Chapter 62 - A Minor Detour (2)

However, although he only suffered blunt damage, it was still substantial. He was coughing heavily and he felt as if his ribs were about to break. "One attack and I'm nearly done? What the hell is this thing? Is it that I am so weak or is it that this beast is just strong?" thought Arya, before settling on the former notion.

Arya realized that although he was becoming faster and stronger, he couldn't overcome his natural boundaries. There was a limit to the power a 5-year-old child could unleash.

Arya got up quickly to find the monster lying on the ground. It had a black liquid running out of the wound on its torso and it was groaning in pain. If Arya wasn't so exhausted he would've thought it seemed almost human, almost.

And what did it matter anyway, had it been a human Arya would've killed it already. It was a threat to his life and Arya took no chances. Arya picked up the dagger and tried stabbing the beast, but it got up and ran away.

"You were acting so tough just a moment ago but it seems you can't even take a hit. Look at you running from a 5-year-old child," shouted Arya as the beast moved away from him. The beast seemed more frightened than anything else. It seemed like pain was a new concept for it, and looked at Arya like prey would look at a predator. That was a look Arya knew all too well.

"You're scared of me? Could it be that you were actually a weakling?" asked Arya as he ran towards to beast. The beast wasn't so much afraid of Arya as it was off what had just happened to it. The beast had attacked the small being but instead of hurting it, it became hurt instead. It believed that the small being could reflect all the damage it was inflicted.

Arya continued trying to stab the creature but at this point it was way faster than Arya so he couldn't even put a scratch on it. "Child of water, heed my call. Bring about a chill to freeze my foes." chanted Arya as he froze the ground directly beneath the creature to prevent it from running away.

The ice was thin so it began cracking under the creature's weight. But it served its purpose for long enough. Arya lunged at the creature with all his strength aiming to stab it in the head. This was quite the feat since the monster was literally twice Arya's size.

Arya leapt into the air and thrust his dagger towards the creature's face, however the creature reacted quickly and raised its arm to block the incoming attack. The dagger remained stuck in the beast's arm as it instinctively swatted at Arya to defend itself.

Arya was sent flying a few meters away from the monster, blood sprayed out of his nose as he landed on the floor. This time he was certain that his nose was broken. The creature seemed to realize its mistake at that moment as well. It realized that the small being must've used some sort of trickery before since the damage it had dealt wasn't reflected back.

The creature seemed to be making a sinister smile as it approached Arya's body. Arya tried to stand up, but the pain was simply too much. "No, you can't kill me now. I still have things I have to do here," said Arya as he raised his hands to chant what would probably be his final spell.

Just as he was about to chant a spell he heard a voice shout. "Light bless us with your might. Fix all things make them right." and a ray of light shot at the beast, incinerating it on the spot. "I'm still to wea-" whispered Arya as he lost consciousness.

***

"Oi child wake up. Tell us what happened here. Where is the mage that used ice magic to fend off the beast?" asked the same voice that had chanted the spell earlier. Arya opened his eyes to find himself in a small clinic. A man in a white mage robe looking at him with stern eyes, while a group of knights stood by him with their swords out.

"What?" asked Arya confused by what was going on. "Answer when asked foolish boy. Do you want your head to be cut off?" shouted one of the knights. The knights seemed to be on edge about something. Arya couldn't tell exactly what, but they seemed to be jitterish, they held their swords with shaky hands.

"Please calm down. He is but a mere child. Let me ask again boy. What happened to your group, and where is the mage that was fighting against the beast? From what I can tell, amongst the dead bodies found none of them were ice mages." said the man in a white robe calmly.

"Uhm, oh that mister. He ran away as soon as he realized he couldn't defeat the beast." lied Arya finally realizing the situation he was in. "Is that so? Then how come you are still alive?" asked the white-robed man.

"Uhm, I was just lucky enough to be hiding behind one of the caravans. I was just about to lose my life before you saved me. Thank you sir." said Arya, trying to sound like a convincing child. "Hmm, that seems to make sense. Though we will have to hold you here for further questioning. I'm guessing your parents were among those who were killed?" asked the white-robed man.

"Y-yes," replied Arya. "Very well." said the white-robed man as he turned around. He whispered something to one of the knights and they left the room, making sure to lock the door before they all left.

"What have I gotten myself into this time?" wondered Arya as he surveyed his surroundings. There seemed to be only one bed in the small room.. There were no windows and the door didn't have a handle on this side.