Chapter 62: 50 Silver
Serena gathered her long red hair, wrapping a loose strand tightly around the base to secure it into a bun. Rushing behind the counter, she crouched and yanked the bottom drawer open. She grabbed a handful of rags and a roll of bandages, abandoning the open drawer as she hurried back to the table where James lay.
She dropped the supplies next to him, her eyes scanning his blood-soaked form. *What the hell happened out there?* she thought.
Her fingers fumbled as she unbuckled the leather straps on both sides of his armor. She gripped the heavy material and pulled, trying to slide it off, but his dead weight refused to yield. A frustrated groan escaped her lips as she strained her muscles, struggling to shift his position on the wood.
Nearby, a group of hunters shuffled toward the exit, their hushed murmurs filling the space as they slipped outside. *Damn hunters, can't they see someone's hurt?* she thought, her jaw tightening.
The murmuring outside the tent quickly swelled into a loud commotion. Serena threw a quick glance toward the canvas flap. When she looked back down, James’s eyelids were fluttering.
A sharp intake of breath caught in her throat. "You're awake," she whispered.
James blinked, his gaze slowly focusing on the familiar face hovering above him.
"Serena?" he muttered, his voice dry and raspy. "What happened?"
He planted his hands on the table, a heavy groan rattling in his chest as he tried to push himself upright.
"Don't move so suddenly!" Serena urged, her hands pressing firmly against his shoulders to keep him pinned to the table. "You lost a lot of blood. But... I can't find the wound. Are you okay?"
"I think so," James groaned, his muscles trembling under the effort.
Before she could check him again, an agonized scream tore through the air outside the tent.
Both Serena and James turned their heads toward the entrance.
"What was that?" James gasped, his chest heaving with the effort.
"Oh no," Serena said, her eyes widening as dread washed over her face. "Tyler went after Gary."
"What?" James asked, his voice strained.
Serena left James on the table and rushed to the canvas flap, throwing it open. A sharp breath caught in her throat. Gary writhed in the dirt outside, clutching his mangled shoulder and screaming in agony. Tyler walked away from him, his eyes glowing with a faint, luminescent blue hue. Serena’s heartbeat hammered against her ribs. She had expected Tyler to be the one lying in the dirt, broken and defeated.
Tyler stopped in front of her. The blue light in his eyes faded, returning to their natural shade. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Do you have some water?" Tyler asked.
"Water?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Yeah," Tyler muttered.
*I gotta make a potion so that I drink it as soon as the aftereffects kick in,* he thought.
"Yes, it's inside," she said, hesitating.
Tyler pushed past the canvas flap and stepped back into the tent. Serena remained frozen at the entrance, staring at Gary. The defeated hunter sat up, his eyes squeezed shut as he grabbed his ruined shoulder, struggling uselessly to stand.
*How the hell did he do that?* Serena thought.
Nearby hunters backed away, their eyes darting between Gary and the tent. Whispers spread rapidly through the gathering crowd.
"Who the hell was that guy?" one hunter asked.
"I don't know," another answered. "I think he's new here. He must have come from another base."
"But why? This is a Fractured Zone. Wouldn't he level up more and get more money at a Shattered Zone instead?"
"You're right," the other replied.
Serena gripped the edge of the canvas. *This should be impossible,* she thought. *Tyler is a D-rank. How did he manage to beat up Gary? He just ranked up a while ago.*
She let the flap fall shut and hurried back inside, finding Tyler standing over James.
"How did I get healed?" James asked, gripping his own shoulder. His face tightened as the memory resurfaced, the crushing raw pressure of the Crimson Alpha's bite, the sickening snap of his collarbone giving way.
"I used a potion to heal you," Tyler said.
"Potion?" James asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"Yeah." Tyler nodded. "It's a long story. I'll explain what it is later. Right now, are you in any kind of pain?"
James rolled his shoulder slightly, testing the joint. "No, not really," he said, his voice still thick and raspy. "I'm very thirsty."
"Right, you lost a lot of blood earlier." Tyler turned to Serena as she slowly approached the table. "Serena, where did you say I could find some water again?"
"Oh, it's in that barrel over there," Serena said, pointing toward a wooden barrel in the back corner of the tent. A dented zinc cup rested on its lid.
Tyler walked over to the barrel. The moment he stepped away, Serena leaned in close to James, her hand resting gently on his uninjured shoulder.
"Are you alright?" she whispered.
James nodded. "Yeah. What was that earlier? Who was screaming outside?"
"That was... Gary."
"What?" James shifted, shock snapping his eyes wide open.
"Yeah," Serena said, glancing over her shoulder at Tyler's back. "I don't know how he managed to beat him."
A look of pure terror crossed James's face.
Tyler returned, holding the filled zinc cup out. "Here."
James ignored the cup, his wide eyes locked onto Tyler. "Tyler, is it true that you beat up Gary?"
"Yeah." Tyler exhaled, setting the cup down on the wooden table next to James.
"Why did you do that?" James demanded, a sudden heat rising in his raspy voice before a harsh cough tore through his chest.
"Here, drink some water first," Tyler said.
James snatched the cup and downed the water in long, greedy swallows.
"He was making fun of you," Tyler said, his jaw tightening. "Said that I could have just used you as bait. It got to me. And so I taught him a lesson."
Serena stared at Tyler. Her chest tightened with a tangled knot of deep impression and overwhelming concern. She feared for him.
James lowered the empty cup to the table. He took a slow, heavy breath. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Why?" Tyler asked. "He was calling you names and saying disrespectful shit when you could have died."
"Tyler," James said, his voice dropping to a somber, steady tone. "You just put a target on our backs."
"What do you mean?"
"Gary is a member of the Black Cloud Guild," Serena said, stepping closer. "And he's the son of the Vice-Captain. If he hears about what happened here..."
"Exactly," James interrupted, gripping the edge of the table. "They might send people to come looking for you."
Tyler's eyes widened, the weight of his actions finally crashing down on him.
"Damn, I had no idea," he muttered. "I messed up, huh."
Tyler’s jaw abruptly clamped shut, his teeth grinding together. His body pitched forward, his muscles seizing, but he caught himself just in time, slamming both palms flat onto the wooden table to bear his weight.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Serena asked, rushing a step forward.
"The skill," Tyler forced through clenched teeth.
He flipped his palm upward, his entire frame trembling under the sudden strain. Serena stared in confusion, unable to comprehend what was happening until the empty air above his hand distorted. A glass vial filled with a swirling green liquid materialized directly into his grasp. Tyler brought the vial to his lips and drained the fluid.
"What is that?" Serena asked.
A faint green luminescence rippled across Tyler's skin beneath his torn clothes. The rigid tension in his shoulders released, and he let out a long, heavy exhale. With a flick of his wrist, he returned the vial to his inventory. A dim blue light flashed briefly, and the glass vanished.
*The pain's completely gone with just one potion,* he thought. *The backlash wasn't as painful as when I fought the boss monster.*
"It's a potion," Tyler explained aloud, straightening his posture. "When a person drinks this, it heals thirty percent of the damage their body has accumulated. I made James drink some after he lost a lot of blood back in the monster zone."
James gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles whitening. "But... how did you manage to escape?"
"I didn't," Tyler said.
Serena narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean?"
"I'm saying I killed it. I defeated the boss monster."
"Wait, you're saying that you killed the Tri-horn on your own?"
"No," Tyler said.
"He's saying he defeated the Crimson Alpha," James interjected. The air rushed out of his lungs, his voice turning hollow from the sheer weight of his own words.
Serena shook her head, her gaze darting between the two men. "Wait, Crimson Alpha? What are you talking about? Wasn't the quest to hunt down the Tri-horn?"
"An invasion happened," James said, his chest rising as he gathered his breath.
"An invasion?" Serena asked, her voice hitching in surprise.
"Yes. The Crimson Alpha's pack had already invaded the Tri-horn's territory when we got there. The Tri-horn was already defeated, but the Crimson Alpha was left standing. Tyler and I tried to fight off the pack and the boss monster since we couldn't outrun them, but I got severely injured and fell unconscious."
Serena turned her full attention back to Tyler. "So, Tyler, you're saying you managed to defeat it on your own?"
"Yes," Tyler said. He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was probably mostly because the boss's stamina was already depleted when we got there. I mean, it fought with the other boss, right?"
"Yes," James said, though his expression remained tight.
"But still..."
Serena exhaled, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to process the information.
James quickly shifted his posture, changing the subject. "So, you got the materials?"
"Yes," Tyler said. "It's in my inventory."
"Good." James let out a heavy breath.
Serena looked at James, then back at Tyler. "I'm still confused. You said that liquid you drank can heal people?"
"It can," Tyler said, nodding. "That's how I managed to heal James."
"That sounds impossible. How can anything like that exist? Only healers can do that."
"A potion can do that too. It's the only reason James is alive. All his wounds are closed, and I'm assuming his blood refilled. But all that blood on his armor was still his." Tyler opened his palm. The air shimmered, and another vial of green liquid materialized in his grasp. "I already explained how it works."
Serena and James stared at the glowing liquid in silence. A moment later, Tyler dismissed it, the glass vanishing into thin air.
"You can just make something like that?" Serena asked.
"Not really. I actually have to gather ingredients. They're not easy to find." Tyler gestured toward the counter. "But we've finished the quest, haven't we? We should probably give you the materials and get the rewards before people come back."
"Yeah, right," Serena said, quickly walking back behind the wooden counter.
James pushed himself off the table, his boots hitting the floorboards with a dull thud as he followed Tyler toward the front.
*He defeated that monster alone,* James thought, his eyes fixed on Tyler's back. *I knew he was already stronger than his rank, but this is just too much. That monster had just killed another boss. It must have at least reached B-rank by then.*
"Stand back. This is a pretty big hide," Tyler instructed as he stopped at the counter.
Serena quickly took a few steps back. A light blue shimmer blanketed the top of the counter. In an instant, a massive, heavy leather hide materialized. It slammed onto the wood, its sheer size causing the edges to spill loosely over both sides and brush against the floor like a giant, thick blanket.
"Wow, you really got it," Serena said, reaching out. She ran her fingertips across the surface. It was perfectly smooth, clean, and completely dry. "Just like the other ones. You have an incredible skill," she exhaled.
She grabbed the heavy material, her muscles straining as she pulled the massive hide off the counter and let it fall beside her.
"All right, now for the reward," she said, catching her breath.
She pulled open the drawer, retrieving a small, heavy pouch filled with silver coins. She placed it firmly on the counter. "I had already prepared this. It's the full reward. Fifty silver."
"Thank you," Tyler said. He picked up the pouch, weighing it in his hand before looking over at James. "I guess we'll take half each."
"Yeah," James said, snapping out of his daze. "Let's leave."
Tyler offered Serena one last nod before turning toward the exit. He and James walked toward the canvas flap.
"Tyler!" Serena called out.
Tyler paused, glancing back over his shoulder.
"Be careful out there," she said, her voice tight with worry. "The Black Cloud Guild will have their eyes on you."
"Don't worry. I'll keep that in mind." He turned back toward the exit. "Bye."
"Bye," Serena said, the word slipping out a fraction too late as the canvas flap fell shut behind him.
She stood alone in the quiet tent, releasing a long, shaky sigh. Her mind raced, violently struggling to digest everything that had just happened over the past hour.
*Just... what's happening?* she thought.