The casting took several seconds to form, and Klein had to dodge all the attacks the stone golem hurled at him while carrying Maelora in his arms. The fact that she didn't weigh much, thanks to his augmented attributes, helped a lot, but the cumulative mass still threw off his balance, just barely enough to take a crushed stone fist head-on.
Thankfully, his body was sturdier, and the healing factor kicked in. Still, blood bubbled up from the wound without stopping. It would take several minutes, at the very least, for it to heal. But it would heal.
Klein was in no position to run for the moment. Luckily, Maelora's spell came to fruition just in time.
She sent the blob of concentrated wind at the golem, and instantly the ray split into dozens of pieces, each bursting with strong gales of wind blades, splintering the stone golem into thousands of smaller fragments.
A couple of wind blades struck the glowing orb in its head, but they couldn't split it. The orb was sent flying, still glowing, while the rest of the stone fragments crashed to the ground.
Klein sighed in relief, wiping the blood from his face as stinging pain coursed through his head.
"Run!" Maelora shouted.
Klein was about to ask why, but soon saw the glowing orb moving back to its place, with the stone blocks reconnecting one by one. He didn't wait to see it fully reassembled. Taking her order, Klein bolted into the darkness.
The golem would take a few seconds to reform, at the very least. He needed to cover a good distance in that time. Maybe even—
"There!" Maelora rasped from his arms, an edge to her voice. Her face had paled considerably, blood still dripping from the wound in her waist. He held her with one arm under her hips, the other supporting her back just above the injury, but even so, his movement made her groan in pain. "Go there!"
He didn't understand all of what she said, but her fingers pointed towards a corner in the path, which was easy enough to follow. He listened and hurried there, while the sound of stone striking stone echoed behind them. Klein pressed his back against the wall in the corner.
"Stay still," she said, her chest heaving frantically. Tears had formed in her eyes, mostly from the pain she was enduring.
She clenched her teeth, preparing to weave another spell. The necklace she wore glowed with azure light, and soon a shroud of obscurity enveloped them both, concealing them.
Maelora let out a deep breath and rested her head on his chest. He could hear her heartbeat, growing more restless as the sound of the stone golem's movement got louder.
She pressed herself against his chest, her lips quivering from the pain and anticipation. If she were in her prime state, she would likely have full faith in the concealment spell, but everything that had happened in the last few hours made her doubt herself and the abilities she once took so much pride in.
Thankfully, her worry proved unnecessary.
The stone golem stalked down the path, but its sensory abilities weren't strong enough to pierce through the shroud of concealment. After scouring the area for half an hour, it returned to its original position.
Maelora kept the concealment up for a few more minutes, just to be sure. Klein approved of that plan.
"Let go!" she demanded after dropping the concealment.
Klein did so, as slowly as possible, but she still groaned, cursing her luck. She tried to stand up on her own, leaning against the wall, but the moment her back straightened, she let out a sharp groan before falling back down. Hot tears bubbled up in her eyes as she crawled into a sitting position.
Klein shook his head. This woman was too prideful to ask for help, even when she needed it.
Honestly, Maelora wasn't his favourite person to be around since he'd come into contact with her and the others a couple of days ago. Hell, other than Elowen, none of them seemed to care much about him. Siona was passable, but she had some mysterious goal in mind, so he kept his distance from her.
Under better circumstances, Klein would have left Maelora to her own devices. But he couldn't, in good conscience, leave a crying girl to fend for herself, even if she was a bully. He would have no problem if she could at least move.
Well, I still have two healing potions, he thought, shaking his head. I can send her on her way after giving her one.
But he couldn't let her see where the potion came from.
After giving her a couple of minutes to rest, he crouched down in front of her. Her golden irises scanned him tiredly. Klein held out his arms, gesturing for her to trust him.
Maelora blinked at him, remaining unmoving for a long moment. Finally, seeing he wasn't backing down, she gave him her hands, and hot tears burst from her eyes.
Klein pulled her into his arms again, letting her head rest on his shoulder. His arms went back to where they had been before he put her down, and with that, he began to move once more.