173 A Paladin’s Oath
Arad glared at the heart beating in the sky. “Should I bite that thing off?”
~Yes…~ The fairy voice boomed in his head.
Arad clenched his fist, taking a deep breath. [Wait! Don’t hit it.]
Arad stopped. ^What?^ BAM! BAM! Hundreds of veins flew at him forcing him to jump away. They chased him so he opened his mouth.
[Don’t hit the heart or the veins coming from it.]
Arad clenched his mouth shut. BAM! The flames exploded from his nose. He then swung his palm to the side, [Gravity magic] Pulling all the veins in one side.
^What are you talking about?^
[That heart is the fairy you’ve been talking to. That thing is trying to control her as it did to the trees outside. It’s a parasite.]
~Blast it…don’t waste time~𝒷𝓭ℴ𝓋𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Arad glared, torn apart by the two voices in his head.
^Hoi! Fairy, is that your heart?^
~It’s already too late! Blast it.~
^Mom, can I extract that thing?^
[I don’t know. I don’t want you to go on a rampage if I told you when it’s too late. Killing the fairy should be a decision.]
Arad dodged all the veins from left to right, thinking as he took a deep breath.
After a while, Arad smiled. “That old man Cain. He said that I must feel the element to learn it as magic. That I should feel the heat of fire if I wanted to learn it.”
Thud! He landed standing and started walking toward the heart. [The veins are coming! Dodge.]
^That’s right. I haven’t felt the void yet.^
[Move!]
^They are here, can’t you hear them?^
Thud! Thud! Lydia rushed in, swinging her blade at the veins rushing at Arad. CLAP! She tore them apart, “Why are you standing like an idiot move!”
“Arad! Are you all right?” Aella jumped from the small hole they came from.
“Is it that thing in the ceiling? I will blow it up!” Jack pulled a bomb. “But why haven’t you blasted it yet?” He stopped, he could sense that Arad could have destroyed it if he want.
“Wow! That thing looks like an oversized smile core.” Mira gasped, clenching her hands on her axe.
“The core is the fairy’s heart. Protect me until I could figure a way to pull the fungus out of it.” Arad sat on the ground, his body getting covered with a dark void.
“There are hundreds of those veins! How long do you think we can protect you?” Lydia growled, swinging her sword left and right.
CLAP! [Holy Smite] Her strike tore the veins apart, dealing a lot of damage.
[Yeah, paladins and smite. That thing hurt as hell.]
[The paladin infuses his attack with holy magic and discharges it upon impact. That means the magic seep into the freshly opened wound and rip the target apart from the inside.]
^I see, that seems dangerous. But doesn’t that mean only damage the one the paladin injured?^
[Of course, they are holy-driven knights. They can’t go smacking everyone.]
Arad could sense the voice moving inside his body. ^Mom, I’m a void knight, right?^
[Right, but the specific skills will show up when you grow older. Same with humans, they can’t use skills before puberty. To you, that’s being a young adult dragon.]
^I see, but I need to control my void. Can’t I erase the fungus from the heart.^
Arad’s void started rumbling.
***
BAM! BAM! BAM! Aella fired her arrows at the veins, pinning them down for Jack and Mira to slice them. Lydia swung her sword left and right, each of him flashing with a golden light.
SLASH! One of the veins hit Lydia in the shoulder. “Lydia!” Jack shouted, throwing her a healing potion.
Lydia caught the potion and bit the tip-off, she didn’t care to open the glass bottle as she didn’t have time. One vein almost hit her as she was drinking and the content spilt on the ground.
With only half the healing, she stood panting with her shoulder bleeding.
Swosh! A vein rushed at her, but she swung her sword. Cutting the vein from the tip to the base with blood splashing from her shoulder.
Mira saw her and gasped, “How could she move like that? Her body is ripping apart.”
Lydia’s body started glowing with a golden mist as she mumbled. Veins rushed at Arad, but Lydia lept in with several swings, ripping them apart. Blood started dripping from her eyes and ears as pushed her body over the limit.
[I see, a paladin of life and protection. It’s her oath.]
“Under my name, those whom I have sworn to protect. They shall not see death before me.” Lydia mumbled. BAM! Rushing forward with a heavy swing. CLAP! [Holy Smite]
[Not only do they hit harder than a bull on the berserker potion. They just don’t know when to give up, stubborn, arrogant hardheaded. You can torture a paladin for decades and he won’t break his oath. As long as their god approves of their actions, they can smite with his word and will.]
Paladins and Clerics are holy classes. They follow a god and instil his will, and both of them will lose their power if their god abandoned them. Lydia isn’t smiting with her Mana, she is smiting with the power borrowed from her god. Her only limit is her physical endurance, how much can throw out before getting exhausted.
Most paladins fall after five to seven smites a day, but when a paladin refuses to give up. Or when their oath put them at peace with death. You can expect them to keep smiting till their last breath.
CLAP! Lydia’s expression froze in a passive face. Her focus rose to its utmost limit as she started blasting the veins left and right.
[Arad! If you’re going to do something, you better hurry. If you don’t, Lydia will die standing like most paladins. Bathing in the glory of her last battle.]
Lydia swung her sword down [Holy Smite] CLAP! Blood dripped from her gauntlet as her forearm muscles bled. She shifted her position and swung up [Holy Smite]. Blood rushed out of her nose, her passive healing can’t keep up.