There was no way for Eli to reach James up on the roof at that moment, and a second later, Simon took the full force of a goliath sword against his own shield. It pushed Simon down to his knees, draining an incredible amount of health and stamina from the crusader.


    “Eli!” Simon called, gritting his teeth.


    Eli healed him, and then healed one of the rescued prisoners, who was hit in the leg by an arrow. The chaos only grew, and Eli''s attempt at getting a clear sense of the battle while healing the large group of people was growing ever more difficult.


    Aura of Suppression came off cooldown, and he triggered it immediately, giving those around him a moment''s respite—a few seconds to breathe and overcome whatever challenge stood in front of them. Right then and there, he saw Yvonne trying to direct the fighting from her side, struggling just like he was.


    He healed using the skill node to spread his healing through larger groups as he shouted for Amy and Sasha to help the archers get the upper hand up on the rooftops so that they could reach James.


    Something stung in his arm. He turned to look, and a cursed lizardman rogue stood there, having come out of nowhere. Its eyes were empty and Eli blinked, looking down at a dagger embedded in his own arm. He pulled away with a yelp and scrambled back, healing himself and thanking his lucky stars for the numb pain enchantment he''d discovered.


    Charlotte came to his aid and disposed of the lizardman, then reached down and gave Eli a hand, helping him to his feet. “You have to be careful, Eli! Without your heals, we''re done for!”


    “Thanks,” he said, casting Agility, Bless and Embrace the Dying Light on her. The buffs made her movements smoother and gave her deadly grace along with the bright light enveloping her sword, and the glowing metal made her look ready to smite her foes.


    They needed Eli''s healing. They needed his support. For him to provide what was necessary, Eli needed to step back. He could not command the battle if he wanted to embrace his true role. Dividing his attention between the two tasks made him subpar at both. The difficulties he''d been experiencing finally made sense as the answer clicked into place, the pieces of the puzzle coming together. Between commanding their forces and keeping them alive, the decision was no decision at all. Eli mentally stepped back.


    Eli: Simon, Yvonne, and everyone else. I need you to take charge of the fighting so I can focus on keeping you alive.


    Simon: Roger that!


    The crusader roared his defiance against the much larger lizardman goliath, and his shield began to glow with the same light Eli used to buff their weapons. He let out a wordless cry and drove the shield down onto the lizardman goliath''s foot, crushing the bones within. The monster fell like a tree, landing on top of a cluster of cursed lizardmen knights who''d caught up to the goliath.


    Sasha: Blubber is slow, but he''ll catch up soon enough.


    Samantha: You named that thing blubber?


    Sasha: Or course I did.


    Samantha: But it isn''t even green!


    Eli caught a glimpse of purple moving towards them behind the small army of lizardmen. Wolves sprang into action, appearing from out of nowhere right in front of Amy, and Princess charged one of the cursed lizardman mages, mauling it and using enormous claws to scour its scaled hide before it was forced to retreat after taking several wounds in its heaving sides.


    James: Ouch.


    Dana: You''re a live!


    James: Of course I''m alive! My armor is sort of broken, though.


    James appeared on the rooftop, and Eli healed him, keeping a careful eye on the closest lizardmen. Eli positioned himself near the falling lizardman goliath as it was trying—and failing—to get up on its feet. The auras reached far enough to help Yvonne''s troops and Simon and Charlotte as they thrust their weapons into the unprotected neck of the cursed lizardman goliath, finally taking it down for good despite the healing it was receiving.


    Arrows struck the ground near Eli, and it reminded him to cast Aegis of the Dying Light, giving himself some protection. The lizardman archers were pushing the human archers back, and Eli was about to ask Samantha to help them, but he held back, focusing instead on keeping the archers alive. Soon, Samantha and Dana both were attacking the archers on the rooftops, a beam of light springing from the scholar''s hands and the discordant tunes of Dana''s lute, bending the will of the monsters to force them into combat with each other.


    Eli barely caught glances of the combat up ahead as the second, still-living goliath turned its attention to him. The sword came down with a thunderous crash. Eli was quicker and threw inside the nearest stone building before the blow could land. Even with Aegis, he would not have been able to withstand a direct attack like that.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    He got a glimpse of James jumping down from the rooftop to strike at a cursed lizardman mage, but the Warden disappeared in the chaos. Eli''s attention drifted to the party screen and James''s health bar. With that, he could heal his friend without having direct line of sight. It wouldn''t work from behind a wall, he knew, having tested that strategy, but it would work through other humans and monsters.


    From his window, he saw the small army of lizardmen advance, and the humans fall back. Soon, he realized he''d need to leave his little outpost or be left behind. Just as he was about to exit the building, the entrance darkened as a cursed lizardman knight stepped inside.


    "Why now?" Eli muttered under his breath.


    The first lizardman was soon followed by another, and Eli found himself blocked in with no means of escape. All he could do was throw himself to the side when they came for him, but he wasn''t quick enough. Aegis blocked the first two strikes, but the third took him in the side, and biting pain flared as he scrabbled to get away. Pushing to his feet, Eli ran for the door, where a third monster appeared—a mage this time.


    Silencing it just before it unleashed a spell in his direction, Eli spun, trying to find a way out of this mess. He avoided an attack and healed himself from the previous blow, his robe already wet with blood. Casting Light''s Seal stopped one of the lizardmen in its tracks for a moment, and he toggled Harming Healer as he backed away. His heals barely damaged the lizardmen. Perhaps picking the talent at all had been a waste. With the large health pools of monsters, his healing spell didn''t scale well enough to keep up.


    The Silence debuff on the mage timed out, but Eli managed to re-apply it just as Light''s Seal ran out. Both cursed lizardman knights came for him. Eli triggered Aura of Suppression, slowing them just long enough for him to push past and bum-rush the mage, who just stood there, confused at not being able to cast its spells. Eli threw himself at the monster standing in the doorway and both of them fell outward and onto the street. Breathing hard with adrenaline pumping through his system, Eli stood. He realized he was surrounded by monsters.


    This whole ''staying back and healing'' thing hadn''t gotten off to a great start. The humans had retreated a few steps. The still very much alive goliath stood with its back to Eli. The two lizardman priests regarded him with their empty stares. Eli cycled through all his available auras, triggering them one by one, looking desperately for a way to escape.


    A cannonball of force struck the monsters right next to him. Throwing most of them away in all directions.


    "What was that?" Eli exclaimed, startled.


    At first, he thought it was one of Samantha’s bombs, but no—it was a person, the entirety of him shining, enveloped by a very familiar light. Simon. It was Simon! His bulwark skill enveloped Eli, saving him from a few blows, not unlike Aegis would''ve if it wasn''t on cooldown.


    "Run!" the crusader shouted.


    Eli ran as Simon quickly followed behind, having pushed most of the enemies back and down onto the ground. The goliath barely noticed when Eli ran under its legs, where Charlotte, James, and Roy were busy trying to hack it to pieces. It kicked, but missed everyone. Looking up, Eli saw its massive sword, too unwieldy to attack those closest to it.


    Eli continued across the first line of humans while Simon stopped by the goliath, joining the others in holding it back. Not wanting to waste any time, Eli threw down a Sigil of Light after turning it back to a healing spell, positioning it so the retreating humans walked over it. Their health pools slowly filled up.


    "Where did you run off to?" Amy asked.


    "Just because you’re not directing the fighting doesn’t mean you have to run away and slack off," Dana said.


    "Har-de-har," Eli replied, buffing everyone around him.


    The auras came off cooldown, and he made sure Aura of Defense and Aura of Suppression were active, slowing the movement of the goliath slightly while keeping the party''s defenses high. Simon’s bulwark disappeared from him, reapplied instead to Roy. A good choice.


    "This is never going to work," Dana said, exasperated.


    "What isn’t?" Eli asked.


    She pointed to the goliath. "That thing is gaining health as fast as we’re hurting it. We need to kill the priests."


    "How do we do that?" Yvonne asked, walking up to join the conversation. "They''ll just heal each other."


    A sudden rain of arrows took Eli''s attention away from the conversation as he cast Aegis of The Dying Light on himself while healing those struck. Moving away from the discussion on tactics to focus on healing, he swapped to Aura of Victory and triggered it before swapping back, giving everyone an extra boost.


    Amy: The priests. Focus.


    Helping those who''d fallen to their feet, pulling arrows from them and healing, he heard Amy shout something back in the distance, at the same time as she wrote in party chat. "Now!"


    Amy: Now!


    Eli scrambled to heal Simon, Charlotte, James, and Roy through his party screen as they all began taking heavy damage. Pushing back through the crowd, he saw that the four of them were charging straight through the crowd of monsters, entirely ignoring the goliath to reach the two priests. Simon shone with light that seemed to burn their enemies, and many pulled away from him, giving the humans a window of opportunity.


    Despite keeping up with the heals, he managed to cast Silence a few times, but all of his attempts failed. The leftmost priest''s health bar slowly filled up with afflictions, curses and debuffs. On a whim, he switched target to that one, and found his Silence actually succeeding. That was all he had time for, because another volley of arrows rained down in the middle of the group, and some knights approached those who''d remained back, staying out of the goliath''s reach.


    Everyone up front turned on the non-silenced priests, unleashing a storm of skills and spells upon it, utterly breaking the monster before its friend had a chance to cast spells again.


    Charlotte let out a cry that echoed back to Eli. No, not a cry, a shout!


    Every lizardman attacking the front liners fell back a step, dazed for a moment before resuming their attacks. Amy’s birds swooped down from the sky to claw at the faces of several lizardman mages, keeping them busy. The tactic worked, and soon one priest was dead.


    A cheer erupted as they turned to the other priest.


    "The goliath is going after the archers!" someone shouted.


    Eli watched in horror as the goliath’s sword came down on a building, demolishing it with an archer still on top. The man fell with a yelp, lost in the rubble. Then the goliath turned its attention to the clumped-together mages and other support classes clustered around Eli, and the rescued prisoners in front, shaking in their boots.