Back in the jungle, Maalick was trying his best to control his sense of smell "I can't do it... Raz"
Raz crouched down next to him " Focus yourself. You can do it. You have to look for another smell. The smell of trees, for example. It changes an incredible amount of carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis"
"Do you really think... it's time to give me a biology class?" he said as his condition worsened.
"You wanted to know if you could trust me, well now is my chance to prove it to you. So do as I say"
Maalick tried to find the smell of oxygen, but the one of the Beradors was too strong 'Damn it, their smells cover all the others !'
From a great distance, he smelled another scent. One that was soothing to his nostrils and to his mind, the smell of jasmine.
He grabbed it as if his life depended on it. The Lizardian stood up and pointed in a direction "We need to go there"
Raz was surprised by such a dramatic change 'He went from being so disgusted to being in such a calm mindset. I knew that smells were important to Lizardians. But he smells them even more deeply. He is different from the others'
Maalick ran up the branch, chasing that scent that had saved him.
Raz caught up with him in no time, despite his burned condition "Where the hell are we going ?"
They both jumped onto another branch "I'm trying to follow a scent. A smell of jasmine"
The war criminal and the murderer ran, jumped and climbed the branches of the surrounding trees, until Maalick found his savior.
A little redheaded girl running with her parents.
He wanted to go see her, but Raz stopped him. He pressed him against the tree so that no one would see them.
"Don't even think about it and look" he whispered.
"What the fuck are you doing ?! We have to save them !"
His ally placed his three skinless fingers over his mouth. Despite his age and injuries, Raz had an iron grip. He held his mouth firmly.
Maalick was struggling, until he saw her father yelling at her and her mother slapping her.
'What's going on ?' thought Maalick.
Raz slowly withdrew his hand "You're starting to realize, aren't you?"
A group of Beradors emerged from a bush. They were chasing the family.
The young child's parents did something that will be burned into Maalick's memory.
The man pushed his child and his wife slapped her hard, causing her to fall and scrape her knee.
In the hubbub of her cries and the grunts of the mini-pack. The two men distinctly heard her parents say "You got what you deserved ! It's because of you that we are here! Your death will wash away our sins and the one of your birth, Witch! We will join the paradise promised by the Church of Liandras!"
As her parents fled, the redhead was at the mercy of a Berador. The monster salivated at the sight of his defenseless snack.
'Please, someone save me!" she thought.
Maalick jumped off the branch without hesitation and activated his Retractable Claws. He planted them easily in the skull of the beast, while using his body as a shock absorber, breaking all of its bones.
It was a shattering entrance, literally.
[ You have killed a Berador ]
[ You have gained 10 XP ]
Raz jumped in too "You need to warn me when you do that kind of things"
The SAS agent only listened to him with one ear. He was too busy analyzing his enemies 'There are 6 of these monsters. Based on my fall, they're nothing more than bags of bones. But I shouldn't underestimate them. A desperate beast is more dangerous than a man'
One of the Beradors went on the attack with a surprising speed. Raz, however, punched him in the stomach with his palm, sending him crashing on a branch.
"The enemy doesn't give you the luxury to think. Focus on the girl first"
Maalick nodded "I'll be quick"
He ran to look for the child. Maalick took her in his arms and dug his claws into the bark to climb up and get her to safety.
When he reached a branch far enough away from the battle, he said "Stay here. I'll come back for you"
Looking at her face, Maalick saw that she was in shock. Her red eyes were streaming a fountain of tears over her freckles.
The orphan was not the best person to talk to when it came to talk to other people. But the Lizardian tried to do as Margaret did.
With a tone that was meant to be sincerely calm and reassuring, he told her "I promise I will be back"
A little gleam of light came back in her ardent eyes. To let him know she understood, she nodded.
The soldier dropped to the ground and came face to face with a Berador. The monster attacked him with its jaw wide open and Maalick avoided to get bitten by protecting himself with his arm.
[ PV : 5/7 ]
The dog had put its fangs into his scales. He tried to shake it off to get his limb off. But Maalick pulled him back to him and dug his claws in as deep as possible.
"You fucking... hurt. But unlike you, I can regenerate"
The soldier pulled out his natural weapons and clawed his eyes, rendering the monster blind. The beast tried to run away, but Maalick finished it off with a powerful circular kick.
[ You have killed a Berador ]
[ You have gained 10XP ]
As he turned around, he saw Raz surrounded by 3 corpses of these monsters.
He had put himself in a fighting position that Maalick didn't recognize.
His feet were spread wide, his bent knees gave him more support and rooted him to the ground. His right arm bent outward was in front, while his left hand was in the back. His closed fists were ready for action.
Raz drew an arc with his back foot in front of him. The monster charged and Raz drew his left palm like a bullet and struck his enemy's head.
On the outside, he had no visible wounds. Yet, some blood was coming out of its ears and eyes. Then the beast fell down sharply.
"I hate using it. It reminds me why they gave me up on me..." he said with a low voice.
Maalick approached Raz, shocked by his deadly technique "What was that?"
His ally in this Promenade replied "An old memory from the past. Forget what you just saw, please. It' s very important"
The Lizardian did not ask any more questions. He knew just by looking at the state of the corpses caused by these movements that it wasn't worth it.
'What kind of technique can cause this much damage ?'
"Anyway, you have other things to worry about. The girl is waiting for you"
His answer brought him out of his bubble 'The kid !'
Maalick climbed as quickly as possible on the tree on which she was sitting.
The child was in a ball position, her head was between her legs and she was trembling. He deactivated his claws to comfort her, but his fingers were covered with blood.
So he preferred to talk to her as he did before " Hey little one, my name is Maalick. Does... your wound hurt ?"
Her scrape knee worried him 'I hope it doesn't get infected'
She raised her head just enough for him to see her crimson eyes. She said in a frightened voice "M-M-My name is... C-C-Charlotte"
"Charlotte, do you mind if my friend comes here? Maybe he could help you"
She shook her head horizontally "Nooo ! Just you can be here !" she shouted.
Maalick tried to calm her down "Okay Charlotte, okay. I'm going to go down and see my friend, okay ? I'll be back in a few minutes"
Before he could leave, she grabbed his scaly skin "Promise me. Promise me you'll come back"
"Promise" he said as he held out his pinky finger that was not bloody.
She took his finger and together they made a solemn promise.
Maalick jumped up once more to join Raz, so he could explain the situation.
"I see the problem. We need to get you some bandages for your arm and her knee. Then we'll take a break, and we'll need to have a conversation with the kid"
"Why? She's already shocked enough to be interrogated"
Raz glanced at Charlotte with a questioning look "If what her parents said is true, then that should explain why she's here. And why they used her as bait"
"What do you mean?"
"First go get the leaves from this tree. That'll serve as your first aid. With a bit of luck, they might have medicinal properties. Then I'll explain," he said, pointing to a branchless tree to climb.
Maalick looked at Charlotte. He didn't want to leave her, but he was the only one who could climb this plant.
"Look out for her"
Raz nodded.
The Lizardian walked towards the tree 'Looks like my Regeneration still hasn't being activated. It must be because of the severity of my injuries. I was at death's door when the skill was triggered for the first time. I guess that a bite is not enough to trigger it, or that the delay in activation is different because of the severity of my wounds'
In front of the 20m tree, Maalick checked the condition of his arm 'It's not pretty, but it should do the trick while I get the leaves'
Maalick climbed the tree with the help of his claws. But by the time he got halfway up, he was getting tired. This running and fighting, plus his injury, had already drained his energy.
'Not now' he thought out of breath.
He continued his climb at a slower pace. When he reached the top of the tree, he sat down near one of the leafy branches.
"I really... don't have enough stamina" he said tiredly.
Maalick touched with his fingertips the famous leaf that he was to take back to Raz.
[ Sadum Leaf ]
[ The leaves of the Sadum tree have properties that can speed up the healing of superficial wounds ]
[ Each leaf of different colors has different effects ]
The last notification piqued his curiosity, "Different colored leaves ?"
Maalick looked around to find another leaf other than the green ones. But, he found none.
"I have to put my mission first, instead of thinking about this" he said to himself.
The Lizardian activated his claws and began to gather the leaves from the surrounding branches. He gathered as many as he could into his pockets, and put the rest into his Inventory.
[ Sadum Leaves x42 ]
'Normally I've taken enough'
He let himself down the tree, digging his claws into it to slow his fall.
When he reached the ground, Raz was waiting for him "Do you have them?"
Maalick gave him all the leaves he had "Is this enough ?"
"Plenty. Now let's get you treated"
They both climbed Charlotte's tree to stand in front of her. She was so frightened when she saw Raz's burned face that she curled up into a ball.
Maalick reassured her "Don't be afraid. He is my friend. He helped me get rid of the monsters. He can heal your wound"
Charlotte slowly came out of her cocoon and apologized "Sorry f-for..."
"Don't worry about it. I'm used to this kind of reaction"
He turned back to Maalick "Will you please chop the Sadum leaves?"
"How do you know all this?"
Raz handed him the pile of leaves "Trolls love science of any kind. I loved plants. So I chose botany as my science specialty"
"You're a what?" asked Maalick, who obviously didn't understand this information very well.
"A Troll. And you kid, you're a Witch aren't you?" said Raz, looking straight into her flaming eyes.