Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Three Lions

Her hand was obscured by the bandages that encircled it, but their colour betrayed the urgency of the situation. Deep crimson beaded to the surface in islands of blood, each one trying to meet and form a full country. Nikola's vast experience with other people's wounds had her thinking that the frail spellcaster was just short of being in a state of bleeding out. If they had the option, she would have demanded she sit the battle out, but they had no idea when the other parties would catch up or if her staying behind would end in her being safe.

Nikola guessed that their opponents were suffering their way through either the fiery path or the carpeted path they had opted out of, one of which required careful tightrope walking that would keep them busy for a long while - or keep them dead, if they fell.

No, keeping her behind probably wouldn't save her. Still, when she looked upon her short tresses that made it just past her sharp ears and her dainty little hands, one of which was fucked up, she felt a sense of responsibility for her fate. But why? Why was she feeling this pesky responsibility now, when she had never before sheltered weaklings beneath her wing? First Angelica, who she had even named, and now this one.

"I am prepared now."

"Yeah, same," Luke said, his face illuminated in the red glow of his screen. He seemed to be finalizing his level up.

"Then let us go," Giga rumbled, his statuesque form moving toward the lion door.

"You have been Marked... are you now ready to face the Lion?" A voice came from the door as Giga approached, but the jaw didn't move with the words, Katalyn's blood still wet and beading down its chin.

Phoenix rose from his spot beside the mage. "I'll help you up," he said to the fair maiden, to who he held out his hand. She accepted and allowed him to pull her to her wobbly feet. "And I will aid you during the battle with this Lion. You have endured a hardship, seeing your mates killed in battle, and I will do what I can to make sure you don't share their fate." He looked like he considered laying kiss on the back of her hand, but he let it go without incident.

"I'm okay," she responded, but her voice shook on the way out. "Thanks."

"We are ready," Nikola told the door on behalf of the group.

The lion head said nothing in return, but the face part of the head sunk in and began to spin inside the mane, producing an array of clicking noises. After the final click, it fell to the floor and a gush of blood spurted from the hollow it left behind. The lion face made a deep thudding noise as it hit the ground and, like any good adventurer, Luke picked it up and put it away in his personal [Inventory], because it looked cool and it wasn't nailed down.

The set of doors began to creak open, an ominous sound that rung through the small hall they were crammed in. They groaned eerily as they moved to reveal the room they had been obscuring; a tall, circular room whose ceiling was so far up it faded into a deep, murky darkness.

The walls and floor were made of an ivory marble, cold and sturdy and unforgiving - and where the floor met the wall, three lions stood, each one unmoving. The more Nikola observed them, the more unusual features stood out to her: they had three tails each, and three eyes - all closed.

The party filtered into the room, and as soon as Katalyn crossed the threshold, the doors clapped shut with a thundering rock-on-rock clatter that woke all the sleeping figures in the room. A cascade of eyes tiny eyes opened up across the ceiling, golden and glowing, and nine feline eyes were upon them as well as all three towering lions peeled themselves from the wall.

"Oh, shit," Luke swore.

A cloud of screeching bats descended from above, thousands of shadows blackening the reflective marble beneath them.

"There are three lions," Katalyn squeaked fearfully, putting her two hands up to ready herself for combat - even though one was still sopping wet with her own blood.

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"Be not afraid," Phoenix said in a forcefully level tone, "we simply need a plan. Nikola, I know from observing you that you are not simply a Rogue. I do not fault you for not explaining fully, but being that you are the most powerful of us, I suggest that you split from the group and work alone." His words began to pick up speed as the swirl of creatures of the night spiraled down, blackening the room further. "The rest of us should work together to protect Katalyn."

Nikola blinked. So, Phoenix had figured out that she wasn't simply a Rogue. Was she impressed? Was this what being impressed felt like? It's not like she had been hiding it, since she had no actual Rogue skills to use, but him seeing through her very first secondhand lie made her respect for him tick up.

As the lions woke from their stony slumber and shook the sleep and crumbs from their feline eyes, Luke gulped. Phoenix had already seen through his lie. He hadn't wanted the two to know about Nikola being an NPC, and he still didn't know if they had figured that part out, but any follow-up questions about her unique Class could put him in a tight spot. But how could he just say that an NPC was up and walking among them? Being accused of being a liar was a dangerous thing in the World of Wills.

He was shaken from his thoughts when a high-pitched whining growl came from the felines as they fully noticed the intruders in their space.

"Got it," Luke replied. It was as good a plan as any with what little time they'd had to prepare. He steadied his grip on his two-handed sword and checked where Katalyn was in relation to them. She was tucked behind them with her hands facing out.

Nikola gave a nod and split off from the others, leaning onto the balls of her feet and padding quickly away. She paid attention to the slitted eyes of the lions and only two sets of eyes tracked her as she went off on her own.

How curious.

Nikola had been wondering why there were three lions when the door had only mentioned one. 'Are you ready to face the lion', it had said, and yet the lions that padded around were plural. Just as she was beginning to wonder what that meant for the battle, the middle lion leaned back on its haunches and pounced straight into the cluster of her party members.

But she couldn't worry about them. Literally, she couldn't. There had been enough worry-flavoured emotions in her life and she was beginning to tire of having them for people who weren't even herself or her family. Was she becoming soft? Was that what it meant to be an non-NPC? Surely there were all sorts of heartless assholes galavanting around the World of Wills caring about nobody except for themselves, so were her recent thoughts about defending others an indicator that somewhere inside she was... nice? Selfless?

Disgusting.

The two other lions, seeing the other of their kind had initiated combat, knelt back as well.

The Butcher knew that her best bet was to initiate with her [Crunching Cleave], and if the felines spread out too far they would be out of range. She had to act quickly. She darted toward the predators and shocked herself with how efficiently she closed the gap between her and the two maned creatures; was this because she increased her DEX stat? Her steps felt smoother, easier to control. And she was faster. Fuck, was she ever fast now. This was the biggest increase she'd seen in her own skills in... ever? Ever.

Normally, she had to toil for hundreds of hours to see the mildest bit of progress. She and her father had to make several batches of bread before she got a handle on the springy texture and how to achieve it with or without yeast.

But with this, she had just pressed a button. A few button presses were responsible for her sudden and vast increase in her speed and control.

Oh, she could see herself getting addicted to this 'game' thing.

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