Chapter 86: Tortoise.

Chapter 86 - Tortoise.Neither of the devils could immediately make up their mind how to respond to Lee's illogical behavior. Fortunately he explained right away.

"We don't know what they're attacking." He said, "Let's wait for a few moments to see what's going on!"

Wait was not the word the brothers particularly liked, but they could spare a few moments. But while Lee was closely observing the fight, the two inspected the surroundings to see whether there were other treasure hunter groups eyeing the pack.

Apparently the beasts breathing fire was a clear indicator they possessed the sparks, but no matter how he looked, Lee couldn't understand what they were about to do with the tortoise they were currently abusing.

The poor thing was squeaking and whimpering, obviously in agony, but just as Lee was about to let the two devils loose, the tortoise dashed at one of the lizards, and bit it in halves. Right after, though, it hid under its shell once again, but now there were only nine lizards left.

The sight cooled the two hot heads down a bit. Neither was certain they could've avoided the sudden attack, although they didn't show it on their faces.

"I think we should let them cook for a bit." Lee said.

"What if they they run away?" Thorax was worried.

"Who? The tortoise?" Lee teased, but then added, "We can surround them, just in case. Me and Jiraxa will stay here, you two take spots to the left and right. If for some reason the lizards decide to retreat, we all go assist in the direction they move.

The two brothers nodded and darted away, but Jiraxa looked at Lee with eyes full of admiration. Apparently she thought he considered himself as capable as the two devils, but she couldn't know his train of thoughts was completely different.

'No matter whether they kill it or not, we're on the hillside, and it's unlikely the fire breathers will come our way.' Lee though. According to the common sense the only logical place to retreat for the beasts was the forest on the opposite side of them.



Tortoise managed to kill a few more attackers, but in the end stopped moving. At that point it was useless to hold the brothers back, and happily roaring they charged at the beasts, and began to slaughter them.

Unfortunately it didn't go as easy compared to fight with the dogs earlier. While the lizards weren't much larger, Thorax wasn't able to smack them dead in one hit. The loud thuds were the only results he could produce, contrary to his brother who actually decapitated three in first few moves.

When after another hit Thorax happily cheered, thinking that the sound of something breaking was the indicator he crushed a lizard's spine, the rest of the pack attacked him.

Turns out they noticed that the devil broke the club even before he understood it himself.

It was quite the spectacle how Thorax, realizing he was left with no weapon, in an instant radiated yellow light, but a split moment later dashed in a wide loop, trying to escape the predicament.

Contrary to Jiraxa, Lee held back the burst of laughter. No matter how funny the big red devil looked, running for his life, Lee only had two bodyguards.

After the guy ran for about fifty, maybe seventy yards, it became clear he wasn't in a panic at all. He was luring the beasts following him him closer to Arax, who expertly took care of them. It wasn't graceful at all, but apparently the two brothers had survived this way more than one encounter.

When the last lizard was cut in halves, Lee walked over to the tortoise to have a closer look.

"Don't! It's alive!" Thorax shouted from the distance.

He currently sat on the ground, massaging his legs with a painful grimace. Apparently, even though they killed all the lizards, he didn't come out completely unscathed.

While Lee and Jiraxa stopped several yards away from the tortoise, Arax wasn't as shy. He smacked it with his sword, and asked, "How do we get the spark out of this thing?"

His question indicated he was positive there was another beast with the spark besides the lizards, and the faint yellow glow that surrounded it earlier hinted at the fact that it was the yellow, the earth spark.



"Let's gather the fire ones first." Lee said in hopes the tortoise would die on its own.

The lizards did have fire sparks and it brought a lot of joy to the two brothers, despite the spark quality being pretty low. It was their first haul, and contrary to the most treasure hunters, they were guaranteed to not return empty handed. Of course, the handful of sparks in the big box looked laughable, but it was better than nothing.

"Why don't you stick your sword in it?" The moment the last spark was in the box, Thorax pointed at the tortoise and asked his brother.

"Why don't you stick your dick in it?" Arax replied, immediately occupying the higher ground in the upcoming argument.

"Why don't you two chill?" Lee interrupted them, and changed the subject, "Are you positive it has a spark?"

"Mhm." Brothers nodded at the same time.

Lee didn't dare to go too close, but Thorax's suggestion was actually reasonable. They could see only one opening, where the tortoise's head was hidden, and stabbing a sword in it seemed like a logical solution.

Truth to be said, on any other occasion Lee would've gladly let the tortoise be. The problem was, he was so hot and thirsty he would drink the tortoise's blood if it came in a cup. Obviously it would not quell his thirst, but it was a liquid.

Currently Lee felt how he was progressively dehydrating the more time went by, and he was pretty sure Jiraxa felt the same. Probably only the two hot heads didn't care.

"Arax, do you think you could kill it in one hit?" Lee asked, "I don't want you to take unnecessary risks."

The hmph! he got for an answer was self explanatory, but this time the big devil didn't rush. He positioned himself in front of the tortoise, took his sword handle in both hands and froze for a moment.

Lee had to admit, the guy looked imposing. Even Jiraxa looked at him with starry eyes as if looking at the statue of some otherworldly hero.



But turns out the impressive part was yet to come.

The sword in Arax's hands turned slightly darker, and then suddenly almost white, and with a loud shout he stabbed it in the opening of the tortoise's shell.

It was as if a blacksmith has plunged a piece of hot iron in the water, and the vapor coming from the shell with loud hissing sounds indicated the sword was rapidly cooling down.

Lee didn't intend to ask Arax to use his superpowers, but even though the big guy lost some of his life span with this move, Lee was happy he did. Obviously he'll never have this ability, not only because he possessed the water spark – he never intended to use it. But it was quite the experience to see up close how the superpowers were utilized.

"How was that?" Arax asked with a haughty smile, pulling out the sword, and kicking the beast in an exaggerated manner.

The sounds coming from under the shell indicated the beast was spasming in agony and soon its legs, tail and the head lifelessly appeared. But the problem was – the hot sword burned the insides of the tortoise and a pleasant aroma of fried meat filled the surroundings.

All of the sudden Lee felt as hungry as he was thirsty. It was a torture to eat a disgusting stew for over half a year, and the prospects of an actual meal drove him crazy.

'Please, please, please be soft, juicy and edible!' He prayed and walked around the beast, trying to figure out the best way to gut it.

There was no way to make a turtle soup, but the lizards breathed the fire on it for quite a while, so it had to be cooked, at least a bit, right?

It took the effort of all four of them to flip the beast over, but that was the easiest part. Fortunately separating the bottom of the shell became Thorax's responsibility after Arax suggested to leave the beast be.

Apparently the guy was too upset with his own performance while simultaneously jealous of his brother. In his eyes it was Arax who got all the fire sparks, and getting the earth spark out was the only worthy contribution he could make.

The few pieces of meat that got fried by Arax's sword turned out to be delicious, but only in Lee's eyes. The other three had a taste, and came to agreement that the stew at home was much better.