Rules of Biomancy: A LitRPG Healer Fantasy

“We need to visit again soon if this is the kind of generosity she’s offering,” Aleksi commented as they walked through the street. Elijah just grunted, not feeling like talking at the moment as he tried to carry his share while feeling fuller than he had in a long time. “I wonder what she did to make that meat of hers so easy to peel off the bone. And the taste.”

“She dry-aged it for several weeks before slow-cooking it for nearly a day to make it tender beyond belief,” Elijah explained in short breaths. He’d been out in the kitchen for a few minutes while checking up on Grace and her mother, while the giant had been grabbing them a few beers to work with in the meantime. He’d been told the entire recipe from start to finish, the process required to come up with it, and a few improvements that Grace’s mother was already starting to prepare. With the list of spices that she had recently gotten ahold of, some of them which Elijah hadn’t seen for literal decades, he was in agreement about visiting again soon. “We could do something like it if we bring out the larger pot.”

“Really? You’re sure you’re not overestimating our ability to cook?”

“You’re overestimating how hard it is to keep track of temperature and be patient about—” Elijah began to reply until he saw Aleksi slow in his steps. “What is it?”

“Rumbling,” the giant said, frowning as he looked to the left down an alleyway. Wracking his brain for a moment, Elijah realized where it had to be coming from. “It’s over at the Dungeon Entrance.”

A second later he could feel it as the ground began to shake. It was mild, so far away from the site, but his old bones were still able to complain about the vibrating regardless. And if he could feel it while several rows of housing away, it had to be serious at the actual city center.

It didn’t require Aleksi’s supreme levels of hearing to hear the rattling of the Dungeon’s gate lower itself rapidly, nor the screaming of the monsters and the subsequent screaming of the people.

“Worm crawlers, there’ll be flying bastards as well soon, and…” Aleksi paused, holding a hand to the left ear as the screaming increased in volume. Elijah frowned at the sound alone. How many people were out and about at this hour? Why? “Something else. Don’t know what. There’s too many people.”

“Back to the inn?” Elijah suggested for a moment until he realized it wouldn’t do them any good. The rumbling had changed source, going from being because of the Dungeon to being because of the sheer amount of people fleeing from its entrance. Every major street must’ve been filled up by the restless already. That included the way they’d come onto this smaller street. “Guess not.”

“Getting to the shop is impossible as well,” Aleksi supplied, eyes glazing over as the giant tried to track the movements of everybody around. Elijah knew the giant was able to do as much, he and the other hounds having practiced such things countless times in the old days. If he could still do it effectively, though? That was an entirely different conversation. “People are dying.”

“If there’s a Dungeon Break, and there’s several hundred in the city center, then it’s—”

“There’s thousands, Elijah.”

“What?”

“Might’ve been royalty or something over there,” Aleksi explained off-handedly, starting to walk through the alley they’d been looking down since the screaming started. Elijah followed along. “I kept hearing about it while we were in the inn. Only got louder when we left.”

“Weird time for the royalty to be going outside the castle walls,” Elijah commented, noticing that the shouting and screams of the people were starting to become clearer. Just where were they going?

“Some servant or another in the castle died recently,” the giant said. That explained everything rather clearly. Every once in a while, when somebody important from the old war succumbed to their age or afflictions, the royalty liked to go out to the public as a show of stability. When the king still walked around, it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to have him being paraded around the city on horseback.

But the king hadn’t been seen by the public for nearly a year now, so who could it have been out there? Aleksi couldn’t answer, hand still to his ear as he tried to focus. Elijah could see the giant making sure he still had his emergency axe strapped to his back.

For once, it made sense to carry that weapon.

Not that Elijah was one to talk, the dagger in his sleeve having sat there every day for the past many years. And the supplies in his pouch weren’t going anywhere either.

“There’s kids screaming, Elijah,” Aleksi commented when several minutes had passed, enough time for the buzzing to start being heard by him. “This isn't good.”

“If we die, it won’t be good either,” Elijah countered, trying to convince the giant to stop moving toward the center, but there was no making them cease this stupidity anymore. “At least slow down, or we’ll be trampled by the idiots running the other way.”

That did seem to work somewhat at least, and allowed Elijah to hand over one of the newly made healing pastes to the giant. Making it seep into their skin, and enhancing it even further with his abilities, he made sure it would heal any minor wounds instantly. There was no reason to make those green veins appear out there in the open.

“Strangely hot,” Aleksi commented, feeling his fingers for a moment before going back to his full height and walking towards the city center once again. Elijah did the same, noting the lowering of noise from the people. There was still shouting and screaming, but the shaking ground had dulled into basically nothing. Those who could flee had mostly fled already. Now there were only stragglers left behind, along with those who could no longer run for one reason or another. “Be ready.”

Turning the final corner, the wide-open area was revealed to them. Even without a proper headcount, Elijah could see over a hundred human bodies on the ground. Further inside, near the middle where the Dungeon Entrance glowed in its red lighting, he could see the half-consumed corpses of the Dungeon Guards along with many insectoid bodies. The first wave of monsters, most likely.

Elijah mentally thanked them for their service before following Aleksi out into the open. The buzzing in his ear and the sound of chitin hitting stone reminded him that the dead monsters at the entrance weren’t the only ones out in the open. The ones flying above, and the worms running along the ground were still more than alive. They were outright enjoying themselves, taking apart the dead and killing those who were trying to escape their fate while wounded.

“Not today,” he heard Aleksi announce as the giant decapitated one of the worms that got close. The axe barely stopped in its momentum as it ripped through the front half of the monster. “Come on.”

The giant jogged along, swinging his axe at everything that decided to charge them without slowing down. Not nearly as confident as doing such a thing himself, Elijah followed along, keeping an eye out on any of the humans in case some were still alive.

“Can you hear any of them breathing?” he asked, watching as Aleksi ripped one of the worms off a younger child. Their head was half-caved in, likely stomped on by several people who had rushed to get out of the area before it was too late for them. “Aleksi?”

The giant was staring at the child on the ground, worm still in their hand as it struggled to twist its head to bite into the man’s arm.

“Yeah, I know,” Aleksi said when prodded again, crushing the monster and giving the child a final look. Memories were not helping either of them at the moment. “There’s a few next to the walls on the other side.”

“Lead me to them then.”

There was no way they were going to fight the monsters by themselves, and the creatures didn’t seem keen on leaving the free piles of meat lying around either. Some of the worms and flying insects did look their way for a moment, screeching in a threatening manner before going back to devouring the bodies of the fallen once again.

Elijah felt some twisting in his stomach; those empty faces looked back at him, but he ignored it in favor of the pained moans that began to reach his ears. Aleksi’s hearing hadn’t failed them, the people further out and a good distance away from the exits to the city center had survived falling to the ground to some degree.

The one in front of him just barely, though, their jaw dislodged, one of their arms bending the wrong way, and the lower parts of their legs pressed thin. The people had been ruthless in their trampling of the man, but they hadn’t killed him outright.

“Can you hear me?” Elijah asked as he kneeled down in front of the man, getting a louder moan in response as the eyes locked onto him. Some words might’ve been attempted, but the broken jaw made everything seem like gibberish. The pleading was easy to recognize, though. “Stay still, don’t try to talk, and don’t close your eyes if your body wants you to.”

Blood pressure would drop if the man did as much, which meant moving the chances of survival from low to impossible. Not that Elijah thought the man was able to fall unconscious at the moment, as even the act of breathing seemed to cause them incredible amounts of pain.

Channeling of [Plant Bond] has been activated! Current cost: 3MP/sec

Give him the strength to survive.

Though it didn’t mend the bones, and nor did it put the jaw back into place, it hindered most of the internal bleeding from continuing to spread. The steadily growing black spots on the limbs receded back, coloring changing back to a pink tinge, and Elijah looked on as the moans of pain decreased in pacing just a little. They were still at death’s door, but the reaper wouldn’t open for them just yet.

A screech could be heard from above, but Elijah barely looked away from his work as the air was displaced by the axe swing. He did frown when green blood spilled down onto him, but he finished up his job regardless.

“There’ll be somebody else here soon,” he told the man on the ground, sure that their status was stable enough to have them survive for a few hours more. “Don’t move around, keep quiet, and you’ll probably be fine.”

“Please don’t leave.”

He flinched a little when the words came out somewhat recognizable. Of course, the healing paste would mend the muscle around the jaw enough for it to somewhat function.

“There’s others worse off than you,” Elijah said before ignoring the next round of pleading, following Aleksi to the next poor fool that had been trampled. This time it was a young boy with a spine bent to the side.

Then it was limbs that barely hung onto the main body, head trauma that had knocked them unconscious, and bleeding severe enough that any movement would cause their deaths in under a minute. Elijah did what he could with each of them, but there was only so much two men could accomplish.

And the monsters were still appearing from the Dungeon’s maw, including ones that yowled in a manner distinct from the insect-like creatures of the first floors.

“Foxes,” Aleksi commented, both of them taking a moment to look at the orange-and-white furred creatures that jumped through the broken gate meant to hold them away from the surface. “Of course it was them.”

The normal versions of those creatures found in the wilds weren’t too dangerous, even Elijah able to take on a few at a time while only ending up with some minor wounds.

These weren’t normal. They possessed about the same weight as the regular version, yet their limbs and overall body were easily twice the length. It was sickly, the sight a crude joke made to terrify those who met them down in the darkness.

And that didn’t account for their unnatural speed and strength, something a creature that looked like this shouldn’t be able to accomplish. Yet they could, their danger to people matching their hunger.

Elijah did his best to hurry up with the most recent victim of group mania, gathering together some nerves that had been cut while leaving mostly everything else functioning. It took more Mana than he was comfortable spending at the moment, and he had to hold a hand over their mouth to stop the vile screams from reaching too far, but a few seconds more of healing allowed the man on the ground to feel their legs once more.

“Run, don’t look back, and make sure you don’t do anything with your legs for a few weeks if you survive this,” Elijah said in quick-fire before he helped the man up and pointed him towards the nearest route away from this madness. Though the thirty-something-year-old stumbled during the first few steps, the yowling of the foxes by the Dungeon fueled them enough to turn their form perfect.

They were gone by the time Elijah could blink.

Taking a deep breath, he opened up the veins connecting his Core to the rest of his body. He could feel the pressure as his reservoir got closer and closer to emptying itself, a terrible feeling only mitigated by the strangely high amounts of Mana in the air. As it turned out, one perk of the Dungeon Break was the ambient energies increasing to a point where his Mana could regenerate at a rate matching the one he saw when down in the depths.

He noted the buzzing some twenty meters away along with the air displacement as a quick swing cut whatever insect Aleki was nearest in half.

“Oi, Elijah, I think this one’s still alive!” the giant in question shouted at him, prompting him to return to duty and rush over to inspect the person on the ground. A younger woman this time around, who had seemed to survive by hugging the wall while others ran by. There were two guards nearby as well, one dead and the other breathing enough that Elijah thought they might have a chance after he was done here.

Wiping away the green blood that covered the woman’s now-exposed stomach, he could see deep wounds from the flying insects. Their attempt at skewering her through the middle had failed though not by much. With the blood leaving the wounds, he didn’t doubt that she would’ve died in not too long. Especially when helped along by the two bugs that had looked ready to tear her apart as well.

“We’re running low on supplies,” he muttered just loud enough for Aleksi to hear, as he took out nearly all that was left of the healing paste, covering the wound with it and enhancing the effects forcibly. Something must’ve been lodged under the skin, with how the young woman squirmed and screamed in pain, but the giant had already been holding them firmly against the ground. “Stop trying to tense your stomach, you idiot. You’re just increasing the flow.”

Putting a finger inside the wound that had the toughest time closing, he located the tip of the razor blade. Cutting himself a little on its edge, he pulled it out and threw it to the side before sending another pulse for the paste to do its job. While the woman continued to loudly complain, her efforts slowed as the effects finally took hold. Elijah had to give her a tap on the head to make sure she didn’t faint.

“If you fall asleep, you’re going to die, and I just wasted nearly all the healing paste I had left on you so you better not,” Elijah told her, eyes glued on to him before the woman nodded. Or maybe she was just shaking. He couldn't get himself to care, the person looked like they were going to stay awake for at least a few more minutes. “Aleksi, get over and help me with the armor."

While the other guard a few meters to the side was very dead, with their indented helmet having already broken the skull inside, the other was still showing some signs of life. The perks of having tougher armor, Elijah supposed, though it wasn’t doing them any favor now that he had to check up on why they were breathing so softly.

“You think they’ll make us pay for it?” Aleksi asked idly, as he took one hand under the chest armor and the other hand on the front before ripping it in half as it was paper. “Because we can’t afford that.”

“We’ll just deny ever being here,” Elijah replied, grimacing when the pool of blood inside the armor was spotted. That injury had been hiding from him, along with the fact that their entire lower core had turned red and swollen. Internal damage in that spot and that level meant little chance he could do anything of worth, but… that they could still breathe without assistance meant he had to try and help. “Hold her still if she tries to move.”

The sound of growls from multiple sides made Elijah realize he needed to do this one on his own. Aleksi was already back on his feet, axe in hand as he met the lunge of the first stretched fox. He spared a glance away from the body of the guard to see the claws try and scratch the giant before they were grabbed and the paw was broken off cleanly.

No mercy for the wicked.

“This will hurt,” he warned the female guard, not sure if she was conscious to hear his words but giving the warning anyway. Taking the last chunks of his supplies, he covered the area around the liver and kidneys as best as he could before finally pulling on his already-strained reserves. “Give her another day.”

His mutterings were fueled by nature, a bad habit that made him waste energy that could’ve been directed into the healing process. He already had so little to work with while so much would be needed to heal these wounds. Already, he was prioritizing what parts could be dealt with at a later time and what needed to be healed right now. The liver and the kidneys were the highest priority in that fashion. The intestines could wait for somebody else to come along.

His breath caught in his throat as he hunched over seconds later, barely starting on the healing when his Core sent waves of pain through his body. It was done with this shit, threatening to close off permanently if he continued to stretch it thinner than it already was.

While Elijah could feel some part of his subconscious wanting him to press on, to try and heal more and give the guard a better chance, he knew how little it would do. Taking his hands off them, he rose from the ground feeling weak but alive.

Alive enough to hear the shouted warning from Aleksi, the giant fighting half a dozen foxes yet somehow also keeping an eye on Elijah. At least enough to see the insect above him, muted in its buzzing but deadly with the arms going for his head.

His body protested as he leaped to the side, hitting the ground at the same time as the insect. He knew he would bruise later, but he filed that away as he brought out a dagger just in time to meet the monster as it leaped at him.

The blade on one of its arms was able to enter through the skin on Elijah’s outstretched limb, but it didn’t reach too deep as another edge had been put into play. For once, he had aimed right, the dagger that was mainly used to cut herbs sticking through the insect.

It writhed in pain, swinging wildly enough that Elijah instantly threw it to the side. It twitched around weakly, trying to fly away but losing too much blood to make it more than a few meters before succumbing to its injuries.

“Damn it all,” he cursed as he grabbed his right arm, blood already starting to leave him from the injury. Just when he had grown low on supplies, he needed to suffer a wound that could’ve been dealt with by the paste.

Had he grown more sensitive in recent years, or did it hurt more than it should’ve?

There are still pieces of the blade embedded in your flesh, idiot.

A common grievance when fighting the flying insects, though one Elijah rarely needed to think about. Now he had a little more empathy for the woman by the wall, and how she’d squirmed at the cuts in her stomach.

“You alright?” Aleksi asked, hurrying over after cracking the necks of the last few foxes. The giant had several scratches much larger than what Elijah had suffered, but the man barely seemed to care. “How heavy is the bleeding?”

“Won’t die,” Elijah surmised, already knowing it wasn’t lethal by the fact that it was slowing. “Just isn’t great.”

That made the other man relax, though the screeching in the distance made them both turn. The ground had started to shake, and figures other than the flying insects could be seen in the air.

Purple robes…

Royal Mages.

Some stood in midair, others rode on translucent, blue disks but the common denominator was the clear lack of respect for the monsters as they began to be struck down. Fire, wind, what seemed like a bolt of purple light, and threads of darkness all began appearing, taking apart all the creatures in the open area. All attacks were near-instantly lethal, without mercy and without any hesitation no matter the distance the monsters were from the people floating above.

The power of true Mages was something Elijah truly couldn’t fathom. They were several tiers of power above him, to the point where a comparison couldn’t be made. He was as much of a threat as these worms were to them.

Nothing.

“Your eyes,” Elijah stressed as he looked away from the Royal Mages and back to Aleksi. He could see the green pupils, mild in coloring but steadily increasing in purity. While the bright sun above could likely hide the glowing effects from it, along with the more sinister origin, neither felt the desire to have it showing while there were spellcasters with higher ranks nearby. “We did what we could here. Let’s leave.”

Moving to help at all had been a mistake, one that Elijah knew he would have avoided if he didn’t know that Aleksi would’ve moved over to help with or without him.

“You’re right,” the giant replied, looking at the Royal Mages nearing their location for a second more before moving towards the street that would lead them to their shop. “You think they’ll care about the blood?”

Both of them were covered in red and green streaks, signs of their involvement in the slaughter. And the stench… both of them would need hours of scrubbing away the grime if they wanted to rid themselves of this foul smell.

“No,” Elijah replied. Noticing how the mages didn’t change their course as they moved away. They were landing next to the guards on the ground, including the one that had its armor ripped open so he could inspect the wound. “They don’t care about us.”

Hopefully.