Chapter 85: Jiraxa.

Chapter 85 - Jiraxa.Lee was right. It was impossible to keep fighting endlessly in such heat. The several treasure hunter squads they met were already trying to find shelter in the shadows after killing only a few lizards.

The two devils, pretending to ignore their weaker colleagues, proudly walked by, loudly making plans on how many beasts are they going to kill this time. Lee, of course, did his best to pretend the heat wasn't bothering him as well, although it took even greater effort to not show embarrassment he felt because of his companions.

On the way they did find few lizards, but Arax's sword cut them in halves with no effort – that if he managed to get them before Thorax smashed them dead with his club. Unfortunately, none of the beasts had managed to ignite a spark, thus killing them was basically a useless endeavor.

The devils didn't think so, in fact, they probably didn't think at all, at least nothing noteworthy. They continuously discussed their chances on getting valuable sparks when after walking around two or three miles from the rift, they stumbled across a massacre.

A larger treasure hunter squad, somewhere between thirty to forty people, lie dead and there were a bunch of large dogs feasting on them. The four feet tall and seven feet long beasts looked something in between a dog, a wolf and a small bear, but no matter what, the sight was a bloody mess.

The squad managed to kill around ten beasts, but either they were too weak or inexperienced, everyone died in the end.

Except for one person, currently standing on a taller rock, desperately trying to fight several dogs away.

By the way she held the spear was an obvious sign she was a complete rookie, at least in Lee's eyes, who had been training solely with spears for over half a year.

She wasn't weak, though. The few times she managed to poke the beasts, they whimpered away in pain, although came back right after. But if her whole squad was at this level, there was no question why they got annihilated.

"Let's go help her!" Lee said purely on impulse, and dashed forward, on the way grabbing a spear that one of the treasure hunters left behind.

"Help? Let's get all the sparks! Hahaha!" Thorax roared, and the two brothers overtook Lee in an instant.



After few more steps Arax cleaved at the three dogs that came at him at the same time, angry for disturbing their feast, and all three were neatly cut in halves. It didn't matter whether his sword was a gift from Lunax, it was a godly weapon, and the man was more than strong enough to wield it.

Thorax didn't intend to fall behind, and while his brother's performance was much bloodier, visually impressive and practically effective, him smacking the beasts away like huge baseballs made Lee reconsider everything he knew about the physical training.

He even stopped, realizing how silly was his initial intention to save the young woman. The two devils easily did the job – one worked as a meat grinder, the second – as a bone breaker. And it didn't take long until there were only four living beings left on the battlefield.

The woman stared at the saviors in disbelief, while the two devils went around, cracking the skulls of the beasts open, and complaining for the lack of sparks. But Lee had to agree with Slivax – the two were psychopaths.

It was fine if the pray was this easy, but if they went berserk against a stronger, much larger beast, it was highly likely to become their final fight.

Ignoring the two brutes, Lee went up to the woman, and said, "Are you alright?"

"Mhm."

"Are you injured?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Alright, then you can get down now!" Lee tried to be as gentle with his words as possible – the thing was obviously still in shock.

She was interesting, though, in the sense of being visually interesting. From afar Lee thought she had a white skin, but in fact, her face and hands were covered in tiny bright scales. And contrary to the every person he had seen in Ashlands, apart from Lunax that is, she actually seemed to be clean.



"Wanna come with us?" Lee asked.

"What?! What do we need her for?" Thorax immediately dropped the beast he was dissecting, and rushed over.

"We don't. But do you expect us to leave her here? Alone?" Lee sad.

"I told you she was inborn!" Arax immediately reprimanded his brother, "Only someone with the Lord's blood could have such compassion for His children!"

"Sorry!" Thorax said, scratching the back of his head, "But we can't babysit her!"

"We don't need to." Lee said, "She's strong, just doesn't have a clue what to do with a spear. I'll teach you later. Let's go."

Teach? The other three stared at Lee's back in shock. A witch was going to teach how to wield a spear? But while the young woman wasn't going to question her savior, devils decided Lee's skills were due to him being inborn.

They gathered few useful things the unlucky treasure hunters left behind, and departed. Lee switched to a sturdier spear and the newcomer followed his example, and picked up a similar one. The two brothers were mostly upset about the lack of sparks, and it was all they could think and talk about.

Lee ignored their chatter. His attention was drawn by something resembling a forest in the distance. It seemed like a good place to hide from the scorching sun, and potentially find a source of water.

As it turns out, they had saved a girl named Jiraxa. She wasn't even twenty yet and only last month she and her companions graduated one of the blob farms to become fully fledged treasure hunters.

Of course, to call them fully fledged was a too much of a stretch. None possessed sparks nor combat skills, but Lee finally learned what the cycle of life in Ashlands actually was.



Lunax didn't have the gut, or maybe it was politically incorrect, to send the grownups to the mines. He didn't let them age at the farms either – at some point they had to become treasure hunters. The few who survived, became capable of gathering resources for him, but in the farms the new kids replaced the ones who left.

Obviously Lee witnessed the mortality rate a moment ago, but from what he guessed, the current event was not the norm. Usually the newcomers joined existing squads where they were taken care of and taught how to defend themselves.

Jiraxa got lucky the trio showed up, but she was still in daze and didn't realize it. The two devils bantering on the way didn't make the situation easier, but the strange witch stopped talking the moment they were on the move, making the girl uncomfortable.

Lee didn't know about her struggles, although felt for her. Loosing the companions she was together with for the most of her life surely wasn't easy.

But his attention was drawn by something in front, far, almost at the forest line. It seemed that a fight was going on, and although there were no tall fire pillars shooting to the sky, there were frequent clouds of white smoke indicating some treasure hunters might be using their superpowers.

Obviously it was interesting to see what went on, but the last encounter clearly showed that he couldn't rely on the two devils. They didn't give a fuck about tactics, safety or other people. The moment they saw the target, their berserk mode activated, and they charged fourth no matter the consequences. It was a wonder they survived this long.

In all honesty Lee didn't care much whether they lived or died. The problem was – he kind of chose them to be his protectors and he really didn't want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded like Jiraxa was earlier.

And it was clear that in regards to finding Victoria this conquest was a complete fiasco, but if he wanted to survive in this place and return afterwards, they had to find water.

Turns out that the distant disturbance wasn't made by treasure hunters.

When the group came closer, the saw a pack of red, almost pink, three yards long lizards surrounding a small, at most three yards high, mound. They were attacking it, though, and not with claws or fangs, but actually breathing fire at it.

"Fire sparks!" The two devils grew excited in an instant and pulled out their weapons, but Lee grabbed both by elbows and pulled them back as hard as he could. Of course, his strength compared to the two was laughable, but they noticed his effort, although full of annoyance.

"Don't you dare to move!" Lee commanded.