We were all just staring at each other. It was pretty obvious that Raxzar was going for a coup. This was either because the things he said were really what he thought, that attacking the nest was stupid and would cause more harm than good. Or, because the Rodenti had a thirst for power and decided not to wait for his father to die or pass the torch to him. The fact of the matter was that before we started the attack on the nest, we needed to deal with this.
Even if it weren't for the fact that I didn't like the idea of a son trying to kill his father just because they disagreed on something, I would still be on Ash's side no matter what. The whole point of our participation in this was to use the skills to give them by the Mnems to gather information from an Eater hatchling.
So, picking the choice that would stop us from going to the nest was not something that I was willing to do. Not that I actually needed the excuse. Rex was trying to defend his father, and that was honestly more important than anything else right now, even if this fit well with our plans, anyway.
Everybody just continued to stare at each other. It was obvious that no one was really willing to make the first move. Or maybe everybody was just hoping that the other side would see they had fewer numbers and give up entirely. It was very hard to know which would win, people's nerves or someone's fear of what was to come. The seconds were ticking by slowly, and no one was still doing anything. Everybody was just gripping whatever weapons they had available, or, in the case of most people that were by our side, whatever cutlery they were able to get before standing up.
I couldn't see a version of events that would not result in a lot of the Rodenti dying. If too many of them perished, it would get in the way of the attack, or just stop it completely. I noticed some of the Rodenti on the other side starting to twitch ever so slightly. They were getting antsy, and unless I came up with a solution quickly, a way to stop the fight with minimal losses as possible, we would lose the bulk of the army.
Not having any ideas about what I could do and not wanting to have the fight start without a proper plan, I tried one thing that I never tried before. My {Mind Of Possibility} had been recharged since the fight against the Guardian Eater, and maybe it would give me enough time to come up with a solution. So, I activated the skill with the intention of using it just to try to come up with a better plan. First, I just continued to watch the other side stay still for a few more seconds, my mind trying to process what was going on.
But one of the Rodenti in front of the group, one who was directly in front of Raxzar and couldn't see how many were behind him, got increasingly more nervous until he shouted and dashed toward us with a spear in hand. I stepped in front of Rex and jumped on top of his spear before cracking my staff over his head with too much force, killing the Rodenti on the spot. Blood came out of the neck, which now showed a piece of bone sticking out of it. Yet, it wasn't my actions that caused everything to unravel. It was the other Rodenti who were already rushing toward each other, starting the fight. I tried to forcibly bring myself back to the moment I first activated the skill, knowing what I could do here to fight better is not what mattered.
It took a moment until one of the Rodenti body-slammed me to the ground. Then, I stepped back to the exact moment I activated the skill. There were still a few seconds before the first Rodenti attacked, and I started to think again. We needed a way to stop the fight.
The easiest and most obvious one would be to just incapacitate all the attackers. If they were not a threat anymore, then they wouldn't be able to do anything. Doing that was much easier said than done. There were too many, Rodenti here. I never did a headcount, but it should be maybe a hundred on each side, maybe a bit less if a few groups were not here.
I remembered hearing Ash say that they had about 200 people to fight. We couldn't really afford to waste precious time just by knocking everybody out. People would get hurt, it was likely that people would be killed, and that would cause even more problems for the attack on the nest.
The next option would be to stop Raxzar. Generally speaking, if the leader of a movement was incapacitated or killed, the rest of the movement would fall along with him. The problem was that I had no idea how strong that Rodenti was, or how strong the surrounding people were.
He might be in a very clear and open area right now, still standing on top of the table and looking down on everybody. By his side was the group that we brought here. Apparently, they were all Tier 2, and even Ash had to admit they were powerful. This likely meant that taking even one of them out wasn't going to be easy.
The Rodenti in front of the group started moving again and rushed towards me. This time, I just let myself be slammed by the spear to allow the {Mind Of Possibility} to toss me back at the start. It might be possible to stop the fight by stopping Raxzar. I just had no idea how hard that was going to be. If we managed to get rid of his friends, he himself would be more exposed. But even then, how could I tell Astrid and the others about this plan without letting them know? It's not like I could talk and touch them all to send a message through the System. That would take too long.
Another solution would be for Ash to help us, but he was in no condition to do anything. As a matter of fact, the Rodenti Chieftain couldn't even be counted on for the battle. He was too injured from whatever poison they had used against him. Thinking about poison, I realized one thing. We had gone after a poison at Ash's request.
Maybe that was the poison that was being used. If that was the case, maybe Trix would have an antidote. I quickly looked around, trying to see if I could see Trix anywhere at all. The Rodenti started rushing towards me, and this time, I stepped on top of the spear and jumped into the air, trying to gather as much information about my surroundings as possible. I needed to find the healer.
Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen. The Rodenti at the very edge of the area had blank faces, even with my {Mind Of Possibility} activated. I understood what that meant. I didn't get a chance to see those people even at a glance, so the System wasn't able to tell me who they actually were.
So, while trying to come up with a way to remove the poison was what I was considering the best idea, it wasn't going to be possible. We needed something to help Ash heal, something that would help his body fight back against the poison.
It was a shame that I didn't have enough time, otherwise, I would give him {Body Regeneration}. Since that was the most powerful skill I had at Tier 3, it should be enough to fight off against something like this. Or at least I hoped it would be. Only a few moments of help could be enough to stop the entire attack. But I didn't have any way to quickly pass the skill to him.
Unless…. An idea came into mind and this time nothing hit me. I just was tossed back to the beginning of my loop, watching that first Rodenti, who was going to be the one to attack and start the entire fight. I spoke to myself.
'I really wish you could talk to me during {Mind Of Possibility}, Sys'
[If user have any questions, System is able to provide answer as long as it does not require System to activate or utilize any other skills.]
I froze hearing that. It made a lot of sense. After all, {Mind Of Possibility} was something that the System was allowing me to do, so it would be strange if it couldn't talk to me during it. Still, for some reason, I never expected that to be possible. I quickly shut down my surprise to focus on something else.
'Is there a way to focus particles of a specific skill in a part of my body?'
[When a skill is active, set particles would be generally speaking closer to the area of the body that is being affected.]
"Is there a way to just make them all gather in my pinky or piece of my forearm or something?"
[System understands user's question. While it is highly unadvised to do such thing, System can confirm that what user is considering is possible. However, System cannot be certain of how much would be required to pass a skill along.]
'Doesn't matter, good enough. Come on.' I deactivated {Mind Of Possibility} as it wouldn't matter right now.
I knew the Rodenti in front of me was prepared to strike, but this time I just turned around and rushed towards Ash, who was a few steps behind us.
Just as I did so, I saw Michael letting an arrow fly, aiming it directly at that one Rodenti. I was surprised he was so willing to kill someone, but with a quick glance, I realized his aim wasn't to kill, but to hurt. Maybe an attempt to make the others too scared to continue. It was a solid plan, although I wasn't very sure it would work. I was more surprised by the fact that he managed to fashion a bow so quickly, but as I was stepping back, I saw Riley creating the string, making it clear that it was a joint effort of the two.
I quickly took a knee in front of Ash just as the other Rodenti started to fight, and I could hear the sound of yelling and weapons clashing with each other.
'System, on my forearm,' I commanded, not leaving any room for discussion.
The System, who had already understood my plan, quickly did as I asked, and I felt the Energy from {Body Regeneration} gathering on my forearm. Without missing a beat, I shoved it in Ash's mouth and said, "Bite."
The chieftain's eyes widened, and I said, "I have a skill that can help you, but I don't have the time to give it to you. Bite it. It's a long shot, but it might work. If you need more, I can try the other arm."
I don't know if it was the finality of my words or my determination or just the real mayhem that was going on around us, but Ash seemed to understand and tried to bite down on my arm. Yet, the poison was taking too much of a tool on him, as he wasn't able to take a chunk out of my arm.
I clicked my tongue and said, "Sorry," before slamming my palm on his jaw to force it shut in a quick motion. It hurt like the mother of all bitches. It was almost as painful as when the Eater sliced my guts. Then again, I had a lot of adrenaline coursing through my veins back then, so the pain shouldn't really be compared.
Still, I saw him chewing and swallowing a chunk of my arm that was now missing.
"Did you get it?" I asked before activating {Body Regeneration}.
But the chieftain just shook his head. I was about to tell System to go for the other side when, instead, it gave me a different option.
[System can focus particles on bloodstream. Just as Eater blood is more concentrated, users blood would have more {Body Regeneration} particles, likely allowing Chieftain Ash to receive the skill as intended.]
Hearing that, I just shook my arm in Ash's mouth again and said, "Drink."
Hoping that it would be enough before I started to bleed out, I also sent a message to the System.
'If I start to bleed out on a dangerous level, trigger {Body Regeneration}.'
[Acknowledged.]
The System replied, and I turned to Ash, hoping he would have any reaction. Thankfully, after a few seconds his eyes went wide, and he gave me a nod. I could feel him stop pulling the blood from my arm.
"You got it?"
He swallowed the rest of my blood and nodded. "I did."
I quickly activated {Body Regeneration}, which instantly stopped the blood, and I could feel my arm slowly starting to reform. It would take a while to completely fix that issue, and thankfully, there wasn't a problem with the bones. But for the rest of this fight, I was going to be one-handing my staff. It would still take a bit for Ash to get back up, so instead of just waiting I quickly turned back to the main brawl and tried to make sense of all the mayhem that was going on.