Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Fucking hell, how many are in there?!" Cutting her wrist with a blade, Helga reached inside her skin. Wriggling her way around, she plucked the last maggots out of her body that had gotten in somehow when she touched Raven's eyelids. Quickly throwing it to the ground, she rose to her feet and stomped on it until the pale worm was burned to a crisp. "This is exactly why I work alone…"

Lifting her head to look at the only conscious members of Raven's party–Aria and Erika. Having gone hunting, Mino had not the slightest clue about the situation, but the ones in front of her were making Helga that much more frustrated with the situation.

'When the hell will Kara bring them outside?' Waiting for the high priestess to be done with the healing process, the barbarian Valkyrie was growing more and more tired of twiddling her thumb and doing nothing.

"So are you gonna tell us what happened in there?" A bit more composed than before, Aria got off the tree stump and began walking towards the Valkyrie. "What's it like? And what the hell is that monster hurting them?"

'Aria, no…' Cringing at the dark elf's lack of situational awareness, Erika wanted to curl up into herself and disappear. Just from a single look at her alone, it was clear that Helga was not in a chatty mood.

"They'll be fine, but tell me something," moving closer to Aria as well, Helga stood towering before the dark elf. Glaring her down with their breastplates pressed together, she bared her teeth with a nasal grunt. "Why the hell did you two stay behind? Especially you? Another barbarian or someone pretending to be one."

"Hey! I–" Before Aria could defend herself, a sudden slap on her face by Helga stunned her body and mind.

"Stop!" Getting up from the ground as well, Erika attempted to close the distance between her and the two, but with just one hand held in her direction, Helga made her reconsider getting closer.

Then as the moment calmed a little, the barbarian woman pulled Aria in by the collar. Glaring into her eyes, she searched not for fear, but the telling look of rage that should be ingrained in every warrior. Instead, however, she found fear and hesitance, something that made her slap the dark elf on the other cheek as well.

"What the fuck are you scared of?!" Shoving her away, Helga leaned forward and screamed into her face. "You call yourself a barbarian, you wear a bunch of cosmetics to look the part, but there's not an ounce of courage in those eyes of yours."

Tired of being insulted all day, Aria clutched her fingers into a tight fist. Her teeth gritted shut, she looked at Helga with as much anger as she could muster. Drawing her hand all the way back, she tried to hit her in the face, but before her fist landed, a kick to the chest sent her dragging mud all the way until she hit a tree.

"AGGHGHH!" Throwing up blood from her shattered ribs, Aria wheezed through her teeth while struggling through the immense hurt.

"That's enough!" Erika yelled, her hands tensed up on her sides.

"No," walking through the earth; dug up by Aria's flying body, Helga moved closer and closer to the elf. Getting down on her knees, she looked her in the eye before saying in a whisper. "You have no magic, so did I. But do you know what the difference between you and me is?"

Grunting in pain, Aria wheezed for a while longer, but slowly getting her breaths in order, she stared back at Helga and nodded to get an answer.

"It's the fact that I'm too goddamn stubborn to die, that's the essence of being a barbarian, striking the fear of murder in your opponent's eyes until they piss blood out of every orifice in their bodies," reaching for Aria's face, Helga lifted it slightly before turning it to her injured wrist.

"And when you can do that when you're too fucking angry, too much of a fucking menace, your very wounds close up from the pure ecstasy of battle."

Closing up right on time, the wound sealed itself on its own. Shoving Aria's head back into the dirt, Helga rose to her feet and said one last thing before she retreated to the tent.

"You're not gonna die unless you stop fighting. So drive that fear out of your heart and strike it with your fist into your enemies. Make them bleed and burn their children before their eyes, show no mercy for they will show you none!" Stomping her feet as she turned, Helga made her way inside the tent to check if Kara was anywhere near done.

Left struggling with excruciating pain running through her chest, Aria reached for her armor's belt and loosened it to give herself more room to breathe. Rushing over to her quickly, Erika helped her as well by trying to heal the wounds inflicted by Helga.

"What the hell was all this for?" She murmured while hastily attempting to cast a healing spell.

However, the moment the spell began to take effect, Aria grabbed Erika's hand and quickly shoved it away. A bit surprised by the unexpected behavior, the priestess looked at her stunned, having no clue why she would do that.

"Did she crack your skull or something?! What are you doing?!" Shaking her head, she tried to cast yet another healing spell, but slapping Erika's hand, Aria shut it down in an instant.

"I-I…AGHH!" Attempting to speak, a loud grunt of pain whistled out of Aria's gritted teeth.

"You're a fucking idiot! Let me–"

"NO!" Grabbing Erika's arm, Aria looked her in the eyes. "I-I…I'm g-UGHH!...I'M GONNA BEAT THAT BITCH MYSELF!"

'What the hell did that stupid woman do to her head?!' Worrying that something was truly wrong with Aria's head, Erika had no clue how to convince the idiot to let her heal her body.

Clutching her hands by her chest, Aria took deep wheezing breaths with loud grunting in between. But slowly bringing her body's control back to herself, she stumbled her way back up to her feet. Even so, shaking in both legs, it was clear that the elf needed help one way or the other, and the only question remained, would it be by herself or someone else entirely?

"I-I'm gonna prove h-er wrong, I'm gon…" Growing too tired from the struggle, her mind forced her body to shut down completely.

Thankfully for her, Erika managed to catch her before she fell and broke even more ribs.