Chapter 45: Bloodlines

'What the hell was that disc of light? A spell? A mage in close combat? No it's probably a special fighter skill right?'

Her brain rapidly tried to catch up as her jaw dropped.

The battle ongoing that had suddenly seemed to stop involving her the second this guy appeared didn't wait for her, as the orc dropped his sliced club and began to roar as he spread his arms out, to look bigger and intimidate the opponent as he obviously prepared to charge his opponent.

Who knows who was more stunned, him or the girl, when Ryth suddenly turned and ran away!

"I'm empty on mana, and this ain't my fight! Your welcome, you can finish the rest, bye dumb reckless fighter lady!"

"..."

"...grr?"

The orc and female human looked at each other for a moment.

What the fuck?!

The guy jumps in, breaks the orc's weapon, stabs a knife into his-wait where did that dagger go?

And now he is just gone?

He was here for 5 bloody seconds!

The girl shook away the confusion.

The orc was blind in one eye, had no weapon, and was confused.

Meanwhile she was scraped, armed, and now had the advantage.

'...what exactly am I waiting for?!'

She yelled as she lifted her weapon up, charging the orc once again!

And then it slumped over, dead.

"OKAY WHAT THE FUCK?!"

~ ~ ~

Ryth sheepishly walking back past the trees, to find a somewhat fuming fighter next to the corpse.

"H-hi... berserker lady?"

"WHO IN THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A BERSERKER?!"

She took a deep breath, and began muttering with great aggression.

"Do I look like some uncouth and raging psycho of massive muscles? No! I'm clearly a thin and delicate lady with a flexible and lean body! I'm going to be a beautiful ranger, not some half-nude berserker!"

Her head snapped up to look at Ryth in such a sudden way it felt extremely unsettling.

"What about you?! Some wild crazy psycho with a knife! If you're a Mage, fight like a Mage! You're a Berserk Mage, fucking crazy brawny ugly naked idiot!"

"...actually I'm a healer..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing Ma'am!" Ryth leapt to attention. 'Ketair! Women are scary!'

She scowled at him, before looking at the orc.

She took a few steps over and reached down to grab the knife.

Ryth's eyes widened. "Wait do-"

She grabbed it and pulled it out.

"-n't touch... that..."

Ryth winced, rushing at her suddenly as he slammed his working hand on her wrist!

Her hand involuntarily spasmed as she dropped his dagger, and he grabbed her wrist as he held up her hand to his eye.

"Hey what the fu-"

"Shut up you stupid idiot! What kind of adventurer picks up a poisoned dagger where the poison is obviously going to be mixed in with all the blood coating it?!"

She blinked as the timid guy from a few seconds ago had suddenly become someone else it seemed, a confidence and authority bleeding out of him as though he knew his knowledge was absolute.

"Poisoned?"

"How else do you think the orc dropped dead? I ran to give time for it to kick in! Only an idiot waits around for a still-able foe to drop dead of poison! Run away and waste time as you wait for them to die!"

The sudden reversal of who was aggressively muttering did not help the wave of nausea beginning to hit her as she nearly stumbled, Ryth's arm catching her back to hold her balanced.

"Hey hey! Stay with me! Okay we're just gonna lie down now..."

"I... don't want to die-!"

"You won't." Ryth's eyes met hers, brown eyes with the left flecked with gold and silver in the right staring into her emerald green ones. "You won't."

He slowly guided her down until she was sitting on the forest floor, and Ryth untied the cloth he had used to bind his satchel to his side so it wouldn't bounce around or move as he moved.

He wrapped it around her upper arm twice, pulled it tight enough to grunt from the effort, and a stab of pain cut into her stupor.

"Ow! That hurt-"

"What's your name?"

"What? Uh... Liv."

Ryth paused... and after a split second, began moving again, slightly brisker.

"Short for Livia?"

"No, Liverna."

"Nice to meet you Liverna. I'm Ryth."

She frowned. "You know... everybody..."

She let out a great big yawn.

"Just... calls me Liv."

Ryth gave a strained smile. "Call me polite."

"Okay!" He exclaimed as he sat back. "Should keep most from getting to you, so you'll probably just feel very sleepy for awhile until I get it out of the rest of you. For now, let's purify your arm."

She smiled slightly. "I think... a non-poisoned dagger would have worked. I could have taken it after you took out it's eye..."

Ryth rolled his eyes as a golden light began flowing through her arm, starting at the tourniquet before pushing towards her hand.

Veeeery slowly.

Liverna watched with interest as a ring of golden light slowly went down her arm, at a crawling speed.

"Hey, just be thankful I used an enhanced poppy extract mixed with paralytics instead of the vial of spider venom I'm still testing."

"Spider venom?! Like THAT kind of spider venom?!"

"Yeah I'm testing it. It's part of my anti venom formula research."

"Your what?"

"Shush." Ryth muttered, focusing more. "What is that...?"

"What is what?"

"...the strange bone in your arm."

Silence reigned as Ryth looked at her to see... something. Not fear, but maybe surprise, caution, and some attempt to scrutinize him even as she fought sleep.

"...family thing isn't it."

Ryth sighed at her incredulous look. "I know what it's like. Fun being a descendant of someone who managed to surpass Stage 10. You get AAAALL their problems."

He kept going and finished healing her in silence, then undid the tourniquet, knowing not enough time should have passed to cause necropsy, especially with the enhanced body a fighter has, even just in stage 1.

Her drowsiness quickly faded as he'd sent a pulse of antivenin light into her every minute or so, until about 25 minutes had passed by her guess.

"Well, you'll probably be fine." Ryth got up and stretched a bit, only to wince as grasp at his still dislocated shoulder. "FUCK! Totally forgot-shit!-about that!"

He sucked in a breath between his teeth as he forcefully tensed the muscles in his dislocated arm, lifting it and twisting-

*Snap!*

"SON OF A BITCH!"

He blinked back a few tears as more warm light flowed to his shoulder. "I really need to talk with Jonathan, he's better with muscles and joints..."

"Hey."

Ryth looked up. "Hello?"

Liverna was standing once again, kinda edged away from Ryth.

"So you're a... healer?"

"Duh."

"...with an attack skill?"

"It's complicated, not really, but sure I can use it that way with practice."

"...what's your... bloodline mutation?"

Ryth laughed. "Ah... my family was cursed, so I've never seen any physical difference. Probably a part of the curses effects."

Liverna nodded.

People like them weren't unheard of... but bloodline carriers, those descended from awakened who went so far, to break the mortal limits of Stage 10 and evolve so far their descendants now permanently carry traces of their power and superior physical forms.

A few extra blood vessels, more efficient muscle architecture in small ways... simple things.

It's just that most bloodline holders would be royalty or high nobility.

Powerful.

Not random people out in the woods of a border town.

No one wants to expose themselves as a weak and defenseless descendant out in the wild...

Rumors of being able to strip the bloodline off a corpse and transplant it onto another by some twisted and cursed form of magic, a fusion of Arcanes, was enough to make Liverna live most her life in fear of a untrustworthy healer noticing what they shouldn't.

'Is he lying about also being one? He must be, there's no way a coincidence like that happens! Do I have to kill him now to keep myself safe?'

She stared at Ryth's back as he cleaned his dagger's handle and hilt carefully.

'I could take him.'

A hand dropped to her blade in its sheath...

And Ryth stood up, dagger in hand as he sheathed it.

"Don't be dumb. I don't know what drove you to come out here, but you're too under-leveled to come out even in a party with what is going on, much less on your own."

"Says the Berserk Healer."

He gave a grin over his shoulder. "That's a catchy nickname, isn't it? See you around, Liverna of Dragon's Blood."

He took off as her face went straight to shock and anxiety. "Wait how did you-?!"

She took off running after him, only to stumble and nearly fall from the last nauseating after effects of being poisoned.

'Of course he left enough to get away.'