Chapter 42

"Oi oi! That's a little too hard!" Karias yells out as his hammer gets pushed back every time we clash, he gets pushed back more and more as I slowly raise my touki little by little.

His overall strength is as strong as me without Touki, and that means he could probably kill that Tyrant Lizard or what I call a T-rex Lizard with his bare hand.

"Seriously! You put too much strength in your strike! My hammer is going to break!" He yells out once more but I continue to ignore him.

With each strike, he steps back, only able to block each one because I was lowering my speed to match his, but his hand is already shaking, and his grip on the hammer comes loose, so I take advantage of it and strike him at his hand making him drop his hammer.

He only uses his strength, that is why he has so much opening that will get him killed by a half-ass swordsman.

"You, the one who wants to train, stop complaining and put some work into it," I said to him as I prepared my battle stance once more. Allow just enough time for him to pick up his hammer until I flash forward and strike again.

Karas was watching on the side while polishing her broadsword, her eyes still remained emotionless but she took me and Karias's fight with great interest.

Taking my moment of distraction Karias swung his hammer sideways, prompting me to dodge upward and land behind him with a kick making him fall to the ground.

"Bad postures, bad footing, and bad strength control. Honestly, the fact that you survive to eighteen here is a miracle." I said as I sheath my sword.

"What!? Just so you know I was the one who said to take you with us!" He retorted back.

"No, that was Lemes, you only wince about how unfair a kid like her is stronger than you," Karas said, her words stabbing into Karias's heart, making him sulk to himself.

Yeah...they act like siblings, which I found out that they don't. Come to think again, how did I come to train with these two?

Ah right ...they want to take on the dungeon together so they come to me so that they can train. Since in their eyes, I'm the strongest next to Lemes, they want to learn my fighting style.

Karas the younger girl, is just seventeen, she was sixteen when she and Karias went to ask the almost retired Lemes to train them.

"Well, now that the training is over I have to get back to the Inn now." Packing my things, which only consist of my sword, I turn my back to them and walk back to the Inn.

The two didn't say anything.

/// Karas & Karias POV \\\

"What a strange woman…" Karias mutters out as he straps the hammer onto his back like usual. "Did she never have fun in her life or something? Always so stoic."

"She had a lot on her plate, that's probably why. She was looking for her missing family, wasn't she?" Karas said, her broadsword shining under the harsh sunlight like it was the glass that she always saw in the market.

"But I mean! Couldn't she have some fun? Always so serious will kill me! So how about we have some fun~~ouch!"

Karias's hand slowly creeps around Kara's hip so she slaps away with a bit of force making the older man take his hand away in pain.

"Why are you hitting me!" Karias winces, blowing his hand as if it will help with the pain.

"The only time I allow you to touch my body is when you are under the effect of succubus and you are not under it...why are you looking at me like that?" She raises her eyebrow as Karias looks at her.

He makes his eyes as big as possible while a few drops of tears appear in them, his lip curling into a sad kid.

"Stop...it. I won't budge!" Karas ignored him as best as she could, but a sniffle from behind her was making her waver.

Karas knows she has a soft spot for a kid, and Karias acting like one isn't making that soft spot awaken or anything...it just makes her feel that he was a bit...pathetic.

"Urg...fine just once." Karas finally let her guard down and allowed Karias to swoop in like a hungry Griffon.

That just once, will not become once.

/// Lucy POV \\\

"I'm back."

"Welcome back!" With a light step, Lilia jumped onto me and gave me a hug. My face must be full of smiles right now, as her face is too.

"How was your day? Did the food taste good?" I ask her, but judging from her smile I already know the answer.

"Um! The one that looks like meat tastes really good! It looks like meat but it is not meat or so the proprietress says!"

A,h she is probably talking about that Cloud mushroom? A mushroom that grows on the oasis. It has the properties that when consumed give the feeling like you are high. But that was in its raw state, once cooked it can also taste like meat even though it is not.

It was common around here? If it was on the central continent then this mushroom would be considered a delicacy since it was so rare there, and it was a good painkiller too.

"I see, I see, anything else?"

"Um...uh...no there is nothing more." Lilia made a sad face, her head dropped down but I quickly took her into a hug.

"It's ok, I'm here...I'm going to take you back home ok?" She bod in my embrace, and I can feel the tears swelling in her eyes seep into my clothes.

Lilia, just five years old, experienced this kind of harsh experience. Appearing in an unknown place, her parents are not with her or any of her friends. Got captured and turned into a slave. But now she has me, I will protect her and take her home, which probably is Roa since she said she is from the city.

In a few days, we will leave this town and go back on the journey. I already prepared everything I needed, my own clothes and Lilia's.

Oh well, now that I'm preparing everything I don't really know what to do. The information gathering is a task Lemes said to leave it to him, which probably is the best option.

Training is something I do every day. And spending time with Lilia is something that happens all the time nowadays.

But I feel like I'm missing something? It has been almost five years since my grandma and I last talked. My Mana core should be full in around a year and a half.

Ah.. that's right...mana control. My own style that I almost forgot since I came here…I want to make my own style. My own brand of sword but with everything that is happening It just slips past my mind.

When I was fighting against the slaver men, I only used my Sword's own strength. To paralyze them. But maybe I could also freeze them? No, my mana was running low. Because of the dome spell, although it didn't eat as much mana as before it still took a lot because of the magic circle I needed to write down carefully.

Yeah...there are so many things to do. To improve myself. My Mana Touki, my own style, my spell mana usage, my magic circle…

There are so many things to do, that's right. I can't rest yet.

"Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"You suddenly stop moving, what's wrong?" At Lilia's concerned voice, I took a deep breath.

"Nothing. I am just thinking about something." Right...those can wait. Just today, I will rest for a bit.

///____\\\

"Lucy! Take care of those Silence Wolfs! Karias and Karas you guys take the front and try to stall for time til Lucy finishes! Harim you protect the carriage! And Keale you with me!" The loud command of Lemes rang throughout the desert.

The young girl rushes straight through the pack of wolf and in a flash, everything on her path become a blood bath, burned flesh that leaves nothing but ash, purple blood that seep into the sand as it devours them hungrily, the corpse of disfigured wolf pile on each other making a mountain of them.

Without looking back she ran straight into the giant figure in front of her, Karias was luring the monster with his hammer, while Karas was chipping away at its legs with her Broadsword, but neither of their attacks worked against the regenerating leg of the golem.

The golem roared at the two, making them step back as the loud screeching hurt their ears, but the roar quickly stopped as a loud explosion rang out.

The explosion didn't stop, as the golem's face continued to explode with each hit of the fireball, Karias didn't need to know what he needed to do.

He rushed straight to its leg and with all of his strength, he swung down his hammer into it. Destroying its leg with just one hit. The golem falls down with a loud thud as it loses its balance.

Taking that moment as her opportunity, she stops her magic, and with a rush of Touki, Her sword bursts into pure blue flame and she slices across the golem's chest destroying the core in one hit.

The golem struggled to slam at them one last time as its body dissolved into sand and granite, but it never managed to.

Lucy falls down gracefully as she lands on her feet, on the other side Lemes and Kaele have already finished with the cleanup of leftover Silence wolves.

"Good work! We will take a half-hour break and then go back to traveling. Lucy, check if there is someone with an injury on them, heal them if it is a serious one, if not do some basic thing you always do. Karas, Karias you guys on guard duty, Harim and I will scout ahead and Kaele you check our supply, that's all!" Lemes let out his last command as he and Harim took off to the desert.

"All right, anyone that got injured during the fight, step up! I will take care of it." Loud voices gather the attention of everyone around. And soon, people start to gather around her.

It has been a year since she landed on the bergaritt continent, and the journey has not been as smooth sailing as she hoped after leaving Klaribin City. No, it was harsh, more people joined but no one was strong enough to protect themselves. No more warriors join up with Lemes.

Now they have more than seventy people to protect, it was hard, managing that much number is hard. But what makes her feel more desperate each day is the information on her family.

There was nothing on Zenith, Lilia, Aisha, and Rudy. No matter how much she asks and how much she searches, even with Lemes's influence it is still a blank page in her book.

But she still believes that, despite everything that happened, they are still alive. As long as the probability isn't zero there will always be a chance.

"Lucy! Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" The child, Lilia. Ask in concern as Lucy was covered in the blood of the wolves.

"No, I'm ok. See? I can move around like this." She starts moving in a weird way earning the giggling of the child. "Well, since there are no more injured people I will wash myself up ok?"

The child nodded and let her leave without any resistance. Lilia has come a long way, from being so attached to her that she would not leave her side if not told to, she is a bright child, and she finally interacts with other adults and children making some friends.

As she leaves the convoy and arrives somewhere around the desert, she makes herself some wall to cover her up as she knows there is a pervert nearby.

Sensing the rustle of sand nearby, she let out a sigh.

"I know you there, Karias!" The sudden voice startled the pervert. She heard more sand rustling and released another sigh.

"Gah! How did she know?!" He yelled in what could be his attempt to lower his voice, but it was still loud enough for her to hear clearly.

"You got Karas by your side and you still want more?... Honestly...what with this world and its pedophile." The last part was nothing but a whisper.

She took out her towel and began to take off her shirt, revealing a breast that had grown up splendidly. The past month has been a shock to her growing body.

Not only did she become taller by around ten centimeters, but her body gradually started to change at a rapid pace. Her bosom before was still big for her age but not this big, but now if she estimates it roughly then, it would be around the size of a small coconut.

Not large by adult standards but large for her age. Her lower part was the one that got the most out of this sudden growth sprout, her hip widened, and her leg became more plumb than she liked.

This made her a target in the succubus attack more than she already had. Sighing more than she already did this week, she finishes wiping all the blood off her body and changes into the spare cloth she takes with her.

Just thinking about the last succubus attack sends a shiver down her spine, for some reason, the phenomenon of succubus which should be an ugly smell for female, somehow manage to affect her. It took her a lot of afford just to detoxify herself and she also needed to defend herself from the man who was affected by the phenomone and protect the woman and detoxify them too.

It was a nightmare, Almost getting raped by people you protect because of a succubus. Luckily she managed to hold herself and no one fell prey to the succubus either.

"Must be puberty strike again…" she groaned as she thought about what she went through in her last life and in this one. Maybe it has something to do with her growing hormones? Not that she would know, as she had nothing to experiment on, and she certainly got no equipment to even start it.

With her finish changing, she lowered the wall that she made to cover herself only to see a blurring silhouette of Karas dragging something off in the distance. Probably Karias.

She squinted her eyes in the hope that she would see the silhouettes clearly, but no matter how hard she squinted, the blurring image was never clear.

Her vision. Somehow it got worse even though she didn't do anything to strain them. Using healing magic even makes them deteriorate faster instead.

After another sigh, she returns to the caravan, as they still have more than a year's journey ahead of them.