Chapter 248: Lady Panello.

"Scorpion King?"Except for Alwin and Dain, no one had heard the name before.

"To this day I refuse to think it was anything but a dream!" Dain plainly stated.

"You mean nightmare." Alwin corrected, "The thing was ... like you said, Elred, like a mountain. All of us had seen and killed behemots before, we have to clean our zones at least once in a decade from them. But if a behemot can be in a size of a hill, then the scorpion was in the actual size of a mountain."

"Back then also only a handful of us survived." Dain said, "But we were a regular hunting party of a hundred and fifty, and it ambushed us, seemingly from nowhere. Just like your group, most of our guys died from under it’s weight, not abilities. Damn Scorpion King ..."

"We went back afterwards, but couldn’t find it. We searched for almost half a year before giving up, and the thing has not been spotted aver since." Alwin finished the story.

"So you intend to kill it now?" Lee asked, trying to fake unwillingness in his voice.

"Not a bad idea!" Dain was the one who took the bait, "It’s risky, but with the information you guys brought us, I think it can be done. What do you think, Alwin?"

Alwin didn’t say anything, and sat there, holding his chin. The rest were similarly lost in thoughts.

"First of all, it’s our obligation to inform the higher-ups." Elred said, "If the creatures of such size are hibernating all over the place, we might need the help of an elemental lord, or maybe even a bunch of them."

"That is correct." Alwin said, "But if we deal with the problem ourselves and present them with a solution for the future, we’ll get rewarded for sure."

"But how would you find the Scorpion King?" Lee asked, "Didn’t you look for him already?"

"You said it yourself, kid! Dragon veins!" Alwin said, "We idiots tried to locate its tracks, but we should’ve looked for places with intense elemental energy."

"Damn, it! I hate the idea!" Dain cursed, "We’ll need a lot of water!"

Everyone except Alwin looked at him in confusion, but the man didn’t think of giving an explanation. He kept cursing to himself, and drowned his displeasure by emptying a gourd of water in one go.

Interrupting the brief moment of awkward silence, Dain said, "It’s going to be really hot."

Announcing that something will be really hot while they already sat half-naked, but still covered in sweat, didn’t sound too believable, at least to Lee. The rest guessed the reason for Alwin’s words – a part of their territory was a desert that surrounded an active volcanic region.

There wasn’t a single tall mountain spewing lava. It was a flat area, a highland in the middle of a desert, where lie lava filled craters that would’ve held water anywhere else. It was inhabited by two types of insects that hunters called scorchbeetles and crater ants.

No one liked the place, but once a year or so hunters organized an expedition there to reduce the population of the insects that had ignited sparks. In addition, even though no one enjoyed these hunts, everyone’s spatial treasures were filled with sparks on the way back.

It had always been a high-risk, high-reward endeavor, but now, with the possibility of killing an old god, everyone’s greed suddenly spiked.

When the next morning Alwin explained the idea of going to the desert to the whole camp, there were only a few who didn’t change their mind and still intended to leave Skalara. That meant that if they added newcomers, probably around hundred fifty people, the total number of hunters in the expedition would be around three hundred and fifty.

While most were excited at the unexpected opportunity, both Lee and Elred were terrified at the thought of an old god jumping into the crowd of hunters. They had experienced first-hand how within moments hundreds of hunters died. Luckily, this time they weren’t against a flea-like creature, but a scorpion.

***

The arrival of the next batch of hunters went as usual, but only few people left Skalara. They brought along a report, though, describing the problem and intention to solve it, but before departure were met with a pleasant surprise.

Out of nowhere another person, a woman, appeared, dressed in a snow-white robe and hair tied in a bun. From the bearing alone one could tell that the crimson-eyed lady was an elemental lord. She looked maybe thirty five or forty, but that didn’t mean anything – she could’ve been few centuries old monster. In fact, judging by the undisguised contempt in her gaze, she probably was.

"Lady Panello! It’s our hon ..." Alwin politely received her, but she cut him short.

"Let’s get it over with! Prepare to set out!" She said.

Amidst the half-naked and dirty hunters she seemed like an actual fairy. From the moment she arrived, she hadn’t shed a droplet of sweat and it even felt like she was too holy for a speck of dust to fall on her white robe. Obviously, it was only an artifact, but clearly a very expensive one.

Acknowledging her order, Alwin and Dain immediately got busy.

At first, Lee couldn’t tell whether her appearance was a good or bad sign. On one hand, the hunters were supposed to be safer around her, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was a dangerous bitch. While the last part was illogical, the feeling turned into certainty when she asked to see members of the group from the other camp.

From the twenty one hunters, twelve departed, including Rania. Each had their own reasons and technically it didn’t matter. The problem was what lady Panello said when the remaining nine came forth.

"I want to hear details on how Seren died!"

Compared to her, the hunters might’ve looked like aborigines, but all of them, except for Lee, were elemental masters. There were no idiots here and all immediately guessed the reason for her arrival.

The problem was – no one knew what the eleven people had told her before she came to Skalara. It was clear she had questioned them before, and didn’t come with good intentions. On the other hand, the fact that she didn’t start by straight up killing everyone meant the guys had kept their mouths shut.

"Lady Panello!" Elred was the one who reacted first, "I’m sorry to report this, but Seren died during the encounter with the old god."

"I want details!" She said.

"I’m afraid I can’t give you any. The battle was incredibly chaotic and we lost too many brothers and sisters ... over two hundred died..." Elred said, his voice sounding grave.

Lee could only applaud the choice of the man’s words. In his lives Lee had been questioned more than once, and knew how hard it was to come up with something that matched the testimonies of other witnesses’ without prior coordination, while still sounding genuine.

"Who killed the bug?" She asked.

’Professional interrogator!’

Alarms went off in Lee’s head, hearing the way she asked the question. In a way Lady Panello reminded him of Elder Luo from the Nethermoon sect. The old man could easily pull information out of him, a seasoned criminal. It could only mean it was only a matter of time until one of the hunters slipped up.

Fortunately, it didn’t happen yet.

"Vaerin did, Lady Panello." Elred said, "Well technically him and I killed it. Although, almost everyone attacked at the same time. But I’m pretty sure the killing blow was Vaerin’s."

’A detailed answer that doesn’t do anything!’ Lee grinned to himself. Of course, it was clear that the elemental lord knew it as well.

The easiest way to deal with the situation was to give Lee up, and all hunters realized it. But all of them witnessed Seren’s act and would’ve loved to cut the guy down themselves. During the past days they praised Lee’s sneak attack multiple times, particularly teasing him for his fake gay tendencies.

It was also clear that the elemental lord didn’t come here to find out the truth, at least no one believed it. Of course, at some point one of the hunters could break, but as long as no one was straight up tortured, or threatened with torture, Lee was certain Elred and the rest would stay behind their story.

Lady Panello questioned the group for a while, and even requested to hand over Seren’s possessions, but was left disappointed. Not only she didn’t found out anything useful, the hunters had strong enough intuition and left Seren’s belongings, including weapon and spatial artifacts, behind.

In the end, she said, "After we’re done with the scorpion, you’ll bring me to the place he died!"

Most heaved sighs of relief, but Lee got a bad premonition. The elemental lord surely felt something was off and didn’t intend to let go.