Chapter 23: Carry Your Fire Into the Valley

The two days of respite passed by in the blink of an eye. On the morning of the third day, my console was lightly blinking (different from the heavy pulsating that indicated a fully charged special move). I clicked on the dot, pulling up a screen that showed a new message on my notifications tab.

Smithy had finished crafting Laevateinn.

Sakimi and I went out of the hotel and headed off to the blacksmith's shop. Upon entering, Smithy waved and beckoned for me to come to the counter. As I neared, he took out a shining rapier with an elegant guard and a light-green design running through the blade's center.

"It's magnificent," I said, accepting my precious new weapon.

"It's been nice doing business with you," Smithy said. "Come back to me when you want something built again."

"Sure. Thanks for this!"

"You're welcome."

Once Sakimi and I left the shop, I practiced swinging the sword. It had a much lighter feel compared to the heavier default sword. Now that I had a new weapon, I only needed to get the Skyfire Helmet for the archdemon boss fight.

But before then...

"Time to give this baby a test run," I said.

Sakimi jumped into the air. "Heck yeah! I've been itching for a fight!"

We went to the Guild Hub and checked for any hunting quests. Immediately, I spotted a B-rank quest to hunt a berserk spinebear that had been bypassing totems and attacking merchant wagons. Usually, only B-rank and higher monsters could ignore Totems of Warding, so this must be a serious enemy.

Then, I remembered that Sakimi was still a D-rank adventurer, which was one level lower than me. The only way for an adventurer to rank up is to challenge three quests with a difficulty that is one higher than their own. Sakimi had only completed one C-rank quest, so she would still need two more if she wanted to accept the spinebear hunt.

It didn't take long for Sakimi to realize that she was too low to accept the quest.

"Man, what a buzzkill," she said.

"Don't worry. I know a way."

It just so happened that there was an easy loophole in the adventuring system. Individuals could have a rank, but so could parties. Normally, parties are registered in the leader's name, so the other members would be issued the same card.

And so, I grabbed the quest sheet from the board and handed it to the receptionist. I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't look at my membership card too hard and question Sakimi. After a few agonizing seconds, the receptionist gave an absent-minded nod and approved the quest.

Phew!

Sakimi and I turned around, and we headed off.

"Heh," Sakimi said. "I didn't think you'd be one who would break the rules."

"I was just bending it a little bit."

"Anyway, what's with this spinebear?"

"It's gone berserk for some reason."

"They're supposed to be docile, though. What happened?"

"I don't know. I never thought they would attack people without warning. I guess we'll find out what's going on when we see it."

Soon enough, the two of us left the city and followed the road that led southwest. The quest sheet said that this location had the most frequent sightings.

At first, the road seemed fine, but as we went further, there was more damage. Eventually, the pavement cut off, having been shredded to mere rubble. Even the totems had been destroyed. Luckily, the southwest route wasn't too major of a highway, so merchants could take a detour. Still, fewer roads would increase traffic.

Just then, a howl echoed through the trees. Spinebears were diurnal pack hunters who often communicated by howls, but this noise was much more abrasive in tone. It was as if the spinebear were marking its territory and was threatening to kill anything that tresspassed.

That's our target.

I swiftly followed the sound's origin while Sakimi kept close behind, watching my back.

The howl came again, and I adjusted my course.

It didn't take long before Sakimi and I stumbled into a clearing where a singular spinebear sat in the center, licking honey from a beehive. Rotting animal corpses lay all around it, creating a repugnant haze.

Unlike Marigold's mount, this spinebear was almost twice as massive, and dozens of broken arrow shafts were still embedded in its hide, serving as a memento of the fallen warriors who had failed to defeat it. In addition to its rare saber-tooth fangs, the spines on its arms were massive and solid black as if made from obsidian.

I tried to sneak up behind the beast, but I was a paladin, not a rogue. I wasn't able to conceal my presence. It didn't take long before the spinebear caught our scent and turned around, glaring with terrifying bloodshot eyes that were surrounded in a pink corona.

"Back me up," I said to Sakimi.

She nodded, saying, "Wind of Snow!"

Simultaneously, I lunged forward. Since the spinebear had lower speed and defense, it was the perfect time to charge up my weapon's special attack.

Unlike my default blade, Laevateinn could increase its gauge if the user got hit. In addition to its naturally high rate of charge, Laevateinn one of the best early-game weapons for spamming special attacks. I even remember that one person created a build that allowed them to loop special attacks back-to-back. Maybe I should try that out later on.

In the meantime, I have to take care of this crazed spinebear.

Just before I could hand an attack, an arrow flew from the right, hitting my side. After a half-second of delay, it exploded, sending me tumbling to the left.

"Don't hurt him!" a familiar elf girl yelled.

Marigold rode in with her spinebear, putting herself between the wild beast and me.

"What are you doing?!" Sakimi and I both exclaimed.

"When I heard about a rampaging spinebear, I came to check it out as soon as possible," Marigold said. "It seems that my suspicions were right, and it's suffering from the red-eye disease."

"What's that?"

This is the first time I've heard of the red-eye disease. It wasn't in the base game.

The red-eye spinebear roared and swiped at Marigold, but Vortigern jumped out of the way.

Marigold turned to me and said, "Demons contain special organisms in their blood called bleakworms. The two of them form a symbiotic relationship: demons gain increased mana, and bleakworms can feed on blood. These bleakworms can't live in most organisms, but if they get into a spinebear's body, they cause red-eye disease."

Even while Marigold spoke, the massive beast relentlessly attacked, forcing Vortigern to evade continuously.

Marigold continued, "The increase in mana causes unnatural growth to the body and changes to the animal's brain, causing it to become much more aggressive."

The berserk spinebear let out another tremendous roar, and it charged forward, pounding the ground with its claws. This forced everyone to jump out of the way or risk getting pulverized.

"Thanks for the explanation," I said, "but if you don't want me to attack it, how should we beat this thing?"

"I've got a cure for the red-eye disease. Just immobilize it without doing too much damage, and I'll take care of the rest."

"Fine."

I turned to Sakimi and said. "You hear that? We gotta immobilize it!"

"Got it!"

Sakimi cast Wind of Snow again, re-applying the debuff. Then, I ran in and sliced the spinebear's legs to prevent it from moving around. Still, the beast acted like it felt no pain, and it continued trying to flatten me.

"Frozen Beam!" Sakimi said.

The blast coated the spinebear's right leg with ice, sticking it to the ground. As the beast tried to pry itself free, Sakimi fired another Frozen Beam to freeze the second leg.

Finally, Marigold shot an arrow that exploded goo everywhere, completely covering the spinebear's arms in an adhesive. Now that all of its limbs were restrained, Vortigern ran forward, allowing Marigold to shove a tiny berry into the red-eye beast's mouth.

"The frostleaf berry contains natural acids that kill bleakworms," Marigold said. "Most of the time, spinebears quickly die if they get the red-eye disease, but it looks like this one may only have a couple of bleakworms inside him, which isn't enough to cause any organ failure."

Next, Marigold took out a Medium Healing Potion and poured it on the spinebear. It had fully calmed down, and the redness was starting to fade.

"Help me pluck the arrows, you two," Marigold said.

Sakimi and I followed the request, but every time we ripped off a shaft, the spinebear whimpered from the pain.

"Sakimi," Marigold said. "Can you use healing magic?"

"Yes, but not very well."

"I can use Rejuvenation," I said.

"Alright," Marigold replied. "Heal the spinebear while Sakimi and I take out the arrows."

I placed my hand on the beast's head and activated my spell, creating a golden glitter. Although Rejuvenation was initially intended for my personal use, it could also help out other injured people, or, in this case, an injured animal. This helped soothe the spinebear's pain and close the wounds.

Once all the arrows were gone, Sakimi broke the ice, and Marigold poured water on the sticky goo to dissolve it. The spinebear graciously wriggled itself free.

Marigold petted the animal's head and said, "You can go now."

The spinebear nodded and headed off.

"Thanks for helping us," Sakimi said to Marigold.

"No. I should be the one thanking you guys. Because of that, we managed to cure his red-eye disease without much issue."

I was bummed that I couldn't test out my Laevateinn's special attack, but it was fine. I could always do that another time.

"Anyway, Sakimi," Marigold said. "I spoke with your parents."

"What did they say?"

"They yelled at me for an hour straight, but I finally managed to convince them that you'll be fine. For now, they said that they would respect your wishes."

"Yahoo!" Sakimi exclaimed, jumping for joy.

It warmed my heart to see Sakimi genuinely happy.

"You know, Marigold," I said. "You're quite skillful. Would you consider joining our party?"

Marigold placed a finger on her chin and said, "Hm. I don't know."

"That'll be great!" Sakimi said. "I've always wanted to go on adventures with you, Marigold!"

The elf girl sighed. "You know, what? Why not? I'm sure it would be a good chance to improve my skills. I can even keep an eye on Sakimi while I'm at it."

"Yahoo!" Sakimi rejoiced again.

And with that, we gained a new member of our party.