"Haah… haah…" Pushing his body to the very limits of what it could handle, Faulus eventually arrived at where he and the others had seen Valyr flew towards.
Though he felt a bit out of breath, he still continued to roam the streets near the vicinity, ignoring the pain his legs were going through as he began to shout at the top of his lungs.
"Valyr!"
"Where are you!"
Hearing no response from their leader whatsoever, Faulus inwardly let out a low sigh as he began to move a bit further away from the battlefield.
'Damn… how far did the quadrant leader send Valyr flying?'
Arriving at another spot within the north quadrant not long after, the alchemist caught his breath for a short while before shouting himself hoarse once more, hoping that Valyr would reply back.
Unfortunately, what he attracted instead was the attention of the primitive humanoids in the area, prompting him to retrieve his staff as he channeled the anger he felt towards them.
Though the anger he felt had something to do with the situation, that did not mean that he was angry towards Valyr for not defending against the quadrant leader's attack.
If anything, he felt anger towards himself.
After all, if he was more capable in combat, then he would be helping out the others in fighting the quadrant leader while someone else would be in charge of searching for their leader.
However, in front of a being with that level of strength, would his contribution really make any difference to the overall fight?
Would it really be better for him to join the other three in combat?
Or would it be better for him to be relegated to tasks that did not involve combat?
'Calm down, me.' Just as he felt his train of thought spiral down towards an abyss, Faulus luckily caught himself before doing so, taking in a few deep breaths as he discarded all of the useless thoughts that plagued his mind.
Then, letting out a sigh, his expression turned calm as he began to move to another part of the north quadrant.
'Among the five of us, I'm the most knowledgeable when it comes to healing people. After all, I wouldn't be called the Lord of Medicine for no reason.'
'Hal told me to look for Valyr for this exact reason. That's because he knew I'd be able to heal him the fastest and return him to the frontlines the earliest to help out.'
With all the negative thoughts plaguing his mind earlier now gone, Faulus began to think about his current situation from a positive perspective, pushing his agility beyond its normal limits as he soon arrived at a spot he felt like where Valyr would be.
Slaying all of the primitive humanoids in the vicinity with a few sweeps of his staff, Faulus took a deep breath before shouting one more time.
"Valyr!"
"Where are you!"
"…"
"…"
"I guess I'll have to look for another spot, huh." Sighing in disappointment as he found out that his hunch was wrong, Faulus was about to head to another spot…
Only to stop in his tracks as he began to hear a familiar voice from afar.
"Hey, Faulus!"
"I'm right here!"
…
"Thank the heavens you're finally here."After hearing Faulus' voice echoing from a fair distance away from him, Valyr did not hesitate to shout himself hoarse, hoping that his voice would lead the man to where he was.
Thankfully, it did not take long for his shouting to bear fruit since not even a few minutes later, the man he wanted to attract the attention of had finally appeared before him.
With Valyr finally in front of him, Faulus inwardly let out a huge sigh of relief as he felt a great burden being lifted off his shoulders.
However, this feeling was soon replaced with guilt as he looked at their leader's currently miserable state.
"It really didn't hold back in its retaliation." Sucking in a breath of cold air, Faulus quickly helped Valyr extricate himself from the walls of the building he had been embedded into.
In response to Faulus' words, Valyr let out a faint chuckle as he actively helped the man remove him from the building as well. "Well, it makes sense considering how I didn't even give it an actual chance to fight back."
Rumble…
At the very moment Valyr was able to remove himself from the building's walls, the young man looked at Faulus with a grateful expression, only to let out a disappointed sigh soon after.
"I should have saved those moves of mine for this phase," said Valyr in an apologetic tone. "Who knew it would reach this level of strength?"
Understanding the underlying meaning behind his words, Faulus shook his head in response. "Frankly, none of us were expecting the quadrant leader to grow that strong either."
"You did what you could at the time," said the man. "No one is blaming you for being unprepared."
"But I have a feeling such words aren't enough even to quell the emotions you're feeling…"
Whoosh!
Taking out a vial filled with viscous dark red fluid, Faulus tossed the vial to Valyr before flashing a smile. "So, have this instead."
Seeing the young man stared at the vial he had thrown, the alchemist took the opportunity to explain. "That right there is one of the few Superior Health Potions I've concocted for this inheritance."
"To be honest, I was saving it for incredibly critical situations."
At those words, Faulus let out a slight chuckle. "However, isn't this situation exactly that?"
Remaining silent for a bit, Valyr looked at the alchemist with a blank stare.
Then, pulling out the stopper, he downed the vial's contents in one go, feeling its effects work on his body the very instant it made contact with his mouth.
Whoosh!
In less than an instant, Valyr felt like his body was more than brimming with vitality.
Staring at his body, he noticed that the wound on his chest had fully repaired itself as a layer of supple flesh took over its place.
Aside from that, the aching he felt from his back due to the collision had more than disappeared as well, feeling like he could stand straighter than ever before.
Feeling like he had returned to a far greater than optimal condition, Valyr closed his eyes for a bit before looking at Faulus. "Have you ever flown before?"
"No?" As he shook his head, Faulus looked at the young man with confusion. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothing." Flashing a mischievous grin, Valyr went ahead and conjured two dark wings behind his back as he wrapped one of his arms around Faulus' waist.
"I just wanted to give you a heads-up."
Whoosh!
Without even giving the latter some time to prepare, the two of them set off to the skies, flying over the many buildings they had passed over as Valyr looked at the battlefield from afar.
Staring at the towering quadrant leader as it fought against the other three, a trace of rage briefly flashed in Valyr's eyes as a thought soon surfaced in his mind.
'Time for round 2, fuckface.'
