The way back seemed so much longer as compared to our trip here. Although we were half running on our way back, we were still swarmed by bats. That had caused our progress to be slowed considerably. We did our best and didn’t give up hope, and soon, we saw the light from the entrance of the cave.

Blood spilled from many of our wounds but we had to continue struggling towards our hope which was just right in front of us. Knowing that they would lose their advantage of the darkness once we reached outside, the creatures of darkness made it a point to block our escape route. As we fought our way towards the outside world, the number of bats in our path didn’t dwindled. In fact, it only gotten more and more crowded with each passing second. That didn’t just occurred in front of us, it was happening all around us. Their enclosure of us had tighten so much that we were literally fighting back to back.

Our hope seemed as minute as that of a flame on a flickering candle in a snowstorm.

A roar from outside the cave shattered the atmosphere. It wasn’t just us that were stunned by the roar, even the bats themselves slowed their attacks due to the shock that they received. The source of the roar is that of a figure standing at the entrance of the cave. A Valkyrie, Gracie.

Another roar came out from her as she ran into battle. Swinging her heavy mace like it was paper light in one hand and a gigantic tower shield in her other hand, she took down multiple bats with each hit and stopped every bat aiming for her in their path with her shield. Being lured into her momentum, we snapped out of our stunned state and continued our desperate struggles against the giant bats. We did not forget our plan of escaping this cave as we made our way towards Gracie, who was clearing her way towards us.

Figuring out that the Valkyrie was more of a threat than ourselves, the bats focused their attacks towards her to no avail. She was like a moving fortress, they couldn’t even hoped to move her against her will. She also had the firepower of one. The focusing of attacks on her instead of ourselves eased the effort we needed to getting ever so closer to the exit.

When our group and herself finally met up, she just shouted out over the screams of the bats,

“Talk later, let’s get out!”

That had been our plan since the start, so we just nodded and fought alongside her to get out of the cave. Our efforts on defending ourselves seemed minute compared to hers as her reached was so much further than ours with the giant body of hers. She took out most of the bats that came attacking before Aston and Chris who were standing by her side could hit with their weapons. Myself and Raoul was on the other side of the circle, enabling us to get our share of the fight.

The ten metre or so of distance to the outside world still took us more than a minute as we were constantly assaulted by the bats, which dwindled with each step that we took towards the light. Their strength were also reduced the closer we were to outside, making it easier for us to move out of the cave with each additional step. We weren’t in a good shape to rush things out though, it was still a fight that we had to put our lives on.

When the last of us were finally out of the cave, we heard a roar. This time it came from within the cave. With the command, the bats stopped their assault. Only a few defiant ones continued chasing us outside the cave, who were instantly struck down as they lost both the advantage of darkness and number. We each turned our backs away from the cave and backed off slowly, in case there were more of such cases.

We continued that until we could barely see the red eyes of the bats glittering within the cave through the forest. From there on, we did our best to run away, expanding the distance between ourselves and the cave as much as possible. Only after five minutes of running did we stopped. We then each fall on to the ground and tried our best to get our breath back, with the exception of Gracie, who was looking as fit as ever.

“Th-Thank, you.”

The thanks came out of my mouth as I was still gasping for breath. It was directed at the Valkyrie who just gave a nod in reply. I continued after I’d gotten my breathing under control,

“Thank you again. But why were you there at the cave?”

“Because I heard from the village chief about the situation of the cave. He was worried about your party as it didn’t looked strong, so he asked me to help checked you guys out.”

She gave a wide smile after saying that. If people didn’t know her, they would have treated that as an insult. She didn’t had that intention though, she was just straightforward in that sense. Neither myself nor the others got angry as they saw the differences between herself and us, she also helped us out. It was significant enough to say that she had saved our lives. Thus the others didn’t react to what she had said even if they thought that it was an insult.

It had been some time since I last saw her so I wanted to find out how much she had grew, even if I was the only who knew of our meetings.

StatusName:Gracie StrunrmTitle:Iron MaidenRace:ValkyrieGender:FemaleLevel:33Experience:72%Stats Point:0Class:Weapon MasterHealth:450/450Mana:80/80Health regen:4.5/sMana regen:0.8/sStrength:75(112)Intelligence:10(8)Dexterity:35(42)Wisdom:10(8)Vitality:52(78)Willpower:38(45)Attack:33-134Defence:52

Skills

Class Tree

Sword Proficiency[Level 33]

-Sword Mastery[Passive]

-Shortsword Mastery[Passive]

-Longsword Mastery[Passive]

-Rapier Mastery[Passive]

-Sabre Mastery[Passive]

Shield Proficiency[Level 45]

-Shield Mastery[Passive]

-Buckler Mastery[Passive]

-Kite Mastery[Passive]

-Heather Mastery[Passive]

-Scutum Mastery[Passive]

-Tower Mastery[Passive]

Blunt Weapon Proficiency[Level 29]

-Blunt Weapon Mastery[Passive]

-Mace Mastery[Passive]

-Club Mastery[Passive]

-Morningstar Mastery[Passive]

Polearm Proficiency[Level 14]

-Polearm Mastery[Passive]

-Spear Mastery[Passive]

-Halberd Mastery[Passive]

Racial Skills

One who Battles[Passive]

Effects

Infected(Indefinite)

“What!?”

That unconsciously came out from my mouth as I saw how much stronger she had gotten over the past week. I could only tried my best to act as if nothing happened when everyone looked towards me in surprise.

-----

Author’s Notes: Seemed like ‘damsel’ can also be used for male. Couldn’t find other words that could’ve fit into it and still sounded good though >.>.