Ch 62

  "Counteroffer: We take you hostage and let the other two go," the man declared. Matt frowned as he considered the situation, sighing before turning to Greg. "You and Zara should hurry. If you move quickly, you should be able to catch the others."

  "We're not leaving you behind," Zara snapped, her eyes flashing with determination. "So don't even think about accepting their offer."

  "They'll have to march to the fort if they expect to trade me for the healing—whatever cure they're after," explained Matt coolly.

  "Matt, you're being an idiot," Greg retorted, though his tone carried a reluctant acceptance. "But, honestly, it seems like our best option right now. Just promise me you won't get yourself killed."

  "You can't be willing to go along with this—"

  "If we fight, then either you and I will be killed or taken hostage to force Matt to surrender. Just trust that Matt knows what he’s doing."

  Matt could see Zara’s discontent, though she kept silent as he addressed the man with the unnerving ability to compel truthful answers.

  "There you have it," Matt stated carefully. "Once I’m sure that the two of them are out of danger, I'll come with you quietly."

  "That's great to hear, but I have to ask—are you planning to pull a fast one on us?"

  "I mean exactly what I just said."

  "See, the fact that you won't just say 'no' means I can't fully trust you. So, tell me, what exactly do you intend to do?"

  "Once they're far enough away that I doubt your group can catch them, I’ll attack. After all, they won't be safe until they reach the fort. And if all of you manage to subdue me, just hold on for a day and a half; I'll assume that they've made it back safely and I’ll stop resisting. But if I escape, then there will be no one for me to quietly join."

  "Alright, I can handle that," the leader conceded. "Hand over all your weapons, and I'll let them pass us while we focus on capturing you. After that, we'll trade you for the healer from your group. I suspect most of your people will want to join us afterward, so we might as well claim the fort while we're at it."

  Matt almost laughed at how delusional the man seemed, but he maintained his composure as he responded. "Fine. Greg, take my weapons while I make sure they don't try anything. Once you and Zara return to the others, update them and tell them to head back to the fort."

  "If you don't make it back, I'll come out here and kill as many of them as I can until they get me. And you know I won't be alone," the man threatened.

  "Don't talk about human life as if it's so cheap," replied Matt coolly. "But rest assured, if anyone dies here, it certainly won't be me."

  "Don't worry—we all know he can regenerate. We'll just injure him enough so that he can't resist while we restrain him," the man stated, now clearly assuming the role of their leader. "Now hurry up and get going before we decide that you two aren't going to cooperate, and we have to face the extra risks of fighting with you here."

  "Go," Matt ordered curtly.

  With reluctance, both Greg and Zara took the long way around the group, deliberately avoiding the others. About a minute later, however, they both broke into a run after the rest. In the ensuing chaos, Matt suddenly found himself alone as he gently set the woman he was holding on the ground. The remaining attackers moved in to fully encircle him while one man spoke, his sword drawn and ready.

  “We don’t have to attack you and cause you a ton of pain if you’ll be reasonable about this,” the man declared.

  “I think we both know that isn’t how this is going to go,” Matt replied.

  Without another word, Matt charged forward, not even attempting to evade the man’s thrust. The sword plunged straight into his gut. In an instant, Matt seized the man’s wrist and twisted it, forcing him to release the sword—still lodged in Matt’s abdomen. Then, with a confident smile, he pulled the blade out as he activated his “give back to your enemy” skill while surveying the stunned faces around him.

  “You traded a gut wound for my blade—you must really trust… ugh,” the man remarked, his tone a mix of amusement and challenge before he felt the injury to his own side start to grow as fear blossomed on his face.

  “Now see, I do more than just regenerate. The wound you gave me is already being transferred to you. The same will happen to any of you who manages a debilitating strike,” Matt stated coolly.

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  “Fuck, you’re a real bastard, you know that,” spat the man, his gut wound slowly expanding. “You just killed me, and you don’t even care. God damn it, how can you stand there bleeding like that and act like you’re not even hurt?”

  “I’ve had much worse,” Matt replied with a wry smile. “Now, do we really need to go through with this fight, or can we just agree that I’ve outplayed you?”

  “Not at all—I think you’re bluffing. Everyone, avoid any attacks that could incapacitate you on their own and focus on capturing him!” the man ordered.

  As soon as he finished speaking, the onslaught resumed. Attacks came in rapid succession, including blasts of magic that sent rocks hurtling and small fireballs darting toward Matt. None of these bothered him much as he focused on preventing melee attackers from landing any clean hits. After parrying a particularly vicious strike, Matt received a notification that his base dexterity had increased by one point. Unfortunately, the state of his gut wound forced him into a purely defensive stance, and he absorbed a series of minor cuts.

  In a moment of desperation, Matt devised a plan. He retrieved one of the larger boulders from his spatial storage with the idea of removing one direction of attack. When the massive rock he summoned toppled over and pinned one of his attackers to the ground, he felt both elation and irritation. Elation because the sudden appearance of the boulder caught everyone off guard, giving him precious time to gather more; irritation because his plan to block off one direction hadn’t worked out as neatly as he’d hoped. As more rocks began appearing randomly around him, the shouts of confusion from his attackers grew louder. Amid the commotion, Matt focused on the leader’s urgent command:

  “They must have had a powerful earth mage, or something in their group—half of you, find where they’re hiding!”

  This made Matt laugh as he continued to dispatch one rock after another, sending several more of his attackers crashing to the ground. The best part was the surge of adrenaline he felt—a sensation building in his gut, as though he could sprint indefinitely. With a burst of energy, he raced toward their leader, who stood next to the woman he had already knocked unconscious. After a quick fight, made easy as the man struggled with his gut wound Matt knocked the leader out with a quick punch to the face, Matt hoisted both of them over his shoulder and started to run. Glancing back, he noticed pursuers bearing down on him. Deciding to take a stand, he shouted an ultimatum, "If you keep following me, I'm not healing these two! I'll leave them behind to fend for themselves however your group manages!"

  Several of the followers halted at his words, though the one closest to him couldn't hold back a retort, "Better dead than slaves to a tyrant!"

  Matt snarled, "When they return in a few days, let them tell you if what they saw at the fort makes anyone a slave. Now, either stop, or I'll drop the woman and keep running!"

  "Bastard, I hope you rot in hell!" came the bitter reply.

  Despite the insult, the man paused; moments later, Matt found himself alone with the two bleeding figures slung over his shoulders, contemplating his next move. After a tense ten minutes, he spotted Zara leading the group back towards the fray. At the sight of him, she broke into tears, rushing forward to embrace him. This sudden, heartfelt reunion put Matt in an awkward position—both arms were full, and as Zara clung to him, her head ended up improbably wedged between the two captives' backsides.

  Clearing his throat to speak, Matt was interrupted by Greg. "Just let her have this moment," he said. "Still, I'm surprised you arrived so quickly—and with an extra hostage, though it looks like that came at a steep price, judging by the blood covering your lower half. I trust the blood on your upper half is from those two?"

  Matt nodded. "It should be. Now, grab some cordage and tie them up; I’m about to heal them before they bleed out."

  Jaelyn interjected, voice laced with concern, "Is that really a good idea? They could be right behind us, and you'll need time to recover from those wounds."

  Matt smirked with a hint of bravado, "I think I can take out one of them for free. But if you're worried, hurry back to the fort ahead of us."

  At that moment, Jaelyn frowned while a few others produced cordage. Within a minute, both of their hostages were securely bound. Matt began with the woman by carefully removing the arrow before healing her and addressing the stabbing pain it had caused. He then turned his concentration to nullifying the gut wound inflicted during his previous attack, employing his attack negation skill. As a result, both the persistent wound on him and the one on the man vanished, allowing him to concentrate on mending his new side wound. Throughout all of this, Zara clung to him, shifting around to give him just enough room to kneel and work his healing magic.

  "I can only do that once a day, but I'm glad it worked," he remarked.

  "What exactly did you do?" Greg asked, his tone laced with both curiosity and disbelief.

  "First, I allowed him to inflict that gut wound on me so I could later transfer it back when it started to heal on my end," Matt explained calmly. "Then I used a unique skill that lets me completely undo one attack per day, and it seems that it erased all the damage caused by that strike."

  Greg shook his head in disbelief. "You're insane. You let him wound you just so you could transfer it back to him. How did you manage to heal enough and last long enough to escape with him?"

  A wry smile tugged at Matt's lips as he recalled his quick thinking. "I began pulling out random rocks from my spatial storage. It turns out that by using them, they assumed there was an earth mage nearby, which slowed them down long enough for me to make our escape. The only drawback is that we’re now lower on rocks than I’d like."

  Zara finally released her grip on him and interjected, "We can always find more boulders, but we can’t replace you."

  Jaelyn added, "So now what? Are we just hauling them back to the fort, or do you have another plan in mind?"

  "We’re going to find a suitable campsite for the night," Matt announced. "Tomorrow, after some discussion with you all and with them, I'll decide our next move."

  "Do you want to play good cop, bad cop with me?" Greg joked.

  Matt shook his head. "No, I'm just going to have him ask her some pointed questions—to figure out their intentions and why they attacked us in the first place."

  "Using their own skills against them," Greg observed with a hint of admiration. "Nice, if only we didn’t have to worry about pursuers."

  "Yeah, it's going to be a long night," agreed Matt as he stood up and began to lead them away from the clearly marked path they had created on the journey in.