Chapter 156: Reluctant Partnership
Pain erupted in Belladonna’s side, enough that it actually got the attention of the inconsistent and useless pain reduction system. She could both hear and feel the cracking of her bones as she launched to the side just as the Dragons jaws snapped.
The eager beast eating nothing but air, and a pile of dirt where she had previously stood.
She bounced across the ground in a truly inelegant and graceless manner, each bounce stealing her momentum until she finally came to a stop, flopped on the ground next to the huge hammer that had collided with her.
More players leapt at the opportunity of the dragons distraction, and Belladonna being thrown from the fight, as they began to pelt it with even more useless attacks. But even if they were ineffective with damage, they were enough to steal its attention away from the woman it was sure that it had eaten.
Its throat pouch was bulging with rock and stone that was rapidly heating up for another lava breath.
"It has a form of true sight," Revenant said as he manifested from the nearby shadows, using a skill that seemed remarkably similar to her own [Shadow Veil] skill. His feet filling her vision as she still laid on the ground, and yet even just the sight of his boots were enough to annoy her.
"All Dragons do, even the lesser breeds like this one. That is something you would have known, had you not run off like an idiotic child."
"You talk... like an old man." Belladonna said dismissively, between groans of pain as she pulled herself from the ground.
"And, you talk like you’ve met one of these before. I’m sure that’s just down to another one of your brilliant hunches, huh? The bullshit you are always muttering about."
She asked, casting a clearly suspicious glare his way, but he simply raised an eyebrow and smirked again, as if he was enjoying watching her piece together a puzzle he already had the answers to. Smarmy prick...
Seeing that he was not going to answer, or even worse that he might answer with something sarcastic and overly condescending to show off how smart and knowledgeable he was, Belladonna turned away from Revenant and stretched.
Her back popping with each movement, as she winced again.
"Did you really need to use the hammer? Couldn’t have shouted a warning when I ran or something?"
He shrugged nonchalantly with a sly smirk on his face,
"Need to? No. Wanted to? Yes. That’s what you get for being stupid. Now hurry up and transform so we can do this properly.
We don’t have any time to waste, the army will be here soon."
"Ugh Fine," Belladonna groaned, stretching one last time to pop her back before starting to bounce on her toes like a boxer warming up.
"Just hit me with what you gave me last time, you impatient dick. Better make it a double dose, just to be sure I can get it in the time limit."
"Wait, What?" Revenant said, turning to look at her in confusion instead of actually being useful and doing as she instructed.
Belladonna sighed and rolled her eyes,
"I need the thing you gave me last time to transform."
"Why do you- I don’t have any of that with me right now. Do you see any other undead around here? No, it’s just the Knight, and I’m not sacrificing him for you."
"Ugh, then just give me the potions you were supposed to make."
"I haven’t made them yet." Revenant said with an irate growl, "They were supposed to be ready for tomorrow. This shouldn’t even be happening yet if it wasn’t for a certain someone."
"Will you just give it a rest already? This isn’t my fault! The sooner you get that through your thick, rotten skull, the better.
Are you really telling me that you don’t have the things I need to transform?"
"Yes! Are you seriously telling me you need something to transform?!" He barked back, causing Belladonna to narrow her eyes and smirk.
"Oh? What’s this? The genius doesn’t know everything, huh? What’s the matter? Your future sight not tell you about this conversation, huh?
But yes, I need something to transform. If you were useful, I could do it safely. There is another method, but I can’t control it that way."
Revenant narrowed his eyes, glaring at her as he searched for the lies or deception in her words. But no matter how much or how hard he searched, he couldn’t find anything.
Somehow, she was telling him the truth, which only meant there was another puzzle piece dropped onto his lap when it came to this impossible girl.
The distant clanking of metal drew his attention away from the enigma and towards the roads leading into the destroyed farm village, where a small congregation of silver could be seen rapidly approaching.
The earth rumbled from their well timed march, as well as the dragons rage. The sight of the approaching army made Revenants heart sink completely.
"No... No they can’t be here already. We should still have time. This is too soon." He muttered to himself. He was painfully aware that muttering concerns about time was becoming a dreadful habit of his, but there was nothing he could do to stop it when this girl kept messing with what should be.
"You really gotta stop being such a downer rot-boy. Take another look and tell me, does that look like the cities armies to you?" Belladonna said with a smirk, gazing at the approaching group with sparkling eyes.
Revenant glanced at her for a moment, a hint of annoyance in his eyes, before he took another look at the approaching lines of silver. Uniform lines, practiced marches and a banner held above their lines.
That certain looked an army. But then he noticed the people within the lines, and the symbol on their banner.
Lines of men of all sorts of races and ages. Hellions, Wild-Blood, Fell-spawn, Dwarf, Elves and many more. Not to mention the standard brand of human and all the colours they came in.
Although their uniforms were similar, many of them carried strange weapons or had idiotic flares included onto their uniforms, either for stats or a poor sense of personal style. The type of horrible style that could only belong to one group.
Players.
Upon the banner they carried was a symbol that he recognised all too well. The white silhouette of a mans head, surrounded by golden flames, as a regal crowd sat atop that head.
It was the logo of the Golden Prince Guild and E-sports team. Just the sight of it filled Revenant with dread.