It had been a little over an hour after I had first killed one of the veiled guards.
I had been actively hunting them.
One after another the veiled guards died. However I hadn't gone unscathed Unfortunately for me every 2 or 3 veiled guards were able to retain their combat instincts.
Currently I was fighting one of those.
Countless cuts had been inflicted upon me, no matter how I tried to advance the veiled guard was able to predict and stop me from moving forwards.
I was stuck in a never ending loop of either dodging and deflecting.
I could feel the slowly developing wounds on me. No matter how I tried to dodge or how I tried to deflect of course there were some that I couldn't either dodge or deflect its throwing knives.
The wounds added up the more that I got the slower and more wounds I received.
I knew that I couldn't keep this up for long.
A final gambit was what I needed to do.
To give up completely on defense and focus completely on offense.
I knew that afterwards I could heal any minor or major wound that I received but that still wasn't an excuse to let myself get hit.
Guided by my instincts I give up completely on defense. I crouch down and push with all my strength.
The distance between us was minimal but even that felt like a great divider.
The 50 feet between us was hard for me to even advance upon.
With all pretenses of defense gone I could focus on gaining ground. I ignored every non fatal hit, letting them strike me. My shoulders, my stomach, my knees, everywhere around me were struck with the veiled guards' daggers.
But even that did not stop me, guided by instinct I grew closer and closer.
I could see
The panic in the guards' eyes, no matter what it did I just ignored it growing ever closer.
My right arm was disabled, a desperate flurry of blades flying into the muscles and hand.
Even that I ignored it, as long as one arm was functional I could kill it.
Eventually I had made it into striking range.
Pivoting with my right foot I brought my body sideways to the guard then slashed up.
Cutting through the veiled guards' knife the spear cleaved through his body ending the battle.
"Curse you, damned brat…" a whisper was the last thing I heard of him before his body vanished into motes of gray light.
…
[You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.]
[You have gained comprehension and a fragment of the veil(10/1000)]
Every veiled guard would reward me with a fragment of the veil and comprehension.
Comprehension let me understand the culture and language of the veiled guards' species.
I don't know what the fragment of the veil does but just looking at the ridiculous condition to obtain it spoke of its value.
I only ever got 1 fragment for every veiled guard that I killed.
Finishing with those thoughts I brought my hand to the freshest wounds, channeling my aether into them to accelerate their healing.
…
After I was done healing all the wounds that I could, I started to reflect on the battle. That was the first time that I had taken so many wounds despite clearly having the strength advantage.
'I had inferior skill.'
That was the only conclusion. Maybe if I was stronger skill would not have mattered but the fact is, I could not end the battle faster because I could not use the strength in my legs better, I could not skillfully wield my spear in a way that would have deflected all the projectiles thrown.
I could not dexterously dodge the projectiles to get closer.
I had to make a final gambit and gamble with my life just to defeat an enemy I knew for a fact was weaker than me.
A fire lit in my heart.
'I need to be better'
…
It was with that thought that I wandered more, even if I was just recovering from my previous injustices I kept wandering.
Every time I encountered a veiled guard that kept its skills I would give it my all from the very beginning trying new tactics and techniques.
For some I would immediately rush at them, uncaring of the minor injuries I received and only focusing on blocking the fatal attacks.
For others I took a more cautionary approach.
I would observe from a distance and when I thought that I could, I would try and ambush the veiled guards.
Most of the time I was using the first method.
It seemed to work best for me, the second method would without a doubt fail every time and I would be forced to use the first method.
[You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.]
[You have gained comprehension and a fragment of the veil(25/1000)]
It was getting dark and so I found a tall tree that I could scale and fell asleep.
…
When I awoke I continued my search.
It must have been after hours of searching, killing, healing myself, then back to searching that I found Aoif.
"Aoif?!" I call her head turning at my voice.
"Are you okay" I ran over to her checking the wound on her abdomen.
*GROWL* another growl of my stomach interrupts him.
A sly smile forms in my face as I hear the growl of her stomach.
Placing my hand over her wound I channel my aether to heal her.
I'm just a few seconds the wound is back to normal however I need to get her food to replenish the energy that my healing had taken.
I pick Aoif up then place her on my back hands supporting her legs.
"Come on let's go find some food"
"Nn" with a grumble of agreement I set off, Aiof on my back.
…
By the time we had found anything edible my stomach was already protesting.
The land around us was lush but there were no animals to kill nor things to eat.
This led to a desperate search as both of us were hungry from previous exertions.
Eventually we did find a small orange like tree that we could pick from.
I placed Aoif down next to a nearby tree and started to pick the orange like fruits.
Once I had a decent amount I placed them next to Aoif and peeled them for her.
Handing her the peeled oranges she munched on them like a chipmunk. Holding the orange like pieces with both hands and taking wide bites.
She devoured them with gusto at one point she stuffed her mouth so much that she struggled to swallow.
Of course I helped her but it was a cute sight to see Aoif's cheeks full and her pouting because she could not munch on more.
I had started eating them too once I had seen that Aoif had gotten her share.
It was with a moment of silence both her head resting on my shoulder that she suggested that we evolve together.
"Here, now"
"Yes, I know I'm weak. I could barely kill that soul that attacked me but I want to be stronger."
"I'll always protect you though we don't have to do this now we could do it when we get back." I tried to reason.
"I know you can but I don't want to be protected. I want to stand side by side with you" her face was filled with determination, her hands curled into fists. This was something Aoif wanted, no needed to do, I could see it in her body language, I could see it in her eyes.
"I…" I couldn't respond, the raw emotion captivated me, so I just nodded numbly.