as this, it was time to have them.

You're not interested in the loot, though, Aiden reminded himself.

With a sigh, and still looking up at Ted for some reason, Elami pressed hard against the torso of the corpse.

Everybody paused at what happened next.

Skin bubbled like boiling water, after a moment it began to sizzle, evaporating like something burnt. As skin boiled away, muscle turned to ash. In the end, everything else turned to dust.

Aiden frowned at the sight.

What was left in the wake of what had once been a corpse was something that had the attention of everyone present. Even Oncot who had eyes for nothing but violence.

Ted squatted down, looking at what was left.

Elami was still looking at him.

Four different potion bottles rested on the ground where the corpse had once been. Ted kept his eyes on them as he picked each one up, surveying them.

"I can't say that I'm a fan of all the eye contact," he said, turning one of the bottles one way then the other.

Each bottle was a dull white, stained with a smattering of black, like ash stains. Ted opened the one in his hand and smelled the content. He reeled away from it as if smelling something pungent.

"That's strong," he said, giving a low whistle.

Elami rose to his feet. "Are you impressed?"

Ted looked at Aiden. "Should I be impressed?" he asked.

Aiden nodded very slowly.

The [Healer] had a looting skill. It was rare. So rare, in fact, that the pay he had given the mercenaries would not be able to cover their and Elami's services. Looters were a very scarce commodity on this side of Nastild.

A looting skill was so important that itt was easy for people to forget about whatever class you had and just begin to refer to you as a looter. That was how rare yet important having a looter skill was.

The two twins were still with Jang Su, but one of them turned to Dreg.

"Did you know that he was a looter?" she asked him, worried.

Dreg shook his head. "I did not."

There was worry in his voice. Most people were happy when they learned that they had a looter under their employ. Aiden guessed the lack of joy was because the mercenary was currently considering the pay distribution. Elami, logically, was supposed to have the highest pay of the group now. And since Aiden had already pointed out in the beginning, before they'd entered the cave, that he was not paying anything extra, it meant that Elami's pay was going to come out of their pockets.

"So," Elami looked back up at Ted, unbothered by the attention he was garnering, "are you impressed?"

Ted nodded. "Color me impressed."

"That's good." Elami got up. "Consider this loot as a token of my appreciation."

Dreg scratched the back of his neck nervously. Obviously he was thinking of what to do about something. One of the twins looked at him and a short communication happened between them. the woman walked over to Ted and Elami.

Elami kept his eyes on Ted while Ted turned his attention to the twin.

"Excuse me, Elami," she said in a soft voice. "Would you be willing to help out with a few more of the… leftovers?"

It was a while before Elami finally looked at her.

"No."

He said the word simply, as if she should've been happy to even have received an answer from him. At first Aiden thought he was simply full of himself, but experience told him different. [Healer]s and Looters were often known for their arrogance because they understood their importance. With Elami, however, that wasn't what was happening.

Right now, he was not being arrogant, he simply wasn't interested in anyone but Ted.

Why?

"Why not?" Ted asked, curious. "Is it a mana thing?"

"This was nothing but an application," Elami answered. "Think of this as a show of my resume."

Aiden stepped forward now. "Resume for what? What are you applying for?"

"Well," Elami looked at him, as if weighing his importance. "It is safe to assume that you lead your group, correct?"

"Careful," Ted said with a laugh. "You don't want to get on his bad side."

Elami looked at him, curious. "Is he the most dangerous in the group?"

"You don't know the half of it," Jang Su said from his own place.

"You haven't answered my question," Aiden said. He was far from comfortable with how much attention the man was paying to Ted.

Ted smiled as if he was having fun and intentionally stepped right next to Aiden as a show of support.

Elami noted it and his expression changed. "My apologies," he said. "I have simply always had a soft spot for those with the [Summoner] class. Please repeat your question again."

Aiden didn't want to. Still, he obliged. "What are you applying for?"

"A position of course," he answered easily.

Aiden didn't like where this seemed to be going. "A position where?"

Elami gave him a look as if to say that he had to be joking. Still, he answered. "A position in your team."

Valdan moved over to Aiden. "A [Healer] and a Looter will be beneficial to our team," he said in a low voice. "Looters are rare enough as is."

Aiden bit down on his bottom lip. Their team was already getting large as it was. With Zen and Feira, they were already six in the team. But a [Healer] was important. He couldn't go around expecting all of them to be healing with potions all the time.

Even if he tried to avoid it, a time could easily come when he would not be able to keep them out of a situation completely out of his control. At times like that, a [Healer] would be extremely useful.

Aiden leaned towards Valdan. "Should we take him?"

"A [Healer] is never a bad deal," Valdan said. "A looter too. But we don't really need one. We do just fine without. A [Healer] is what will work well."

Aiden nodded as Valdan spoke. "So, that's a yes?"

"That," Valdan said with a self-satisfied smile, "is my way of giving you the necessary pieces of information you need to have to make a decision."

Aiden's eyes snapped up to him abruptly. "You don't have an opinion on this."

"I do," Valdan clarified. "And my opinion is that you should make the decision, Lord Lacheart."

He then took a very intentional step away before Aiden could say more, ending the conversation.

"Hold up," Dreg said suddenly, stepping between them. "You didn't want a [Healer] in the first place."

Aiden sighed, feeling the familiar weight of designated responsibility on his shoulders once more. It was one thing to be the decision maker when you knew better. It was another thing to be the decision maker because everyone decided that you should make the decision simply because they could.

"I still don't," Aiden answered.

"Good." Dreg turned to Elami. "We are willing to add you to our group for a price."

"I'm not interested," Elami replied without missing a beat. He turned back to Aiden. "I don't expect you to accept me right now, Lord Lacheart. I'm just informing you of my intentions, that is all."

Turning away, he moved over to one side of the group and stood. He had assumed his place in the group formation. There, he waited patiently.

With a discontented frown, Dreg moved, the rest of his team with him. Oncot hesitated, looking at Aiden with contemplation in his eyes. For some reason, a cold chill ran up Aiden's spine before the large man turned away.

Ted leaned into him. "How does leadership feel?" he asked, smug.

"I hate you," Aiden groaned.

Ted moved away, heading to the team and a thought crossed Aiden's mind. He grabbed Ted by the arm.

Ted looked at him. "What's up?"

"Does he feel familiar?" Aiden asked him in a low voice.

"Familiar?" Ted gave him a confused look.

"Familiar familiar," Aiden clarified. "You know, like déjà vu."

Ted turned his attention back to Elami. As far as Aiden was concerned, it would explain why the [Healer] was suddenly obsessed with him. How? He had no idea. In fact, at this point, he had a feeling he was grasping at straws. But he had to know. He had to avoid things that could lead Ted down the path to [Demon King]. At least the people if he couldn't do anything about the skills.

"Let me throw you a curve ball here," Ted said, knowing where he was going since they'd talked about it before. "We can't go around avoiding everyone that I've known. Some of them could've actually been good for me and could still be good for me."

Aiden nodded. He had considered that before. But it wasn't something he felt he could risk. It was safer to not associate with all of them at all than to associate with some of them in the hopes that they would be helpful.

"Think about that," Ted said.

"I will," Aiden said, returning the conversation to what was important. "So? Do you find him familiar in anyway?"

Ted looked at Elami, thinking about it. The [Healer] waited patiently where he stood, eyes faced forward like a soldier in a marching line.

In the end, Ted's answer came with an unbothered shrug.

"Nope."