Gale caught a glimpse of Thorin and snickered; after he's done ending the little cockroach that was shaking like a leaf before him, he will kill Thorin.
'All he has is one arm; what is he going to do with it?' Gale thought in amusement.
Thorin blocks Gale's attack against Raid. "Thank you." He said. Though he recognized the twins as one of his teammates, he didn't know their name; now he felt ashamed for not knowing their name and for running away and leaving them behind to die. "Go be with your brother."
Raid was already in tears; his brother was no longer breathing, and soon, with Gale's men around, he would be joining his brother.
Feeling a new will to fight and win without running away. Thorin released a powerful aura that blasted off Gale's men.
"Wasting magical energy isn't going to change the outcome of this fight." Gale struggled to keep his feet in place as he wondered where Thorin's magic powers were coming from. A few minutes ago, Thorin was nothing but a pathetic rat.
Thorin struck Gale with one arm, veins popping on his arm, neck, and forehead as he refused to be pushed away by Gale's swords; rather, Gale was the one slowly being pushed away.
Ding.
[Level up]
[Level up]
[Level up]
Thorin didn't stop in his attack even as his system voiced out his increase in strength; all he cared about was killing Gale for the death of his nameless teammates who came back for him. If Thorin was being his past self, he would stop the fight to admire his increase in magic and check out the reward his system had for him.
"How is this possible?" Gale asked. Surprise that he is the one who is now struggling with his fight against Thorin. 'How is it that his strength doubles up with each attack?' He frowned in annoyance and kept his distance from Thorin, deciding to drop his sword and use his magic for a long-range attack. But before Gale could form any earth into shape for his attack, Thorin impaled him with his sword.
Thorin felt a pain in his heart; Gale dying on the ground didn't give him satisfaction, and it didn't make his pain go away.
[Congratulations, true hero, you have saved the day.] His system voice rang out and showed an increase in stats. Thorin looked at an awakened skill that had been locked up in his stats and was now open.
[Golden heart]
Uncontrollable tears poured out of Thorin's eyes as he stared at Reed's dead body and then at his one arm. His awakened skill was a skill that gave him strength only when his heart was drawn to others and he was able to feel their pain.
Thorin is starting to realize that each time he let himself run away when he was in danger, he made himself weak. If only he had chosen to fight and risk his life for others.
'I was wrong.' Thorin thought and used his one arm to clean the tears in his eyes, but it did nothing to stop their continuous flow. 'Being the hero doesn't fit me after all.' With the hard upbringing he had since his childhood, he barely had empathy for others and always thought more of himself, and yet the system still chose him to be a hero in a messed-up game.
"What's your name?" Thorin asked Raid.
Gale's teammates started gaining back their consciousness; afraid, they refused to attack Thorin.
"Reed." Raid said, deciding to live the rest of his life for his brother. Although his magic was weak, he was going to train himself harder and be strong. No matter what, he was going to leave Hlasked and make it back home. The thought of making it back home to his parents without his brother broke Raid, but he put on a brave face and stared at Thorin. "My name is Reed." His eyes went to Thorin's missing arm. "A healer," he mumbled and picked up his sword, moving to the men who had surrendered without their captain. "Who among you is a healer?!" He yelled with a strong voice; the anger and hatred in his heart made him ready to kill anyone who refused to talk.
"Her!" A male voice squeaks out like a mouse and then suddenly screams.
When Raid moved closer to examine what happened, he saw a dead female who had stabbed herself in the neck with a dagger because she didn't want to betray her dead captain by healing Thorin.
Raid frowned at her dead body and turned around to Thorin. "I will find you another healer."
"It's okay." Thorin's voice came out empty and full of pain. "I don't want to heal my arm; the pain is nothing compared to what I have caused you." He said it, and he meant it. His lost arm and everything he had experienced in the space of a day made him feel like he had been reborn. He didn't want to let go of the pain he felt now and wanted to use the pain of his arm as a reminder, not because of the power it gave him but because he was afraid of returning to his old self. "I'm not killing anyone!" Thorin shouted to Gale's team.
"Why?!" Reed shouted in anger; killing Gale wasn't enough. He felt like every one of Gale's teammates should die for his brother's death.
"What is your brother's name?" Thorin asked gently.
Raid paused and thought of if he should say the truth; he was now bearing his brother's name and didn't want to believe that his brother was dead. He would rather believe that he was the one dead, but truthfully, seeing his brother like this made a part of himself dead. "His name is Raid." He lied.
"I'm sorry for your brother's death; I will try my best to use my magic to give him a proper burial before we move further."
"Thank you." Raid said, "My brother used his life to save yours from death. I think it fair that you let me decide what should happen to the rest of that bastard's teammates." His voice cracked in tears again.
Thorin didn't want to kill anyone. He wanted to let them go, but because of the sacrifice that had been made for the new life he has, he asked, "What do you want then?"
"I want everyone in that guy's team dead." Raid stated cruelly.
Frightful screams fill the air; a helpless attack wasn't enough to stop Thorin as he moves with a heavy presence as an angel of death.
"I will grant you your request." Thorin raised his hand to control his magic.