Construction Mage - Chapter 35: Hesitance

AN: I don't think I've properly greeted all the new readers coming in this past week, so I would like to take a moment to say welcome and thank you for choosing to support me!

Construction Mage is now near the top of Royal Road's Rising Star, which I'm super excited about. No matter how many stories launched, it's still quite nerve-wracking when posting something new. Anyway, I'm glad you're all here, whether you're new or not, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

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Clay and Malik both froze at the same time as they exchanged a quick glance with each other, as if they couldn’t believe what they heard. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t pretend not to have heard it when it came a second time.

“Anyone…? Please, help.”

Snapping out of their stupor, the two men carefully strode over to the source of the voice.

“There aren’t any monsters that can mimic the voices of humans on the first layer, right?” Clay whispered as he slowly forged ahead by taking cover behind tree after tree.

“Um, not that I have heard of.”

The large man nodded and gestured for his helper to stay where he was. A glimpse of some color could be spotted in the distance, standing out from the dreary ash brown of the lifeless forest. The closer he got, the more confident Clay became that it really was a human. However, once bitten, twice shy. After having fallen victim to one of the sinister machinations of the dungeons once, he was particularly mindful of any potential traps.

He spent nights pondering every pitfall he could fall into by recalling every game he’s ever played. His memory was spotty, but monsters mimicking the voices of humans were definitely one of them.

Only when there was a clear line of sight that he breathe out in relief, but he didn’t let his guard down and started scanning the surroundings.

There was a woman lying on the ground before him, bloodied and breathing raggedly. There was an arrow stuck in her back. Even if he was confident she wasn’t a monster, that didn’t mean whatever caused her harm wasn’t nearby.

Standing next to one of the nearby trees, he called out to her.

“You there. What happened?”

The woman instantly twitched upon hearing his voice, dragging her body to face the new voice. She was panting, but it was evident she still had the strength to project her voice. Otherwise, her calls wouldn’t have reached them.

“My party—they need help! Can you go save them?”

“Where are they?” Clay asked as he furrowed his brow. He knew trouble when he heard it, but he didn’t have the heart to just walk away or ignore it anymore.

“Just a bit further in toward the great tree. They held off the monsters so I could go get help. Please make haste and save them!”

Seeing how there still wasn’t any movement in their surroundings, Clay judged she didn’t have any pursuers and finally walked over to her side. He kneeled down next to the injured woman, who was no older than twenty, with curvy platinum blonde hair that ran down to her waist. Brushing the hair aside, he examined her wounds.

The arrow had just caught her in the gaps of her leather armor, where straps secured the chest piece against her torso. It was one of the lighter designs that wasn’t meant to take blows from the rear.

“You need to get this treated before you bleed out. I can’t just leave you here. Can you stand?”

The woman softly shook her head.

“My left leg is just a little numb. I’ll be fine after some rest. But forget about me and go save my friends,” she pleaded.

As if he hadn’t heard her, Clay shouted toward the treeline behind him.

“Get over here, Malik. Help her up.”

The boy sprinted out toward them at a surprising speed for someone wearing such a large backpack. He seemed disturbed by the sight of blood and the wound, but didn’t hesitate to follow the instructions.

The two men lifted the unsteady woman to her feet, but they only received a scowl in return.

“Stop wasting your time on me and go! I said I’ll be fine here!”

“I can’t do that, ma’am,” Clay tried to soothe her with the best customer service voice he could muster, something he would do before he had to break bad news to a customer. “You see, we don’t have a full party with us. I’m the only combatant. That means I can’t leave my porter here out of sight, and we’re not going further in if I can’t reasonably assure his safety. If you want to help your friends, work with us. We need to find the white gazebo quickly, so you non-combatants are out of the way.”

“But that—” she paused, unable to formulate any words to say, but her frustrations were clear.

Taking advantage of that, Clay quickly got them moving. A quiet silence ensued as they supported the girl by her shoulders, limping their way through the withered forest. Malik had a nervous expression the entire time, while Clay seemed conflicted.

The silence was only broken when Clay opened his mouth to chant a spell as another Feral Kobold tried to ambush them.

“Spirits, hear my call,

By Lestionora’s name, rise from your thrall.

Awaken from slumber, heed my plea,

Shape to my will, come forth as I decree—Earth Blast!”

He repeated the feat three times, without even bothering to let the woman go. He simply stood there with one arm supporting the injured, and the other pointed at the oversized rat.

As soon as the critter was defeated, several voices spoke at once.

“Sir, should I—”

“Leave it. We’re in a hurry.”

“You! You’re a mage?”

“Hmm, why don’t we save the chat for later?” Clay proposed. “We’re in a time crunch, and you need to conserve every bit of stamina you have left.”

Letting out a sigh of defeat, the woman weakly nodded as they continued their trek across the forest. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter anything more than lone Feral Kobolds, and they eventually spotted the reassuring sight of the white gazebo.

To be precise, it was a reassuring sight for Malik and the injured woman. For Clay, it was the deadline by which he had to make a decision.

Should he retreat and request aid from other Delvers outside or stay and help?

There is no guarantee that any reinforcements will be teleported to the right area when they enter. But that will mean I have to confront the advanced variants of kobolds alone again. Can I really do it? Or will I just be adding to the casualty count?

“This is far enough, sir!” the injured woman cried. “We can make the rest of the way ourselves. There’s nothing in our way. Please go help my friends!”

Feeling the grip of the young woman pulling on his hem, Clay grimaced. Her request made it feel like being forced to deal with difficult clients whom the younger coworkers had messed up handling, but several times more intense. 

Instead of just being yelled at for hours on end, my life is on the line this time—well, maybe it’s not that different. An agitated Karen is just as dangerous when they always carry a pocket knife or pepper spray for some reason.

Slowly peeling the hand off his shirt, he sighed.

“I’ll go. You two go find help. Make sure someone tends to her wound as well, Malik.”

“Understood, sir! I’ll get it done. I know who to call—depending on her budget, of course.”

“Worry about it when you’re sure she’s not going to die. Her life is in your hands now.”

***

Darian started from humble roots. He was the third son of a peddler before the Descent. After surviving the initial ordeal, the family managed to establish a place for themselves within Ravenhold, managing a small shop. 

While they were well off enough to eat every day, Darian aspired to be more, ever since he witnessed the brave adults fighting off the monsters during their desperate flight for safety. 

He still remembered his childhood fondly, when his dad brought him to see new sights, traveling from city to city. It was his dream to restore that kind of life, but being a peddler in this new world was no longer as simple as commerce. The treacherous paths between settlements made any travel a life-threatening endeavor. If he were to restore his dad’s peddling business, he would need to hire Delvers.

With the wealth disparity so high, it wasn’t something viable if they remained as they were. That’s why Darian decided to become a Delver himself the moment he reached the age of adulthood at fifteen.

After a lot of begging for funds and finding like-minded people in the neighborhood, Darian finally managed to muster up enough gear and numbers to start delving into the Greymark’s Bastion.

Everything worked out great at first. They fought off the Feral Kobolds with no problem. Even when up against two or three Kobold Workers or Kobold Sentries, it was still manageable thanks to their superior numbers.

Perhaps because of these easy victories, he grew overconfident and led his party into the depths of the first layer after having become Delvers for less than a month. The fighting also didn’t seem too difficult at first, luring them deeper into the underground network beneath the colossal tree. Either way, by the time they realized they were in over their heads, it was too late.

The challenge of delving didn’t just lie in combat. The terrain slowly sapped their strength, with the unprepared easily getting lost in its depths. Even for those who knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t dare let down their guard. Traps were abundant in some sections while completely absent in others. It kept people on edge, slowly pulling them toward their demise without even realizing it.

That was exactly what happened to Darian’s party.

Brazenly walking into a wide-open cavern, the teenagers barely reacted when several arrows flew at them from two different vantage points. They failed to notice the Kobold Archers looking down from some tunnels that looked over them. Their situation only got worse when a dagger-wielding kobold took advantage of their confusion to sneak up behind Darian and sliced his Achilles tendon. Following that, a fully armored Kobold Knight started marching toward them with several more monsters behind it.

Realizing how they were on the verge of being wiped out, a limping retreat was all they could muster. The narrow tunnels protected them somewhat, but they weren’t in any condition to run. Gritting his teeth, Darian made the difficult decision to get the only party members who hadn’t been injured to safety.

“Nyra, run! Get out of here and get help while we hold them off!”

“What? No! I’m not running away alone. What are you saying?!”

Darian flashed his companion a deprecating smile.

“Look at us. Talyra and Bram have arrows stuck in their thighs. Fen is trying to hide it, but he’s been limping this entire time, and I’m not any better, letting that little whelp injure me. None of us is in any condition to run but you. Don’t let us hold you down. Run as fast as you can and get help!”

Darian wasn’t even sure if he believed the last part of his sentence, but he still put all his feelings into his words. He was desperate to have at least one member of their party survive. To prove he wasn’t a complete fool who led their entire party to their demise.

He smiled when he saw his childhood friend clench her fist before running off. He then turned back to the approaching kobolds and prepared for their stand. With all said and done, there was no way he would give up until the end.

Without needing any words, the rest of his party steeled their resolve in the same way. After that, they lost themselves to the frenzy of battle. Time slipped away from them as they swung their weapons, trying their best to keep the kobolds at bay. Every movement caused their muscles to cry out in protest.

Four desperate Delvers eventually prevailed over the kobolds. They were more skilled and had the size advantage. However, the challenges didn’t end there for an injured party that had lost its mobility.

As they lay on the ground to catch their breath, the monsters could somehow sense their weakness, with more kobolds lurking towards them. A strange scene played out as the humans were too weary to take on a proper stance. They swung their weapons and fired their arrows from their position on the ground.

It was only when they saw another Kobold Knight approach that they faltered. They knew none of them had the strength left to vanquish such a well-armored foe. Fear started to settle in their hearts when suddenly, something blurry flew across their vision and smashed right against the kobold’s armet. It left a visible dent on it as the humanoid rat collapsed onto its knees before keeling over.

The remnants of Darian’s party instantly snapped their attention toward the source of the attack. Their eyes went wide upon seeing their savior.

It wasn’t due to how intimidating the man looked, drenched in blood, or realizing the man before them was a mage, and thus likely of noble status. It was purely because of the feral grin he wore, as if he had just accomplished something that satisfied his very core and was looking for more.

“You don’t think he’s one of those blood-hungry Delvers, right?” Bram, the young man with a wide frame, whispered beside Darian. “Because I don’t want to be next.” 

“Shh, shut up, you,” he whispered back. “What are you going to do if he hears you?”

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