When I looked at my plans for becoming an adventurer, I always had an assumption of what role I would play.
Sometimes I wondered about being a party's lancer, an attacker who tries to take enemies down quickly, other times I imagined myself as the vanguard, protecting everyone behind me while bashing enemies back to give my allies room to work.
Yet it had never crossed my mind to be in the role of leadership.
It was a role that I personally felt wrong for.
Every choice held the weight of people's lives, and their livelihoods.
I could order everyone to go deeper in a dungeon, but it could get us killed or it could make us lose out on a large part of the money and thus go hungry.
In this I tried my best to be as strong as I could be, as all leaders should be.
Yet I cursed myself, and was so focused on trying to get strong I didn't see I was insulting my friend the whole time.
Beatrice sat next to me as we both waited around the small campfire we had set up for when the others got back.
Beatrice had been watching me, a worried look in her eyes that I understood, but a sullen fog seemed to be keeping me down as I just stared at the made pile of firewood.
"You two are good friends right, everyone fights from time to time, it's practically inevitable depending on how long you know each other."
I turned my head slightly, seeing Beatrice try to put on a comforting smile, though it was clear that it was forced, her real worry being about the bubbling obsession that's only getting worse and how it will respond to this new situation.
A part of me argued that I was not in the wrong for trying to be stronger for the entire group, but a new half seemed to stand against that idea arguing that method mattered too and there was no team that would follow me if I didn't have their interests and opinions in mind.
I turned to ask Beatrice who she thought was right from our conversation, but she was staring at one of the small floating orbs near her head, a sudden expression of alarm on her face as vines writhed around us, growing tall and thick like a shielding dome.
The feeling of wrongness struck me a second later as I lunged, getting between Beatrice and the feeling as I charged Ki to my paw, striking forward with full force.
The vines that surrounded us ruptured and burst as something tried to charge in, my paw slamming into something large and sturdy, bringing the slowed charge to a stop.
You have used skill Powerful Strike(D)
You have used skill Iron Fist(D)
You have attacked Hand Horse(C)
The Hand Horse resists your attack
They have taken 38 damage
I would like to say I felt relief knowing I landed a solid blow, but the fact that my full power strike could only bring the thing to a stop after it crashed through several layers of vines showed that we were in quite a bit of trouble.
Beatrice opened the back of the vine wall, both of us turning to dart out as behind us the dome of vines exploded outwards, bits of plant and sap falling everywhere around the small clearing.
The creature that stood where the dome once was the size of a large horse, but instead of fur and flesh it seemed entirely made of human hands. Several of the hands had shot out on fleshy arms with too many elbows and joints to push the dome open that were retracting into its body as it turned to look around the clearing like it was trying to find something.
"Intriguing, so it seems they are yet to return to camp, I would have assumed they would have rushed back after seeing the announcement. You must be comrades of theirs like the one with glasses."
A shiver ran through my body as I remembered Aiden running into the woods and this thing emerging.
"What are you, what are you here for?"
The creature turned to meet my gaze as I felt a strange stifling rushing through my body.
"I am the beast brought about by the hubris of your comrades that seek knowledge forbidden to those below the greatest. You are not my targets, but my targets will return to this camp soon."
My mind drifted to Selene, Thalia, and Liora who were exploring the ruins as Beatrice stepped forward.
"You think we will just stand by and let you kill our friends when they return back!?"
"Yes, that is if you wish not to become my next target. I hold no quarrel with three of you, but if you wish to stand against Red, then step forward."
My gut dropped through the floor and to the core of the world as my blood turned to ice and permafrost in my veins. Beatrice opened her mouth as if to speak but paused as she saw the expression on my face and paralysis that seemed to run through me.
"It seems the wolf's instincts scream louder than the fox."
It turned away, facing towards the ruins as if a statue waiting, satisfied to have that small dig towards us.
I want to be a good leader, and yet I had to decide to risk my whole team, or half with a high chance of death from both ends.
I wanted to save everyone, it was the obvious thing, but is that what a leader can do? Can a leader really make such a choice while being a good leader?
A leader is one that seeks the survival of the many over the survival of the few, can you honestly expect anyone here to follow an incompetent leader?
A good friend would try to save everyone regardless of the risk, can you honestly expect anyone here to follow someone that would condemn their friends to death?
My mind was a mess as I felt myself grasping for something obvious, something to point me in the right direction.
"You can't seriously think we would just stand down!"
Beatrice yelled, plants surging around her despite the seeming interference that the small motes of light seemed to be trying to cause like they were begging her to reconsider.
The hand horse turned, its eyes looking downward with a level of mockery that sent a coil of anger through my blood, turning what was ice into cold water.
"So you will fight me, when the wolf can't stop shaking at the mere mention of my master, and here I thought you would have some instincts for survival."
Another pulse, this time surged from the obsession that pumped blood back to my pale face, my paws that had felt as heavy as boulders before now felt primed and warm.
Beatrice looked back to Jax, for a moment worry on her face as what remained of the hesitation broke under a simple primal instinct.
A cute girl is watching, DON'T BE A BITCH!!
Such a simple thought has caused men to march to their death with pride, but many more emerged through trials they should have otherwise failed.
I stepped forward, letting the insanity pour out like a flood as I rushed thoughts through my head to agitate and enrage it.
He seeks to hurt Beatrice
He seeks to take Beatrice
He seeks to kill Beatrice
Each thought spurred what felt like something already too fast and too powerful to push harder and run faster as Jax stopped in front of the hand horse, his hackles raised, what remained of any hesitation shattered by the rampant madness I let run mad like a caged beast finally allowed to run across an open field.
"I am Jax Stormcaller, leader of the Hogs feet adventuring party, and I will put down anything that dares to target my team!"