Chapter 326 – Indignation.

How could this have happened? Why was Agni dying on the ground in a pool of his own blood and why were these knights here? These questions he was asking himself while looking down at his canine friend. He could not understand how a situation like this arose, there was no reason for a noble to attack his home.

Roland was aware of all of Arthur’s brothers, Theodore Valerian included. It wasn’t strange for these men to arrive in this city, it was something that he actually expected. The thing that he didn’t expect was that they would actually attack his home and hurt the people living there. Agni was certainly not at fault here, he would not attack anyone without being provoked.

“It’s okay, I’m here.”

The knights that were around him were still a problem but there were more important things to worry about. Agni didn’t look good, he had multiple stab wounds all over his body. His hide was quite thick and the added protection from the rubies allowed him to live to this point, but it was already a miracle that he had managed to stay awake for this long. The net that was on top of his body was also strange as he could feel the metal having a peculiar mana-affecting quality to it.

He quickly kneeled down to grab it. Only thanks to being a tier 3 class holder with advanced mana was he able to counteract the effect. Without waiting he quickly used all of his power to tear through the metallic structure of this net to free Agni from within it. The people continued to shout something at him but they were not important. His hands were shaking with indignation but he needed to concentrate as Agni’s life was at risk.

This net that he tore through explained a lot. His entire compound was outfitted with sensors that would inform him about any danger arriving at his home. The people that came here were capable of disrupting mana to some extent. Only after they arrived at his doorstep where there were more sensors was the alarm triggered. This caused him to arrive late from the Black Market where he had to run back from. Even the potions that he was pouring on Agni’s wounds didn’t seem to be working fast enough, the situation was really dire.

“Elodia, there should be an elixir in the safe, please bring it over here.”

“But what about the…”

“…”

“I’ll go get it.”

Elodia finally ran up to Roland’s side after being able to process the situation. She quickly pushed the door open and ran through the shop to get the magical concoction to Agni. This didn’t sit well with the knights that were outside. Their leader had been hit by one of Roland’s spells and lost his arm in the process. Seemingly a commoner had injured a noble night in a scuffle, this was not something that would go down well with a group like this.

“What are you all waiting for… Kill him!”

While he was standing up with Agni in his arms the enraged Knight Lieutenant started shouting. He was grasping the stump of his right arm that had become dislodged from his body. There were still a lot of his men capable of fighting as his initial attack was not meant to eradicate them. It was a hastily produced solution to the problem of his tamed beast dying. Most of them were still standing and ready for round two. In their eyes, he was still only a magical craftsman that had probably used one of his many tricks

“Don’t think that I have forgotten about you, just wait here…”

Roland could see that all of his spider drones and magical turrets had been destroyed. Yet this was not the end for them, with the help of his skill he could activate them all again. The knights that were already charging forward noticed a strange semi-transparent burst of electricity shooting out from the center where he was standing.

It did not harm them in any way but when crossing through the damaged runic equipment it produced an interesting effect. All the runic turrets that were in the vicinity started glowing blue and shifting back to their previous forms. The same was for the destroyed magical golems, all of the parts started quickly flying at each other to recreate their old forms.

The Knights were clearly confused about all the flying metallic parts combining back into their previous forms. Even when trying to interfere with the mana-interfering powder it didn’t seem to work. All of the golems that numbered three had been restored and the turrets as well. This wasn’t all though as their bodies were constantly giving out a glow from within the runes.

All of the traces and runic symbols were visible to the naked eye and soon enough the Knights would realize that the automatons that they were facing were a lot tougher than before. Roland with his area of effect skill was able to use all of his runic enhancement skills on all golems and turrets. Even though this would cause the runes to deteriorate, he could quickly mend them back to health. As long as he had mana to spare the magical machines that he created could be put back into a working state.

“Argh, what are you doing, block the attacks!”

“T-the mana, it’s not getting dispersed fully, our shields can’t take it!”

The sounds of the men shouting outside were muffled by the door of the shop closing behind him. Agni was still the priority here, his secondary minds were controlling the golems and turrets outside so that his main one could focus on the problem here.

‘His HP… it’s still going down even after I gave them all those high-quality potions…’

Roland was Agni’s master which allowed him to see his status screen in more detail. His Health Points along with his stamina were dropping below critical levels. While this world was like a game there were a few differences. A person could not actually survive with one point of health left on their bar. It was similar to him getting headaches whenever his mana points dropped below a certain point.

There were a few persisting statuses that kept him from healing. One of them was familiar as he had just bought a weapon with the same effect. The weapons the knights were using seemed to have been specifically meant to kill beings with high vitality. Monsters tended to be able to last through a lot more punishment than humans even if their vitality stats were similar. They usually had some sort of healing factor but with the bleeding status and multiple organs failing, this passive skill would become overloaded.

“Here, I’ve gotten the elixir.”

After placing Agni down on the floor of his runic shop Elodia finally showed up with the high-quality elixir. In actuality Roland wasn’t sure if this would work, the concoction wasn’t really made for monsters or animals. It was a holy elixir from the Sun Church that was capable of alleviating many of the status effects Agni was under. He could only pray that it would work, otherwise, none of the health potions he had would be of any use.

“It’s okay, everything is going to be okay…”

Elodia placed her hand on Agni’s head and started stroking his rubified mane. Even though her hand became bloody instantly he continued to pet the wolf that she grew to love. Roland quickly poured part of the elixir into Agni’s mouth and then the rest onto some of the larger wounds until it was all gone.

Agni’s whole body started to faint glow with a golden hue as the magical concoction started to work. He could see some of the statuses vanish with the poison one being the first. The wounds were getting smaller and the bleeding was beginning to stop.

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“It’s working!”

Elodia shouted out with a smile on her face but it wasn’t long-lived.

“No… something is wrong, the glow is fading… the wounds aren’t closing.”

Roland shook his head while glancing at the hole-riddled ruby wolf. The wounds that were just about to shut themselves didn’t fully close. Even though the bleeding effect had vanished along with some of the others, he had just lost too much blood.

“No… I… I’ll get more potions.”

Elodia was the first one to go grab a few more bottles. Yet Roland knew, he was aware of the fact that nothing that they had here would work on Agni to keep him from dying. The regular potions only boosted a person’s natural vitality and regenerative capabilities. They could not counter the effect of organs and brain functions shutting down. If a high-grade elixir didn’t work then there was nothing much he could do.

Even though he didn’t show it on the outside, inside his mind was racing. Memories of the strange egg that he found in the dungeon came rushing in. The strange puppy that appeared in his bathtub and his first thoughts of selling it off to a proper tamer were all there. The many times he visited the dungeon in Agni’s company and the close calls that both of them had. His first real companion that he grew a bond with was dying and he couldn’t do anything about it.

Roland didn’t know what to do, his arms wrapped around the large wolf’s trembling body. The whimpers were slowly fading away and he could only hear his panting slowing down. The blood along with the red potion mixture seeped into his body as his heart raced. He didn’t even care about the shouting knights that were outside. What could he do, was this really it? Would Agni just die here in his arms without him being capable of doing anything?

“No…there is a way, I won’t let you die.”

His hand hit the wooden floor and went through it like cardboard. Soon he realized there was a possibility of saving Agni. There were holy spells that were capable of even regenerating limbs that were severed and bringing people back from the dead.

‘If I can generate enough divine energy then it might be possible…’

There was a problem with Roland’s plan, he lacked divine crystals from the church. All the ones that he had were destroyed during the Lich attack. Due to the stock being extremely low afterward he was incapable of getting any replacements and didn’t push hard enough to get any. Even if he had one or two, they would probably not have enough divine energy inside for this to work. However, not everything was lost, there was still another way.