Cless crossed the town through the back. She avoided the crowded streets through the center and ducked and weaved between alleys toward the east gate and the sawmill. If George was at the inn, it meant the Inquisition had enough time to settle and were probably already swarming the town. She really didn't want to meet them. At least she had a third-tier clergy class to pull rank but she didn't know if it would work. She went in silence, partly because she wanted to focus but also because she was angry at her sister.

"Cless, I was joking. I'm sorry to call you that!" Behind her, Venaris was running to keep up the pace.

Cless halted and watched over the corner. There were people she didn't know in clergy clothes on the street.

"It is fine, Venaris. It is a hard subject for me and it is too new. I'm me. Cless, a village girl that grew up sheltered in the church as an orphan. Okay? I'm not changing from that. They went away, let's go."

They reached the street leading to the sawmill and the golem was there, topping over the walls. She went carefully and joined up with the rest of her guild.

"Vic, get these packs up in the cart. Kurt, down to the ground, we don't want these merry clergymen thinking things. Silverfang, you will scout with Kurt once we get past the treeline but stay by my side all the time. Vic, you put Venaris in the cart as well. She can use some rest."

She barked her orders and the guild complied as a well-oiled engine. Soon they were about to leave and she bowed to Mr. Anders.

"We are going to link up with the Orc Bashers... Smashers... The other guild that formed recently. They are in need of supplies. On the way back I'm bringing you the lumber. It will be at most two days."

Anders was all smiles. Not only he knew that Cless had hunted a chimera, but the ensemble she had with her was also terrifying. He was sure that only the golem could wreck half the town. He also knew a little about magic and understood that this magical construct required a lot of energy to keep up yet the girl maintained it effortlessly. In truth, the drain on Cless' magic was enough that it was trickling down.

Cless, on the other hand, was thinking if she should ask Josefine for some lessons on magic. Probably yes.

"Yes, yes. We don't want to lose strong people that can defend the town from monsters. Do what you must, guild master."

"Appreciated, Mr. Anders. I'm out."

She wanted to visit the haberdasher and get some materials for putting the heraldry on the golem but time was not on her side. A trip through the town center could become disastrous now. She was basically skipping town to avoid the problem with the law enforcement of an organization she was, if only on paper, part of. That's politics for you, Cless thought.

They crossed the east gate without a problem. The golem's lumbering footsteps sent vibrations and a cloud of dust with each step, drawing the attention of the few farmers that cultivated what was basically the shade side of the town. The slope leading down into the river valley below coupled with the shade of the mountains restrained the amount of sunlight that side could catch. The rocky terrain was also hard to cultivate on.

Cless was musing if her magic and talents could make a difference there but she really had better things to do than farming. They reached the treeline and she released Kurt and Silverfang. The mawarpy took to the skies and started to scout from above while the lycan darted between the trees. The golem moved unabated by the branches and leaves, crushing the undergrowth and breaking tree limbs as he moved. Cless made him pick her up and set a mage shield over her to keep the destroyed vegetation from falling all over her. Up there she could also direct the golem to not walk through and over the trees.

They had no encounters in the town side of the valley and soon reached the river. Kurt landed on the shoulder of the golem while Silverfang was at the margin scouting the other side. Cless got down from the golem and surveyed the river bed. With [Tremorsense] she could get a general picture of the muddy floor as water ran over it. She used Terrakinesis and raised some stone to make a shallow bridge one and a half meters below the water level. She poked holes under the bridge so the water could flow underneath instead of becoming a dam in periods of drought. She packed the stone and shaped it into a proper load-bearing form courtesy of her [ Architecture ] Skill.

"Silverfang, hop with me on the golem's hand. We are crossing now."

The golem picked up the wolf in one hand and the girl on the other. Cless made the construct move carefully across the bridge, minding the water flow's drag. The golem probably weighed tons and got water up to its waist. The crossing was without problem, in any case.

"From now on we are on enemy territory. Vic and Venaris, you stay on the wagon but keep watch around us. Kurt, no more flying. Stay perched on the golem's shoulder, take cover and also keep your watch. Silverfang, let me remove the saddlebags so you can shift into werewolf form."

The wolf growled.

She barked-giggled back.

Silferfang let Cless remove his saddlebags and shifted.

"Better now." He flexed and extended, literally, his claws.

"They are in that cave we camped. You told me you could find your way back there. Howl, my champion. Let fear strike the hearts of those that threaten my people!" She had no idea where these words came from but they felt right to say. She'd probably cringe and hide beneath the duvet once the heat of combat and adventure washed over.

Silverfang took her words to heart, to Cless' chagrin. The werewolf howled and dashed forward, followed by the cumbersome golem that went on a trot also.

"It is shaking too much!" Venaris complained. "I can't watch or aim this way!" She ducked into the cart.

"Once we engage the enemy, you two Blink out of the cart into the ground." Cless coordinated their actions as she planned their strategy. "I'll do the same but to engage the frontline with golem and Silverfang. Kurt, you throw your buffs on us."

They all shouted their acknowledgments. The golem ran almost straight ahead, using his free hand to swat smaller trees out of the way. They started to gain altitude as the terrain sloped up on the other side of the valley and the rocks became more frequent. The trees were sparse and they went through some skeletons with dried fleshy bits and scraps of armor, leftovers of their previous incursion.

Cless heard the sound of metal hitting hard objects or surfaces. It could be a very busy quarry or combat. She was sure it was the latter and she drove the golem in that direction. She drew her short bow and prayed for it to withstand her Strength.

As they turned around in the path leading to the gully where the cave was in, she could see green bodies moving.

"Engage!" She ordered. A mental command for the golem, a screech like a bird of prey and two loud pops announced the arrival of the Blind Eye guild into the fray. Cless took some stone from the golem's arm and weaved her defensive spells over herself and her guild. Earth Armor, Mage Armor, Protection and Blessing.

Cless jumped from the golem's hand straight ahead, trusting her mage spell to cut momentum and land behind the orcs. She could see a blur of silver fur dashing among the rearguard of the greenskins, taking the archer scouts by surprise. A purple bolt of liquid and a whooshing metal pellet flew past her on each side, taking a couple orcs. There was a lot of them. The golem went past her and she thought about how she would turn the tables.

She had to get the orcs' attention and stop them from fighting. Stop the fight...

She had just the spell for that.

"Song of the Accord!" She started to sing. The harmony invoked feelings of peace and comprehension as it lulled the senses to quell bloodlust. A literal wall of holy power formed around the Priestess and scoured across the landscape as Cless poured enough power into the spell to make it reach maximum range. It went past the golem, Silverfang, the first line of orcs and beyond. Soon the sounds stopped as combatants tried to make sense of what was going on.

Without competition, her song filled the gulley. It invoked a fear of defeat on the orcs, and they instinctively knew that the source of the song. Reluctantly, the orcs turned around and ran to strike Cless. She started to shoot at the crowd of greenskins that charged her position. The short bow had a faster rate of fire than the composite one and she knew that her Skills compounded. She aimed not for vital spots but wherever exposed skin was and for the fastest shot. She went through the two quivers she had on her when the mass of orcs surrounded her. There were more arrows in the Deeppockets enchanted into her clothes but it would take time to get them out.

Cless held her ground and kept singing. She swung the short bow, swatting the orcs in their faces, arms, even bellies for the unarmored. They were scouts and warriors. No knights. She knew from the fight with the chimera what thirty levels of difference meant, and they were weakened by the Hallow effect the Song created. But there was strength in numbers.

The orcs whittled her Protection and crumbled her Earth Armor. They had splinters all over their bodies. They were slow. More importantly, they were away from Shane's guild. She Blinked away, commanding the golem to strike.

A moment of confusion.

It was all she could gain before the throng of green bodies threw themselves back into the fray. Silverfang and the golem took the brunt of the damage but some orcs took potshots back at the humans. Cless cursed at not training the other attack spells. A high-leveled fireball now would make wonders. She recast Earth Armor, now taking from the boulder she Blinked to and Protection. What could she do?

The orcs were spreading out, re-engaging the humans. She started to sing again. Another heavy dip into her Power pool. It had no chance to recover since she was keeping the Golem.

Once again the horde rushed to her location with fury. She couldn't pull this off again if she wished to have any Power to Revivify any of the humans that probably died. Neither prolong the fight too much. They came and she decided to take a risk.

"Soften Earth!"

She broke the song on her own and tried to trap the orcs in the soft ground. The dirt and gravel became as fluid as honey and the orcs plunged into the ground. Their inertia forced the ones behind over the others. She broke the spell, dropped the short bow and drew her broadsword.

She roared as her warcry.

A mental command and the golem moved to defend the humans. Cless ran, ignoring the half-buried orcs in favor of the ones that were free. Stepping on the backs of their brethren. She engaged in melee, and now able to dodge.

"Venaris, Kurt! Make sure no orc gets out alive." She shouted when the horde thinned and the remaining survivors tried to flee.

A purple mist spread in the woods at the mouth of the gully and the orcs that fled choked and collapsed. The few that remained standing were thrown back by an invisible force. Venaris' bullets with the Skill to knockback from surprise.

And it was over. Cless left without finishing some of the buried orcs there and ran to the cave. Kurt stopped his bardic ability and dove to do the job.

"I'm here, who is critically wounded?" She said out loud after getting past the golem.

The situation was dire. None of the humans was without bruises. She saw an armored figure on the ground and ran there. Arnold. She threw a Mending his way as soon as she could lay hands on him. He coughed. Another mending.

They came to her, asking for help. Cless checked. She had one revivify and five Mendings. She made the golem put the wagon on the ground as she dismissed it, the stones peacefully crumbling into a heap as the animating force vanished.

"Get away, critically wounded only? Where is Shane?"

"At the back," Vanessa told her. Cless barely recognized the cocky girl. "His life is not endangered."

Cless used the five Mendings and was left with one revivify. Fortunately, there was nobody else in danger of dying. Several maimed of in need of more intensive care, like exposed fractures. "Vanessa, any dead?"

"Yes, seventeen dead," She said with tears in her eyes. Cless cursed herself when she found herself amazed that Vanessa could cry. "You are greater than some petty grudge", she told herself.

"I only have the power to attempt one Revivify. Show them to me."

Of the seventeen bodies, she recognized Andre, Kevin, and Collin. She knew Collin was gone forever. Not even a month since his last revivify.

"I don't have Magic Power for all of them. Only one."

She could try a deal. These people could share with her their Magic Power but getting all of them to agree would be troublesome. She could get the unspent power from Kurt and Venaris. That could amount to one more revivify without making herself beholden to all of them. There was no time to explain and negotiate. The ten-minute window was closing on them. One was better than none but she knew that choice would haunt her forever. And Revivify had a crappy chance of success.

"Who died last?"

"These two," Vanessa pointed. One of them was Andre. That was the one.

"Revivify."

Andre's body knitted itself under the golden light. His eyes opened up.

"Cless." He said. "Thanks for coming."

"Save your strength."

She sat down, and even in victory, felt defeated. Cless stood up and moved to the gully where her guild was. The humans were wary of her boys. She couldn't think of them as monsters anymore.

"Venaris, Vic," She whispered. "Can I borrow your spare Power?" Both nodded. Cless felt the energy surge in. She could use one more Revivify. "Come with me. All of you. Stand tall."

They walked and some of the older humans, those in the sixteen or seventeen years old went for their weapons. Bad choice.

"They saved your lives!" Cless shouted. "Drop your weapons NOW!" She commanded.

They hesitated. Cless hissed. "That's it. No healing for you until you cross the town gates."

She went straight for Kevin. She would stand for those that stood with her.

"Revivify!"

She felt the spell barely holding. If she wasted a few more seconds, It would have failed. Kevin returned to life.

Cless spent the next hours of sunlight and into the night healing people, except for the three idiots that dared raise weapons at her guild. They were mostly uninjured but that only meant no broken bones.

Out of forty people that set off to gather the weapon caches, nineteen deaths. Four of them died earlier during skirmishes with the orcs. Cless cursed for not coming earlier.

"A solidus for your thoughts, guild master Cless," Shane asked after sitting next to her.

"Guild master Shane. I was cursing myself for not being strong enough." She replied without meeting his eyes. She just looked at the stars.

"That's the Magic exhaustion talking. You should rest."

"I can't sleep. And I only need half the amount I should. Besides that, the stench of death in this gully is overwhelming. Did you at least recover all the weapons?"

"No. We weren't able to take the gnome village. The orcs rallied there. We got the one here and at the ambush site. All that is left is to return home."

Cless finally turned to meet Shane's gaze. "You said they gathered at the gnome village?"

"Yes. Hundreds of them. We estimate about five hundred orcs. I think it is the last of them. We saw just a few knights but they might be just wearing scavenged armor."

"Tomorrow morning, we will bury the dead. Take the weapons and return to town."

"You aren't..."

"I'm not letting any orc leave this forest alive. If there are that many orcs there, I'll get them."

"You are crazy. But it was that crazy that kept us alive. I owe you one, Cless."

"That's a certainty. And a binding contract." Cless smirked.

She was able to make a contract with her Skill suppressing the window.

Status:

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 50 ( 1,003,681 / 1,275,000 Exp )

Class: — Dabbler 11 (56,542 / 66,000 Exp ) — Priestess 25 (975,000 Exp / ** ) — Vicar 1 (0 / 51,000 Exp)

Profession — Veteran Warmaster 18 (158,689 / 171,000 Exp) — Crafter 16 (Skill) — Farmer 16 (Skill)

Base Stats — Strength: 63 — Agility: 85 [136] — Health: 100 — Intellect: 100 — Wisdom: 50 — Charisma: 49 — Magic: 150

Available Status Points: 0

Skills:

S-rank: [ Absolute Contract ]

B-rank: [ Succubus’ Kiss ]

C-rank: [ Crafter ], [ Dangersense ], [ Elven Longevity ], [ Eat Anything ], [ Earth Magic ], [ Master Miner ]

D-Rank: [ Trick Shot ], [ Nimble Step ], [ Tinker ], [ Grounding ], [ Dancer’s Grace ], [ Great Leap ], [ Druidwalk ],

— [ Tremorsense ], [ Gemsense ], [ Ore sense ], [ Brownie Magic ], [ Courtier’s Charm ], [ Curmudgeon crafter ]

— [ Singers’ Talent ], [ Poison Resistance ], [ Merchant sense ], [Steelshine], [ Heavy Handed ], [ Farmer ], [ Twin Strike ],

E-Rank: [ Gravebreath ], [ Architectural Ingenuity ], [ Coin Sense ], [ Weavertouch ], [ Silk Hair ], [ Wanderlust ],

— [ Giant's Stamina ], [ Hearth’s warmth ], [ Seamstress Talent ], [ Lady’s Countenance ], [Enhanced Touch],

— [ Howl], [ Air Sailing], [ Splinters ]

F-rank: [ Gardener’s touch ], [ Florist’s Wonder ]. [ Cheat ], [ Inner Compass ]

Spells (spells under 20 hidden):

Cleric: — Mending: 50 — Detoxify: 50 (+4) — Light: 50 — Turn Undead: 34 — Blessing: 50 (+4) — Holy Bolt: 50 — Purify: 50 — Protection: 50

— — — Hallow: 50 — Flametongue: 40 — Cure: 50 — Uncurse: 40 — Banish: 40 — Heal: 50 — Warding: 40 — Revivify*: 40 (+10)

Mage: — Detect Magic: 35 — Armor: 46 (+5) — Shield: 45 — Resistance: 34 — Deeppockets*: 35 (+10) — Blink*: 35 (+10)

Priestess: Censure: 42 — Bulwark: 45 — Mass Mending: 50 — Sacred Dance: 41 — Judgement: 47 — Song of the Accord*: 48 (+4)

House: — Detect Dust: 32 — Doorwatch: 26 — Prestidigitation: 32 — Never Overdone!: 35 — Touch Up: 27

— — — Dry: 34 — Repair: 46 — Clean: 50 — Bloom: 45 — Hearth Recall*: 24

Earth: — Soften: 40 (+4) — Earth Armor: 48 (+8) — Stone Shape: 50 (+3) — Terrakinesis: 36 — Golem*: 50

Proficiencies (values under 10 hidden):

Appraise: Status: 50 — Resistance: 50

General: Prayer: 50 — Reading: 16 — Skinning: 11

Social: Negotiation: 36 — Persuasion: 20 (+4) — Bluff: 17

Martial: Leadership: 46 (+4) — Intimidation: 48 (+4)— Tactics: 44 (+10)

Weapon: Long Blades: 27 — Unarmed: 27 — Archery: 44 (+10) — Maces: 38 (+6)