Redemption Arc

Up until this point, Lucian thought that all of his knowledge was holding true. Maybe he wasn’t wrong to think so. So many variables were precisely as he remembered them, down to the very last details. The line between reality and the War of Four had been thinning to the point where he’d grown overconfident in his actions—overconfident enough to forget this was reality.

Of course Saltbelly’s mate would come here, Lucian thought to himself angrily, even as he should’ve been formulating a plan. It’s not like those children came out of nowhere. They had to be created somehow. Of course the damn thing would visit now and then.

Even if all of the variables at play remained exactly the same, the fact was that the equation had become infinitely more complex than the War of Four could ever simulate. He had been playing by the rules of the turn-based strategy game he remembered, but the real world was much more complex than that. And the price for his ignorance?

Someone might die. As a matter of fact, he could see the one that was most likely to die, right here and now—Olivia.

In terms of stats, Saltbelly’s mate was about the same strength as the bandit chief they’d fought in the confluence. That meant that the creature was still more than powerful enough to handle Olivia on its lonesome. Hell, it could probably handle both Olivia and Lucian at the same time. He was the one that had pushed for her to be the distraction. The onus then rested on him, he felt, to get her out of this. Besides, he seemed to be the closest.

First… I need to catch up, Lucian thought. No matter what plan I have, if I’m not close enough to enact it, it’s useless.

Saltbelly’s mate was miles faster than he was—even the bloated gator shaking up the Scriptorium itself was faster than Lucian. That was always something that he was wary of, and so he stocked up on plenty of items that could be used to move faster than he was otherwise capable of. The problem was… he’d already used one, and he only had two options left.

Now’s no time for conservation, Lucian decided, pulling out his last Elixir of Haste.

He slowed down a bit to drink the potion, and then plotted out his path. He ran up the stairs before jumping over a drakeling that bit at his leg. Then, he started to bound across the bookshelves as fast as he could, gaining momentum until it felt like he was running faster than his brain could plan. Just when he felt the effects of the potion begin to wane, he jumped to preserve his momentum, landing in an ungraceful heap a fair bit behind Saltbelly on one of the four pathways leading to the center. It was still chasing Olivia—she was bringing it right to a spot where its mate seemed likely to catch her from behind.

“Olivia!” Lucian shouted as loud as he could, praying she could hear. “Your right! Look to your right!”

After giving her that warning, Lucian held out his hand and cast the Sacred Scarab spell. It surged out, hitting Saltbelly’s tail ineffectually. The creature did still feel it enough to turn its head back, and a single blue reptilian eye fell upon Lucian as he stood alone in the center of the pathway.

Do I run back? Lucian thought, running through his options. But the problem persists—Olivia, fighting Saltbelly’s mate alone. It’s small enough to fit anywhere else that Saltbelly might have been too big to enter. It could trap her, and kill her. His eyes flitted around for answers in the environment. Do I weave back into the bookshelves? No, I can’t afford to delay too long…

An idea came to mind, even as Saltbelly reoriented its great bulk to face Lucian. His brain ran through figures in the game, comparing it to figures his character possessed currently. He calculated damages, attribute changes, all the works. The plan couldn’t involve running. Running wouldn’t solve the problem in front of him.

Saltbelly has 53 STR, Lucian thought, though his hands were already reaching into his satchel to retrieve the potion to fulfill his plan. When it uses its only attack skill, Bullrush, that adds half of its CON to its damage—meaning, half of 46 CON.

Lucian drank a potion, and soon enough felt a firmness in his body. It was like his muscles grew taut—they felt tense and slow, but formidable. Turtle’s Brew. Adds 20 CON, but fixes you in place for one attack. Just by drinking the potion, he’d committed to the plan, but he kept calculating things to distract himself from the multiple-ton alligator starting to head his way.

Élûn,” Lucian said, and the defensive spell First Sanctuary encircled him.

First Sanctuary. With my 21 MAG and 98% Holy Affinity, should block 13 HP damage… if I remember the damn equation right.

Lucian took off the Vitaegis, removing any lingering overheal, and put it back on. Then, he lathered his spetum’s blade in the holy weakness potion, and imbued it with Heavenly Blade.

The overheal should add maybe 6 HP—Saltbelly’s got some pretty high magic resistance on all areas except his underbelly, and I can’t count on hitting it.

Then, Lucian held his spear in front of him, bracing it with his whole body. He used a polearm skill that most considered useless—Pikeman’s Brace. He understood perfectly well why people thought it was useless—in half of the missions in the game, it was. Pikeman’s Brace was useful only against enemies that had charge-type skills. Typically, these were cavalrymen, certain types of monsters, and the occasional boss. Saltbelly was among them.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He'd taken the Turtle’s Brew, and he’d used Pikeman’s Brace. Both fixed him in place. Now… it was time to see if Lucian passed his mathematics class.

***

One of the drakelings had its gigantic jaws locked on the top and bottom of Rowan’s shield. It was crunching hard enough the metal was deforming. He lifted his shield arm up, then stabbed it in the belly, casting it aside.

“Rowan!” Helen shouted in panic.

Rowan’s eyes immediately jumped over to her, and then he followed her gaze to see what was causing her alarm. When he saw what it was, he couldn’t help but be alarmed as well. Lucian stood in the central walkway of the Scriptorium, facing down Saltbelly with his spear braced.

Is he freezing? Rowan thought. Is he in shock?

After looking around more, he spotted things that weren’t there before. Another drake. Olivia, fleeing from it. That shout warning Olivia he’d vaguely heard earlier.

“A full-grown drake joined the battle,” Rowan called out, figuring out the puzzle. “He’s distracting Saltbelly so Olivia doesn’t get blindsided!”

“Rowan, we need to do something!” Helen demanded.

Getting déjà vu, Rowan thought. Again, Lucian? Again, you got Helen fretting over you?

Even though he knew it was probably futile, Rowan started to run toward Lucian. That enormous drake had its jaw open wide enough to swallow a hippopotamus. Lucian, by comparison, was smaller than its biggest tooth. He could’ve weaved into the bookshelves, sought cover. But there he stood, staring down oblivion without fear. What could he possibly be thinking?

Saltbelly pounded across the room, each step loud, powerful, and seemingly insurmountable. Lucian seemed like nothing more than a pebble in the path of a giant. When it seemed liable to either swallow him whole or crush him beneath its feet, Rowan came to a stop, realizing his efforts were futile. His heart beat quickly. Would he watch this man die?

Then, just as it neared, Lucian moved. His spear thrust out, then stabbed into the Deepmaw Drake’s chin. He slid back, carried along with the sheer bulk of the creature. But Lucian didn’t break. He stayed as firm as anything Rowan had ever seen—instead, it was Saltbelly who began to slow. And when its speed began to falter, Lucian thrust his spear up with enough ferocity that it slammed that powerful jaw closed. Saltbelly reared back on its hindlegs before collapsing on its side, its tongue lolling out and its eyes rolled back.

Rowan had assumed Lucian was frozen, or in shock. But after seeing that, those descriptions suited Rowan alone.

“What the hell did I just witness…?” he muttered, eyes wide.

Rowan had assumed that he was a little stronger than Lucian, frankly. But after that display, he didn’t know what to think.

***

As Saltbelly lay there stunned, Lucian tried to view the agony coursing through his body as a badge of pride. He felt like he’d dislocated his soul.

Pikeman’s Brace was a polearm skill that halved damage from charge-type skills, reflected most of the damage back to the opponent, and stunned them for two turns. Even if it had incredibly niche situations it could be used, the efficacy of the skill was on full display.

Rather than use a healing spell, Lucian hobbled up wincing to Saltbelly’s exposed underbelly and shouted, “Æshra!”

The Solar Butterfly spell erupted out, tearing into the stunned creature and returning some vitality to Lucian. He climbed over the creature as it lay there immobile. His vigor returned to him second by second as the holy magic reinvigorated him with continuous critical hits.

Lucian took a moment to survey the scene as he stood atop Saltbelly.

“That’s the…” he muttered, quickly coming up with something. He nodded, then shouted, “Head to the right corner, Olivia!”

Lucian hopped off Saltbelly to the top of one of the bookshelves, trying to catch up with Olivia as she fended off the ferocious attacks from the drake. Her arm was already bleeding quite bad from a bite, and her leg as well from what looked like a scratch. When she arrived at the right corner, her back was to the wall.

Lucian pulled out another one of his last-resort potions—but this situation seemed like a last resort. It was the same potion that he’d used on the ogre. Ruinously expensive, but this was the only thing he was sure would work. Saltbelly was immune to it, but not this creature. He opened it up and hurled its contents, which spread out as a white mist that clung to the drake’s skin. When Olivia’s rapier darted out and struck it, ice crystals erupted across the whole of its body.

Lucian had time enough to make it to Olivia. Immediately, he held his hand to her and said, “Þael.”

Olivia looked at her healing wounds. His spell wasn’t enough to heal her fully. She looked at him just after, and panted out, “I owe you. Again. Saltbelly—how in the world did you do—”

“It’s not over yet,” Lucian interrupted her. “That frost isn’t permanent, and Deepmaw Drakes are resistant to it, so it’ll thaw out shortly. If we try and hit it, it’ll thaw out earlier. I'm out of potions that can save us again, so once it's out... we're back to as we were.”

Olivia stepped back out. “We need to get back with the others. That’s—”

Olivia was interrupted by a furious roar. Saltbelly had woken up again, and he was incandescent with rage.

“With that American lizard running about, we’ll get pincered and killed by his psycho girlfriend,” Lucian said with certainty. She looked confused by the word ‘American,’ but he pushed past that. “No. No, we need something else. You trust me?”

“Uhh… in battle,” she said with a nod.

“Good enough. Follow my lead,” he said, then looked upon the frozen lizard. “We’ll lead this thing to a killing zone.”