Land of Demons

2

She was gesturing toward the path that led into the forest. At first, Derek and the brunette didn’t understand what their friend was pointing at. But, a moment later, they grabbed their weapons and jumped out of the carriage. As soon as the door opened, the six horses stopped and energy shields flashed around the carriage. Magic hieroglyphs and runes swirled over its roof. The light they radiated thickened and covered the trio. The girls both held whips in their hands. Energy that was as red as blood flowed through their weapons. Derek, armed with daggers, clenched a long needle between his teeth. It was an artifact given to him by his father. It could launch an attack equal to that of a peak Spirit Knight’s.

“By the demons and gods!” The white-haired girl gasped. “It’s an Ancient Beast!”

“What’s a monster like that doing so close to the Darnassian border?”

The girls looked at their friend, but said nothing.

“And why isn’t it attacking us?” Derek added.

The tigress that radiated the aura of an Ancient Beast was standing at the edge of the forest and looking at the trio. She wasn’t growling, beating her tail against the ground, or showing any signs of hostility at all.

“By the gods, look at what’s on its back!”

As if hearing the girl’s words, the tigress turned sideways.

“Is that a person?”

 

   

Derek was the first to recover from his shock. Without lowering his weapon, but still trying to project respect and friendliness, he approached the tigress. Up close, the beast looked even more menacing. As soon as Derek reached for the man on the monster’s back, she let out a low growl.

“By the forefathers,” Derek whispered, trying to conceal his sudden fright, “I’m not going to hurt him. I only want to help.”

Unconvinced, the tigress continued to growl, baring her sharp fangs, lightning running up and down her snow-white, black-striped fur. Nevertheless, she moved her tail aside after carefully lowering the wounded man to the ground.

“Alea, Irma, help me!” Derek shouted. “Bring some medicine!”

The girls looked at each other. Irma, the white-haired one, ran to the trunk attached to the back of their carriage. Taking out a few bundles wrapped in rags, she ran over to the tigress. Alea had already joined Derek there, and had just finished pulling her thick brown hair into a tight bun.

“We need to adjust his ribs first or he’ll die,” she said.

“I see that your healing lessons are paying off, sister.” Irma smiled.

Ignoring the compliment, Alea pulled a long, curved dagger from her boot. The tigress, upon seeing the weapon, growled louder, and her pupils became narrow slits.

“Calm down, venerable beast,” Alea said, carefully cutting away the rags on the wounded man’s chest. “I’m planning to save his life, not take it.”

The tigress seemed to calm down at that. The trio had no doubt that if she’d wanted to, she could’ve already taken their lives. The fact she hadn’t had to mean that she trusted them.

“By all the demons and gods!” Derek exclaimed as he laid eyes on the man’s exposed torso. “He has more scars than Mentor Noise, and he served on the border for well over a century!”

“And tattoos,” Irma whispered, mesmerized. She reached for the mysterious symbols, but pulled her hand back, scared away by the tigress’ menacing smile. “That one is a Name,” she said, pointing at the man’s forearm and shoulder. “I don’t know what the black one on his chest means.”

They were all certain that the tattoos were more than mere decoration. A cultivator’s body was special — no ink would stay on their skin for more than a day. Any tattoo that didn’t have a bit of energy in it would simply disappear. Of course, there were those who liked to draw meaningless patterns on themselves, but there were only a handful of such people in the world. Each tattoo directly affected the cultivator’s energy body, after all.

“Stop talking and help me!” Alea hissed. “Derek, boil some water. Irma, I need ‘Strong Spirit’ and ‘Boundless Sky’ pills!”

The two nodded and rushed to carry out her orders. Why were they so eager to save a dying stranger? Just because their honor demanded it? Actually, yes. There was no honor in allowing a dying person to reach the threshold of their forefathers’ home if you could help them. As long as he couldn’t take care of himself, they’d treat him like their own dying brother.

“I just hope he isn’t a Darnassian spy,” Derek grumbled, boiling water right in his hands. “I don’t want to fight him later.”

The tigress snorted and thumped the ground with her tail. She lay quietly, her tongue hanging out, observing what was happening with great interest. She didn’t look like a dangerous predator anymore, but like a kitten. A very large, muscular, and incredibly strong kitten.

“A Darnassian spy that doesn’t have any weapons or armor?” Alea soaked some bandages in boiling water, then uncorked several jars of fragrant ointments. “Your paranoia sometimes gets on my nerves, Derek.”

After soaking the bandages, she began to carefully wrap them around the deepest wounds. Every time the bandages touched his skin, the man would let out a pained groan.

“Here you are!” Irma took two pills out of the bundles.

“Thank you.”

Alea snatched the alchemical substances out of her sister’s hands. After placing them in a mortar, she looked around and plucked some herbs, then cut off a lock of the stranger’s hair with her dagger and splashed some water into the mortar. She channeled energy through her palm and turned the ingredients into a mass that had an odd, brownish color.