Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

The rock gave way as the tiger pounced at the trio one last time, its footing gave way after the cliff collapsed causing the tiger to plunge itself ahead of the rest into the basin below.

"8, I've done my job, the boy is in the basin, if he is still alive please deal with him."

12 said, perched on a tree nearby watching the scene play out.

"Roger that, let me deal with the boy."

8 replied coldly.

Z, Odrunn and Soli held on to each other tightly, Odrunn and Soli had eyes of despair feeling like it was the end of the line for them, feeling like they wouldn't get out of this alive. With a slight tug on both their arms, Odrunn and Soli was jolted back into reality.

"Odrunn, give me your shield, Soli, given the time now can you create a huge icicle just below us?"

Z shouted quickly to both of them.

Odrunn immediately passed Z his shield while Soli created a huge icicle below them right above the tiger that is falling.

Z held on to the shield while holding on to Soli in his other arm, pulling her closer to his body, he signalled for Odrunn to hold on to the shield as well as himself, wrapping them like a burrito.

'Thud' not a few seconds later, the tiger slammed into the basin, the Icicle soon followed, just before impact, Z activated the shield and created a barrier jamming the icicle through the tiger's body. The recoil of the shield activating and the icicle driving through the body gave them a slight bounce upwards about 4 metres.

Odrunn loosened his grip as he flew to the ground, rolling before sliding to a stop. Z with Soli still in his arm landed near Odrunn. The tiger that came down with them, crushed to a pulp with a huge icicle that drove through its body, dying from the blood loss.

Z had used his body to let Soli land softly, preventing her from losing her life, but that didn't prevent her from suffering from some broken bones.

Z was struggling to breathe, the air escaping his lungs, made him feel as if his insides were burning. Beside him, Odrunn had already started to heal, his wounds visibly turning into scabs. Z crawled with his one good arm towards Odrunn dragging his limp body again and again until he finally reached the side of Odrunn. He reached his hand out and put it on Odrunn's chubby cheeks.

[<Disguise> Manifest discarded <Self-heal> Manifest gained. Slots remaining: 0]

That oh so familiar voice resounded in his ears. Z flipped himself around, lying on his back as he gradually let his wounds heal his breathing stabilised, and his broken bones slowly moved back into place as he focused on healing portion by portion making the healing rate faster, despite the penalty of <Avarice>.

A few minutes later a loud gasp could be heard, as Odrunn sat up with a jerk. He looked around and stopped as he caught Z's eyes.

"Boss! Soli are you okay?"

"I'm okay, just let me rest for a bit, Soli has a few bones in her arm broken, but other than that she's just unconscious. How about you? Have you healed up?"

Z asked, looking at Odrunn while he still lay still on the ground.

"Yeah, somehow I survived, there's a bit of an ache in my muscles, but overall I think I'm okay."

Odrunn said, running his hands over his body to check out his injuries.

"Great! Grab some branches, straight ones, we need to set Soli's arm for her bones to heal."

Z said signalling to the trees behind them. Odrunn did just that, immediately rushing over picking up the branches on the floor.

By the time he picked up the branches, Z with the help of the healing manifest healed up to about 70% and could stand up on his own, all while using the manifest to heal the bruised internals of his body.

Z walked slowly over to Soli with the support of Odrunn, one step at a time, until arriving beside Soli that was on the ground.

Looking at Soli's face Odrunn blushed a bright red.

"What's the matter with you? Hold the branches in place, I'll have to tie it down."

Z said, removing his armour and taking out his uniform, using the knife he got from Lieutenant Raff to cut it into strips. Odrunn held the branches in place while Z started to tie it up with precision. At that exact moment, Soli woke up, seeing the half-n.a.k.e.d Z in front of her she immediately blushed and unwittingly let out a scream.

"shh, keep it down."

Z spoke, still focused on the makeshift splint.

Odrunn just smiled and nodded at Soli when she made eye contact.

"S...sorry... What's the situation now..?"

Soli asked, curious what had happened before she woke up.

"Well, we fell down from the cliff, Boss managed to activate the shield to kill the tiger and save us. Although we were all roughed up somehow."

Odrunn spoke out, while still focused on holding the splint, beads of perspiration rolled down his brows.

"But how are the both of you moving about so quickly?"

Soli asked again, obviously shocked at the speed in which the two of them got up and moved around.

Odrunn smiled wryly as he answered,

"I have a healing manifest, it helped me recover quickly, so my life wasn't in danger. Boss... he... Wait, boss, how are you able to move around so quickly?"

"The training of the vanguards were rough and rigorous, it made my body stronger than anyone else. Plus I'm naturally thick-skinned, I don't get hurt easily."

Z smiled as he replied, finishing up the splint, he reached into his satchel and reached in to take out a nutrition bar, which he proceeded to consume.

"There, it's all good now, try to stand up and see if you can walk. Your hand is a little busted but your legs should be fine."

Z spoke, standing up as he walked towards the tiger beast pinned on the ground. The ice had already started to melt, leaving a bit of the flesh exposed. Z immediately climbed onto the tiger beast and quickly used his dagger to slice off chunks of meat through the hole of its wound and filled it into a satchel.

"Boss! What are you doing?" Odrunn asked as he approached the tiger carcass.

"What does it look like? I'm packing lunch!"

Z replied with a confused look as he continued cutting and packing away the meat.

Soli and Odrunn gave a confused look but proceeded to try to use their commswatch to get help from Lieutenant Raff and the team. After fiddling with it for awhile, they realised they had entered a place where the signal was not strong enough to reach them. Unless their commswatch were specially designed like those of the hunters, they wouldn't be able to get any reception from the outside world.

'woosh' suddenly a large blue orb zoomed across Z's face barely grazing him as he quickly dodged to the left in a panic.