The Healer

Part 1

"THERE SHE IS!"

A voice shouted behind me, echoing through the trees along with multiple running footsteps.

I kept walking at my usual pace, whistling as I moved forward. Eventually I reached a small clearing and came to a stop, looking at the forest around me.

It should be close to winter, but since the end of the world, the cataclysm known as the Downfall, the weather stopped changing. I had long since lost track of the dates and idly wondered if it might be near Christmas.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Four men in basic mercenary armor wielding swords and spears raced out from between the trees and surrounded me.

Well, Merry Christmas to me, I guess.

The leader, a man titled Ronald the Destroyer whose face I recognized from the Player Leader Board, stepped forward, grinning evilly.

"My, my, my! If it isn't the Healer." His men snickered at his words.

I nodded calmly. "That's what they call me." It was my title, my listing on the Leader Board.

"The Healer" and nothing more.

"Pretty calm for a dead woman." He laughed to himself, stepping closer. "The Hero's party has put a price on your head, did you know?"

"I was aware." I shrugged. "Not their smartest move, but then again... planning was never their strong point."

"You were a part of the strongest team in the world! You were a part of our hope of saving humanity." Ronald's face distorted in rage. "And then you betrayed them? A weak and useless healer like you? You were lucky enough to just be along for the ride!"

I glanced around, the rest of his men were nodding in agreement, and finally shook my head, chuckling. "Weak and useless, huh? Is that what they told you?"

"Everyone knows that the healer role is worthless! Everyone who has picked it has either become a dead weight or has died. You were just fortunate enough to be able to leach off of the Hero's party to get this far."

I looked in the corner of my eye, where my health and mana were clearly displayed, along with status updates. The cooldown from my last use of major abilities only had a few more seconds before it was complete. Taking a deep breath, I continued the conversation.

"It's strange."

"Strange that you got caught? That you are about to die?" The leader laughed again. "Nothing strange about that!"

"No. It's strange that you must know my position on the Player Leader Board, and yet you are still here."

There was some muttering among the men confronting me at that. I caught a few snippets of dialogue.

"She is number two..."

"Only one higher is the Great Evil Wizard."

"Shh... don't mention him!"

"Shut up!" Ronald the Destroyer glared at his men until they were silenced. "Just because you cheated your way into the number two spot by relying on your party..."

"And the kill numbers? Do you think I cheated those too?" I asked quietly. Stats were listed for the top five Players in the world. They included number of kills both monster and human.

I had the highest of both.

"Obviously you're just claiming the Hero's kills as your own!" He ranted, but I had stopped listening.

Because in the corner of my eye I saw the message I had been waiting for:

**Cooldown Complete.**