Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Amelie POV

Amelie dropped the bloodied arrow and ignored the groan of pain as green tendrils of smoke-like magic wafted out of the tip of her wand and sunk into Gerald's wound. The arrowhead hadn't gotten too deep, but it still perforated… something. The sense the healing spell was giving her was vague, but she'd learned to trust the impression it gave back. Right now, she could feel a wrongness, deep in the man's wound, which might explain the paleness and sweats.

On his way to sepsis. Or would have been.

Thankfully, magic was capable of patching him up and she didn't even need to focus on it, though she still marveled at her new capabilities. This would have been an emergency surgery back in the old world, and Gerald's odds of survival would have been stark.

Bowel perforations were nasty. But not anymore. Right now, she could just keep pumping mana into her wand and watch the stranger who just appeared without needing to do much aside from listening to the feedback her spell was giving her.

She turned to Liz and broke the silence. "What happened to him? Not that I mind some skin, don't get me wrong. But what's up with the burnt pants?"

Gerald, Liz, and Audrey turned to the short woman.

"What?"

Liz rubbed her palm against her thigh for a moment, attention still mostly on the stranger and the trio facing him. "Weren't you a med student or something?"

Amelie raised an eyebrow at the mechanic. "Yeah. So?"

"Aren't you–" Gerald began asking, but groaned when something spasmed around his injury. He took a couple of breaths as the discomfort receded and looked up with a pained smile on his face. "Aren't doctors not supposed to say stuff like that?"

Amelie shrugged and continued peeking at the stranger from behind her sister's shield. Lance had a nervous smile on his face as he slowly approached the stranger, having been called to talk. His shortbow was still pointed his the stranger, but Ethan did not seem to care in the least as his stood there and waited.

She looked back down and tried to feel the state of the wound through the spell before speaking again. "He's not my patient and I'm not in a hospital. And it's not as if I was ever going to graduate. This crap spared me from getting kicked out of the program. Now shush I wanna hear what they're saying."

The wound was in a better state, but it was too soon to stop. Whatever wrongness she'd felt earlier deep in the wound seemed to be better, but the wound itself was still exposed. Gerald's face looked better as well, so she continued closing up and looked back at the confrontation taking place. She was going to need a bit of rest after this or she'd risk exhausting herself too fast.

The clearing was quiet as the young man stood there, casual. He glanced around, met Amelie and Audrey's eyes, then nodded to Liz. He frowned and leaned to the side a bit until he could see Gerald.

The stranger called out, "You alright, Gerald?"

In response, the man smiled and raised a thumbs up as he tried to lean to the side, which Amelie stopped by shoving him man firmly but gently against the spongy trunk. Gerald gave her an apologetic smile and called back, "Never better!"

Amelie glanced back at the stranger and looked at the text above his head.

Damn. Liz and Gerald weren't lying about his levels, she thought as she took in the tight and clammy smile of the archer and grinned. Serves him right.

The newcomer cracked his neck and spoke, nodding down at Lance's shortbow. His voice was clear, and Amelie thought she heard a note of amusement in it. "Put that thing down before someone's eyes get poked out."

His meaning quickly clicked in her mind, and her grin grew wider.

Lance gave him a confused look before he regained his smile. His little group had grown tense, while the nocked blue arrow began crackling with electricity. "That doesn't sound right. You mean before I poke someone's eyes out? Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. As long as everyone stays calm, no one will get hurt."

Ethan shook his head as he continued approaching, a dangerous smile on his lips. Amelie couldn't see any wand or weapon on him, but he didn't seem worried at all.

"I said what I said. Don't think I forgot that potshot you took at me yesterday. And right now, if there's anyone that should worry about being hurt, it's you three."

"Again with the threats, brat," spat out the shield bearer. The stocky man had also summoned his shield. Robert, if she recalled right. Something about management or construction? Didn't matter. He was just another asshole drunk on power.

Ethan shrugged. "I'm not the one threatening someone with a weapon, am I? I don't even have my Arcanum out. But I promise you this: you won't like what happens the next time you point those toothpicks at me. So. All three of you. Dismiss your weapons and have a seat. On your knees, I'd prefer."

Lance glared at the approaching young man, his smile gone while the gears turned behind his dead eyes. The archer began lowering the shortbow, but Amelie noticed he wasn't relaxing his pull. It almost looked like he was waiting for an opportunity to take his shot.

Is this guy for real?

Amelie shook her head. How stupid could he be? She wished he'd do it. She'd love to watch him get beaten down to a pulp. There was no chance he could hurt the newcomer. She'd seen the monsters that had cracked through level 30 and knew how tough those things could be. There was no way that arrow would be able to do any permanent damage. Shit, it might not even reach him, and even if it did, it would barely affect her mana to heal what little damage the projectile would do.

Amelie didn't even blink. She didn't want to miss anything. By god, she wanted to see what happened. For a second, she considered startling Lance somehow to force him into action. Unfortunately, the archer's caution won out. Lance relaxed his bow, and a moment later his two companions lowered their wand and shield, respectively.

Though they didn't get down to their knees.

"Coward!" heckled Amelie as she poked her head out from behind her sister's shield, earning her a surprised look and a wider smile from Ethan, and a tasty hateful glare from Lance. The archer's grip tightened around his bow, but he didn't dare lift again. The worried glanced he shot at the still unarmed Ethan told her all she needed to know.

Amelie was the first to step out from cover. Audrey scrambled after her to shield her, and a limping Liz and a fully healed Gerald followed suit, which made Amelie curse at herself.

She'd forgotten about finishing up Liz's leg, though thankfully, Amelie had already taken out the arrowhead and made sure no arteries were nicked.

If only I could level from healing.

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***

Ethan took one more step toward the archer and his little team and summoned his claws. He kept the fire out, for now. But it was one mental flex away as he spoke. "On your knees, Lance. Last warning."

He saw how Liz and her team had been pinned. He saw the arrow lodged in Gerald's gut before one of the two new girls had quickly healed it.

He knew the guy was a piece of shit, but he didn't think he'd get this brazen this fast.

Ethan felt his own breath pick up. Something about his gaze and the shield-bearer's eyes were brining up some old memories, and it was becoming harder and harder to stay civil.

The shield-bearer looked like he was about to blow up, while the archer glared at him, still unmoving. "Why would we—"

Ethan moved. Lunging forward, he crossed the ten feet or so separating them in half a second and punched. The archer, cursing, had been raising his bow when Ethan's fist sunk into his stomach and made his feet lift off the ground.

Having moderated his punch, the archer only had half a second of air-time before he fell to his knees, gagging as he struggled to breathe. His companion tried to shield-bash Ethan from the side, and Ethan looked past him.

No one behind him. Good.

Ethan grinned and ignited his right hand. Instantly, a wave of heat spread around him, making the grass at his feet dry up and wither. The man's eyes went wide with alarm, and an earthy-brown pane of light appeared along the surface of the kite shield.

A thin jet of bright red and yellow flames streamed at the the shield, tearing through the pane of light in a second before it hit the metal, at which point Ethan cut off the flames as the man's blood-curling scream filled the air. The man couldn't dismiss the red-glowing shield fast enough and as soon as the shield disappeared, Ethan followed it up with body shot.

The shield-bearer crumpled to the ground, spasming with pain.

Not bad. A bit more resilient than the archer.

Turning his attention to the third member, the healer, Ethan found him already on his knees.

"Good."

The archer was still trying to get his breath under control. The shield-bearer was still wheezing, eyes on the ground. Ethan stomped on the bow and it dissolved into motes.

Next, Ethan turned his attention to wide-eyed Liz and a grinning Gerald, and smiled at them. "Hey guys. How's it going?"

Gerald greeted him warmly and was a lot friendlier than their first encounter. The man seemed a bit more gaunt since last he saw him, but he most certainly had been investing in Might, if his handshake was of any indication.

He still has clothes, too, lucky bastard.

While keeping an eye on the trio he'd just punched into submission, Ethan moved to a few yards away with the team and listened as Liz, still wearing her greasy and bloodied overalls, gave him a few bullet points about what had happened since they last met. Martha hated his guts, apparently, which he honestly couldn't care less about. Luther was no show, which Ethan wasn't sure how to feel about. As for the camp in general, it turned to be bleak. As soon as they'd gotten there, they had to "pay back" the favor Lance had done them, which quickly turned to straight-up exploitation.

Lance—the archer—and his little group seemed to have put themselves in charge. Liz even alluded to a couple of disturbing things that raised his hackles, and Ethan stared darkly at the three while a cold sensation coursed through his limbs.

It was just… too familiar.

Ethan glared at the trio. They couldn't be allowed to continue. While they weren't as unhinged as the man who'd tried to shoot him in the head, he considered them to be worse. One was like a rabid creature that had to be stopped to prevent further damage, but the kinds of Lance and Robert–the shield-bearer–were much more insidious.

They were in a position of strength, and instead of using to help or even keep to themselves, they elected to force their will on others. Threatened, take by force, and kill those who opposed them.

They've done much more damage than the man Ethan had been forced to kill. Just because they had the levels to do as they please.

"Barry's not much better," Amelie spat out. "I haven't heard anything about him being as bad, but he's there with those two, healing them and allowing them to get away with everything."

Ethan nodded. The healer might not have been a shot-caller, but obeying orders wasn't much of an excuse in this scenario.

As if wanting to lift the dark mood that settled around them, Liz changed the subject and waved vaguely at his missing attire. "Look, I'm glad to see you're alive… but what happened to your clothes? It looks like you just stepped out of a burning building."

Ethan glanced down, then shrugged and forced a smile. "Ah, well… they got burned. I'm afraid I'm going to lose the pants soon as well."

"Nice," said Amelie, right before she caught an elbow from her impressively fit sister. The siblings were both in gym clothes, and it seemed like they'd been training when everything started. Amelie and Audrey, repeated Ethan in his own mind, trying to not forget their names.

He was pretty bad with names.

Ethan could see the familiarity in both of their features. The eyes were the same, a clear green that almost looked blue. Amelie had more of an average height and two streaks of white-dyed locks, while Audrey was as tall as he was and definitely more muscular. Her hair was cut short, and she still had her tower shield on her arm.

I'm glad Liz and Gerald got themselves some good teammates.

Ethan was most impressed with Liz and Gerald. He'd left them barely a day ago, and here they were, almost at level 14 and 15. That was decently fast progress, especially considering they'd been held up with the lizardlings when he'd found them. But before he could congratulate them and turn his attention back to Lance, someone else stepped closer.

Right. Another group.

The coach was a tall and fit man. He was wearing a green and yellow tracksuit with a small high school logo near the chest that Ethan didn't recognize. He stopped a dozen or so feet away, creating a loose triangle with three factions standing a good distance away from each other, and quickly introduced himself. Amelie kept openly glaring at the archer, which was fair, considering that man's attitude so far. She had called him a coward earlier, and Ethan agreed. He had definitely wanted the archer to take a shot just so he could beat the living crap out of him, though now that he'd heard what the man had been up to, the fist to the gut hadn't been nearly enough.

They soon started talking, with the coach telling them how he found himself with his class at the mouth of a cavern, which contrasted with Ethan's experience. "We started exploring the cave and came upon those lizard-things. They tried to capture us at first, but when we pushed them off, they got a lot more aggressive… We ah… had to kill a few. But ever since we've been hunting toads and lizards and whatever else we could find for levels."

Ethan nodded along. This implied that there might be more drop points around, and potentially more camps like the one Liz had stopped at. The underground network might extend a lot further than expected, so he needed to pick up the pace. There weren't a lot of days left, and unfortunately, he didn't expect many to share where the exit lay if they ever found it.

Main Quest: Gain access to the tutorial's exit within 5 days, 18 hours, and 37 minutes.

Time continued to tick down, and it was somewhat understandable that some would keep such valuable knowledge to themselves. But not everyone was a good liar, and Ethan believed he had a good sense about this sort of thing. When the three factions plunged into an uncomfortable silence after a few seconds, he threw the grenade in their midst and watched.

"Any clues on the exit so far?"

As soon as he asked it, all of his focus was on the kneeling, raging Lance and his group. Liz's group might know something, and so might the coach, but Lance was the only one he felt would deserve to have the figurative coins shaken out of his pockets.

Lance's face was blank, and so was the shorter shield-bearer. But the healer cracked. When Ethan had voiced his question, Barry had glanced at Lance.

Ethan kept the smile off his face. It seemed like he might be walking away for this meet-up with some actionable information, after all.