Watching the corpse of Gawasa on the ground turn to ashes and gradually disappear, Liami finally let the Shadow Blade in her hand dissipate.
For some reason, no matter what kind of demon tribe it was, once they died, their bodies would turn to ash until completely gone. Could this actually be one of the gods’ punishments on the demon tribes?
Unable to figure this out, Liami decided not to dwell on it and checked the changes in her own body.
Just now, she had killed Gawasa and gained a lot of experience, and her level had finally increased.
“Level 58? Not bad. The experience from this demon tribe is quite a lot.”
If that was the case, one day she might reach the same level as Colin. Liami thought to herself, though she didn’t know Colin’s true level—only that he was at least level 75.
“I wonder when I’ll be able to reach his level…”
Liami sighed, wishing her level could be close to Colin’s. As for the reason, it wasn’t important; she simply didn’t want to be protected by Colin forever.
“And besides, if I get that strong, maybe the Guild Leader will give up on assassinating Colin…” Liami muttered to herself.
At that moment, she noticed some movement in the nearby grass.
Hmm? More enemies?
Liami reconjured her Shadow Blade carefully and walked toward the spot. Slowly parting the grass, she saw what was inside.
In the grass, Colin was placing one hand over the head of a fox-like beastman lying on the ground, seemingly dead, while his other hand was searching over its body.
Colin caught sight of Liami spying on him, and his movements instantly froze. The two silently stared at each other, and the air seemed to thicken with an awkward tension.
After a while, Liami twitched at the corner of her mouth and said, “I didn’t expect the illustrious Holy Knight Colin to have such a fetish. Looks like I’ve disturbed you—don’t mind me. I’ll leave immediately. Please continue.”
With that, Liami turned to leave, but Colin said nothing and suddenly pulled her hand—and her entire body—into the grass.
“!!!”
Liami was stunned for a moment, then quickly wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back a few paces, loudly cursing Colin’s shamelessness.
“I never thought you’d be so bold! Not even sparing me… I really misjudged you! You, you’re a corpse-loving rapist!”
“???”
Colin looked at Liami in disbelief. He had only pulled her into the grass because he feared she’d think something worse. He hadn’t expected her thoughts to be far more exaggerated than his own.
Rubbing his forehead, Colin didn’t try to explain but instead took Liami’s hand and placed it on Laura’s head.
“?! What are you doing? You—you want me to become your accomplice? Stop it! I’m not helping you deal with this corpse… Wait? It’s so warm!”
The moment Liami’s hand touched it, she was shocked by the heat.
So, she wasn’t dead after all… But if it’s this hot, does that mean she has a fever?
Seeing Liami had stopped babbling nonsense, Colin finally explained, “She’s the only survivor on the scene. Her name is Laura. As you saw, she’s running a fever—probably sick. I was just checking her.”
Hearing Colin’s tone didn’t sound like a lie, Liami still stubbornly asked, “Then why were you touching her?”
“Touching? I was checking if she has any wounds. What if there’s an infection? What were you thinking just now?”
“Uh, cough, cough! So, what’s her condition now?”
Liami coughed twice to change the subject. Seeing this, Colin could only sigh and shift to telling Laura’s situation.
“…In short, she’s probably just exhausted, which lowered her condition. Being in a clean environment long-term caused her to develop a fever. I’ve already treated her. She just needs to rest a while longer.”
An unclean environment, huh… Liami recalled the underground dungeon where the beastman slaves were kept. The sanitation there was absolutely awful. She couldn’t understand why “Furnace Hook” treated them that way—after all, they were merchandise meant to be sold. With conditions like that, how could they possibly be sold?
Suddenly, Liami felt like she had forgotten something. After thinking carefully, she stood up immediately.
“‘Furnace Hook’! I forgot about him! My mission is to kill him, not the demon tribe!”
Hearing this, Colin, though unaware of who “Furnace Hook” was, understood that he was Liami’s target.
He picked Laura back up and suggested to Liami, “If that’s the case, let’s go back and look for him. Judging by what happened earlier, there shouldn’t be any survivors left. Your mission should be considered complete.”
Liami relaxed a little at Colin’s words and returned with him to the grassland where she had just fought Gawasa.
At the edge of the grassland where Gawasa had fought Colin and Liami, a few minutes after Colin left, “Furnace Hook” tried to move his fingers but found he was completely immobile.
His appearance was pitiful—multiple broken bones and bruises covered his body, his face beaten beyond recognition, and his movements feeble as if death could come at any moment. But despite all this, he was still breathing, not dead yet.
Since being gang-beaten by the little demons earlier, “Furnace Hook” had been like this. He thought he was already a goner, but the demons suddenly left without finishing him off and never returned.
He heard some fighting sounds but couldn’t tell what was happening since he couldn’t move.
A few minutes ago, using his last reserves of strength, he tried to cry out, “Help me…” hoping the one who ended the fight would come to his aid, but there was no response. It seemed that person didn’t hear him and left.
Now, not only was his body completely paralyzed, but even his thoughts were growing muddled. He knew that if things went on like this, death was inevitable.
He tried to gather magic to activate the teleport function within the Blossom Stone Pearl, but now even thinking took all his effort, let alone using magic.
He was like a piece of wood burning in a furnace, with only a small part left unburned. Soon, he would turn entirely to ashes and could no longer burn.
Faced with this reality, “Furnace Hook” felt hopeless. He didn’t understand why a great merchant like himself would end up like this.
He was just a trader, not a killer. So why was this happening to him?
Just as “Furnace Hook” felt his thoughts slow and fade, he heard footsteps.
A familiar figure approached his side. Looking over, a spark of hope appeared in his eyes. With all the strength he had left, he managed to whisper broken words:
“Help… me…”