Chapter 299 (1/2)

Simon’s spirit body flew much more quickly than David’s physical one, and he quickly sat up. “David killed the spawner!”

Thea gave him a look, seeming to size up whether to believe him. But then she slowly nodded. “That… explains a lot. They’ve become much more… disorganized in the past few minutes. But it’s just that…”

Thea gestured. Simon’s eyes went wide. Perhaps he should have guessed, based on the amount of skeletons that he flew over in his spirit body, but there were just far, far too many skeletons below. More and more skeletons climbed over the shattered bodies of their comrades, which formed ramps to get up to the defenders.

Although they didn’t march in formation like they had in the past, they still moved forward, a wave that extended for hundreds of meters, packed densely full of skeletons. Plus, there were different kinds of skeletons too. Mages, taller ones with 4 arms, skeletons with yellow bones, one monstrous skeleton with black bones…

“It’s gonna become a scrum,” Thea said grimly, removing a hammer from her bag. Simon looked at it, curious, and Thea glared at him as she climbed on top of Chrysanthemum.

“Look, I know it’s dumb, but… I don’t know, I thought it was… cool to have a name like Glasshammer, and wield a hammer,” She said defensively. “It’s just… ugh, nevermind. Just… probably retreat back to the village. You will be safer there. Your spells are useful, but they aren’t strong enough to be on the front. Goodluck.”

With a nudge, her bear roared and charged forward, down the hill, barrelling into their opponents before they could reach the crest of the hill and cause havoc in the lines.

After watching them smash apart dozens of skeletons in a few seconds, giving their best David impression, Simon turned away and took several steps back towards the town. But then he hesitated. What was he really running from…? Weren’t there still things here that he could-

“Fluid.”

The voice was hoarse, the word a growl. Simon spun around to find David standing there, his forehead scrunched up in pain. It took several seconds for Simon to process this, but then he snapped to attention. He cast a glance over his shoulder, but the skeletons were still a few dozen meters off, so Simon quickly concentrated, producing some fluid in a vial, which he swiftly passed to David.

“What happened? I was watching, was it that darkness blast-” Simon asked, his words running together, and David gave him a look, his lips twisting.

“...No, it was the curses.” David grunted, after drinking the fluid. He sighed, and a lot of the tension in his face left it, but not all of it. “There was a mental component that I didn’t notice at first. When I broke them all at the end-”

David grimaced. “Activated Mental Strength, when I shouldn’t have…”

Then his eyes seemed to snap back into focus, and he spared Simon a glance. It was a strange, calculating glance, one that made Simon feel a stab of fear. Then David shook his head, and produced several Mana potions. “Up for making some more? If you can get me back in action, I can defend you while you grind. How close are you to 10?”

“Only one away. Why?” Simon asked, glad to have something to focus on besides the loud sounds of the fighting. He drank the potion quickly, his hand trembling slightly.

That was probably what he had expected the least, about the fighting. How much the noises would affect him. How they would haunt him. Sure, he’d fought monsters before, but never in these quantities, never so many in such a close proximity, it was like-

It was like Simon could hear it around him, the sound of life ending. Even if it was weird, skeleton monster life, enough of them were dying around him that the small noises of it added together, and became something sickly, silent, and deafening. And that wasn’t even including the sounds of people being injured, screaming, sneezing, begging-

“Simon, focus,” David said, his hand clamping down on Simon’s shoulder. After getting one huge tremor out of his body, he continued to focus, refining more fluid, which David quickly consumed. His expression had eased a lot, which made some of the tightness in Simon’s chest disappear. Even if Simon couldn’t affect the battlefield at large, this man could.

And Simon could help this man. Therefore… Simon was helping them all. That feeling… Simon supposed it was how doctors felt all the time, treating athletes, politicians, mothers, leaders… but it was a very warm one, and it focused Simon’s mind. He might be out of his depth, but he wasn’t powerless here. Because of Simon, David could save someone like that kid on the street, even though Simon didn’t have that power.

Straightening, David stood and walked to the edge of the hill. Several skeletons were skittering upwards, their hips bent at weird angles so they could move in a strange, bug like fashion. He crushed them instantly, his eyes sweeping side to side.