[Doherty POV]
While everyone was sourcing their own weapons and equipment, making do with whatever Jaque brought in his wagon. I made the right decision to bring my crate of old antiques.
"Doherty, it's time to bring out the reals ones, right?"
Giving but a nod, I start pulling out various things from my crate. Instead of the half-ass armour I wore yesterday, it would be the equipment I used when we were gold-ranked Adventurers. A full suit of armour covered in engravings allowing it to shrink and grow to fit my size and finally my beloved war hammer. Over two meters long and half a ton in weight, just remembered how much i paid for it hurts the soul.
After pulling out all my equipment, I kept searching for a certain item, I had placed somewhere in there.
'Oh, here it is."
Pulling out a perfectly cut red stone that emitted an eery red light.
"Krast, catch!"
Throwing the stone toward my friend, he stumbles to catch it. But after taking one hand look, the look on his face was crazy and hilarious.
"D-Doherty, this... is this what I think it is...?"
"Yep, it's that same one."
"And all this time, you said you sold it all those years ago when I lost the bet to you."
"I've always kept it close..."
"My friend, you're making me tear up a bit."
As Krast made fake crying expressions, he quickly pulls out the black stone from his staff and replaces it with the red one. As soon as the stone entered the staff, a magical transformation ensued. The original wooden staff was no more, smooth but still natural, carved and exquisite with red lines running up and down the staff originating from the stone.
"I've missed this grip so much."
"You weren't performing with the old one. To cast the childish flame took way too long, I almost fell asleep."
"Stop you're yapping! I was at most at 20% power with that stick and dried-out stone."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you could've bought a new one if you didn't blow your money on buying all sorts of rare herbs and materials."
"You wouldn't understand, metal boy."
...
As our 'conversation' kept going, the rest of the group finished suiting up and were ready to fight. While observing the group, I noticed one person who was suited up but shouldn't be.
"Arius, you WILL sit this one out."
"Bu-"
"You WILL sit this one out. Sorry for being harsh but you don't have the strength to kill a single one of the monsters out there. So sit here with Jaque and watch and learn."
"o-ok..."
Watching a deflated Arius slowly walk back to join Jaque on his wagon, I feel a bit guilty but yesterday was already a big gamble. It is not the time to be bringing children into battle. Speaking of children, I managed to pull out Lorraine from out of the crowd and sent her to accompany Arius and Jaque.
As I watched Sir Earnest and Krast start to float into the air, I organized the rest of the troops for combat. After looking everyone in the eyes and receiving back eyes of confidence and fearlessness, we made a run up the hill before taking a last breath and jumping down into the valley.
"FIGHT!!"
Spirits and morale were high, the thrill of battle rang in our minds, adrenaline coursing through our veins. Growing to 5 meters tall, each stride covering dozens of meters, each landing cracking the ground beneath me. I dashed toward the stone golem, which was still roaring and creating large tremors as it smashed its arms into the ground.
"YOU MIGHT AS WELL KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE GROUND!!"
As Sir Earnest flew past me, I leap into the sky, holding my giant hammer above my head. I'm going to go all in at the start.
BOOOOM!!
Slamming down on my hammer on the stone golem's hand, Implanting it deeper into the ground
"Crazy, no damage at all-woah."
Completely unfazed by my strike, the stone golem lifts up his hand trying to swat me away. Nearly avoiding the other hand coming down to crush me, I jump away to a distance.
"EARNEST, DO IT!!!"
"You don't have to tell me."
Positioned right above the stone golem, I see Sir Earnest raise his arms with a giant sphere of liquid appearing above the golem. Soon enough the sphere starts to fall, pouring all over the stone golem. Jumping further back, I see a drop of the red liquid splash next to me, in a near instant there was a visible hole where it landed, and visible gas flowing into the air.
'Corrosive Blood...'
ROOOARR
The angry and painful screams of the stone golem began to run out. As white gas came out of all of its body, it started to spawl, covering its head with its hands and arms. Grabbing a bunch of rocks, it throws rocks toward the sky trying to hit Earnest out of the sky. Backing away from the chaos that was ensuing, I see Sir Earnest land next to me.
"Earnest, did it do anything?"
"Beyond minor discomfort and enraging it, nothing. While the blood pierces through the skin of the monster, it can simply cover itself will more stones from its surroundings."
After many more tries and attacks, we continued to observe the golem's actions. The blood had long been used up, leaving only a few visible burns. But as soon as we see something in an area that we can exploit the area the surrounding rocks move to cover it up as the monster itself continues to eat more rocks to regenerate. Earnest and I continued to get more fatigued and dry of mana.
"This is never-ending, there was be a crack somewhere or even a flaw, something, anything."
...
[Arius POV]
As I continue to sit with Lorraine and Big Brother Jaque, all that there was to see was the occasion falling rock and the screams and cries of the chaos just over the hill. We felt so useless, I felt so useless.
"I want to help out."
"We all do Lorraine, we all do. I could be down there right now if not for this bandage-ssszz"
Only after a few hours, Big Brother Jaque's voice had already healed but as he winces at trying to remove his bandages, his wounds and burns have not. I could see the red skin under parts where the bandaging was light.
"Man, man, man, man, I want to do something I need to do something."
"Arius, I wish I can too. Calm down, your skill has been activated. Your eyes, they're covered in blue."
I was so agitated and angry. Not heeding Big Brother's words, I rush off the wagon and run to beak over the hill.
"ARIUS, Arius, get back here... get...back..."
Tuning out the calls of my name, I continue to look at the chaotic painting of colours in front of me. Blue surrounding red. Red seeping into the blue, not mixing into purple but spreading into the blue. Various small blobs of red move around being killed by bright blobs of blue. In the center of the hole, a deep red blob bigger than all the rest, beside them, two fast-moving bright blue blobs.
As I continued to observe, the two fast blobs were getting dimmer and dimmer. I had to do something, something fast. I had to concentrate more and find something that could help them. Not caring about the burning of my eyes, I needed to find something.
With each hit from bright blue blobs, the red within shrinks in size before surging out once more. Cracking. As I concentrated more, I looked deeper into the redness, seeing more and observing more. Cracks forming in my sight. I don't care I must see it. And see it I will. Deep within the red, there was a hint of blue.
"ARIUS, you ok?"
Suddenly my vision cracks, a voice cuts through the silence, and I feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Arius, you're eyes are bleeding."
"I-I'm fine."
Feeling something run down my face, I go to go to rub it. Blood. Red Blood. Wiping the blood stains off my face, I see a person floating in the air destroying any large boulders flying toward us.
"HEY, HEY, I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO TELL YOU!!!"
Hearing my cry, the person comes down and looks at me in an amused manner.
"And how important can it be?"
"I know how to destroy the big stone monster."
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Dakria's Fun Fact: As I've said before, skill can naturally evolve through age or meeting various conditions. There are however extreme cases. Like how stress accelerates evolution, immense amount of stress can grow skills beyond what is normally possible.