A Few Minutes Earlier...
Sheila screamed as she struck at the troll with her claws, raking across it's chest, only for it to heal within moments. Their luck today went from bad to shit almost immediately, and none of them knew what was going on. This was supposed to be a simple job killing a pack of C ranked Goblins led by a C+ ranked goblin war chief. Not only did they run into this damn troll, which was apparently a B rank monster according to Serena's inspection skill, but this monster had actually killed and eaten the goblins they were after. At least if the mess in the woods was anything to go by.
The proof of their completion of the contract was most likely digesting in this beast's stomach as they fought this thing. Terroth took another attack, and he gritted his teeth in pain, and that pissed Sheila off even more. Terroth was the man she owed everything to, and had helped her find her way after her pack had been slaughtered by a group of Orges when she was just a child. He became something of a father to her, and had been training by his side ever since that day.
Like her, he had no family of his own. The people of his small settlement refused to accept Sheila when he brought her there, telling him to either pick the girl, or pick them. She still remembered the determination in his eyes when their eyes had met, and well... he had chose her, although he'd never admit it. He didn't show his emotions well, or speak them, but his eyes were always full of affection when he looked at her.
And that man, who meant so much to her, was being punched down, and beaten by this ugly piece of shit monster. She wouldn't have it. Her Berserker's Rage skill burned hot within her, increasing her strength and speed drastically, at the cost of her intelligence, and a constant anger roiling through her. She attacked again, leaping at the monster's sides with quick speed, carving deep lacerations in its side with her claws. She cursed when they healed immediately again.
Suddenly, she felt a warm sensation through her body, as did Terroth, when Benri's healing spell hit them. God, having a healer on their team was so damn nice. Then, a scorching ball of fire slamming into her opponent's chest, causing it to roar in both anger and pain. Serena's fire was also damn useful, and it proved its worth. Sheila didn't let up, and Terroth backed her up as she attacked, and he defended. When he got a fist slammed into his shield the next time, he used his Retaliation skill to reflect the damage, but of course, it just healed from that as well. Truly, this thing was a monster among monsters.
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The troll began to look more and more aggravated each time it did damage to them, only for it to be healed, and then for scorching fire to slam into it. Its eyes darted around, and it noticed two red furred fox people in the back behind the two attacking it directly. One, the female, was the one hitting it with fire, and the male was the one closing its opponent's wounds. The fire it could heal from, but its opponents healing just like it did? The troll didn't like that one bit.
It looked around its surroundings, and found a long broken branch with a sharp tip at the end, being snapped off of a nearby tree at an angle. It picked up the tree, and leveled swung it around itself, momentarily causing the wolf and the bear to back off. The edge cut a wound open in the wolf's arm, and the healer fox began to cast a spell, and the troll actually grinned, before reeling back the branch, and chucking it with so much force that it speed past the two in front faster than they could blink.
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Serena's heart lept in her throat as she saw the troll rear back and throw the spear like branch, and it was at such a speed that she couldn't even track it. But, she saw where it was angled. Right at her brother. Her feet moved immediately, shoving him out of the way and to the ground. No sooner did she do that, a searing and terrible pain lanced through her gut, and she screamed as she fell towards the ground, her brother screaming as he caught her.
"SERENA!!" He screamed as he looked at the nasty wound in her stomach.
Sheila and Terroth went into a frenzy after that, screaming battle cries and shouts of rage as they doubled their efforts. Benri was beside himself. His mind blanked out everything else except helping his sister. He wouldn't let her die. She couldn't... she was all he had. After they ran away from home, the only people they could count on was each other, at least until they met their two friends. He would do anything for them as well... but this was his sister! The person he risked everything for.
First thing's first, he had to remove the branch from her body. He couldn't heal her with this in her.
"Benji... it hurts so much..." Serena said, causing tears to fall from Benri's face.
"I know... I know... just let me get this out of you, and I'll heal you right up." He said as he grabbed the branch with shaking hands.
The branch was still longer in the front, so he had to pull it out. He gripped the front of it, and began to pull.
"AHHHH!" Serena screamed in heart wrenching pain as the branch was jolted around, but wouldn't budge. It barely moved, and he began to panic as he realized he might not be strong enough to do this, and the two that could, were busy fighting. Serena looked like she was going in and out of consciousness.
"Love... you.... Benji..." Serena said, blood leaking from her mouth.
"No no no, you don't say that like that! You know I love you, and I won't let you die!" He said, before sending healing into her body.
It wouldn't help her heal her gut wound, and would probably not do much, but it would still fill her HP enough to keep her alive. He just had to do that, and she'd be fine. However, when he tried again, he almost blacked out, as his magic didn't work.
"No... I'm out of mana..." He said.
He had already used all of his Mana potions during this fight... and they didn't bother buying any HP potions because they had a healer on the team. He was now cursing that choice. Just as hope had left him, a figure landed in front of him, causing him to look up in a panic. He was too freaked out over his sister to wonder why a very large and very villainous looking man had landed in front of him holding a small yet shapely catgirl in his arms. Two other women had landed as well, but they did not catch his eye like the man, and certainly not like this catgirl. The man then put said catgirl down, and she rushed over the them.
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Serena's focus waned, her mind and body fighting to keep her alive. She could barely hear or see anything through the haze of pain, but she knew there were more people around her. Through the haze, and the fog, there was one thing that she saw, and she latched onto it.
"Pretty eyes..." She thought, as she stared into a pair of red orbs that held concern for her.
The figure suddenly knelt next to her, and her vision locked onto this person. He was so close that she could make out many of his features. He had white hair, a very masculine and handsome face, and of course, those glowing red eyes that stared at her. He was... a beautiful man. She would have been happier to see a man like this under different circumstances.
Some talking happened, and then she felt an them begin to move her, to angle her body upwards. That movement caused the branch in her stomach to jostle around and push against her insides just right. Her vision cleared as her eyes opened wide, and sound rushed back into her ears as her awareness returned, but she could hear was the sounds of her own screams. Her brother had said something to her, but it escaped her as the pain caused her mind to scream as loud as her mouth.
She tried to calm herself, but it was hard as the pain was unbelievable. During that time, Benji had held her close, and despite the situation, a warmth filled her chest that helped calm her despite the pain. Then, a small and sharp pain came from her back, but strangely enough, a lot of the pressure from her insides vanished, and it actually caused her mind to clear, if only slightly.
She looked up, and met the eyes of the man in front of her. With her vision cleared even further, she found that the man was even better looking than she first thought. His black clothing gave him an edge of danger... until you looked into his eyes. Those red eyes of his might seem scary to most people, but not to her. She only saw concern for her wellbeing, and a kindness that she almost couldn't believe existed in a world like this.
She could tell a lot from a person's eyes, like their intentions, or what kind of person they were. That's why she ran away from home in the first place. Her parents had decided that she would become the mate to the strongest member of their pack, and join his pack of females. None of his pack looked happy when she saw them, and when she looked into that man's eyes, she had only seen lustful gazes, like she was merely a toy for him to use. Obviously, she objected, and went so far as to run away.
The arms around her made her smile despite the pain. He had never liked that man, and had heard terrible things about him as well. He fought against their parents about it many times, but their minds had never changed. Then, we she packed up her things one night, and decided to just run away, he had went with her. He said that it was a brother's duty to watch after their siblings, and that a home without her would not be home. She almost started crying right then and there at her brother's love and care for her.
The man in front of her then wrapped his hands around the branch in her gut, the pressure alerting her and bringing her out of her mind. He looked at her, and again, that kindness was there. She felt like she could trust this man for some reason. Then, he spoke, and his voice was deep, and would have made her knees weak if she was standing.
"You're going to be okay, but this will probably hurt a lot." He had said to her, "I promise that you'll be okay... I won't let you die. Now, are you ready?"
She just stared at him. He wanted to help her. More than that, she got the feeling that he absolutely could, and would help her. She wanted this pain to stop, and the confidence in his eyes gave her confidence as well. She managed a weak nod at him.
He began to count down.
"3... 2... 1..."
Once he got to one, he ripped the branch free, and an unbelievable pain lanced through her body as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The pain was worse than she could have even imagined. It was like-
Serena felt a small tingle in her body, and instantly, she felt the pain stop. Her eyes widened as she looked down at her stomach, only to find that the wound was gone. The only evidence that anything even had happened was the blood, and her tunic being torn open. Other than that, she was perfectly fine. She looked up at the man, his hair billowing around him, but once again, she focused on those red orbs. Kind and gentle eyes stared at her, and she felt her heart skip a beat.
"It's... gone... and there's no pain..." She said, before she looked up at her savior.
"Thank you..."
SERENA! YOU'RE OKAY!" Benji yelled as he hugged her tightly, causing Serena's eyes to begin watering with tears.
The man gave her and her brother a smile, and then he began speak.
"You're welcome. Happy to-" He had said, but a scream had tore them away from that, and they all focused back on the fight with with troll.
The troll had sent Terroth flying, making both fox beastkin cry out his name. There was a pretty red haired woman with this group who pulled her sword, and began running towards the troll, but she wasn't fast enough. Her blood ran cold as the thought of her friend dying was mere seconds away.
Serena looked towards the others around here, her eyes focusing on the stunning white haired cat beastkin who nodded at the man in front of her with a smile on her face. Serena didn't even blink, yet the man had disappeared like he was a ghost. She blinked rapidly, and then her eyes were drawn to the loud boom where the troll was.
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Moments Earlier...
Terroth grunted as the beast slammed a fist into his shield again. He had knocked the beasts punch away and used Retaliation, causing the beast to roar as it stumbled back. It would heal in moments, but it have him a small lull, so he quickly glanced back at the group that had landed near Benji and Serena. The newcomers seemed to be helping them, and he just hoped to the Framework that he was right.
However, he wasn't the only one that noticed, as Sheila had also turned around to look at them, and he couldn't help but notice the intense look she was giving to the tall man who looked like some kind of demon or something. He was currently aiding Serena, and both his and Sheila's eyes widened when he saw him rip the branch out of her stomach, and then used some weird black glowing magic to heal her almost instantly.
"Holy hells..." Terroth said, turning back around, and then cursed at their inattentiveness.
"SHEILA!" He yelled as he ran forward, which snapped her out of her mesmerized stare at the group behind them, only to have to cross her arms in front of her as the troll has regained itself, and one of its closed fists was descending towards. Her body glowed with use of her defensive skill, Berserker's Bulwark.
She had used the skill just in time, and it's 50% damage negation is the only reason she wasn't turned into paste. Still, that didn't stop her from being driven into the ground, nor did it stop the bones in her forearms from cracking and breaking so loud that even he had heard it. That attack was way too strong for just a damn punch. Sheila screamed as the blow drove her knees into the ground, and the troll reared back another punched.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" He screamed, interposing himself in front of Sheila.
The troll's fist connected, and Terroths eyes widened at the strength of this punch. Its blows were hard before, but this one was devastating. It bent his shield inwards before the force sent him flying across the clearing. He smashed into at least 4 trees before they stopped his flight and he came to a painful roll across the ground before stopping.
Everything hurt beyond belief, and he felt like every single bone in his body had been broken. He weakly looked towards Sheila, only for his heart to become cold as he saw her, weak and on her knees, yet staring with hatred at the monster. He tried to move, but his body wasn't listening. Actually, now that he thought about it, the only reason that he was alive was due to his second chance passive skill, where it would stop a death blow from actually killing him, leaving him at 1 HP. The downside was now that skill would be on cooldown for a whole month.
As he stared at the scene, and what was about to happen, he didn't even have the strength to scream. He felt tears fall from his eyes, as the girl who had become his precious daughter, was going to die.
"No..." He said weakly, before the fist descended. However, his eye caught something right before the blow hit that made his eyes widen.
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Sheila had watched as the fist of the troll slammed into the man who she saw as her father. It crumpled his shield, his armor, and she heard way too many of his bones break before he was sent flying, which made her scream in both terror and rage. She tried to move, but her body wasn't listening to her. She had used her defensive skill to block half of the damage of that attack, yet it still hurt this damn much. Her legs weren't listening to her, and her snapped forearms were definitely not going to be of much use.
She looked up at the monster with a hateful glare, and bared her teeth at it. She knew she was going to die, and no one was close enough or strong enough to intervene. She didn't want them to anyways. If they were smart, they would leave her, and run. Terroth should be alive, so at least he would make it out in time. The monster reared back a clenched fist, and she could swear it grinned at her.
She refused to look away. She wanted this thing to know exactly how felt about it until the very end. If her hatred, disgust, and vitriol could kill, this thing would be dead 5 times over. The fist then descended towards her, and in that moment, a different thought entered her mind... but it was too late regardless.
"I don't want to die." She whispered.
Her vision was then blocked by something appearing in front of her, and a loud boom echoed throughout the clearing. Dirt flew up in the air from the blow. She now noticed that what appeared in front of her was a person. She looked up to see the back of a man with lomg white hair, and a cape billowing around as the force from the blow disturbed the air. Then, her breath caught when she noticed that the troll's arm was shaking from strain as it tried to push the man back, who had caught the blow on his open palm.
"W-what??" She asked, dumbfounded.
Her ears picked up that her words were tbe consensus of many of the others around as well, but she barely paid attention she focused on the man who had just blocked a troll's blow with his bare hand. This man had just saved her... and he barely even seemed concerned by this monster.
"You clearly don't know how to treat a lady." The man said in a deep voice that almost had her panting.
The man turned his head towards her, meeting her blue eyes with his deep red ones. She thought she might get lost in them if she stared for too long. He smiled.
"Don't worry. No one is dying today." He said, before he turned his attention back to the troll, "Now, bring it, asshole."