Wolves shouldn’t pose much of an issue. My weapon and imbuement should do the trick. It would allow my mana to regenerate at the same time. I had a feeling I was going to need that later on.

Cellestra fired another fireball, which, unfortunately, missed its target. After her cast, I started charging, the blade of my weapon at my side, ready to cleave anything in its path. One of the wolves received the cutting edge to its head, effectively carving it in half, while others lunged for my legs, latching themselves to them with their large jaws.

It wasn’t enough to penetrate my active barrier, let alone my body’s natural armor. I killed one of the creatures by stabbing it with another leg while it was holding on. At the same time, I skewered one with the tip of my halberd.

That got rid of another three. I forced the messages that popped up to disappear. Having them show up in the middle of an ongoing fight was more than annoying.

As I turned around, Cellestra summoned another fireball that set alight another one of the beasts, and then summoned a boulder above an unsuspecting target. A shadow appeared above the pack leader, but as soon as it had formed, it exploded into thousands of pieces that were like needles and fired in every direction, including ours.

I tried summoning an air wall, but I was too slow. When the spell activated, it did protect us from the majority of fragments coming at us, but many had already made their way past it and hit both Cellestra and me.

My barrier exploded in an eruption of holy magic, taking down two wolves near me before it was completely depleted by the many fragments hitting all over my body.

I felt fragments embedded in my rear and I even appeared to have one that had pierced my large, left frontal eye.

Pain coursed through my entire body from the many entry points of the rock fragments that were in me like needles in a pincushion. My elven body’s skin, while tough, had scrapes that bled from passing splinters. I ignored my own pain to see the state the brunette on my back was in. She didn’t have that kind of armor to protect her.

She had a far smaller body, so she didn’t have as many pieces impact her, which meant her barrier had lived longer than mine, but I could see she had a large sliver of stone fixed in her chest, in her heart area. I felt my own heart sink in my chest as I noticed the blood oozing from it. The elf’s eyes were closed, and she seemed unresponsive; her hands had loosened their grip on my hair.

I cursed in my mind, and with my mouth. “Fuck,” I let out as panic started to overwhelm me.

In a blind frenzy of terror and utter impatience, I flung spells left and right. Elemental blasts, ice lances, venom bolts, fire cyclones, fireballs, everything I could think of in my haze, I utilized. Within seconds, I’d felled every single wolf that was still left standing after Cellestra’s attack, including their leader, cementing my position of superiority over them.

It didn’t bring me any joy.

I threw myself onto the ground and lifted Cellestra from my back and laid her before me as I ripped the silken shirt from her body while Selleron came running. He knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

I was already on top of her, my hands on her chest, joined by my pedipalps. I cast my healing light with both my elven and spider brain at the same time. I then repeated the spell over and over and over, while the guard captain, without words, held a green vial and poured the liquid down Cellestra’s throat.

I was panicking more than I ever had before, my hands shaking at the sight before me. I tried pushing it away and focusing on my magic, but no matter how many times I cast the spell, her eyes remained closed, her body, unmoving.

Selleron grabbed another vial, a larger one with more green liquid, and emptied it into the brunette’s mouth once again.

No, no, no, Cellestra. Don’t you dare.

Tears built in my eyes as I very slowly, very carefully, pulled out the chip, my heart racing, and my other mind still casting my healing light, again and again.

Hope rose within me, as when I started pulling out the piece of rock, I noticed that it had entered her body at an angle where I hoped and prayed it had missed her heart. I had been extremely lucky she wore the shirt I’d made. The strong silk had prevented it from doing much more damage. Still, it had penetrated deep, and there was no telling just how much damage it had done to her organs.

All I could do was heal…

“Come here,” I called to the other soldiers, my voice shaking just as much as my hands.

They ran over to us without hesitation and I motioned for them to get closer with one of my hands. They did exactly as I wanted and got down on their knees. I didn’t waste any time, and cast my Healing Tides spell for the first time. I hoped it would do what I wanted it to do.

I saw a blue stream quickly connect to Cellestra before it grew out and connected to one of the soldiers, who was startled at first, but relaxed within an instant. The stream then sought out two more soldiers and then, finally, connected to me. After getting to me, I released the spell, and felt a surge of regeneration explode within me, closing some of my wounds.

I saw the flesh around the spike close rapidly, and I repeated the spell again and then another time while removing the object from her chest.

It completely closed, without leaving as much as a scar, but her eyes still remained closed. I wanted to see if I could feel a heartbeat, but my hands were trembling too much.

“She’ll be fine,” Selleron said softly.

I didn’t want to have any of it. I continued casting my healing light and healing tides. I didn’t know what would do more healing so I just used them both. Tears dropped down onto Cellestra’s exposed skin while I kept at it in pure desperation.

The captain stood up and pet my back twice while he withdrew himself from the scene. He took the guards with him and waited at the same distance as before.

“Cellestra,” I said softly. “Please wake up.”

Selleron’s words held little meaning. I wanted to see Cellestra awake before assuming she was out of danger. I continued casting healing spells until the last drop of my mana was spent. Only then did I stop.

I then watched, completely exhausted, for a stir, anything that would tell me she was still alive.

Then, I saw a twitch in her arm, and heard a small moan come from her lips, followed by a more audible one.

I still had a large fragment in my spider eyes, which caused me great pain, but I ignored that as I lowered my second head to the ground, bringing my elven torso above Cellestra’s. I placed my arms under her shoulders and took her in for a hug.

“What happen—”

“Shhh,” I shushed her, closing my eyes as I took her in for an even deeper hug.

The relief that now flooded through me made me shake even more than before. “Fuck,” I let out. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“What happened?” Cellestra asked again. This time I allowed her to finish.

“Your spell misfired. It almost killed you,” I whispered.

Cellestra raised her arm and patted my back. “I’m sorry,” She whispered back.

I nodded and continued the hug. The pain from the spike still in my eye was not something I cared about at this point. I was all out of mana anyway, so I couldn’t heal it even if I wanted to.

We remained silent as we continued the hug for several more minutes. Only when we broke apart did the brunette notice her exposed chest. I quickly summoned a bunch of threads and wrapped it around her, much like I had done with myself.

Selleron finally approached us as I helped Cellestra back on her feet. “Are you two alright?” He asked.

We both nodded, albeit hesitantly.

“What would you like to do?” He then asked, forcing me to compose myself to a certain degree.

“Is it okay if we continue this another day?” I asked. I’d just almost lost the person I cared most about. I was tired and I wanted to go home.

“Normally, no,” Selleron said. “This is as far as you got, but…” He seemed to think. “You really didn’t have issues with those wolves, did you?”

I shook my head.

“I suppose we can work something out. Let’s get back to the surface.”