I cried out in pain. I had never experienced a serious injury in my life on Earth. Stab wounds are a lot worse than papercuts; I don't care what anybody else says. The dagger was yanked out of my wound, and I watched as the dagger again approached my body, carried by dark shadows. Three of the beastkin were on the ground with stab wounds. I did not see a large amount of blood, but they were clearly hurt. The black wolfkin was also holding his bleeding side, but he had not fallen yet. It was now obvious to me that we stood little to no chance against this enemy. Even with my increased stats and greater strength from the Underdog title, I was still far too low a level. The four beastkin seemed to recognize this reality as well. I dove to the ground to avoid the next oncoming dagger strike. Rather than missing me, the dagger was redirected by the shadows towards my new location. The lizardman's reaction time was far greater than I could manage. Was this the end?
Moments later, the dagger dropped out of the shadow and hit the ground. I stared forward and gasped in surprise. Several vines from the forest were pulling the lizardman villain away from me.
"Vine wrap? Did you bring the dryads??"
Monte seemed shocked by this new development. The vines that had wrapped his body terrified him more than the threat all five of us opponents could impose on him. The lizardman pulled himself free from the vines, scowling in my direction.
"You won't live long, runt! I'll dispose of you next time!"
With great speed, the shadow thief jumped upon the front of one of the covered carriages. Using shadows, he forced the horses back onto their feet, fleeing from the fight.
"Bliss, was that you?", I called out to my little companion.
Twiiii!
The little flowkra hobbled over to my body, lying on the dirt road. I was holding my shoulder as strongly as I could manage but felt myself getting weaker. Several of the beastkin had already passed out. Even the wolfkin was lying on his side, trying to slow his bleeding. Bliss was still worriedly hobbling in my direction. Little flowers do not travel very quickly. Using her vine power, she was already wrapping my arm in thick leaves.
"Thank you, Bliss. Please do what you can to treat them as well." I pointed towards the four injured beastkin.
"If we can treat them enough, we might be able to get them to Dwarven Kingdom." I heard the voice coming from my other side. Oh right, the 3 dwarves we saved. They were starting to carry the five of us into the remaining carriage. Perhaps there was hope for us yet. When it was my turn, I noticed the dwarves took great care not to touch my right shoulder.
"Thank you so much for risking your life for us." The young dwarf girl with freckles was expressing her appreciation. I was glad that something good came from my efforts.
"If only we had some green root or gold clover, we could then grind them into a paste for healing salve. Do you see anything nearby, Dossil?"
"Not so far. Either of those ingredients might be in the forest, but who knows how far we would have to look."
Twiiii! Twiiii, Twiiii!
The cute little sunflower now sitting next to me in the carriage was now motioning frantically at me. She seemed to be responding to the dwarf's statement. I considered what the young girl had said. If only we had green root or gold clover…wasn't there a gold looking clover that I collected on our way down the mountain? I had tons of it! With great effort, I reached for my Storage Vision skill and withdrew 10 gold clovers.
"Where did these come from? How did they just appear out of nowhere? Vince, grab one of those rocks, we need to grind these flowers into paste so we can treat their wounds."
"Got it!"
Two of the dwarves busily treated everyone's wounds. The third dwarf had turned the carriage around and was now transporting us north-west on the dirt roadway. The path was quite bumpy but nobody complained. The healing salve started to take effect.
Skill Acquired: Pain Resistance lv. 1
Skill Acquired: Improved Natural Healing Lv. 1
Twiiii!
"Thanks for your concern little one. I will be okay, thanks to you. That vine wrap attack was impressive!"
Twiiii!
The little flower seemed to blush from my compliment.
"It certainly was impressive, little flowkra. I thought only dryads could use vine wrap. I believe that is why the lizardman fled when he did. Well done!" Those words came from the white rabbitkin. While we introduced ourselves, I decided to also use Analyze Vision on my new traveling companions, starting with the four beastkin.
Name: Lilly
Race: White Rabbitkin
Occupation: None
Level: 11
Name: Pepper
Race: Orange Catkin
Occupation: None
Level: 12
Name: Poppy
Race: Orange Catkin
Occupation: None
Level: 12
Name: Midnight
Race: Black Wolfkin
Occupation:
Level: 19
The most skilled fighter was Midnight, but he was still far weaker than Monte was. I was impressed that he lasted as long as he did! Poppy and Pepper were apparently siblings. Lilly the rabbitkin had been in captivity the longest of the four. All four of them had been found in human cities where they believed themselves to be safe. As I conversed with the group, they turned the conversation towards my abilities.
As for the three dwarves:
Name: Cedric Shatterfall
Race: Dwarf
Occupation: Apprentice Alchemist
Level: 5
Name: Danika Shatterfall
Race: Dwarf
Occupation: Apprentice Blacksmith
Level: 7
Name: Dossil Flinthead
Race: Dwarf
Occupation: Potion Maker
Level: 6
"How in Vando did you manage to disable four slave collars? They are designed in a way that you should not be able to tamper with them." Poppy was staring intensely at me, awaiting an answer.
"And that barrier. How did you keep it going for 10 minutes straight? Isn't that too long even for any barrier skill?" Midnight had a more solemn tone when he asked me that.
Dossil the dwarf spoke up with excitement. "Where did those gold clovers come from? Could you have one of the dwarven-made void rings? We haven't seen any in hundreds of years!"
I groaned inwardly. Perhaps my powers are more unique than I thought?