"Let me see, your hand... no good, burned beyond saving. If you don't want oripathy, we'll have to amputate—Goki, hand me that saw."
"It's not a saw, it's a Saw Cleaver. Please respect my weapon."
"Whatever it's called, just give it here—bear with it, I'll give you anesthetic first, hey!"
"Wait, Doctor, Doctor, I think I can still be saved, don't hold me, no no no, what are you holding—don't come closer!"
Thud!!!
"Hey, see? All done—tourniquet's on tight!"
A heavy thud echoed through the dark passage.
Gavial picked up the plain wooden stick she always carried on her back, which had no tetanus nails attached, from the head of the unconscious mercenary. Then, she took the Saw Cleaver Goki handed her.
Although a bit dirty, it had just been enchanted with fire paper, so it burned exceptionally clean, making it the best sterilization.
Snap, creak, squelch—
Accompanied by several teeth-grinding sounds of flesh tearing, under the terrified gazes of the surrounding mercenaries, Gavial swung the Saw Cleaver. In no time, she chopped off the mercenary's forearm, which had been bitten and was already showing signs of crystal dust.
Green Originium Arts covered the cross section, and with the help of the tourniquet, the unconscious mercenary barely bled.
Medical Originium Arts were especially precious in Terra. Although it merely squeezed out a person's life force, it was exceptionally effective at saving a life.
In Terra, a severed limb wasn't a major problem. Prosthetic merchants were everywhere. If you had money, you could even get an electric mechanical arm, which was better than the original and even had a high-frequency vibration mode, suitable for both men and women.
"Heh, looks like my skills are improving. Alright, take care of your companion—thanks for training with me all this way, Goki."
Returning the injured and unconscious mercenary to the others in the same mercenary group, Gavial patted Goki's shoulder beside her with satisfaction and winked at him.
To be useful in treating and saving people was the best proof of her worth, for Gavial.
"Come on, you just use me as experimental equipment. I can heal myself with one blood vial."
Injecting a blood vial into his thigh, repairing several charred claw marks on his body, Goki retrieved his blood-stained Saw Cleaver and sighed helplessly.
On the way to the Rainforest, Goki had also suffered many injuries. The first time he encountered a Rock Crab, the car-sized giant creature directly stepped over him, crushing half his body.
And Gavial would always seize the time before he recovered to thoroughly practice different types of severe casualty rescue methods on him.
Of course, for most of Goki's injuries, Gavial would basically frown and say, "Beyond saving, just wait to die."
In reality, Gavial's medical skills were far from as brilliant as they would be in the future on Rhodes Island, but on Goki, she received effective training—though the process was somewhat painful, it was indeed simple and effective.
After rushing out of the temple full of resurrected charred corpses, Goki and his companions, along with the mercenaries, defended against monster attacks while ascending the temple path.
Although the mercenaries were caught off guard at first, both the veterans from Blacksteel International and the seasoned old hands who had fought on battlefields quickly reacted and formed a solid military formation.
Casters and archers provided cover, Shieldguards formed a shield wall, while guards with blades dealt with any stragglers.
Under the assault of modern weapons, the agile charred corpses had their movements suppressed, allowing everyone to retreat from the temple.
However, it was only suppression.
As time passed, the temperature in the underground space grew higher and higher. The bright red, lava-like patterns on the originally charred bodies of the mummies became increasingly dazzling, gradually replacing the black parts.
Eventually, ordinary crossbow bolts would soften due to the high temperature before reaching the monsters, losing their power, and the effects of Spells also became increasingly weak.
After five or six people died, the mercenaries could only brace themselves for the possibility of blowing up the entire temple and being buried alive with it. They carried out directional blasting in the passage, blocking the pursuing enemies with earthworks.
At least, in the mercenaries' view, they were safe, for now.
And now, everyone was not too far from the surface. Although there were superhuman races like the Vouivre / Wyvern among the mercenaries who were still not out of breath, there were also many ordinary humans with average stamina.
Like the Cattus Nona from before, and many Liberi and Perro, they were now gasping for breath after their desperate sprint. Everyone could only rest temporarily while remaining vigilant.
"This... Big Brother, and this Elder Sister, please sit, please sit."
Taking out several small stools carried by the team, the Bovine mercenary strongman who had just joked with Goki approached him with a fawning smile.
"You are Sister Gavial's boyfriend, you shouldn't be from the local Rainforest, right? If you're still planning to leave here, are you interested in joining our mercenary group?"
Just now, this lanky man, who he thought was just an ordinary person, pulled out several flaming weapons from who knows where, easily sweeping away and annihilating the monsters blocking their path.
Although they were all fire-attributed, they seemed surprisingly effective.
The other white-haired girl was even more eerie; she didn't even draw her sword, using only her bare hands to easily smash the difficult enemies, like a human armored vehicle!
How could that even be considered human?!
"Thank you for the stools, but we're not interested—Skadi, want to sit for a bit with Tomimi?"
Goki smiled as he took the small stools, not getting further entangled with these mercenaries who worked for money. Instead, he casually handed them to Skadi, who was embracing Tomimi beside him.
The Little Orca didn't notice the way the surrounding mercenaries were looking at her as if she were a ghost. Instead, she quietly hugged the little crocodile in her arms.
Although she had just relied on the brute strength of the Adaklis people to send many strange monsters flying, Tomimi was still a child. Coupled with having fought for a while on Mavesotia earlier, she was now tired and sleepy, nestled in Skadi's arms, sleeping soundly.
Watching Tomimi bury her head in Skadi's chest, which was wrapped in a black hunter's uniform, Goki felt quite envious.
While he could certainly do that at night if he wished, Goki had promised Skadi he wouldn't deceive her. Even if he wanted a 'face wash,' he would definitely have to let the Little Orca know the meaning of it first.
Deceiving a fool was so boring.
However, 'face wash' aside, there were more important matters to consider now.
"No need, she's sleeping soundly... My sense of crisis is growing stronger. The nature of those corpses should be similar to the Seaborn."
Skadi narrowed her eyes, still highly vigilant, looking warily at the lower passage that was blocked by piled-up rubble from the explosion.
To be honest, the previous miscellaneous enemies weren't strong. If not for the surprise attack, they probably wouldn't have even injured these mercenaries. Their high temperature and bites couldn't penetrate Skadi's skin.
The recent battle wasn't even considered a threat.
Yet, Skadi's tension had not dissipated; her heartbeat was even accelerating, and the blood within her body was constantly churning.
"That means your premonition is correct—Gavial, once we're up, immediately take people to evacuate our tribe and other tribes. Something big is coming."
Feeling the constantly rising temperature around him, his great axe still burning with fierce flames, Goki looked at the excited researchers from Rhine Lab not far away.
They had obtained the "Sealed Right Arm."
"Originium radiation is still intensifying. The Spell model on this arm must be quite powerful. Ha, if Professor Thorn hadn't disappeared in Sargon seventeen years ago, perhaps we would have already possessed such powerful weaponized Spells."
"Don't even think about it. Even if it existed, it wouldn't be Rhine Lab's achievement, but this is our research outcome, isn't it?!"
The young researchers were excited, envisioning their upcoming research. They didn't know what they were about to face.
And Goki couldn't warn them that they had actually dug up a giant bomb.
Facing a group of scientists, if Goki were to talk about "divine power," they would only laugh at him.
"Tch, what do you mean 'our tribe'... but stopping it is impossible. If those abominations crawl to the surface, those battle maniacs might even get more excited."
Flicking her tail, Gavial pulled at Goki's sleeve to wipe the blood from her hands, her expression also grave.
"Anyway, this is a Rainforest matter. Even if it's trouble caused by outsiders, the Rainforest people have to endure it themselves. At worst, we'll have a fight. If we win, everyone's happy; if we lose, everyone goes to heaven."
Just as Shaman Grandmother had said, there was indeed a large bomb buried beneath Acahuala.
The prophecy said that Acahuala would face a great disaster more than a decade later, but if it happened now, it seemed it wouldn't matter much.
"Since this thing was dug up early, it's better than being unprepared later. It had to happen someday—at most, two more Flame Giants will pop out, just like before."
Patting Goki's shoulder, Gavial grinned, revealing her cute little fangs. She was quite open-minded about the fate of the Rainforest.
Then, she suddenly looked at the gold-embroidered riding crop at Goki's waist.
"Hey, didn't you say you consider money like dirt? How come you still took something in the end?"
Goki merely patted the whip at his waist.
"The tomb owner's hospitality was hard to refuse, and I had to keep a memento—Alright, they're getting ready to move. Let's go too."
Watching the Blacksteel mercenaries, gathered around the Rhine Lab researchers, end their short rest and head towards the surface, Goki also started walking, taking one last look back at the dark passage.
Behind the collapsed pile of rubble, a red glow was already seeping through.
[I hope you don't screw me over, Nona Doll.]
Goki's thoughts returned to the advice he had suddenly heard from Nona Doll just before they left.
[She hopes you take this, kind Hunter.]
As everyone began moving towards the temple entrance, Goki, who was bringing up the rear, heard a suggestion from Nona Doll, who usually didn't speak much and only complained when he thought about pretty girls.
[She? Don't scare me, my Insight isn't high.]
Even the well-traveled Goki was stunned for a moment then.
However, in the end, Goki still chose to follow Nona Doll's advice and took the coffin owner's relic.
On it, the power of another god seemed to linger.
Although he didn't know who the deceased lying in the coffin was, Goki still apologized to her.
After all, in an Old Hunter's common sense, death was always just a state.
Just like Senior Sister Maria, although she was mostly dead, she would come alive every week to give Goki, who disturbed her death, a good beating.
In any case, Goki had obtained this whip and would never have the chance to return it.
— — — —
"We're here, we're finally out!"
At the end of the long, dark passage, a glimmer of light finally appeared. Breathing the hot air, everyone cheered and finally reached the surface.
However, to their surprise, the once tidy camp was now engulfed in a sea of flames.
Two Blacksteel mercenaries, who had stayed behind, came before Parvis, each holding a red-haired Sarkaz girl who had fallen unconscious.
"Mr. Parvis, your wanted target just attacked our camp."
[Damn, I knew Sister 42 had a connection here—]
And Goki suddenly felt the divine power from within the cryogenic chamber, covered by liquid nitrogen and countless ice Originium Arts, suddenly surge.
It was almost at the brink of eruption.
The real battle, he feared, was about to begin.
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