Inara stepped between James and the Demon King. She locked eyes with the Hero just long enough to say, “Look after Desiree.” And then the claws of the First Demon King slashed across her neck.
Blood fountained out, and the warrior collapsed.
James cried out. He stumbled back, horrified. Terrified.
The First Demon King made an irritated noise and stepped over her body.
James locked eyes with the monster who used to be his friend. His fear transformed into fury.
“Water Dance.” Water jetted below his feet and sent him upwards in a tight spiral. He whirled around the Demon King. His eyes did not leave that creature’s face as he rose.
“Fireball.” James reached for those magical, unending flames that lined the grotto walls. He twisted their threads into a spell, and when the Demon King held up his shield, he was surprised — because the fireballs came not from James but from the walls themselves, from every angle all at once.
The Demon King cried out in pain. The demons reached for their master, but they were too far away to help — and even if they weren’t, what could they do? Their magma skin would only enhance the flames.
Fire licked in and around the Demon King’s armor. He screamed in pain, and James could smell the burning of his flesh.
The Hero did not let up on his assault. He hardened himself against the disaster he was inflicting against his enemy. Whenever a sliver of sympathy slipped through, he remembered the fountain of blood that splashed from Inara’s neck.
James needed to check on her. He needed her to be okay, and he needed to heal her as soon as possible, and that would only happen when the First Demon King lay dead.
Fireball after fireball slammed into the Demon King’s head. It ignited further whenever hellfire leaked from his eyes, like the hellfire was some kind of fuel for the magical flames.
Until at last, the First Demon King stopped screaming. He stopped twitching. He stopped breathing.
The final boss was dead.
James let the water jets fade, so that he was quickly returned to Inara’s side. She was deathly pale, and everywhere he touched her, his hands came away in blood.
There was so much blood.
“Vital pulse,” he said, frantically searching for the magic. He grabbed her hand and pressed against her wrist until he felt the faint fluttering of her heartbeat. “Vital pulse!”
But he didn’t have the understanding of healing magic that he had with fire and earth and water. He’d only ever thought of it as a skill, a tool to be used but not necessarily understood.
“James? Mama!” Desiree cried out.
“Water Dance.” With a wave of his hand, James brought Desiree back to shore.
The magma demons growled.
“Immobile!” Without their master, the demons were malleable — almost like they wanted to be controlled. They stopped moving.
Desiree came running up. Her feet slapped against the blood-slicked stone.
“What happened? Is she going to be okay?!”
“I don’t know,” James said through gritted teeth. “My skills won’t work. We have to get her out of here.”
“Give her a healing potion!”
“I can’t access my inventory!” James shot back with too much ferocity.
The little girl flinched back, and he was instantly sorry.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“I saw the gate. It’s not far.”
“You did?” James was so focused on Inara that he hadn’t noticed. He looked where Desiree was pointing and saw a portal not five feet away, the same swirling magical mix that they’d seen when they first entered the dungeon. It crackled with energy.
“Let’s go!” James flipped Inara onto his shoulders in a fireman carry. He’d learned the maneuver years ago in one of his safety trainings. Though this was the first time he’d had to put it into practice, he slid easily through the motions.
He held her tight and ran through the gate. Magic crackled like electricity across his skin. For a moment he thought he could see the seams of the world. He could see the System overlaid across Grimora like an electrical grid—
Then he was through, and a flood of notifications filled his gaze.
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Fire Affinity +2
Water Affinity +2
Fire Affinity +2
HP -30
Water Affinity +2
Earth Affinity +2
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
Defeated level 25 Magma Demon! EXP +6000!
You have been struck by Hellfire! You are experiencing Shame for Your Transgressions!
HP -50
Water Affinity +4
You have been struck by Hellfire! You are experiencing Shame for Your Transgressions!
HP -100
HP -75
Party Member Inara is Bleeding! HP -10/sec
Fire Affinity +1
Water Affinity +1
Defeated lvl 67 First Demon King! EXP +100,000!
Level up!
Earth Affinity +3
Access to Inventory denied while outside the System.
Access to Inventory denied while outside the System.
Congratulations!! Your party has cleared the Hearthside Dungeon! EXP +250,000!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
James swept them all away. He didn’t care about his affinity or his experience or whatever the hell else the System had to say. The only thing that mattered was Inara’s health — and now that he could see her health bar again, it was even more clear how close she was to death and getting closer by the second.
“Vital Pulse.” James laid her gently on the grass and kept his fingers pressed against her wrist. The skill kicked on, and he knew it was working — but slowly, way too slowly to be effective. All he had done was slow her decline from 10HP/sec to 5HP/sec.
“Desiree! Use your healing spell on her, mine isn’t strong enough.”
Desiree only stared at them. Her mouth opened and closed, but she didn’t say a word.
James swore. The girl was in shock. That last battle had been too much for her, and she’d been through a lot already. At least her cheek had healed as soon as they left the dungeon; her hand was still pressed against her skin as if it might rupture again at any moment.
“Desiree,” James said, his voice measured. “I know you’re scared, and we can deal with that later. But right now, I need you to focus. I need you to use your healing spell. Your mom doesn’t have much time. Can you do that for me?”
The little girl turned her frightened eyes to his. “I never got a healing spell,” she whispered. “I thought— I thought if I could just fight hard enough, we wouldn’t need it.”
James saw red. “You said you would. You agreed to get a healing spell for the group!”
“Well, you never told me which one to get! I’ve never been a healer before, how should I know how to do that? I’m sorry I’m the worst party member who ever existed!” Desiree burst into tears.
James stiffened. What a childish fucking argument. She’d said she would do it. Of all of them, Desiree was the only with the holy affinity. She was the most qualified to be a healer; she would have access to more powerful healing spells, and they would be more effective by her hand.
And more than anything else, she’d said she would do it. Over and over again, she’d insisted that she was happy to be the healer. If that wasn’t the case, why not be honest? If he’d known she wasn’t up for it, he could have spent more time searching through his own skill list to at least have a better backup than Vital Pulse!
But then, Desiree was a child. She was such a competent team member that he lost sight of that, but at the end of the day, she was just a kid. It was better to learn now that he couldn’t rely on her, than to find that out against the real Demon King.
Desiree continued to wail, but James couldn’t handle that right now. Inara was still bleeding out, and there was one more thing he could do.
He opened his inventory (which blessedly worked) and took out his last remaining health potion. The small bottle looked exactly the way a health potion should look, with a round base and a cork stopper. He popped it open and held the bottle to Inara’s lips.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Drink this,” he murmured. “It’ll help.”
She didn’t react. James’s heart tightened with fear, but he kept his hands steady. He touched his thumb to her bottom lip and pulled her mouth open, then poured in the healing potion.
He watched with bated breath as she instinctively swallowed the red liquid.
“Come on,” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “This has to work. I need you to be okay.”
