The few surviving goblins stared, their minds caught between the instinct to fight and the overwhelming urge to flee.
They looked from their dead chieftain, to the mutilated Veridia, to the scary Elf child who had brought this ruin upon them.
Aurelion ignored them completely. He took a single step towards Veridia, raising his left hand, and his hand began crackled with black lightning again.
Veridia let out a guttural hiss, brandishing its claws, but as Aurelion continued his advance, the creature's fury gave way to primal fear.
It turned and start fled.
Seeing their greatest weapon flee was the final straw for the goblins. The other spiders immediately followed Veridia, and the remaining goblins broke, scrambling away into the swamp and disappearing into the gloom.
Aurelion increased his pace, chasing after the wounded spider, but in the water, the arachnid was far more agile, even with its injuries.
But just as Veridia was about to haul itself onto the shore, Rez erupted from the water behind it. He thrust his spear into one of the creature's legs with a powerful lunge. There was a sickening crack as the limb was severed.
Veridia shrieked and spun around to attack, but Rez easily dodged the clumsy swipe.
"Not so fast anymore, are you?" Rez taunted, with a smile on his face.
The spider continued to attack with blind fury, but Rez was now in a defensive posture, easily parrying its strikes.
"But you know what the best part is?" he continued, a new confidence in his voice. "I don't have to beat you." He flicked a finger on his free hand towards the spider's left. "My friend here will deal with you."
Veridia whipped its head around and saw Aurelion, his left hand raised once more, black energy gathering in his palm.
It shrieked and tried to turn back, but the bolts of black lightning were already upon it.
They struck with unerring accuracy. Two more of its eyes popped like overripe fruit, leaving it with only a single one eye.
It looked blurrily towards the shore, towards its young, and then felt another jolt of pain as the final bolt struck.
Then its vision vanished completely.
Blinded and in agony, it ran, crashing into trees, stumbling over roots. After a few moments of panicked flight, its leg caught on something, and it fell, too exhausted and wounded to rise again.
It lay there, whimpering in the mud.
After a few moments, it heard a familiar,voice right behind it.
"Unfortunately, you won't be able to see my face."
It felt one last, sharp pain, and then, for Veridia, the world truly went dark.
Aurelion wrenched his spear free from the creature's skull and glanced dispassionately at its ruined eyes.
"I'll be collecting these eyes with the remains of your children later," he murmured to himself.
He scanned his surroundings. The goblins were gone, having fled into the swamp. The remaining spiders had vanished into the trees. Now that he was alone, the adrenaline that had sustained him began to fade, and the full cost of his power crashed down upon him.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the damp earth. A violent cough wracked his body, and he spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"Using Limit Breaker twice in a row..." he thought, his mind hazy with pain, "without letting the effects of the first time heal completely... Even for just a short burst, the side effects are severe. I need to finish my mission in this swamp urgently and return to Ulfgard for treatment."
His thoughts flickered to Zura and her healing abilities, but he crushed the idea instantly. "Never again." he said internally.
A figure approached him, cautiously.
It was Rez. The lizardman was battered, but he was in the best condition of all of them. He looked at Aurelion with a new wariness in his eyes.
"Are... are you alright?" Rez asked, his voice hesitant.
Aurelion wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and then he continued to stare forward, not meeting Rez's gaze. "If I were you," he said, "I'd be worried about your companions."
Rez's face paled as he was reminded of Zura. He turned to leave, but paused. "Stay close to the water. If any goblins decide to return, we can get to you quickly."
Aurelion said nothing.
Rez took his silence as an answer and moved quickly towards the Gulper's corpse.
When he arrived, he saw Rokar and Corliss tending to the groaning form of Krum.
"How is the big man?" Rez asked.
Rokar didn't look up from applying a thick, brown paste to Krum's wounds. "Poisoned, a few broken bones, and blood loss."
"These are not challenges a warrior who follows the path of the ancestors cannot overcome," Corliss stated, inspecting his own wounds.
"Of course, of course," Rez shot back sarcastically. "I saw how well the path of the ancestors was working out for you just now."
"Do not disrespect the ancestors!" Corliss hissed.
As Rez opened his mouth to retort, Rokar cut them both off. "Rez is right," he said, then turned his head to look at the kneeling Elf child across the pond.
Corliss looked like he was about to argue, but then chose his words carefully. "To help a stranger in need is also a path the ancestors taught us. Even though we were saved by this stranger, it is still the way of the ancestors."
A silence fell over the group a while and then It was Rez who broke it. "Zura's condition is critical."
Rokar's expression tightened. "Tend to Zura, Rez. We'll be right behind you."
Rez nodded and dove into the water.
Half an hour passed. Aurelion remained on his knees, forcing his energy to circulate in a balanced, controlled flow, trying to mend the damage he had done to himself. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire, and an extreme exhaustion weighed him down.
He lifted his head and saw the lizardmen gathered around Zura in the distance.
He used his spear as a crutch and forced himself to his feet.
"I warned them, and they didn't listen. Then I saved their lives. That's far more than enough."
He turned to leave, to put this place and these people behind him. He tried to take a step forward, away from the pond.
But his foot wouldn't move.
He stared down at his leg in confusion. "Even in this state, why won't it move?"
He tried again, putting all his will into the simple act of walking away. The leg refused to obey.
A low growl rumbled in his chest. "Damn it all," he hissed.
He turned back around.
This time, though his muscles screamed in protest, he was able to take a step... towards the lizardmen.
With heavy steps, Aurelion forced himself, using his spear as a crutch. His muscles were screaming, but he ignored it. His first stop, however, was not the group of lizardmen, but the corpses of the three spiders in the water.
He produced his knife. With efficient movements, he began to carve out the eyes, placing them one by one into the runic container from his pack. Twenty four eyes. His mission was nearly complete.
"At least they managed to kill three spiders. Two of them were taken care of by Rez with the big one, and the other one was taken care of by Rez later during the fight."
He then turned his gaze to the group of lizardmen gathered around Zura. She was still lying on the ground, and the others were tending to her.
"Idiot," he thought, his lip curling in disdain as he remembered her being struck. "It would have been better to take a few arrows than that toad's kick."
He began to walk towards them.
As he approached, Corliss was inspecting Zura's wounds, his expression was grim.
"What is it, Corliss? Say something," Rez pleaded.
Corliss continued to examine Zura, not looking up. "There's nothing to say, Rez. She needs a true healer, urgently. I am not skilled enough for these wounds."
Rez turned to Rokar. "Then what do we do, Rokar? We have to get her to the elders, quickly."
Rokar considered this for a moment, then shook his head. "She won't last that long. We need to do something now."
Krum let out a low grunt. He pointed clawed hand towards the approaching Elf child. The others turned their heads and saw Aurelion stopping before them.
"Maybe..." Krum rumbled, "...he can do something."
They all fell silent as Aurelion came to a halt, his single golden eye looking Zura over. Then, he looked up at Rokar.
"Is she alive?" he asked.
"Yes," Rokar confirmed.
Aurelion looked back down at Zura.
"You can heal her, can't you?" Rez asked, a sliver of hope in his voice.
Aurelion turned his gaze to Rez. "No," he said flatly.
"Can't you do anything?" Corliss interjected, his voice charged with emotion. "She healed you! You have to help her."
Aurelion's head snapped towards Corliss, his eye narrowing into a cold glare. "Didn't i already?" he said.
He took a deep breath, visibly forcing himself calm. "I cannot heal her," he repeated. "But... I have an idea."
All eyes turned to him.
"I encountered a goblin," he began. "One blessed by a Primordia."
"A goblin who blessed by Primordia? Nonsense!" Corliss snapped.
Rokar raised a hand, silencing him. "We are listening," the leader said, his gaze fixed on Aurelion.
Aurelion continued. "I can't heal her, and it's clear none of you can either. This goblin I spoke of could control others of its kind. And the other goblins I interrogated all said the same thing. There is a World Tree near their nest. Perhaps Primordia can heal her."
"Impossible," Krum grunted. "If there was a World Tree in this swamp, we would know of it."
"Exactly," Corliss added. "We would know."
"Perhaps the tree is new," Aurelion countered, "or something else has happened. It doesn't matter. I am certain the goblins I questioned were telling the truth. There is a World Tree near their nest, and it is probably your only way to heal her."
"Do you know the way?" Rokar asked.
"No," Aurelion said. He gestured with his spear towards the pond behind him. "But I'm sure you can find a few volunteers to show you the way." He looked pointedly at the goblin corpses floating in the water.
"There are bound to be some among them who were merely stunned by my lightning. Go and find one."
Then Aurelion turn back to the lizardmen. "Then hope that the same Primordia that blesses these goblins will save Zura."