"Just die already!"

The cultist had already taken an arrow to the foot, a shield bashing through a wall and ate up to twenty rare grade talismans and managed to still stay standing. He didn't even flinch.

Even with copious amounts of blood leaving his body, he still has the will to keep fighting.

"Dammit! These bastards are tougher than I thought,"

"How do we beat him?"

"Just throw more stuff at him!"

Such a simple yet effective plan. Although the cultist was indifferent to their attacks, it wasn't the case that their attacks were doing nothing, his numerous wounds were the proof. As such, if they kept pressing on, he would die eventually, right? After all, as the saying goes, 'if it bleeds, it can die.'

Well, apparently not. After taking another round of assault, he manages to somehow sneak through the vigilantes' back ranks, withering their archers, and mages alike. If only there was some proper light, they might have been able to avoid such a scenario.

"Dammit! SToP him?" The captain ended his exclamation on a puzzled note.

Indeed right now, the vigilantes were suddenly placed in a state of confusion. Seeing their nemesis who was just on a killing spree suddenly just flop over was… It was surprising, to say the least.

…

Hm, I can't move my body anymore. Well, it's more so that I'm struggling to, everything feels heavy and there's a delay between when I move and when I actually move. Did I get paralysed? Did they paralyze me? One of those sheets of paper must've paralysed me. Makes sense, they were trying to immobilize me the whole time.

Sigh, a little help would be appreciated. I whine internally to myself as I lay in a pool of my own cold blood. Blood is s'posed to be warm, you say? Don't ask me why my blood is cold. It just is, alright?

"Is he dead?"

"I mean, yeah? I think so?" The archers seemed mildly confused over the current predicament.

I mean, I would be too. Except I wouldn't. Instead of standing around being dunces, I would instead be shooting me right now. Couldn't be too sure if a corpse might start moving again. Trust me, I've had experience.

"He's definitely dead, look at that blood trail. Look at all the injuries. He has to be dead."

While the home invaders started making small talk about their first kill, a new party appeared. Well, it was just that the real cultists showed up, and there's that damn bird! Showing up late to the crime scene, just like all good law enforcers… She needs to break out of that habit.

"Oh? Have some temple doggies been looking for us~?" Laffer taunts, garnering their glares and a maddened display of froth at the mouth. How does the man do it? How did he piss these people off so much with just a sentence?

"Tsk, a diversion?"

"I'm afraid that isn't the case, however, I can give you a special offer for visiting us so late at night," An eerie smirk stretches across his face.

"Hm, what could that be?" He's on guard, but being wary of the new opponents, he entertains Laffer.

"This!"

Stabbing the poor guy, Laffer cleanly guts him, starting a new round of combat, heedless of my situation. I'm still here y'know, and I would still like some help. Just a bit. A tad bit of help. It can't be that hard.

"Oh crap. Jeff, is that you?"

Yup, it is me.

"You good?"

Nope.

"Oh then everything's all right then, I'm sure you'll make a swift recovery!" Lily smiles giving me a thumbs up.

You're lucky, if I could get up right now, I would kill you so badly that your remains won't even have genetic linkage to each other.

"H-hey hey Jeff, I'm sorry! Please don't glare at me like that!"

Whilst everyone is fighting each other, or rather whilst Laffer is slaughtering everyone, Lily drags me to an obscure corner.

"Crap man, you legit need help," She says after taking a look at my injuries.

"Well naaah!" I'm sure I didn't need a godsdamned physician to tell me I need help right now.

"Alright! Wills, my friend! Can you help out Jeff here?" She calls over Wills, whom she seemed to have bonded with. I swear, you better not be bonding over the scent of hard spirits.

"Don't worry, I gotchu," He gives me another thumbs up before reaching for a bottle hooked on his belt. Flicking off the stopper, he empties the alcoholic cider over me…

No you don't!

"It's supposed to help, alright?"

'Supposed to,' huh? But is it really helping? Are you treating my wounds or are you poisoning me, huh? Just give me a potion! I've seen those things in every odd corner shop! And I'm sure you have some, you bastard!

"Sigh, looks like I'll have to do this. Don't blame for what happens,"

Are you really that disheartened to part with your potions and what's with the ominous words? Nonetheless, potions aren't that expensive, and even then, you probably stole yours…

He reaches for a glass phial in his pockets. The translucent blue liquid sloshes inside it as he slowly opens the stopper. He pries it open tantalisingly, inch by inch.

Oh my lord. Can you take any longer?!

Though perhaps hearing my silent cries of anguish, another man comes to my rescue.

"New guy?"

Yeah, the new guy just popped out of the woodwork like a damned gremlin, though his presence is many more folds assuring than Wills'. And that is for one reason only.

"Oh my gods! Jeffrey! Are you okay?" He exclaims seeing my rough treatment, "No, you aren't okay,"

See! At least he was able to tell that much. This immediately raised my image of him three folds above Wills'.

"Don't worry I got him," Wills tries to disillusion him, but to my relief, the new guy has some common sense.

"You clearly aren't helping him!"

"Yesn't, I am,"

"You know what? Who cares!"

No please, don't leave me!

"I'll help him myself, whether you like it or not!"

I'm not gonna lie, you had me the first half. May the gods bless your soul man!

The new guy presses his hand against me, as he starts to heal me? I'm surprised he knew some kind of recovery magic. Y'know, I had my doubts when he said he was gonna help me, after all, I was not expecting something like this. At most, I expected him to pour some healing solution on me.

Nonetheless, his recovery magic is authentic, my flesh stitches itself back together and even goes the extra mile and replenishes my blood. I can barely move, but it should be due to exhaustion, what matters is that the more pressing concerns have been dealt with.

What a man!

Flexing my fingers, it seems I'll have to apologise, new guy, you aren't that bad of a guy.

Giving me a thumbs up, he seats himself, most likely recovering from the exhaustion of the magic. If you ever get yourself in a pinch, I swear I'll be the first one to back you up no matter what, I inwardly declare returning his gesture.

Turning to look at the battle, my expectations are rather different to the reality before me, these fiends are actually being completely crushed. I didn't think the gap between Steel and Silver was this large. I mean, back in the day, just me and my man Savage could stand toe to toe with an elite Steel ranked knight, but these guys…

Every movement they made was countered and crushed with major discrimination. Their teamwork was solid in my eyes, but they simply failed to fend off against Laffer, and when Lacer chipped in, they immediately collapsed. Despite his aged demeanour, he moves with an incredible air of sprightlyness.

This armed group came in blazing only to get their asses handed to them.

A sense of pride sort of wells up in me, seeing them get crushed. Like a schadenfreude, I'm pleased that they're getting whooped. Though as I start feeling proud about having these guys as my allies…

*Slam!*

I had to remind myself. Combat strength wasn't everything.

"Ouch, what the hell!?" Laffer shouts, giving him the impression of an idiot.

Which is not a false impression, considering, well. He's an idiot.

"What is this guy made of?!" Faced with the last man apart of those unknown fiends, Laffer backs off.

The man wears the conventional mercenary attire, however, he’s draped in a heavy panoply from head to toe, bearing a heavy tower shield. Different from the one that bashed me through a wall. Though it shouldn't be something that Laffer would struggle with though.

In this tense standoff, a gruff voice sighs, as the lone man gazes at the husks of his comrades.

"I failed you," He pauses.

"I swore that I'd protect you, no matter the cost! But I failed!" He speaks to himself. As he begins to… monologue?

"It didn't matter if I couldn't fight, after all, I was a dud at the blade, I swore to make myself useful so I mastered an essence art branch that many belittled. Raising my rank to Silver with this essence as my foundation. However, it was not wrong that they looked at me with disdain, after all, by solely basing myself upon this essence, I would be trading all my offensive power for defence. I knew it would essentially make me a cripple, but for you guys… It didn't matter as long as I could protect you guys.

"We trained and we grew stronger, we had fun times and sad times. Good times and bad. I didn't think this would happen so abruptly. I failed you. I-I just thought it would be enough, but now I can see the foolishness of my actions. By mastering this essence, I did not become the stalwart defender that I vowed to be, instead, I simply became a cowardly turtle who hides in its shell at the first sign of danger.

"Yet, you guys never said a word of my choice. And for that, you truly were the best friends I could've ever asked for. It is my fate to die alongside you, and I am prepared for such. I failed you. And for that, I apologise,"

Wrapping up his monologue the shieldbearer kneels by a nearby corpse, closing their cold, staring eyes.

"I should never have mastered the essence of bricks, such a feeling gnaws at me, a fool's errand as they say. But I do not regret it either. To regret is to not only credit me a fool, but to also look down upon your sincerity. My friends, please wait in bated breath as I fulfil my one last selfish deed on this corrupt realm,"

So saying, he slams his shield against the ground with a loud clang as he signals the end of his sorrowful soliloquy.

Truly, I had to say, despite not being invested in the art of words, that was quite a heartfelt monologue. I'm truly, rather touched.

But I do have one comment. Though I think I simply misheard.

"Ay, can you tell me what essence arts he specialises in again?"