LOREN
Despite the woman’s surprising speed and strength, the summoner wasn’t too worried about her skills. After all, he was deliberately holding himself back, relying entirely on his physical prowess (which sucked) and not upon his magical abilities (which were stronger than most). If he’d actually been worried about her dealing serious damage to him, he’d have summoned something to take care of her. Besides, given that his healing magic had progressed shockingly far, and he was tougher than he’d ever expected to be, he figured he could take a few hits without too much trouble.Which is why, when Melita ducked under his strike—though he scored a hit on her shoulder—he let her weapon come for his ribs and didn’t dodge out of the way. Instead, he just raised his own weapon and brought it back down towards the shoulder he’d already hit, hoping to take it out of commission. He could always heal it if he actually managed to hurt her. When her own staff slammed into his ribs, he heard a sickening crack and felt a spike of pain there; though his breath came far too short, but he immediately sent a burst of healing magic to knit the bones and muscles back together.
He gone too long with denying his magic, and it leapt eagerly at his call. Maybe he'd been willfully weak, maybe he'd been scared of what he might accomplish, but he was getting a bit sick and tired of always holding himself back for fear of scaring others. It might not have been the wisest course of action, and this might not be the best time, but he wasn't even using his most potent spells right now and he could already feel himself gaining the upper hand.
A beggar's book
outworths
a noble's blood
