Crimson Servant

Chapter 23 Scars
  Invisibility was more convenient than Karl imagined. When he borrowed a little magic power to activate the runes on the scroll, he felt like a circle of invisible water flowing from between him, covering his whole body bit by bit. He could no longer see his body, and he needed to pay close attention to see the inconspicuous shoe prints of his iron boots on the ground. Karl tried to move his arms, and the sound of friction between armors seemed to be thrown into another dimension. His companions focused on him, or stared at the place where Karl last disappeared.

The Paladins really want to try to move their positions quietly. Will they continue to stare at the empty place like the teacher?

"You'd better give up those stupid ideas. Invisibility only reduces the possibility of being discovered, not undetectable." John said coldly, as confidently as if he had read the heart of the Paladin.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Karl's voice, which was pretending to be upright, echoed in several people's ears, like the voice of a ghost making lightning feathers stand up.

That's it. Instead of attacking his suspicions, he defended himself. John had already understood the logic of the young paladin's behavior.

"Go explore the road, invisible man. Those traps will definitely not be able to penetrate your thick skin."

"Watch your words, Warlock. I hope you won't provoke enemies you shouldn't provoke because of your frivolous words in the future..."

"You cannot move, attack or release magic in the invisible state. This state will still trigger other induction traps, so you should be careful."

"...Well, I understand." Karl muttered "Mission is the most important thing" in his heart, and looked back at the wall-crushing mechanism. The obsidian walls on both sides seemed to fit perfectly, and in just a blink of an eye, Karl had blurred the general boundaries of the trap.

The paladin raised his shield. This shield engraved with the emblem of the sun was the only equipment that could bring him a sense of security, even though he couldn't see it now.

He walked in the middle of the road, focusing on both sides, counting the steps silently in his mind. When he reached the approximate location of the light sensor, Karl held his breath and stepped silently.

Karl stepped over without triggering any activity of crushing the wall. He couldn't help but feel excited in his heart, but it was quickly suppressed and he kept calm and continued to move forward. It is this excellent emotional adjustment that allows the Paladin's nerves to react in time, before the floor changes and an ominous premonition appears in his heart.

The camouflage of the stone disappeared, and the mechanism in the dense metal grid under the feet was activated, and sharp thorns erupted. Karl protected his body with a shield as much as possible, rolling sideways while bearing the impact. The armor blessed by the shield spell created a series of sparks under the friction of the ground thorns. Amid the exclamations of his companions, the paladin rolled to the corner where the ground spike trap could not reach and stopped moving.

"Lightning! Rush over! Use Karl's method." The eager dwarf transformed into a snake and wrapped it around the slender neck of the arakkoa. The light and agile arakkoa was more suitable for crossing the mechanism than him.

The anxious Crow Man became even more anxious. He jumped on the spot and slapped his hands in the air on the side of his neck. He wanted to throw it away but did not dare to touch it. "Snake! Snake! Not this! I hate this!"

"There are actually winged people who are afraid of snakes." Jurgen's deformed snake's body inflated like a balloon, its tail shortened, and it turned into a furry guinea pig for a second, grabbing Lightning's shiny feathers with its small claws.

Archery triggers the mechanism, the wall in front of him closes, Lightning lowers his center of gravity, and assumes a running posture.

"It's not that I'm afraid, I just don't like the cold touch of the scales, the sharp eyes, and the fangs."

The wall parted, revealing a gap, a light appeared, and the arakkoa rushed into the trap as if catapulted. His speed was so fast that all the feathers were flying in the air like flags, and there were flying guinea pigs. The ground spike trap had been triggered and exposed by Karl, so Lightning quickly rushed to the side of the path where Karl was without being injured.

The arakkoa stopped suddenly in front of the fallen paladin, and the guinea pig on his shoulder was thrown forward, spinning in circles in the air and returning to a round shape before landing. Suppressing the feeling of vomiting, Jurgen turned around and began to pay attention to Karl's injury.

Facing the uneven holes in the armor, Jurgen became more and more frightened as he looked at it. The left side of his waist had turned into a black patch, stained red by blood.

"It's nothing serious. Fortunately, he didn't hurt his organs. Maybe the sun really protected him." John, who had passed through the trap at some point and stood on the other side of the ground spike mechanism, said calmly.

Although Jurgen didn't understand how John came to the conclusion, he felt a lot more at ease in his heart. He used healing techniques and medicinal herbs. It wasn't until the young face that was constantly sweating returned to calm that the dwarf breathed a sigh of relief.

The Sun Team found an open space to rest a few meters away from the trap node, allowing Carl to heal quickly under the influence of the spell. Lightning didn't know what to do. He stayed beside his injured companion, even more depressed than the injured. After a few minutes, he stood up and began to set up warning traps around him. He nocked the arrows on his bow and looked at the darkness around him, like a stone sculpture. John sat there, closing his eyes and concentrating. His spirit extended further beyond the warning, and the dense red mist hid in the gaps in the darkness.

Jurgen took off the hemostatic bandage and saw the new flesh growing under the armor. He stood up, picked up the rum for disinfection and took a swig. He walked steadily to John's side and rested against the wall like him.

"That kid is lucky, he's fine."

"I know."

"But you don't know what will happen next time?"

"No one knows. Do you have any better suggestions, Jurgen?"

The dwarf took another sip, and the smell of alcohol spread on his weather-beaten face. His big nose became as red as a furnace fire, but his words were as hot as an iron ingot just taken out of the furnace.

"I'll take the next trap."

John shook his head.

"Every companion should play a role in the field they are good at. We need your keen perception and medical ability. If it is you who falls this time, we will be helpless. Jurgen, whether it is out of reason or out of necessity, In terms of sensibility, I don't agree with letting a wise man like you go for us. I can understand the compassion of a doctor, but you and I both know that this is inappropriate."

The dwarf druid looked at the paladin lying there, shook the bottle, took one last sip, drank the liquid in the bottle completely, threw it into a trap not far away, stood up and left.

"Forget what I said, kid."

John frowned, "I said I don't like that title."

"I remember," the dwarf waved his hand, "but please understand the compassion of an old man."

About thirty minutes later, Karl woke up faintly. The happy arakkoa hugged him excitedly, and the paladin, who was shaking off his weakness, responded enthusiastically. The bear hug seemed to crush lightning and made him grin in pain.

When Lightning retreated, the Paladin saw John standing in front of him.

"Jurgen once asked me to change people to test the traps instead of you. I rejected him because the traps on the second floor of Optitdan exceeded our expectations. I can't put the lives of my companions in danger..."

"You're right, I understand." Karl seems to have grown a lot after recovering from his injury, or maybe he hasn't changed at all.

"I don't need your understanding, I need you to continue to use the remaining warmth of your life, Paladin."

"Oh, I won't die in front of you, Warlock."

(End of this chapter)