Overwhelming Firepower

After they finished burying their fallen comrades, the mercenaries returned to the caverns. They moved with practiced ease, securing the area, pitching tents, and cooking the game they had caught earlier.

As expected of those who walked so close in Lady Velmira’s embrace and honored the War God Varkun, they mourned with sincerity, and then ate with laughter.

They shared food, swapped crude jokes, and retold the story of slaying a dragon with increasing exaggeration, as though they hadn’t just buried five of their own.

Lucen, sitting quietly near the fire, watched it all with a furrowed brow. He had seen scenes like this plenty of times from the safety of a monitor, in games, anime, and movies. He used to think it was a cool scene, but in reality, it was something else.

This was his reality now, not something you simply see on the monitor, but something warm and alive.

”Hey, little leader, come eat with us.” Harlik gestured for Lucen to come sit with them. Lucen approached and sat with the group of mercenaries.

”So little leader, what kind of magic did you use when you were fighting us? It’s the first time I’ve seen such a spell.”

”I’ll explain when we make it back to Ironhold,” Lucen said, a faint smile playing on his lips.

”Well, now I’m even more curious.”

”How about you guys, what was the name of your mercenary group?” Lucen tried to change the subject.

”We really didn’t have a name, we were just called Harlik’s mercenary group. How about you give us a new name, little leader?”

”Hm, a name for a mercenary group.”

’These guys remind me of the band of mercenaries from an old manga I used to read.’ Lucen glanced at Harlik for a second. ’I don’t think they would end in the same fate. Now that I think about it, there are quite a few famous anime mercenaries. Still, I wouldn’t name this group with the same name. I wonder what would be a good name for our group...’

Lucen was truly thinking about what to name this group. ’A name that carries weight, and glory... Even for those buried in the snow.’

”So what do you think, little leader, going to give us a new name?” The mercenary disrupted Lucen’s thoughts, who smiled and replied.

”Yeah. I’ll give you all a name worthy of what we’ve been through.”

”So what is it?”

”I’m still thinking about it, I’ll tell you guys when I think of the name.”

”Sure, sure, I’ll wait for that.” The mercenary responded while taking another bite of the meat he was holding. ”This would have been better with a mug of ale.”

...

The group of mercenaries ate well enough and kept on laughing and sharing stories with Lucen. It was truly like the entire battle they had just had this morning never happened.

Lucen was able to pull himself from the merry-making mercenaries and went to look at the body of the dead dragon. Even though it had died a few hours before, it was still hot to the touch, and its blood even more so. Steam was actually rising from the dead young dragon’s blood.

’In stories, drinking or bathing in dragon blood gives some sort of enhancement, and of course, there’s also the chance of death. Still, everything I have done up to this point has had the chance of death, and I’m still alive.’

”What are you doing, little leader?” Harlik appeared behind Lucen.

”I’m thinking of bathing and drinking the dragon’s blood.”

”Are you serious? You want to bathe in and drink that dragon’s blood, that’s hotter than a boiling pot.”

”Don’t worry, I think I can take it.”

”You know I’m a mercenary and I’ve done things that could be called crazy and stupid, and I’ve seen a lot of absurd things, but what you’re saying might be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.”

”You do know there are stories about dragon’s blood granting incredible things.”

”Those are just stories, fairytales told to young boys like you. I know you’re a young little leader, and sometimes forget that because of how mature you are, but this isn’t something you should do. I’ve seen men drink wyvern blood, thinking it’d make ’em stronger. Their screams lasted an hour before they died with nothing to gain from it. That’s just wyvern blood, this is a true dragon’s blood.”

”It probably seems crazy and stupid to do,” Lucen admitted, ”but a lot of things that worked out for me started that way.”

Hearing Lucen’s reply, Harlik did not know what to say. Ever since meeting the young Thornehart this morning, from their battle against each other to their cooperation in defeating the young dragon, this kid has done one crazy, incredible thing after another.

If it were anyone else the same age, no even older people like that done all of those things, they would have died many times over. When he thought of that, Harlik was starting to believe that Lucen might actually do it and survive.

”If this kills you, I don’t know what I would say to the Iron Duke... Sorry, sir, your son went crazy and burned himself by bathing in dragon’s blood.”

”Then pray to Kalderos that these flames won’t burn me.”

Harlik paused for a moment, unable to tell if the boy was fearless or just completely mad.

Lucen, who had already strengthened his resolve, set aside his bag, his weapon, and removed his armor and clothes. Once he was stripped bare, he stood at the edge of the steaming pool, his heart pounding like a drum. ’This is f*cking stupid.’ A second passed, then he leapt.

Kalderos’s blessing was being used to its full effect. Still, even with the blessing that reduced heat and fire, stopping his body from being burnt, Lucen still felt like he was being boiled, but he endured it as he rolled his body in the pool of dragon’s blood. Lucen could feel the boiling blood entering his body through the pores of his skin.

He was unaware, but the traits of Grit and Dragonkiller’s resolve were helping him not die from the boiling blood.

The mercenaries who were eating joyfully noticed the commotion and gathered around, looking at what Lucen was doing.

”Hey, aren’t we going to pull him out?” one mercenary asked, alarmed.

”You can try, but can’t you feel how hot that thing is? We ain’t even close, and I’m already drenched in sweat, and it’s snowing. If we placed our hands in there, I’m sure it’s going to burn off.” Another one replied.

”Couldn’t we cool it down with an ice spell?”

”Don’t you remember what happened when we tried that while fighting. The ice spell evaporates before it reaches the blood. We need at least a Third Circle Mage for that plan to work.”

While the mercenaries were panicking a little that their new leader was being boiled alive by dragon’s blood, Lucen finally heard the thing he wanted to hear: The notification chime.

[Extreme stress has been placed on your body: Aura has awakened]

[Gained new skill: Regeneration - Passive (Novice) Warning: Only upgradable by bathing in stronger dragon’s blood.]

[Strength +5]

[Endurance +10]

The second Lucen heard the notification chime, Lucen quickly moved out of the dragon’s blood while shaking his body like a wet dog, he headed to the snowy area of the cavern and rolled in the snow.

His skin hissed as the snow touched it. Steam curled around him, and a metallic scent hung in the air.

The boiling blood that was covering him was melting the snow, but at the same time, it was being wiped away. Lucen headed to areas with more snow and continued to roll in them.

The mages from the mercenary group helped Lucen by splashing him with first-circle water spells. After some time, the dragon’s blood was no longer on his body. Lucen lay on the snowy ground, breathing heavily.

”Hey, are you alright?” Harlick carefully approached Lucen and asked.

”A little tired, but I’m okay.”

Harlik crouched beside him, snow crunching beneath his boots. He handed Lucen his clothes back.

”You’re a damn lunatic, you know that?”

”You need to be at this level to keep up with a Thornehart.” Lucen jokingly said as he sat upright, putting back his clothes.

”So did you gain anything from that boiling bath of yours?” Harlik asked curiously as the other mercenaries approached to listen to the conversation.

”I think I gained a few things.”

”What is it?”

”I feel a little bit stronger, and can I borrow a knife?”

”Here, little leader.” One of the mercenaries handed his knife to Lucen.

When Lucen held the knife, he suddenly cut the palm of his hand, which surprised everyone.

”What are you doing?! Healer, do something about this idiot.” Harlik commanded.

”That’s weird, I thought it would close up.”

Lucen, whose pain tolerance was unusually high, stared at the cut in confusion. He honestly expected it to close up, like the mutants he’d seen in shows back on Earth.

Even with Varkun’s blessing and Regeneration, it didn’t close immediately. While the healer was bandaging up his cut palm, Lucen opened his status window to look at his HP.

’It’s going up, but it’s 2HP for every five seconds. So it does regenerate health, but not fast enough for one to see visibly.’

After the healer finished bandaging him up, Lucen poked his finger with a knife, which once again surprised everyone.

”Hey, give me that knife already!” Harlik said as he grabbed the knife from Lucen, who was pointing his bleeding finger.

”Look.” The bleeding finger stopped, and the prick Lucen made healed. ”This is what I gained from bathing in dragon’s blood.”

”All that effort for something like a minor cure wound that most clerics from any temple could do.”

”So you guys aren’t going to go bathe in the dragon’s blood as well? Who knows, maybe you guys will gain something different,” Lucen suggested.

”Sorry, little leader, unlike you, we ain’t that crazy.” One of the younger mercenaries spoke.

”If we did that, we would die first before gaining anything.”

”No need to do it. We already have our beautiful healers who would heal our wounds.” Another mercenary spoke while winking at the two women healers.

”Hey, who are you calling beautiful?!” The only healer who was a man in the group complained.

”Be grateful we ain’t calling you ugly even though your mug is something only your mother could love.” The others started laughing.

”Suit yourselves, when I’m done resting, I’m going to try drinking the blood next.”

”Gods above, he’s really gone off the deep end,” someone blurted.

”Okay, now he’s actually lost it,” a younger mercenary whispered.

”You almost got burned by the blood, and now you’re thinking of drinking it?!”

”Okay, I know that you’re one lucky fella, but now you’re just pushing it,” Harlik spoke while sitting down next to Lucen.

”I won’t drink it now, I’ll rest first. I’ll also try to cool it down and maybe try a single drop. I just need to test what it might do,” Lucen replied.

”That’s still insane, even now it’s still hard to believe your skin doesn’t have burn marks. What are you made of?”

”That’s thanks to Kalderos’ blessing, it kept my skin from burning.”

”Sure, so you just have a blessing of the God of the Forge of Flames,” Harlik said sarcastically.

”Yeah, I also have a blessing from Varkun and Vermilla,” Lucen answered with a grin on his face.

”Whatever you say,” Harlik, still not believing his words simply shrugged his shoulders.

One of the mercenaries leaned over to another and whispered, ”Should we start a betting pool? Five silver says he grows scales.”

”Nah,” another replied, scratching his chin. ”Ten says he breathes fire.”

”I’ll put twenty on him just dying.”

”So you guys aren’t going to stop me, instead you’re making bets?” Lucen asked, a bit surprised by their actions.

”What, did you expect us to stop you?” Harlik, who was beside him, asked.

”No, not really... Still, I at least wanted you guys to try something.”

”Why bother if you’re going to do it anyway. We said we would follow you, so if our little leader wants to do this madness, then we’ll have fun while you’re doing it. That’s the mercenary way,” Harlik responded.

The other mercenaries laughed at Harlik’s response. Lucen looked at the laughing mercs and felt a quiet relief settle in his chest.

He was still a little bit on guard, and even thought they would do something while he was weak from what he had done. At most, they would have simply continued their job and brought him to whoever hired them.

Still, after observing them and making his bet that they won’t harm him, he felt like he had won that bet.

Amidst that laughter, surrounded by warriors who had tried to kill him this morning, who now called him little leader. Lucen let his eyes close, a faint smile on his face as he drifted into sleep.