Chapter Sixty: Clearing the Air

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Darren sagged against a tree, his chest rising and falling in dramatic fashion as he looked around wildly. Roan approached calmly, seeing if the man was injured, but Darren looked mostly just overexcited. He hooked the point of the warhammer under the ogre’s necklace and pulled it over the dead monster’s head, tossing it with a flick towards Darren.

The other man snatched it out of the air with ease, turning to look at Roan as he willed himself calm. It was impressive how much control the man had over his own body, Roan could see how Darren stilled his wild breathing and regained control of his borderline panicked movements.

“There’s a nice bounty on those,” Roan said, watching as Darren folded the necklace over and pocketed it.

“They’re tough. That hammer you have is a good weapon for them. Breaks them apart a lot easier than this,” Darren said, waving the sword in front of himself.

“It is a lot tougher with a sword,” Roan admitted. He was actually surprised Darren had managed the feat. It had been difficult for himself and that was after the body tempering.

“Come on. I’ll lead us back,” Darren said, spitting dryly to the side and wiping at his lips. Roan could see his throat bobbing as if he was trying to swallow something.

“Here,” Roan offered his canteen which had refilled a bit. There was maybe a swallow or two left in it, but Darren took it without complaint and handed it back with a barely audible thanks.

“I’m sure the others are nearly back. We took too long with them,” Roan said looking back at the dead horde officers.

“Yeah.” Darren pushed off the tree with a groan and started jogging slowly. Roan fished into his ring and pulled out his inferior stamina potion. With the boost to his body and the mana enriched meal he’d eaten, even with the lack of sleep, he felt decent.

“Darren. Stamina potion,” Roan said jogging up to him and offering the standoffish man the bottle.

“Thanks.” The bottle disappeared in an instant, Darren drinking it in a single swallow and tossing it to the side. A shudder ran through him as he gasped and shook, but he started moving faster nearly instantly.

They moved fast through the forest, Darrren’s ability allowing him to blaze the path forward with ease while Roan followed after. There were no goblins leaping out at them, stabbing wildly, but there were bodies. Lots of bodies.

The team that Darren had taken were the best at the village and it showed as they passed through slaughtered goblins that lay broken against trees. No climber corpses were seen, which Roan was grateful for. Already he knew tonight was going to be a bloodbath if more of the shamans were ranging about.

“I guess I owe you an apology,” Darren said suddenly.

“Right now probably isn’t the time for it,” Roan countered, his eyes continually sweeping their surroundings.

“We’re fine. I can sense up to five meters perfectly around me right now. Nothing is alive aside from us and only the shamans have ranged attacks and we can see the glow before it hits us,” Darren said.

“I’m not a fan of heart to hearts. Why don’t we just pretend we spoke about this and we’re cool?” Roan asked.

“I need clarity. I, we, have goals that supersede ourselves. This tower is killing our world slowly but accelerating. It was our plan to stop it, we risked everything coming to this tower when we could have lived much easier, privileged lives. Do you understand where I’m going with this?” Darren asked.

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