Chapter 80 Light-Bathed One

The moment Xia Nan threw the incendiary oil bomb into the swarm, his fight with Ingram crossed a line.

The flames spreading through the woods.

The violent pounding of their hearts.

Their short, ragged breaths.

Everything seemed to burn hotter.

Even their wills.

After trading blow after blow and gradually feeling out each other’s limits, both men had shed the caution they showed at the beginning.

At this point, escaping unhurt was no longer realistic.

Not against an opponent like this.

Now there was only one objective.

Kill the other man.

Whatever it cost.

If that meant trading a severe wound for a fatal strike, so be it.

The difference between survival and death had narrowed to a single line.

Whoosh…

Scorching air swept over Xia Nan’s face.

The burning woods streaked backward on both sides as he ran.

Golden divine radiance blazed in his dark eyes.

His hands locked around the sword hilt.

The bloodstained, iron-gray blade gleamed beneath the flames.

Slice.

The Decapitating Longsword had reach.

That advantage struck first.

Its tip drove into the gap between Ingram’s breastplate and neck.

No plate covered the spot.

The thick cloth underneath gave way instantly.

Then skin.

Muscle.

Cartilage.

But as the two men closed and their bodies overlapped at an angle, Xia Nan entered Ingram’s range as well.

The sheriff’s one-handed flanged mace burned with golden light.

Scorching divine radiance had gathered around its head.

The weapon swept diagonally upward toward Xia Nan’s exposed abdomen.

Xia Nan had committed himself to the thrust.

There was no defense left.

Ingram’s arm muscles swelled so violently that they tore through the already loosened sleeve of his uniform.

The mace ripped through the air with a shriek.

Xia Nan wore chainmail.

It would not be enough.

A blow like that landing on the softest part of the body…

There was no need to imagine the result.

Trading a severe injury for Ingram’s death was only the best-case outcome.

The more likely result was that they would kill each other.

Xia Nan clenched his teeth.

He had already made up his mind.

Take the hit.

Rely on his body.

Rely on his feats.

Survive somehow.

Then…

Twang!

A lute string snapped.

Xia Nan was in the middle of a life-or-death charge.

His mind should have been focused entirely on the enemy in front of him.

Yet somehow, impossibly, he heard something else.

A tiny metallic sound.

A coin spinning through the air.

At the edge of his vision, a silver-white robin swept between the branches.

Light shimmered across the spinning coin.

And for one strange instant, Xia Nan felt it.

As if an invisible thread had stretched out from that silver-white glow and connected directly to him.

It was…

The gaze of the Goddess of Luck.

Tymora.

Far above the Material Plane, the powerful deity sat within her divine realm.

One of her most devout believers had prayed.

Using her holy emblem and symbolic token as a medium, she lowered her gaze.

No divine power needed to be spent.

No avatar needed to descend.

She held half of the divine authority over fate and governed the mysterious domain of luck.

The kind, capricious, bright, playful Lady simply smiled.

And blinked.

That was enough.

The scales of fate tilted.

A probability so tiny it might as well not have existed quietly grew.

The impossible became possible.

Fantasy became reality.

In the middle of his charge, Xia Nan suddenly felt something hard settle over his skin.

Thick.

Solid.

Like an invisible layer of armor.

No explanation was necessary.

The knowledge rose instinctively into his mind.

[Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones]: 0.5% chance to negate incoming physical damage.

The next instant, Ingram’s mace hit him.

All of Ingram’s strength was behind that blow.

Golden divine radiance blazed around the weapon as the metal head smashed into the chainmail covering Xia Nan’s abdomen.

Metal struck metal.

Yet…

There was no sound.

The mace moved with terrifying force, but when it touched Xia Nan, it only came to rest against him.

All that power simply vanished.

As if the invisible membrane covering Xia Nan’s skin had taken the impact, transferred it somewhere else, and erased it.

The sudden contrast was so extreme it made the senses rebel.

Xia Nan could clearly see Ingram’s face.

Red from exertion.

Eyes widening.

A flash of stunned disbelief.

Then the divine radiance stored in the mace exploded.

Pain returned.

Scorching heat tore across Xia Nan’s abdomen.

Golden light burst beneath his field of vision, bright enough to force his eyes narrow.

He endured it.

Leaned forward.

Locked both hands tighter around the sword hilt.

Then drove his entire weight behind the blade.

Step.

Charge.

Crack-squelch!

Wood exploded into splinters.

The bloodstained sword tip punched through Ingram and buried itself deep in the tree behind him.

His plate armor slammed into rough bark with a dull thud.

The Decapitating Longsword had passed clean through the base of his neck.

Ingram hung there.

Pinned to the trunk.

Crackle…

Flames devoured bushes and tall grass.

Sparks drifted through smoke and charred debris.

High above, the silver-white robin glided leisurely away.

Soon it disappeared among the clouds.

The golden radiance around Xia Nan’s abdomen weakened with Ingram’s death.

Then the remains of the flanged mace slipped from the sheriff’s hand.

Only the bare iron handle was left.

When it struck the ground, the last of the light vanished.

Xia Nan still had both hands on the sword hilt.

His arms trembled.

The fight was over, but his body had not caught up yet.

Then familiar translucent text appeared before him.

…

[Light-Bathed One]

Type: Feat

Effect: Radiant Resistance +5%

Description:

Under the gaze of the Goddess of Fate, you battled divine radiance and were lucky enough to gain a slight resistance to radiant damage.

Note:

“Light is the shadow of darkness.”

• Oathbreaker, Defiler of Light, Prince of Dark Flame, Leticia

…

Xia Nan barely glanced at the panel.

Then the burning pain in his abdomen surged hard enough to scatter his thoughts.

The translucent text faded.

Xia Nan dropped to the ground.

He sat there, breathing hard, and looked down.

A large section of his chainmail had turned red.

Some of the metal rings were visibly beginning to melt.

The flesh underneath burned in waves.

Sweat covered his forehead.

He dragged air into his lungs while recalling the relevant instructions from the [Adventurer’s Handbook].

Burns.

Armor damage.

How serious was it?

Could he manage without a potion?

If the injury was worse than it looked, that last half bottle of healing potion might finally have to be used.

Tap, tap, tap.

Alton came trotting over.

Compared with Xia Nan, he looked almost untouched.

The fire had singed his trouser legs and left a few blackened marks, but that was about it.

He stopped beside Xia Nan and looked him up and down.

Assessing the injury.

Then he crouched.

Grabbed the lower edge of the chainmail.

And pulled.

Hiss!

The heated metal had nearly fused to the burned flesh beneath.

When Alton peeled the armor away, pain tore through Xia Nan’s abdomen so sharply that he sucked in a breath through his teeth.

He only avoided shouting by sheer force of will.

Alton did not look at his face.

Once the damaged chainmail was off, the Halfling turned and rummaged through his waist pouch.

A moment later, he produced a small bottle filled with blue-green ointment.

He scooped some out with his fingers.

Then smeared it firmly over the burn.

Xia Nan’s face went rigid.

His lips were pale.

The pain blurred his vision.

Fortunately, the ointment began working almost immediately.

A cool sensation spread through the injured flesh.

Then colder.

Almost icy.

It swallowed most of the burning pain and settled beneath the skin.

Alton moved with practiced efficiency.

He pulled out a roll of bandages and began wrapping Xia Nan’s waist.

Xia Nan watched the small figure in front of him.

The memory of the fight replayed in his mind.

Silver-white light.

That coin.

Alton praying.

He hesitated before asking.

“Just now… were you praying to the goddess?”

The damage immunity from [Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones] had only a 0.5% chance of activating.

Since gaining the feat, Xia Nan had never triggered it once.

It was too unreliable to count as a trump card.

Normally, he barely thought about it.

If it happened someday, great.

If not, whatever.

And yet the first time it activated was at the exact moment Ingram’s mace was about to crush his abdomen.

Then there had been Alton’s strange movements.

The coin.

That feeling.

It was difficult not to connect them.

“Of course!” Alton replied immediately.

He did not try to hide it at all.

“The Lady takes very good care of me! Last night, I even told her all about what I’d seen in Kalanfor. But then you woke me up, so I only got halfway through.”

The Halfling was smiling.

Casually.

As if he were talking about chatting with an old friend.

Xia Nan’s heart gave a small jump.

He chose his next words carefully.

“She isn’t angry, is she?”

“Of course not!”

Alton did not even look up.

He simply kept winding the bandage around Xia Nan’s waist.

Round.

Round.

Round.

“I already told you. The Lady is very kind.”

“If she were really angry, she wouldn’t have helped you just now!”

Then Alton looked up.

He winked.

“Don’t worry. Even if she’s a little upset, I can always go gambling again.”

Xia Nan immediately remembered the Halfling’s wild performance at the card table.

He clicked his tongue.

At the same time, another thought crept into his mind.

He had more than a hundred gold saved.

How many times would that let him go all-in at a tavern table?

“All done!”

Alton bit through the bandage.

Then he stood with his hands on his hips and admired his work.

The wrapping around Xia Nan’s abdomen was neat and secure.

The Halfling nodded with satisfaction.

Then he held up the little bottle of ointment with a smug smile.

“Good thing Aunt Mary insisted on stuffing this burn ointment into my bag before I left. Turns out it was exactly what we needed.”

Before Xia Nan could answer, Alton glanced at the flames around them.

His expression changed.

“My lute!”

He spun around and ran back the way they had come.

Xia Nan touched the bandage lightly.

Coolness still spread beneath it.

His gaze turned thoughtful.

With Alton’s help, [Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones] had negated the brutal blunt-force impact that should have left Xia Nan severely wounded.

Without that…

Considering how hard Ingram had swung, Xia Nan would have been crippled even if he survived.

The kind of injury where drinking a healing potion would merely make things less terrible.

Instead, he had only taken the radiant damage.

That still hurt like hell, but it was much lighter than the alternative.

With his constitution and Alton’s ointment, ten or so days should be enough to recover.

Xia Nan planted one hand against the ground.

The other covered his abdomen.

Then, with some difficulty, he stood.

He picked up the still-warm chainmail and pulled it back over himself.

His eyes moved across the warped, melted sections.

[Fifty gold…]

His face visibly tightened.

[Can the Rockhammer shop even repair this?]

[Don’t tell me I have to buy another set.]

That thought hurt almost as much as the burn.

Xia Nan drew [Green Pine] from his back.

The skeleton at the center of the ritual array was still trembling violently, saturated with undead energy.

He walked over.

Then hacked it apart.

Slash.

Crack.

Stab.

Again and again, until the skeleton was reduced to fragments.

Afterward, Xia Nan ground the carved markings beneath his boots until the ritual array was completely ruined.

Only when the broken bones finally stopped moving did he relax.

A little.

In his current condition, another high-intensity fight was the last thing he needed.

He returned to the tree where the battle had ended.

Pain tugged at his abdomen with every movement.

Xia Nan ignored it, gripped the Decapitating Longsword, and pulled.

The blade came free from the trunk.

He inspected the iron-gray surface carefully.

No obvious cracks.

Good.

He sheathed it.

Ingram’s corpse now lay facedown in the mud beneath the tree.

Motionless.

Dead.

Xia Nan crouched.

Rolled the body over.

Then began stripping off the sheriff’s light plate armor.

There were several obvious sword marks across it.

That was fine.

It still worked.

The armor might have been standard issue for the sheriff’s position, but the style was not distinctive enough for anyone to identify its origin at a glance.

Xia Nan could keep it hidden for a while.

Once the attention surrounding this incident faded, bringing it back out should not be a problem.

For extra insurance, he could ask a blacksmith to alter its appearance first.

As for the one-handed flanged mace…

That was unfortunate.

The final eruption of divine radiance had nearly melted the entire head away.

Only the bare handle remained.

Not worth much.

Xia Nan was not squeamish.

He searched Ingram’s corpse carefully, feeling around for anything useful.

Weapons.

Coins.

Magic items.

Anything.

In the end, all he found was a coin pouch.

Twelve gold.

Six silver.

Two copper.

Nothing else.

It made sense.

Even Xia Nan knew better than to carry all his money around.

He kept most of his gold in a bank.

Ingram was not a spellcaster with access to storage magic.

And no matter how much church backing he had, a sheriff in a remote frontier town was unlikely to afford a magical storage item.

Naturally, his entire fortune would not be on his body.

Footsteps approached.

“Thank goodness. The fire didn’t reach it.”

Alton came back smiling with obvious relief.

His lute was cradled in his arms.

One string was broken, but the instrument itself was intact.

He glanced at Xia Nan.

“How’d things go here? Find anything good?”

“Just these two.”

Xia Nan lifted the plate armor in one hand and the coin pouch in the other.

He shrugged.

“Hehe. See?” Alton grinned. “I told you luck always balances out!”

Then he seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right!”

He slung the lute across his back again and looked at Xia Nan.

“You’re staying in Rivervale Town after this, aren’t you?”

Xia Nan nodded, confused.

Alton lightly rocked on his heels.

“Then we probably won’t see each other for quite a long time.”

He reached into his waist pouch.

Pulled something out.

Then tossed it over.

“A farewell gift!”

Xia Nan caught it.

Something cold and hard landed in his palm.

He looked down.

The brass coin.

The one engraved with the indistinct face of the goddess.

Xia Nan looked up abruptly.

“You…”

Alton had already produced another identical coin from somewhere.

He casually tossed it up and down in one hand.

“Fortune favors heroes.”

A bright smile spread across the Halfling’s face.

Firelight flashed across the coin between his fingers.

“The Lady told me herself.”

Xia Nan slowly looked back down at the brass coin in his own hand.

Then…

Without warning, a long string of translucent text appeared before his eyes.

Most of it barely registered.

Because several words stood out so sharply that Xia Nan’s breathing stopped for an instant.