"Chelsea!"
Nobody knew who screamed, but it woke everyone up from their stupor.
The body of the red-headed figure lay limply on the ground. The disciples couldn't tell whether Chelsea was alive or not, but what they did know was that if she was alive then she wasn't far from death.
Vasari was the first to react, jumping off the wall and landing next to Chelsea. Reaching into his spatial ring, he pulled out the very same pill Chelsea gifted him earlier. Without hesitation, he grabbed her jaw and gently opened it before putting the healing pill in her mouth and pushing it down her throat.
The reason he saved the pill was that he wanted to experiment on it with his Eye of Boundless Creation, but this was more important, so he didn't mind parting with it.
"Hozumi, help her refine the pill."
Hozumi immediately nodded and jumped down next to Chelsea's body. She placed her hands on Chelsea's chest and circulated her Mana through her fingers before gently guiding the healing pill through her digestive system.
While she was busy, Vasari quickly ran to where the explosion took place.
Vasari unsealed his eyes and removed his blindfold, it was risky since Dontrall might be nearby, but he heard no movement around him.
What he saw made him subconsciously lift his eyebrows in disgust. The large body of the Wyrm was scattered everywhere, the scene was extremely gory to look at. With red blood painting the earth and guts spread as far as the eye could see, it was a scene not many would be able to stomach especially when one hasn't experienced many gruesome battles in their life.
'What happened? This isn't a bloodline detonation like what the Black Firedrake did. It seems as if someone intentionally blew it up from the inside.'
That was the only thing Vasari could currently think of. But that only left him with more questions than answers.
'Who would even do such a thing, and what was the goal in doing so?' Vasari was left utterly confused and his thoughts were running rampant.
Vasari was interrupted from his thoughts by a man with dark skin and long dreadlocks who was crawling towards him and muttering incoherent words. Vasari turned to look at the man, and their eyes met.
"You-you're not blind?" The man asked in a voice barely audible to Vasari.
Vasari ignored his question and looked at the man's lower half, or rather, what was supposed to be his lower body. Now, there were just intestines dragging on the floor behind him and his body from the pelvic region down was nowhere to be seen.
"Vasari, please help me." Dontrall's voice was barely a whisper as he pleaded for help. Unfortunately for him, Vasari watched as he crawled towards him without any pity in his heterochromia eyes, only disgust.
Vasari might have acted like he didn't care about him trying to seduce and bait Hiromi, Kurumi and Hozumi into sex, but he didn't forget. He knew that if not now then sometime in the future he would repay the disrespect he was shown. However, it was unfortunate that he couldn't do so with his own hands.
Dontrall crawled to his feet and held Vasari's ankles while begging to be saved, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
It wasn't long until he died with his hands still holding Vasari's ankles. Vasari kicked his hands off him and tried to look for any chunks of Wyrm meat for his Little dragons and the cubs. Luckily there were still a few chunks here and there, and instead of putting it into this eye's sub-space, he put it into his spatial ring. He didn't want the little dragons to eat more than they could chew.
When he was done he sealed his eyes and went back to the disciples on the town wall.
"Yo Vasari, did you find Dontrall?" DT asked when he saw Vasari return by himself.
"Yeah, but he was already dead when I found him. It seems the Wyrm somehow exploded even after it had died, causing all of this."
"How is that even possible?" Another disciple asked. "Deceased beasts don't just randomly explode."
"I have no clue, but if you don't believe me, you can take a look for yourself." Vasari shrugged nonchalantly and went to Hozumi, who was still helping Chelsea digest the healing pill.
"How is she?" He asked and bent down next to her.
"She is still alive, but most of her bones are broken and some of her organs are basically mush. The pill is working, but I'm not sure how much it will be able to heal or if it's enough to stop her from dying."
Vasari thought about his options for a few moments before turning to Glenn, the formation master.
"Glenn, can't you contact the sect for help with your ManaPhone?"
"I can, but there's no guarantee that the sect will offer help in this type of situation."
"What do you mean?"
"The Sect usually only offers help on a disciples mission if another Sect interferes. But maybe they would send help since Chelsea is in the Top 20 Outer Haven Disciples and usually participates in the Continental Sect Tournaments."
"Just message them already."
"Okay."
Glenn whipped his phone out and started quickly tapping on the screen. While he did that, Vasari went to the red and orange striped tiger who was resting inside the town walls, licking the wounds she had sustained in the battle against the gorilla.
The tiger had no clue that its human companion was on the brink of death, so Vasari felt it was only right to tell her.
Upon hearing the news, the tiger quickly made her way to the town wall. Vasari smiled wryly and decided to visit his cubs to check on their well-being. Despite a few minor scratches, they were mostly unharmed. Their ability to work together in battle was impressive, as they spent most of their time with each other. They knew each other like the back of their paws.
When Vasari got back to the town wall, Glenn came running to him with a wide smile on his nerdy face.
"Vasari! The Sect said they are sending an Elder to fetch Chelsea. They should be here in less than a day."
"Good. Tell everyone that they can go to the hotel and rest. Also, tell the Town Head to send people to collect as much meat and material from the battlefield."
"Will do!" Glenn energetically ran off to relay Vasari's messages.
Vasari walked over to Chelsea, where the tiger was now watching over her. The Nakata were sitting nearby in silence, Vasari knew that they were probably exhausted.
"Why don't you girls go back to the hotel? I'll stay here with Chelsea until the elder arrives."
"What about your wounds? At least let us patch it up for you, you can't let it stay like that." Hiromi asked, and Vasari allowed them to patch him up. The sisters got to work and wrapped Vasari's body in bandages.
After wrapping his upper body up like a mummy and self-praising their first-aid skills, the girls left for the hotel.
"Well, now it's just the 3 of us." Vasari chuckled to himself for no reason and the tiger didn't seem impressed either.
For the next 16 hours, Vasari practised the Dragon Elephant Prajna Body Art in his mind. Now and then, some disciples would disturb his focus to see how Chelsea was doing and as the sun was starting to set, everyone in Grimdale heard the sound of a loud bird cawing, the disciples instantly realising what beast it was.
While peacefully cultivating next to Chelsea, Vasari was startled by the loud caw. Immediately afterwards, the scent of vanilla and strawberries replaced the unpleasant smell of blood, which had become all too familiar to Vasari over the past few hours.
"You must be Vasari, I've heard a lot about you." An amorous and delicate voice drifted into Vasari's ears and combined with the sweet smell, Vasari's senses were into overdrive.
"And you must be the elder coming to fetch Chelsea?" Keeping his composure, Vasari asked back, but this only thrilled the lady ahead of him more.
Without so much as making a sound, the lady disappeared and arrived right in front of Vasari. The tips of their noses grazed each other and her hands pushed against his bandaged chest.
"Samantha was right, you are a talented one. You're able to keep your sanity even after inhaling my breath. Impressive."
"Samantha?"
"Oh right, you know her as Miss Covington. Samantha and I entered the Cloud Haven Sect the same year and we are good friends."
"I see." Vasari paused before flashing the elder a charming smile. "I still haven't got Miss Elders's name yet. Would you mind telling me so I could put your lovely voice and delightful scent to a name?"
The elder's smile broadened and caressed her hands down Vasari's bandaged body.
"You can call me…"
"Elder Lana!"
Glenn shouted from atop the wall when he saw the tantalizing figure of 'Elder Lana', completely ignoring how close she was to Vasari.
Elder Lana whispered something into Vasari's ears before backing away.
"Hello, Glenn. How are you?"
"I'm doing well, Elder Lana."
"I'm glad to hear. Anyway, I'll be taking Chelsea with me to her Master. She'll be alright, so no need to worry."
Elder Lana announced before winking at the boys ogling her from atop the wall. She wrapped Chelsea in a bubble made of Mana and prepared to leave just as quickly as she came.
The tiger tried to stop Elder Lana from taking Chelsea, but she merely waved her hand and the tiger fell unconscious. Also encasing the tiger in a bubble of Mana, Elder Lana showcased amazing control and gently lifted the red-headed beauty and her trusted companion without shifting them about.
"I'm off now. It was nice meeting you, Vasari. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other soon."
"I don't do a lot of seeing."
"Hehe. Ciao!"
Elder Lana jumped on her mount with two extra passengers in tow and after one last steamy look at Vasari's handsome face, she took off and vanished.
Vasari released a sigh of relief when he felt the women's intoxicating scent vanish, and he didn't linger around. He told the disciples to be ready to leave in the morning before he went to the hotel.
Elder Lana left him with an unwanted gift he needed to get rid of, and fortunately, he had Hiromi with him to help out.