Arc | Chapter. 90: Assistance to the Lord (Patreon)

Chapter. 90: Assistance to the Lord

Ceylon couldn’t help but feel like she was making a mistake, but this is what she wanted. She wanted to be a true friend; she wanted to be the [Illustrious Friend of the Hero], not some free-loader that didn’t sacrifice anything. In fact, what she was doing was in her opinion, the bare minimum. But even then, even while knowing that, she still felt a looming sense of nervousness.

And the reason was because, she had no combat experience and had thrown herself at a fight against a C Tier monster⁠— sure zombies were known to be slow; incredibly so. But it was still very much a terrifying and dangerous fight, and one slip up would certainly cost her dearly.

Taking a deep breath, Ceylon rolled as the zombie pounced upon the ground. Dirt and grime exploded around her. She never thought her first fight would happen under circumstances like these; the environment was dark and grim; a gray mist permeated the ashen and dull land of death where they battled. She was fighting in such a depressing place and yet she felt more driven than ever.

In a moment, she stood up and pulled back, the zombie reeled towards her in an attempt to persuade, but Ceylon wasn’t willing to let it happen. She grabbed her spear and used her skill once more [Light Aura Coat]. The ice spear shone brightly with a golden light, and this time instead of stabbing she held the shaft and swung.

Throwing all her body weight to the side, she hit the zombie’s head which made it squeal and pull back, stunned with pain. Ceylon staggered, almost losing balance as she took a breather. Even though the battle had just begun she was already beginning to sweat, her breathing was shallow and her heart was racing.

It was the first time she was fighting.

Sneaking a glance to the side, she saw Raynell just observing the fight with a stoic expression, and she also saw Arc, who… had a weird expression on her face. One of worry.

That’s right… Ceylon thought. I’m doing this for Arc, so she won’t worry like this again…

She gripped onto the spear tightly and turned back to the zombie. She stared at the rotten being, ribs poking from its decomposed chest. Its ashen skin seemed ready to fall apart at any second, and it stared at her with an expressionless face, yet its eyes were tightly locked onto her as it pressed forward.

It was… terrifying. Monsters were… terrifying. But, even if they were terrifying she had to see this through. Ceylon took a deep breath and readied herself, her light aura coursing through the spear.

She didn’t know what she was doing or how to go about felling this menacing beast, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered in her mind was coming out on top ⁠⁠— all to prove herself that she deserved to overcome all of this.

In fact, she was sure she would stop at nothing to reach her goal, even if it meant risking her life. And that was because she owed her life to Arc.

The spear felt cold on her hands, but she ignored that feeling and as the zombie was about to reach her, she narrowed her eyes. Ceylon pressed forward, this time stabbing onto its hip with all her strength.

The zombie recoiled, letting out a screech of pain as it was forced to back off. It hadn’t been enough to make it lose balance yet, but Ceylon was sure that it was only a matter of time before it happened. She just had to keep doing so⁠—

And the zombie let out a roar that gave her pause, its flesh began to change color and a slight red glow began to overcome its entire body. Ceylon paused and quickly realized it was using a skill⁠—

[ Your opponent has used: Berserk ⁠— Their attributes have been increased by 35%.]

Of course… Ceylon recognized it even without the system input.

She frowned and a moment later the zombie lunged, Ceylon barely stepped out of the way as the monster crashed against the ground with an explosion of dirt. She didn’t want to acknowledge it, but the fight had suddenly gotten a lot harder.

Then, from within the curtain of grime, the zombie emerged swiping its sharp and deformed nails⁠— Ceylon raised the spear to block; the shock sent tremors through her bone as she was sent stumbling back. Her arms throbbed with pain, which made her grit her teeth.

If anyone but the people present saw her, they’d probably mock her and for good reason. Not only did she have a unique class, she was also wielding an SS Tier weapon, and yet she was getting pushed back by a mere C Tier monster⁠— in fact given her circumstances, her Tier didn’t even matter with that many advantages.

And yet she was struggling.

It was slightly shameful, it was… humiliating? Ceylon wasn’t sure of what she was feeling, but she felt indignant; she felt embarrassed that Arc was watching such a show while she had so many advantages; she had to do more. Move forward, she had to try harder and she had to overcome this challenge.

Ceylon watched as the zombie went for another swipe but this time⁠— she charged. She just didn’t care. It wasn’t reckless. Not when the monster in front of her had trouble actually even staying on balance.

In a single moment, she ducked sliding towards the zombie as the spear stabbed onto its hip with all her body weight. The twisted thing swiped but it scratched her arm, making her yelp as the zombie was brought down with her.

Ceylon didn’t care that she was injured⁠— she was going to overcome this thing. The zombie fell to her side as the slide came to an end, and without hesitation she swiped the spear to the side⁠— slamming the zombie onto the ground as she twisted her grip of the weapon.

She was going to win and come out victorious from this…

Without hesitation she stabbed onto the undead beast’s neck. Though at that moment, the zombie let out a harrowing squeal and then⁠— the ground exploded and Ceylon was sent tumbling back. Her eyes grew wide as she held onto the ice spear, and then the monster pounced on top of her.

She was barely able to react as she thrust the spear shaft into the thing’s mouth, the zombie let out a garbled noise as spit landed next to her head. Its strength was overwhelming, and Ceylon felt like she was going to lose at any second, but a weird feeling in her head told her to call out.

“Don’t interfere!”

There was a brief gust of icy wind that immediately stopped. She had stopped Arc from doing something. Ceylon struggled but she wanted to win⁠— she wanted this victory to be hers. Letting out a small cry she flipped, throwing the zombie off of her. She wretched creature let out a low hiss, but Ceylon bluntly stabbed the side of its head.

It screeched as it swiped, barely missing Ceylon by a hair as she thrust again, hitting its chin. The creature tried to stand up, but that was enough to stun it for long enough in order to stab it through its eye. It unleashed another screech as it swiped onto the spear, breaking Ceylon’s grip.

Unfortunately, the difference in strength was overwhelming.

The zombie flailed with the spear on one if its eyes as Ceylon pulled back, now more hesitant than ever⁠—

“Catch.”

She turned for a moment only to see another ice spear hit her chest. Her arms scrambled to hold onto it as Arc gave her a stern nod⁠. Ceylon returned it and she turned back to the zombie who with a screech finally took out the object from its eye and tossed it away.

She had to kill it.

Her skill was nice. But it wasn’t strong enough, not to completely help her. The [Light Aura Coat] was spread across the entire spear. While Ceylon understood that the skill enhanced things, she didn’t need to enhance the entire spear, but only the tip.

The zombie was still staggered, enough for Ceylon to feel her mana coursing around the spear.

It felt as if she was injecting it and letting it spread evenly across the spear’s surface, but she didn’t want that. She wanted it to be stronger. Taking a deep breath, Ceylon tried to change the mana flow and found the radiance slowly shifting but it wasn’t enough. It was hard⁠— much harder than she anticipated, but still⁠ she was beginning to figure it out. Just a bit more⁠—

Then, the zombie recovered and rushed forward with a screech.

Ceylon dodged⁠ this time at a greater ease⁠— the zombie was injured and the Berserk skill was coming to an end.

This was the time she needed.

Ceylon danced with the zombie, dodging and throwing herself to the ground, but she still accrued numerous scratches across her body. But it was worth it, she was on the cusp of achieving what she wanted and the zombie let out another roar. In a single moment the red aura around its body gained its full strength.

And Ceylon knew, she couldn’t stall any longer.

She readied herself as the zombie began to rush towards her at a great speed.

Ceylon had experimented… her mana, she could control it, but more than anything force its strength, she could will it to do what she wanted in this scenario⁠— in a single moment she forced her mana forward, the tip of the spear radiantly shone and she charged towards the zombie.

She was going to kill it now!

The spear struck its head and impaled right through, the golden light burned a clear hole right through the zombie as Ceylon was hit by the body of the zombie. She hit the ground hard, letting go of the spear in pain as the lifeless body of the zombie hung on top of her.

She stared at the gray clouds above.

She had done it… she had killed the thing…

And then, a moment later the notifications came alerting her of her victory.

[ You have defeated: Berserker Zombie. Tier: C. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

…

It was dead…

And then, another notification came.

[Tier Advancement Available.]

At that moment, a long breath left her.

She had done it…

* * * * *

My heart was… in disarray. Watching Ceylon’s fight against the zombie was… hard. Much harder than I imagined. Seeing her getting injured before my eyes as she struggled in a fight for her life was…

It sent a lot of irrational feelings through me. It was odd really. But now that it had come to an end, I was glad. A small breath left me as I made the ice spears dissolve off the ground, then with a small kick a spike of ice kicked the zombie off of Ceylon. She was… bloodied.

All her injuries were surface level but it still bothered me. However, I decided to just focus on her expression ⁠— her smiling expression of accomplishment. I walked up to her, looking down.

“You did it,” I smiled. “Good job.”

Ceylon nodded satisfied. “I did it… I acquired my class advancement through my own efforts; well as much as they can be mine anyway, and it seems to be a Tier Advancement, but I’m happy anyway.”

“Right…” I didn’t understand part of what she said but still nodded. “I’m glad you’re happy, and yeah they were all your efforts.”

“It was all thanks to your spear, but yeah…” she hesitantly agreed. “Thank you, Arc.”

“You’re welcome.”

The atmosphere was quite warm, which I made sure to enjoy. In the end, I decided to sit down next to Ceylon. The ground was dark, ashes⁠— or whatever remains of the living littered it. The sky was gray, and there were no signs of life anywhere aside from our little group. But, I didn’t mind it. Not with Ceylon here anyway.

“You did good in your fight,” I said. “You even modified your skill.”

“It was hard, but I did,” she agreed. “I’m happy. It was my first… real fight, but…”

“Yeah?” I raised my brow.

Ceylon raised herself with her arms to look at me. “It was scary you know?”

“Huh?” I blinked and she continued.

“Sure I did great in my first fight⁠— in fact I did much better than I ever imagined, but…” She shook her head and laid back down. “I don’t understand how you do it, that’s scary…”

“Ah… well it’s fine, you don’t have to fight anymore,” I said absentmindedly.

“No, I will keep fighting. I want to at least feel like I’m earning something.” She closed her eyes. “There is nothing that will stop me, even if I am fearful, I’ll still continue to do so.”

“You don’t have to…”

“But I want to,” she answered.

“Right…” I nodded, accepting her resolve.

I didn’t know what had overcome Ceylon all of the sudden, but I didn’t mind. However, there was something that I did want to say.

“Ceylon, I don’t expect you to be strong or anything, you can fulfill the role you have always fulfilled, being my friend; being helpful and perhaps advising me when I’m uncertain,” I said with a small smile.

Ceylon smiled at me. “Don’t worry, after I’m strong enough, I won’t fight unless I have to. I just want you to have the notion that I can protect myself should the moment come.”

My smile deepened. “Thank you.”

And just like that we basked in the atmosphere. I didn’t know how things would go in the long run, but whatever happened I wouldn’t mind. In the end, I just hoped I’d be around Ceylon for a long while. That thought in itself made me happy.

Minutes passed, and just as I was about to say something, I saw the ground before us shift and an undead with a robe that covered its entire figure emerged, he was holding a staff filled to the brim with gems.

[Lord Lich. Tier: S].

I blinked, feeling no hostility, and then the undead before us spoke.

“My lord requires your assistance, help us and you shall be rewarded with unimaginable riches.”