Elaine and Zeke watched carefully as Ulmak manifested his soul. A weapon the exact characteristics of which they could not perceive. It was a blurred existence, something that sliced through the veil of the world and could not be witnessed with the naked eye.

Ulmak charged through the beasts, cleaving them with his spear as if they were butter. His movements appeared flawless, as if they were the climax of a lifetime of hard work.

“Get out of here!” Ulmak screamed as the beasts swarmed around him.

Suddenly, without Elaine noticing, a creature snuck up behind her. She fumbled as the beast charged straight at her, trying to dodge out of the way, but it was too late. Just as the beast was about to pierce her with its horn.

Zeke intervened, embracing the crawler as its attack sunk deep into his gut. He grabbed the creature as tightly as he could and, using all of his strength, he slowly carried it over to one of the geysers.

He pressed the beast against the ground, pushing it into an opening, hearing it squirm as the ground beneath the two started shaking. The creature clawed, flailing its body, but to no avail, Zeke’s grasp was too tight.

Suddenly, a jet of hot water blasted the two upwards. Zeke avoided most of the scorching water by positioning the Crawler directly below himself, only suffering burns on his arms and back. The beast imploded; its horn shattered into small fragments.

Zeke flopped down to the ground, unconscious.

Elaine looked at Zeke, overcome with terror and desperation. She picked up his body as she turned her head towards Ulmak.

“Ulmak!” she cried in desperation.

Ulmak glanced over at the two. He extended his hand towards the two, six stone pillars grew out of the ground twisting into a half-spherical shield.

“Run away, I’ll keep these guys off your back!” Ulmak screamed to Elaine.

“But…” she mumbled.

“Take care of the boy, Elaine!” Ulmak ordered with an angry expression.

Elaine put Zeke on top of her back and took off running as fast as she could. Her legs cramped up, but she paid them no mind. She kept repeatedly looking up at Zeke, silently pleading for the boy to be alive. Loud noises of Ulmak’s battle kept echoing throughout the cave, but Elaine didn’t notice.

She ran until she saw a small opening on the side wall of the cave.

“Elaine!” she heard a voice call out to her, the origin of which she could not identify. “Take him there,” the voice instructed.

She looked down at the tunnel, feeling a strange sensation overtaking her body. A feeling of ease, like her body moved faster than usual.

She carefully placed Zeke down on the ground, putting one of her arms below his back, and began crawling through the crevice.

The tunnel was long, cold, and damp. Elaine powered through, pushing herself and Zeke as fast as she could. The skin on her arms and elbows became completely worn off from rubbing against the hard rock surfaces. She treaded on, leaving a trail of blood behind, mostly Zeke’s and partially her own.

At the end, she saw an opening. An area of about 60 square meters, the majority of which was filled with a strange green bubbling liquid.

The liquid splashed, landing on one of her wounds.

“Ugh,” she groaned in pain as she felt a strong burn.

When she inspected the wound, she noticed that it had started to close.

Her eyes widened.

In a rush, she examined Zeke to identify his injuries.

“Broken ribs, fractured spine, pierced stomach, torn intestines,” she muttered while inspecting the boy.

Elaine gathered a small vial of the green liquid into her water bottle and poured it over a scratch on his face. Immediately, the wound closed up.

She sighed.

“Alright, let’s see how potent this stuff is,” she whispered before pulling out her pocketknife.

Using the knife, Elaine cut out shards of the shattered horn that were still left in Zeke’s body. With the help of the liquid, she mended the torn parts of his intestines by joining the two ends together and pouring the fluid over them. With the help of the liquid, she healed most of Zeke’s internal organs.

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In the span of the next 2 hours, all of Zeke’s wounds had closed up, leaving behind a large scar where the crawler pierced him.

In prayer, Elaine set Zeke down while using the nearby dry wines to start a fire to keep him warm.

For two days, she watched over him, and to her great surprise, he eventually woke up.

“What happened?” Zeke asked upon opening his eyes.

Elaine looked down at the boy with tears flooding out of her eyes.

“You saved me,” she said, failing to hold back her tears.

He sat up, placing his hand on his stomach.

“I seem to be doing okay for someone who got impaled,” Zeke smirked.

“I found this thing, this liquid that was able to heal all of your wounds,” Elaine explained while pointing towards the green glowing pool.

“No way!” Zeke exclaimed. “Do you know what this is?” he asked with a shocked expression.

“No clue,” Elaine replied.

“It’s Vita-fluid,” Zeke stated while making eye contact.

Elaine averted her gaze.

“I still don’t know what that is,” she replied awkwardly, turning away.

“You know all of those Health-tonics they sell at the auction house?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah,” Elaine replied.

“Well, they’re made of diluted vita-fluid. This stuff is so potent it can heal any injury and purify any infection. They dilute it because it’s a waste to use it otherwise,” Zeke explained.

“Then I’m lucky to have come across this place!” Elaine smiled.

“Did you, by chance, hear a voice directing you here?” Zeke wondered with a blank stare.

“As a matter of fact, I did. How did you know what?” Elaine asked.

Zeke gazed into the distance.

“It was Fox,” he stated with a slight sigh.

“Wait what!? How do you know that?!” Elaine exclaimed.

“He approached me when I was scouting out the path to the geyser field and told me what lies ahead,” Zeke explained.

“Is that even allowed?” Elaine questioned in shock.

“He called it ‘leveling the playing field’, so I guess not,” Zeke smirked.

He stood up, did a few stretches, and then looked at Elaine.

“Your hair has grown out,” he said, pointing to her dark roots.

“I’ll need to dye it again,” she stated while playing with her hair. “What color do you think would suit me?” she asked with a warm smile.

“I’d keep it natural”, Zeke scratched his head and lowered his gaze.

“BOOOORING!” Elaine shouted. “I’ll go with pink,” she laughed. “Let’s get you fed,” Elaine stood up, pointing towards the campfire.

The two sat down. Elaine made a stew using some food she had in her bag.

“You know, for a moment there, I thought you were a goner,” She stared into her bowl with a sad expression, “I don’t know what I would do If I lost another teammate,” she continued as her hands started to shake.

“It’s funny hearing you say that, considering your reaction to first meeting me,” Zeke laughed.

“Look! You’re right. It was wrong of me to treat you in such a way. But I’ve been through a lot recently.” Elaine cleared her throat. “I used to have a group of friends. Me, Mitch, and Jamie. We grew up together on the streets, we became orphans from an early age, so it was natural for us to stick together. There weren’t many ways for a few children to make ends meet on the streets of this cruel city. So, we began doing odd jobs, anything that would put food on the table. Eventually, on one of our gigs, we met an old man. We didn’t know it at the time, but that guy was a legend on the streets of lower babel. They called him the Bull-headed boxer. He taught us everything about being mercenaries, from fighting to negotiations with clients. Eventually, my teacher was approached by the man known as Phoenix. He offered him a million credits to assassinate the pale reaper. And as you know from your conversation with Ulmak, that guy is untouchable. I begged my teacher not to go, but he didn’t listen. He told me it was a matter of pride for him to fight. There was a knight’s operation aimed at capturing Phoenix. The whole thing was an ambush set up by my master and Phoenix. But it didn’t work. The pale reaper killed my master in that fight. Michael and Jamie swore to take revenge against Phoenix, but they couldn’t even contend with the weakest of his goons.” Elaine explained with a sorrowful expression.

She put down her bowl.

“That’s why I’m here. That’s why I need to become a contractor. I need strength to avenge my teacher, but as I am now, going there would be suicide,” she continued.

Zeke stood up..

“I’ve heard a story about someone obtaining regenerative abilities by swimming in vita-fluid,” Zeke said, to change the topic of conversation.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not true, but I think I’ll give it a try, plus it’ll heal any of my leftover injuries,” he stated while unbuttoning his shirt.

Zeke undressed and stepped into the pool of green glowing liquid. Immediately, the scar on his stomach started to glow and disappear, emitting green dust-like particles.

Elaine approached the pool, taking off her shoes and dipping her feet into the liquid. Green particles started to come off her feet, healing her calluses.

He looked up at the ceiling of the cave.

“I wonder if it’s nighttime,” Zeke said to Elaine.

“Yeah, me too,” Elaine replied, visibly flustered.

“I could do with a view of the stars,” Zeke sighed.

“Just imagine them, and pretend that they’re there,” Elaine giggled.

Zeke looked at Elaine.

“Care for a swim?” he said, mowing slightly away from her.

“I’m good,” Elaine averted her gaze.

“Oh, come on,” Zeke said, before splashing vita-fluid at Elaine.

“Fine,” she said, leaving to undress.

She slowly took off her clothes, hiding behind a stone pillar. Zeke turned around so as not to make Elaine feel uncomfortable as she dropped into the pool. She snuck up behind Zeke and hugged him. As their skin touched, it created a certain squeaky friction that carried unexplainable comfort along with it.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” she whispered into his ear before gently biting it.

Zeke blushed. She turned him around, kissing him on the lips. First, she gently caressed his upper lip, and then she playfully bit the lower. Zeke pushed her away, slamming her into a stone wall directly behind them. Elaine groaned in arousement, digging her nails into Zeke’s muscular back.

Zeke gently kissed her neck, moving up to her lips. Elaine moaned, pushing Zeke back in an attempt to regain some semblance of control.

She climbed atop a stone protruding from the edge of the pool and spread her legs, pushing Zeke towards herself. For a moment, the two embraced. Elaine dug her nails even deeper into Zeke’s back, leaving behind wounds that closed up almost immediately because of the effects of the fluid.

Instinctually, Zeke slowly but surely started thrusting his hips, increasing in intensity as he went deeper inside of her, causing Elaine to moan with every ounce of her being. She grabbed Zeke by the chin and kissed him, forcing her tongue into his mouth.

The two spent a passionate night in each other’s embrace, not getting a single ounce of sleep out of it.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/V67nzfMP/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]