Broken

Chapter 60

I came back to consciousness a few seconds before I was able to move again; all I could do was listen as the battle waged on without me. I assumed that at least one person must have been protecting my vulnerable body, given that I didn't come under attack, even if I could hear ice shattering against ice not far off.

When I finally could move again, it wasn't easy. It felt as if all my joints were stiff and uncooperative. For a regular person, that may have been a normal response to being knocked out with several status conditions thrown on top of it all; but I was a raider. Once the de-buff timers ran out, I should've been good-to-go. Especially since a hand placed to my bloody chest revealed that at least one of the healers had been able to get to me at some point, sealing up the holes that had been drilled over my heart.

Rolling stiffly to my feet, I took in the battle still raging upon the frozen lake. The ice was stained red with the corpses of dozens of white snakes, and chunks of ice were everywhere. The bulk of the battle had moved off, gradually, in the direction of the gate. Much of the guild was now a hundred meters away, engaged with the banshee named Agatha, while a few were still scatter between me and them, fighting what was left of the snakes and phantasms. No one was hovering directly over me.

At least the mobs seemed to have stopped spawning. Did that mean that Agatha was nearing her end? How long had I been out?

With a grunt, I made my way towards the main battle. Just before passing out I'd managed to use <Honesty> on the monster, and I needed to tell Carson what I had learned. After all, if this Agatha banshee was the 'third princess', then it implied that there must be at least two other princesses out there; they could show up at any point in time.

"Out of the way." I growled, puffs of mist escaping my mouth. Seeing it, I realized the fog had vanished, and the sky- though growing darker by the minute- was clear of mist once again. I glared at the wounded snake that was standing between me and the others. "Move." I grunted again, still a little out of it. It wasn't like the damn monster would listen to me, after all.

Frustrated, I reached around for my sword, only to find that I no longer had it. I must have dropped it when I collapsed.

"Shit!" I cursed, glancing around the ice while keeping the sluggish- but still dangerous- snake in sight. It was bloodied, with a deep gash along its side, and I assumed it must be out of mana given it hadn't fired a spell at me yet.

I needed my sword. Any sword! The damn <Curse of Misfortune> was my only weapon, and I needed a blade to use it. Without it I would have to rely on my bare hands. That may have worked in zero-star instances, but even this half dead snake would laugh at me if I tried to brute force it with my fists in a five-star instance.

There! Several feet away was a dropped throwing dagger. It wasn't ideal by any means, but a blade was a blade.

The Ice Snake hissed loudly, and it's fangs flashed towards my face. Yelping, I dropped to the ground and rolled toward the discarded dagger with no small amount of desperation. No doubt, if I had gotten a better skill from <Broken>, then the snake would've gotten me right then. However, I managed to doge, and felt my fingers wrap around the hilt of the tinny blade. It was nearly as small as a damn steak knife. 

Whatever, I've worked with worse.

"<Curse of Misfortune>" I was gonna run out of mana if I had to reapply this on many more weapons. Of course, the problem would be solved if I just stopped dropping mine. "Come at me, you damn slug."

I've never had proof that monsters could understand human speech, but I was pretty sure they understood the intent; because whenever I insulted them they often got angry. Maybe it was just an in-born talent of mine to be able to agro monsters, even without a taunting skills. Probably best if I didn't share that observation with Argus and the twins... they'd have me out on the frontlines drawing monsters to them everyday if I did.