The Worst Healer
Copyright© 2026 by InSpite
The Watcher
A screech pealed out through the dungeon.
High pitched and unearthly, it froze the blood in my veins.
It echoed off the cavern walls, a cry of rage and alarm.
I stopped in my tracks for a heartbeat, but Thalia darted around the corner, moving fast and off to one side with Sierra following.
I forced myself to move too, rounding the corner to see the watcher throw back its head and let out another piercing screech before lowering its head and fixing its gaze on us.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Devon pulling Megan back around the corner to safety instead of rushing the creature as we’d planned.
I cursed under my breath but ran to catch up with the others.
Thalia was way out in front by now, but stopped dead in her tracks, her whole body seeming to freeze mid-step. She looked like a statue of someone running.
Sierra dashed past her in a moment, and beyond her I could see the watcher, focusing its attention on the Rogue, even as four eyes on stalks lashed back and forth on each side of its body, constantly scanning the rest of the room.
Then the earth shook.
One of the colossal slumbering forms planted a hand flat on the ground and started to haul itself to its feet as the others, further behind it, started to shift too.
I fought the urge to stop and stare in wonder, instead pushing on past the frozen Thalia, while Sierra, twenty paces ahead of me, reached the closest ogre.
It was using its arm to push itself up from the floor.
Without hesitation, Sierra drew back the black-and-red blade, shouting “Branding Strike,” as she slashed sideways across the arm.
Nothing happened.
The blade scored along the ogre’s skin, leaving the slightest of scratches but failing to draw blood.
The ogre didn’t even seem to notice as it finally managed to get itself upright.
It looked alarmingly human, despite its thick facial features, greyish skin and colossal size.
It turned its attention slowly downwards, its brow furrowing in confusion as its gaze focused on Sierra. A slight movement behind it caught my eye as I noticed the watcher shift its focus to the Fencer too.
She froze instantly in place.
I watched in horror as the ogre frowned down at her for a moment before bending forward, one hand swinging down in a slap.
I tried to speed up, but I was still six paces away.
Even as fast as I could move, I could see I’d still be a couple of paces too slow.
Something buzzed past me.
A flash of brown and red that collided with Sierra hard, knocking her out of the path of the flattened palm just before it struck the ground.
I caught a quick glimpse of Devon hauling Sierra to her feet as I reached the hand.
An arm like a grey tree trunk led to a palm two paces across, with thick baguette-like fingers splayed out. It looked disproportionately large, even on such a huge creature.
Seeing the ogre’s face and torso were out of my reach, I spun the hammer in my grip and brought the pick-side down with all the force I could manage, aiming for the first knuckle of its huge index finger.
The pick slammed home, breaking the skin. The force I’d put behind it made sure of that, and for the briefest of moments, a small cut on the monster’s finger felt like a victory.
Then, with a low grunting sound, the creature swatted its hand in my direction.
I only had a moment to throw myself to the ground before the massive limb swung above me, followed by a draft of air tousling my hair as though a truck had just gone past.
“Rhian, NOW!” Sierra cried out.
I’d been too busy avoiding being turned to mincemeat to notice her becoming unfrozen, but looking up, I saw Devon, thirty paces away, standing dead still.
He was almost next to the stairs, ten paces from the watcher and near the centre of a circle formed by the three ogres.
Sierra’s signal, though, brought the rest of the rescue party into play.
Rhian leapt from the top of the stairs, dropping thirty feet before landing in a smooth roll.
Even as she stood, she was reaching for an arrow and firing it in one fluid motion.
It struck the cheek of the ogre that tried to swat me and a moment later it flinched and turned towards her with the arrow sticking from its face like an acupuncture needle.
Jonas was clattering down the stairs at a dangerous speed, his armour rattling loudly with each step.
I was certain he’d trip at any moment and end up in a pile of dented metal and broken bones at the foot of the stairs, but remarkably, the weight and bulk of the armour didn’t seem to impede his movements.
Behind him, Sylvie emerged. She lightly rushed down the first handful of stairs before stopping to fire an arrow at one of the ogres.
Even before it struck its mark, she was moving again, looping once down and around the spiral stair before firing off another arrow.
Last came Butter, ambling down the stairs at a pace only slightly above a brisk walk with a thoroughly fed up look on his face. I wasn’t sure if the prospect of fighting three ogres or the stairs themselves were the cause of his anguish, but it seemed like he’d take a while to join the fight.
A sudden movement drew my eyes to the watcher. It had thrown itself down and to one side.
It let out a loud screech, focusing its attention on a shadowy patch of the cave wall.
As I watched, I noticed one of its eyestalks now ended in a bloody stump, with one of Thalia’s knives on the ground a few paces away.
It threw itself to the side again a moment before an arrow passed through the spot where it had been standing.
Even though Rhian was behind the creature, attempting to shoot it in the back, its reflexes and vision had made dodging her arrow look effortless.
I dragged my attention away from the creature, running to back up Rhian as she turned her bow on the ogre lumbering towards her again, aiming another shot at its face to ensure she had its full attention.
Between shots, she moved backwards, retreating towards the edge of the cavern while the creature roared in rage and ambled after her.
I ran in the direction she was moving, throwing a glance over my shoulder to see Sylvie and Jonas doing the same thing on the opposite side of the room.
Sierra seemed to be shouting obscenities to bait the last ogre into going after her.
I was around ten paces from Rhian, finally catching up to her, when she motioned me to stay back.
I wasn’t sure what she intended, but I was a little concerned that she’d led the creature right to the edge of the room and was about to run out of space to back away.
But as the ogre reached her and slammed both fists to the ground, she dived, rolling to her feet just out of the ogre’s reach.
It hadn’t even been close.
When the ogre swung an arm in her direction, she nimbly leapt over it.
I felt a little of the tension ease from my shoulders. Rhian had the ogre completely enraged and focused on her, and from what I could see it stood almost no chance of being able to hit her.
It felt like a win, but I had to remind myself it was a stalemate: we couldn’t hurt the creature any more than it could hit Rhian.
I risked a glance around to see how the others were faring.
Sylvie seemed to be mostly running.
Occasionally she’d bait the ogre into slowing down and swinging a fist at her, but the moment it planted its feet to swing, she sprinted backwards again.
Sierra had stayed in the middle of the cavern, close to the stairs. With only her silver sword drawn now, she stood in a ready stance before dodging each incoming attack.
While Rhian’s dodging looked effortless, Sierra lacked her speed and grace. She seemed to be barely evading each swing.
Butter was a concern too.
While I stood relatively close to Rhian and Jonas jogged in a circle parallel to Sylvie, the large Brawler was leaning against the bottom of the stairs. He watched Sierra and the ogre intently but was at least twenty paces away from her.
Away from the ogres, in the open ground of the cavern floor, the most important fight was happening.
Everything relied on Thalia and Devon beating the watcher.
One look was enough to tell me one thing, though.
It was fast.
It ran across the open ground like a greyhound. Its back legs crossed over the front as its spine curled up on each landing before they dug into the ground, propelling it forward in long strides as its back straightened.
The Rogue and Fighter, while inhumanly quick, couldn’t outrun it.
However, there were two of them and its long stride seemed to hamper its ability to turn sharply. It looked like they were using that to try and cut it off.
I realised, watching them try to chase it down, that the reason our fight with the ogres was going so well was because the Rogue and Fighter were demanding all of its attention.
It had to keep freezing one or the other in place.
Even then, it was struggling to stay clear of them, as the circular room and whichever of the two wasn’t playing statue would eventually force it to turn its head away and switch targets.
It almost looked like a stalemate, but the creature’s sides had a series of cuts and another of its eyestalks had been severed.
As Devon moved to intercept its run, I saw why.
The moment it switched its gaze to him, locking him in place, Thalia unfroze. Then, as soon as the creature’s feet left the ground on one of its long strides, she threw a knife.
It managed to twist in the air, taking only a graze along its back, but the motion threw its stride off course, taking it closer to Devon.
Thalia ran to cut off its path, driving it closer to the fighter.
I didn’t really understand what they were planning. With Devon frozen in place, the move seemed pointless, but as the creature passed by the fighter, he unfroze.
Keeping Devon frozen meant looking behind it as it ran, throwing off its stride. Instead, the creature focused its gaze on Thalia, freezing her as she prepared to throw another knife.
With the speed the creature ran at and the fact that it was already past him, I was sure they’d have to start the chase all over again.
But the watcher and I both underestimated the speed of Devon’s spear.
He span on the spot, one hand sweeping out wide with the spear held at the very bottom of its haft and the tip swiping behind the creature.
Close, but it looked like he’d missed.
Until, as the creature dashed away from him, its long stride faltered slightly before it pulled up to a halt.
An angry red gash had appeared on one of its haunches.
It focused its gaze on Devon, ducking a knife thrown by Thalia the second she unfroze.
It seemed to just be glaring this time, though, as its gaze didn’t freeze the Fighter.
Instead, it was as if the creature were taking stock of its pursuers, trying to think of a solution to the problem they presented.
Thalia took the opportunity to walk over and pick one of her knives up from the floor, while Devon circled around, putting himself on the opposite side of the creature from the Neko.
The Fighter gave her the slightest of nods, and her hand snapped forwards, the recovered knife once again flying towards the creature.
It leapt to the side, but it seemed like the attack was a distraction. The moment the knife left Thalia’s hand, she and Devon leapt forwards, sprinting at full speed towards the watcher.
It focused its gaze on Thalia, its head tilted at an angle to keep her in view as it ran towards the centre of the room.
Even from this distance, though, I could tell that while it was quick, it wasn’t as quick as it had been.
The wound Devon had dealt made its stride uneven, with the uninjured leg appearing to have more power than the side he’d cut.
The result was a slightly awkward gait, as if the creature were putting a lot of effort into keeping itself balanced and moving.
It switched its gaze to Devon, stopping him in his tracks while he was still ten paces from it. Thalia was moving in an instant, angling towards the creature, but its run was taking it towards the stairs, and the ogre Sierra was fending off there.
It shot past Sierra, almost shocking her into a misstep as she leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the ogre’s fist as it pounded the ground where she’d been.
The ogre’s stance was wide and low, almost like a sumo wrestler, and I expected the watcher to pass between its legs and out the other side.
Instead, it bunched its legs and leapt upwards, landing on the ogre’s knee.
It scrambled up the smooth grey skin of the ogre’s thigh and then circled around its waist, disappearing from view for a moment to reappear on the towering brute’s shoulder.
Great, I thought to myself with a long sigh.
Of course it can fucking climb.
With its speed and size, I’d somehow fallen into the trap of thinking of it as a dog with a few too many eyes, not ... well, whatever the fuck a watcher is.
From the ogre’s shoulder it let out a long pealing screech before twisting to focus its gaze across the room.
On the opposite side of the cavern, Sylvie stopped in her tracks, suddenly motionless with her bow pointed towards the ogre bearing down on her.
It seemed the watcher had timed its attack well.
She’d been using arrows to keep the ogre’s attention on her and had been frozen mid-attack at her most vulnerable. Jonas was nearby as the creature swung a flat palm towards her, but he didn’t look close enough.
I watched in horror, sure I was about to see one of our group crushed.
Jonas dived at the last moment.
A heroic surge of effort.
It wasn’t enough.
Or, more likely, knowing Jonas, he sacrificed himself to save Sylvie.
His dive allowed him to shove her out of the path of the swinging palm but left him in her place, to be caught mid-air by the giant limb.
The blow swatted him with a clang, sending him flying to bounce from the back wall of the cavern before collapsing in a heap.
I didn’t have time to stare in shock, though. The watcher was turning this way.
I took off at a sprint before it could complete its turn and focus its gaze this way. I had to get closer to Rhian before it froze her.
A thought flashed into my head. Was I about to end up like Jonas? Would I throw myself in front of that attack to save Rhian?
I pushed it down.
I had one job.
Keep Rhian alive.
Rhian was quicker than Sylvie, her effortless dodges leaving me more time to react.
I was only five paces from her now, and she was still moving.
Then, suddenly, I wasn’t moving.
It felt as though I’d slammed into an invisible wall the exact shape of my body.
Unable to move my limbs, my forward momentum should have sent me sprawling, but instead I simply locked in place, leaning forwards with one leg in the air.
I was three paces from Rhian, directly in front of the ogre.
I strained my neck trying to shift my gaze towards the creature, but my head didn’t budge. Instead, I had to watch from the corner of my eye as the ogre, looking slightly startled by my appearance, turned its attention towards me.
After a moment of confused consideration, it slowly raised one fist high as if challenging me to stand my ground before bringing the fist down towards me.
I saw Rhian jump back, increasing the space between us.
It felt a little harsh, but I doubted she could carry me to safety with the weight difference between us, and I certainly didn’t want to see her flattened alongside me.
The moment her feet landed, she sprang forward, digging her toes into the dirt and dashing directly towards me.
I had a horrible mental image of her pushing me out of the path of the fist before being squashed into the ground.
Instead, she leapt again, springing from the ground and curling nearly into a ball before she straightened out, lashing both feet into my chest.
Her momentum and the force of her kicking out shunted me out of the way of the fist. She kicked off from my chest after what was essentially a dropkick.
As the fist crashed into the ground between us, I sprawled helplessly on the floor, still frozen in a running pose, while Rhian backflipped away from me to smoothly land on her feet.
Without wasting a single movement or moment, she swung her bow from her back, nocked an arrow to the string and fired a shot that landed close to the corner of the ogre’s eye.
It roared its fury, turning fully towards her again, and the moment it did, I could move again.
Hauling myself to my feet, I double checked Rhian was still mobile before glancing to see where the watcher was looking now.
Sierra and Devon had teamed up to harass the ogre’s feet, with Thalia nowhere to be seen.
Though I couldn’t see any signs of damage from this distance, they’d succeeded in enraging it, as it rapidly circled, striking almost randomly at the ground in a frenzy.
The motion and twisting seemed to be causing the watcher difficulties, as its mount bucked and turned under it. I realised that was probably their intent, to keep the ogre turning and moving so the watcher couldn’t focus on anyone for long.
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