Silva looked at Emery through the opening and asked him. "How badly are you hurt? Can you still fight?" She asked, the tone in her voice clearly conveying the concern she felt for him.
Emery was about to nod and tell Silva he was alright, but when he was about to, his body betrayed him, as his mouth spat out more blood. Fighting with Nate, Gerri and Lodos in a quick succession really took a toll on his body. In hindsight, his current state was inevitable, he did really push himself 'a little bit too much this time.
Not wanting Silva to worry, Emery gave a strained smile and answered. "I am fine, Silva… No need to worry about me."
"Huh, worry?! Who even has time to worry about you?! I'm not even worried, I just happened to pass through here and found you by chance!" Silva frantically explained her 'reason'.
Emery's smile turned into a grimace. His attempt to downplay his own wounds failed miserably, as his face clearly lost a lot of color. He really shouldn't force his body with the two buffs like that.
"You really are unlucky and foolish." Silva shook her head and sighed, before turning around to face Lodos.
"Hey, Lodos! This acolyte is my friend, will you let him leave this time? Let's consider it a favor, I will repay it later. I promise you won't regret this."
Lodos frowned and upturned his nose in disdain, as if he had smelled something truly putrid. "Where's the fun in that? I never needed a favor from anyone in my entire life."
Silva glanced at Emery before replying to the lunatic man. "What are you looking to get from this fight anyway? Fun? If so, why do you waste your breath and energy bullying a regular acolyte, let alone an injured regular acolyte? Are you really that bored?"
"Hear, hear!" To everyone's surprise, Gerri who only watched so far decided to chime into the conversation. "That regular was badly beaten after defeating Nate and almost being killed by yours truly, Gerri the Violet Flame! I almost won when you, an elite, came swooping in. For what? You want my points and my prey, huh? You shameless elite!"
Upon hearing Gerri's addition, Silva and Emery looked at each other, both unsure whose side Gerri really was on.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Gerri's words seemed to have the right effect intended, as the expression on the crazy acolyte changed and he gritted his teeth in annoyance. "What do you want? You expect me to let my prey escape just like that?"
Silva paced around them, as if thinking as hard as she could, before snapping her fingers. The expression on her face looked like she had an idea, a brilliant one.
"Ah! Lodos, I have a way so you don't need to release your prey, but also protect your honor and still have fun!"
"What is it? I am listening." the crazy acolyte said, while crossing his hands.
"The easy solution is letting him recover from his wounds first! Let's see, maybe one hour…? No, no, no! Three hours!" Silva excitedly replied, while flashing three fingers to Lodos.
Lodos huffed. "No! 10 minutes. That's all I can give!"
"Lodos, think about it, what do you think a 10 minute recovery can do? Might as well do the deed and kill him now and be the laughingstock of the entire elite class acolytes."
Lodos appeared to be even more annoyed, when he heard Silva's words. He was silent for a moment, while his feet tapped the ground as he gave the suggestion some thought. Releasing his crossed hands, he said, "Fine, you can have 30 minutes. Not a second more." He then sat on the ground and immediately entered a meditative state, preventing Silva from arguing any further.
Emery glanced at Silva, who made a wicked smile, before glancing at Gerry and asked him. "So, Gerri, what about you? What do you want?"
"Me...? No... Nothing! Just consider as if I am not here at all. I am just part of this large stone." Gerri said, as he gestured at the large stone he was sitting on.
Silva decided not to bother with him and ignited him and his stupid jokes. She released the [Wall of Thorns] spell that has been surrounding Emery.
"Thanks, Silva." Emery said, quickly sitting down in a meditative position. Without wasting time, he casted [Nature Blessing] on himself.
Silva looked at Emery, her expression a little shocked. "Ah, is that one of the rare plant element healing spells, right? You're always full of surprises, every time I see you something new comes up."
Emery only commented with a smile, he focused all his energy to heal himself.
"So, how long do you need to heal yourself?"
"I'm not too sure, Silva, but most likely the whole 30 minutes… I'll try my best, hopefully I'll recover enough to be able to fight him at my full strength."
Emery's answer made Silva frown again.
"You absolute moron, who even said you needed to fight him… Look, as soon as you get healthy enough, give me the sign. We will run as fast as we can."
"…" Emery looked at Silva, dumbfounded.
Seeing Emery's reaction, again Silva looked annoyed. "Okay, Emery, I'm going to tell you this just once, you better open up that thick skull of yours and understand this. There is no honor involved with people like him, okay? Especially not during such an important game like this. Who needs honor when your whole future is at stake?!"
Emery bit his teeth and nodded. Ever since he could remember, starting from his childhood, he was raised with the way of the knight. For every knight worthy of his salt, honor was something, a treasure more valuable than anything else. Upholding the code of honor was a privilege, such was what his father always said to him.
However, Emery could understand Silva's point of view. Thinking about the current events, he might be more flexible in the future, but right now he needed to recover from his wounds first.
Emery, Lodos and Gerri all sat in a meditative position, while Silva stood firm on guard in case something happened to Emery.
They stayed that way for a while. As the situation went on, Emery could feel his body refreshen, as his wounds were healing and he started feeling so much better. However, he felt something weird within him. Therefore, Emery checked his condition and found something that really shocked him.
[Fey Bloodline - Erratic]
Emery gave it a try, but as he feared, he couldn't access his [Fey Transformation] skill. Was this the cost of him forcing both the battle art and fey transformation together? 'This is really bad.' Emery thought.
Apparently, Silva paid close attention to Emery and realized something was wrong, when she saw the changes in his expression.
"Is something wrong?" Silva asked.
Emery was about to answer but then, instead of answering, he threw up another blood to the ground.
At the same time, Lodos shouted, "Time is up!"
"Silva, you should just leave. Don't worry about me." Emery said with difficulty as he tried to stand up.
Emery could see Silva was conflicted to decide. Moments later, she said, "Emery, we can't run away while you are still hurt. Therefore, just focus on your healing, and when you are done, you give me the sign and we will run together, alright?!"
Upon hearing the idea, Emery said, "No, Silva! I can't let you do that!"
"You fool! Who do you think I am? Before joining the elite class, I am the best acolyte of class 77! Of course, I can hold that creep down. Don't worry. I have detailed information about Lodos. You might not be able to see it clearly, but his gravity spells have a limited area, the stronger force he uses, the smaller the area. I might not be able to defeat him, but surely I won't be easily defeated. You Just focus on your healing!"
Silva walked towards Lodos and said "That guy is not healed yet"
Lodos didn't seem to care anymore and said, "I can't wait anymore.. I have given him time. If he's still not ready then it's his loss! He can just die!"
Silva then stood firmly and said "I can't let you do that!"
"Then you two can just die together!"
Emery then heard Silva chanting "Ye, my queen dowager grant me your power," after that, Silva's body started to change. Her pale skin turned shining and Emery could see slight scales appearing all over her body, her eyes changing too. Emery could tell her power just increased, she just used her bloodline transformation. She jumped in, dashing towards Lodos at high speed. "Lesst uss ssee who will die!"