At first they had been thinking that Zach was a good for nothing tag-along of the mighty woman but their perception got destroyed when the fierce master in their eyes acted like a lost little lamb around Zach after defeating the Dark Wood Hedgehog.
It was only then that they came to know that Zach was the true leader of the cohort and the strongest amongst the duo.
The fear and trepidation they felt towards Zach at that moment, exceeded the awe that they had felt towards Luna's might as she burned the Dark Wood Hedgehog to crisp.
"We need to do something or it will be too late." sighed one of the hunters who looked as thin as a stick and appeared to be quite nimble. He held a needle like rapier in his hands and appeared to be a swordsman focused on piercing and stabbing attacks based on his superior flexibility and dexterity.
"What if they attack us too?" replied another hunter who had a thin moustache and balding head and was holding back his pain as he wiped the blood from his forehead to keep it from entering his eyes and affecting his vision. There was a hint of worry on his creased forehead and his eyes spoke volumes of his caution and wariness towards Zach and Luna even though the two of them had just saved all their lives.
"Then what do you suggest we do…huh? You want to run then? Are you confident of escaping from someone like that?" the thin man pointed towards Zach and Luna as he argued with the balding man in a slightly dissatisfied tone.
"You two…stop it right now. Master doesn't have long. Think of something." interjected another hunter who had been hidden behind the two of them tending to the injured.
The two of them stopped abruptly like their souls had been sucked out of their bodies. Their faces paled as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight as they turned towards the third man with a jerk.
The third man didn't bother with the two of them and by-passed them to look at Zach and Luna. He bowed towards them slightly out of respect as his mouth opened and closed as he struggled with what to say.
"Thank you for saving us. Your strength is extremely terrifying even though you look so young. All of us had so much trouble fighting against that beast and yet you took it down by yourself. Your flame control is worthy of admiration, young lady."
Since Luna had been wearing the hooded robe, only her face was visible to the hunters and no one was able to figure out that Luna was in fact a succubus. They thought that she was a young human lady since she was with Zach and showered her with praise and thanks.
Luna only nodded slightly in response since she didn't have a good feeling regarding humans other than her master.
Zach on the other hand wasn't as cautious as Luna and walked in the direction of the injured slowly so as to not arouse the suspicion of the already wary hunters. He wanted to see if he could help somehow.
The older man who had thanked Luna just then, didn't try to stop Zach. In fact he had been hoping for this when he approached the two of them.
After witnessing their strength, the man was sure that Zach and Luna must have some sort of life saving methods in between them which might help the injured on his team.
As Zach grew closer to the party, the hunters tensed like a cat that had sensed danger. They surrounded him with their weapons raised but Zach didn't care about it.
At the same time he signaled Luna to stay calm in order to prevent her from roasting all the hunters for such a transgression.
The old man had noticed the subtle signal that Zach had passed on to Luna and responded in kind by ordering all his team to put away their weapons.
"Our young lady is dying slowly. Earlier in the fight, she tried to protect one of her men and got severely injured in the process." said the old man as he tried to match his pace with Zach briskly and explained the situation to Zach while wondering if his hopes of saving the young lady would come true or not.
"I don't see any wounds. Was it an internal injury?" asked Zach curiously as he noticed the situation of the girl. Her skin was smooth with not a single sign of any injury. Other than torn clothing near her left thigh, there wasn't a single thing out of place physically.
Zach wondered if she was suffering from some kind of poison since her skin looked extremely pale nearing to the point of being transparent. He looked towards her hunters one by one in order to find the answer to his questions.
"Her thigh had been pierced by the projectile of the beast which had put her out of commission for the rest of the battle. After putting in a lot of effort, her wound could be closed using healing magic but the large amount of blood lost during the process could not be recovered. But we don't know what to do." Surprisingly, the one to answer Zach was one of the girl's servants and not the hunters.
Zach finally managed to put all the puzzle pieces in their right place. The girl was anemic from all the blood loss which wasn't such a severe condition given the right tools. The girl was quite fortunate to have run into him since only he had the right tools for her condition in his arsenal.
The Nebula system had given him full access to advanced medical equipment and his general knowledge regarding the field was already high. Life saving skills like CPR and emergency first aid was commonly taught in schools in his previous world.
Ironically, he had never had to use those skills in that world. And only after coming to this world did he find the first opportunity to use it.
"Don't worry too much. This is a simple condition that I can heal easily. Rest assured that she won't die." His words brought the soulless hunters back from the brink of despair as their eyes fluttered with gratitude and respect.
"BUT…"
Zach had never seen a scenario where a single word caused the downfall of a dozen men but he came very close to witnessing one after he uttered that 'BUT'. The hunters had almost lost their souls after hearing that word.
"BUT…I will need to take blood from someone amongst you in order to heal her."
Before they could fall further into despair, Zach completed his sentence and life returned to the hunters' eyes like the coming of spring.
"Is he a blood mage?" asked one of the servants to the other with wariness and caution clouding her judgment.
"He did ask for our blood. Can we trust him? Isn't that like throwing our master into the mouth of the wolf by our own volition?" replied the other with a look of horror on her face. She was obviously terrified after hearing the mention of the blood.
Blood magic was a branch of Black magic which was forbidden magic. Black magic was considered to be a taboo amongst the normal populace and was hated and feared in general. That was why the servants had such adverse reactions based on his demand for blood.
"It seems like he is going to transfer our vitality to the young lady through our blood. I have heard that blood mages can remain young forever through this method. I don't know how it works but at this moment it seems to be our only solution." The one to speak this time was the thin man who had shown hostility to Zach at the beginning.
"That seems to be the case. If he can save our master, I am willing to transfer all my remaining life to her so she can continue to live." thought one of the hunters who had been staying at the back of the group until that moment with a grief stricken look that made him look gaunt and unhealthy. He was too ashamed to look at his master due to his guilt for being a burden to his master. The young lady had gotten injured while trying to shield him from an attack that was meant for him.