"Shit..."

Dirk cursed as he turned back, Ava quickly following him. Under the cover of darkness, he rushed to Casma's side. Dirk disregarded the panicking Garet as he began undressing her wounds, swiftly taking off the bandages.

What he saw was alarming. Despite having tied off her leg, the bandages were soaked. Dirk threw out the bandages before looking at the wounds again.

'Don't tell me...'

Dirk felt a bit of concern as he observed the wounds. He suddenly spoke.

"Light. Make it dim."

"O-oh."

Hearing this, Alec stumbled before bringing out his hand, forming a ball of faint light. With that, Dirk could see more clearly. He used his AI to scan the wounds.

[Scanning...]

Both the AI and Dirk looked at the wounds. Dirk was unsympathetic as he used his fingers to slightly spread the slices. This caused Casma to squeal in pain.

He disregarded her discomfort and observed the wounds around her thigh. The wounds continued to drip blood. This much would usually seem normal, but Dirk found it worrying.

Sure enough, he didn't receive good news.

[Warning! Arterial rupture detected!]

The AI let out an alert as it highlighted a section of the wound, making Dirk's face turn grimmer. A broken artery was lethal, especially after they had traveled for a long time. No wonder the bandages were soaked.

Dirk hadn't seen this before since they were trying to move quickly. His top priority was to keep moving lest more skinks converge on them, otherwise even Garet would get hurt, and that would increase the chances of someone dying. But now the situation was bad.

Dirk looked at Casma, grabbing her wrist and feeling her pulse. Her heart rate was faster, but it was also weaker than normal. This meant she had lost a lot of blood.

"Alec."

Dirk finally opened his mouth.

"Use all your healing power on her leg, right on the thigh. Do it now."

"R-right!"

Alec was panicked as he dispelled the light and kneeled down next to Casma. He placed his hands on her thigh, using his healing ability.

Casma's thigh glowed a bit, Alec's light element streaming into her. He concentrated it on the thigh as much as he could. And for the most part, it stopped the bleeding. Some of the more shallow areas even scabbed over, beginning the healing process.

He did this until he used all the energy he could. He stopped as a splitting headache overcame him. With that, Dirk looked back over the wounds.

'It looks alright... wait.'

On first glance, it looked like Alec had solved the problem. However, after Dirk summoned a fire for light, he could see a dark purple spread around the wound. This wasn't a normal bruise.

"Damn!"

Dirk cursed as he saw swelling. Suddenly, everyone saw him take out a knife, he put it up to the recently healed wound.

*Slice!*

Garet was shocked as Dirk cut the wound back open. When this happened, blood came pouring out. Dirk confirmed his suspicions. The artery hadn't been healed by Alec. Casma could only shudder under the pain he kept causing.

"Well, we're doing this the hard way. Ava."

"Yes."

Ava rushed to Dirk's side.

"Hold down her arms. Don't let her move."

"O-okay..."

Ava unsurely nodded her head. She moved to Casma's head, grabbing her elbows and holding them against the floor. Both girls felt a foreboding feeling come over them.

"Good. Now, you."

Dirk suddenly turned his gaze to Garet. Garet was startled as he met Dirk's apathetic eyes.

"If you do anything and try to stop me, just know that she may die. You're going to stand to the side and do nothing while I handle this. If I hear any demands or yelling, then I'll leave you both here. She'll die within the hour, and you'll die to the lizards. Am I understood?"

"..."

Garet was shocked, but then gritted his teeth. He knew that Dirk was helping Casma keep her life, but now his hate had gone beyond him treating her harshly. Garet simply didn't want to listen to him at all. With this threat though, he could only nod his head despite how much he wanted to punch Dirk in the face.

Seeing this nod, Dirk turned back around. No matter what, Garet couldn't do anything to him. Everything from Casma's to his own survival was up to him. If he could muster the self control to keep his mouth shut, then they would get through this relatively fine.

Dirk turned his attention back to Casma. He took off his armor as well as his shirt. After putting the torso armor back on, Dirk took the shirt and used it as a rope to tie it around Casma's mouth. This would act as a gag as well as something to bite down on.

Then, after resting some of his weight on Casma's uninjured leg, he took out his knife again. His hand came up to the blade, creating a ball of hot fire. This fire heated the blade until it was red hot, glowing obviously in the dark night.

Everyone who was watching felt their hearts sink. They didn't want to believe their speculations.

"Ava, do not let her move. Keep her pinned. I don't care how much she struggles. Understood?"

"...Yes."

Ava barely nodded as Dirk reiterated himself. Dirk then turned his gaze to Casma who looked at him with fear in her eye.

"This'll hurt a bit, but it'll end quickly."

With that, Dirk moved the knife. The red hot blade approached the wound where blood continued to stream from.

It touched.

*Tsss!*

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"AARRGHHH!!"

Casma let out a guttural roar as her entire body jolted. The red hot knife seared her flesh like it was meat on a skillet. Dirk was merciless as the knife pushed deep into the wound, truly searing all the flesh around it.

Garet watched this, his face horrified. He wanted to tackle Dirk, but barely held himself back. He just stood in place in shock, watching as he burned his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Ava used her strength to keep Casma pinned. Dirk also put his free hand over Casma's mouth, stifling the yells that the gag didn't muffle.

Thankfully, the process didn't last long. Dirk removed the knife after several seconds. Taking a look at the wound, not only had the bleeding stopped, but there was no swelling. The artery had been sealed.

Dirk let out a light breath before plunging the knife into the dirt to cool it. After that, he grabbed some more bandages and wrapped Casma's leg again. He also untied the rope that was cutting off circulation. He didn't want to harm her entire leg.

After the knife was removed, Casma continued to groan, tears streaming from her eyes. That pain was truly horrible. She never even knew she could feel such pain.

After tending to the wounds, Dirk untied Casma's mouth before standing up and letting her be. There was no way he was moving Casma right away. He could only let her rest a bit.

He scanned around and stood guard. The group was silent for around an hour as they sat around. Casma eventually quieted, the pain in her leg turning to a horrible ache. At that time though, Dirk spoke.

"...We're not resting here. Prepare to keep moving."

"..."

His words went into Casma's ears like those of a devil. Garet was also shocked. How could they move in this condition?

"You..."

"We can't stay here. Not all skinks are asleep. We're sitting ducks if we get caught, and I might not be able to protect you in that case. We have a couple hours to the haven, after that we can rest."

"..."

Hearing Dirk, Garet couldn't refute. Casma couldn't even stand by herself, let alone put up a fight. If a skink got to her and he couldn't do anything about it, then there was a high chance she would die. Even Alec was unable to fight for a while after exhausting his strength. Only Ava and Dirk could fight, and the part of the dungeon they were in had groups of four skinks. Let alone Casma, even he might die if the situation took a wrong turn.

He kept quiet. Seeing that, Dirk turned and bent down next to Casma. He scooped up her torso, making her sit before standing her up. She shuddered as waves of pain flooded her leg alongside her blood flow.

"Alec, get up."

Dirk spared nobody, calling on Alec as well. Alec had a headache, but his body was still full of energy. He had Alec take his spot under Casma's arm, disregarding how much pain he was in. Alec could only grit his teeth and push through the headache. He couldn't exactly complain in front of Casma.

After Garet supported Casma's other arm, Dirk nodded and walked off. Ava was right next to him as they took up a position far away. Like this, the group continued moving as they had before. Now though, Alec and Garet basically had to drag Casma. With their strength though, such a thing was easy.

They moved slower than Dirk thought, but trekked forward well. Dirk and Ava fought quite a few groups of skinks as they walked for 2 and a half hours. At that time, Dirk finally spotted a large fortress. Beckoning everyone over, they all hurried into the haven.

Upon entering the building and finding an open space, Casma was carefully laid down. After finally getting to rest, she cried a bit before quickly passing out. Everyone else was too tired to notice this besides Garet.

After unpacking blankets, Alec, Ava, and Garet were quick to fall asleep as well, not bothering to pitch their tents.

Dirk, on the other hand, went back to Casma. As everyone was asleep, he placed a bag next to her body. He then woke her up with some cold water.

"Ah! W-what?"

Casma panicked as she was startled awake. When she saw Dirk though, she went quiet. After that, weakness came over her. Her body had lost a lot of blood, and she couldn't even lift a finger. Her fear of Dirk also compelled her to not resist.

"Sorry to wake you, but you can't sleep just yet. Eat this."

Dirk sat next to her hand put out a piece of bread. Casma was confused but didn't disobey him. She weakly accepted the bread, nibbling on it for a while before finishing it.

After that, Dirk kept handing her food, mostly dried meat. Meat had protein and nutrients that Casma seriously needed in order to heal. He forced her to eat and drink water until she was completely full, only then allowing her to go back to sleep with the promise that she wouldn't be awakened again. With that, she passed out once more. Dirk also made himself a bed. However, he didn't go to sleep.

Dirk had noticed, but they weren't the only group there. There was another group that had been roused from their sleep by Dirk's group's entrance. They had watched them before going back to their tents. However, with his group in the state it was in, Dirk wasn't about to expose a weakness. He sat alongside some of their bags, facing the other group's tents with a vigilant gaze.

Dirk was especially wary after having been attacked in the town. While he knew that these people probably didn't pose any threat, he didn't want to take chances. He sat there for the entire night. During that time, he didn't just stalk the other group, but also practice his enchanting. He kept working on the rune he needed to form, gradually consuming his energy as he tried dozens of different formations.

............

Several hours later, the sun began to rise. However, none of Dirk's group awakened. Dirk, on the other hand, had never gone to sleep. He watched as light gradually filled the haven. Finally, he saw the other group rouse from their sleep. They piled out of their tents one by one.

Naturally, they were curious about the newcomers. When they glanced over though, they only met Dirk's blank gaze. While he didn't watch over them like a hawk, his blatant vigilance made things a bit awkward.

The group eventually ignored him as they went on to cook some food. After an hour or so, they all wrapped up and put on their gear, preparing to leave and hunt. At this time, one of the men in the group split off and walked in Dirk's direction. Seeing this, Dirk stood up.

"Hey kid."

The man who looked around 18 years old approached. Dirk just nodded.

"We're about to leave. We plan on leaving our items here since we're the only ones who come this far. I hope we come back to our things the way they were before."

The man spoke with a threatening smile. Looking at him, Dirk could sense a very real combat ability from the man. However, he wasn't fazed. He maintained his blank stare, just looking at the man as if he were some average, random person not worth paying attention to.

"I have no interest in your things."

Dirk spoke plainly before sitting back down in his seat. Seeing this blatant disregard, the man felt a tinge of anger well up within him. He turned with a huff.

"Good. I hope for your sake that's true."

With that snark, the man walked away, meeting with his group before walking out of the haven. The man was in a group of four, two men and two girls, and the other three glanced at Dirk before leaving.

Dirk watched them leave. He truly wasn't interested in their things. They likely took their loot with them regardless of whether there were people or not. Either way, he wasn't one to steal things just because he could.

After that, Dirk continued to practice his enchanting. Through the night, he had succeeded in creating another rune. This would make just about four runes out of the dozens he needed. It was also one of the easy ones, but he was making steady progress toward the harder ones. The gradual increase in skill would ensure that he could tackle the hard runes when he came to them.

After a few hours though when the sun had already risen above the horizon, Dirk heard rustling near him. He turned to see Ava waking up. She pushed herself to a sitting position before taking a minute to remember where she was.

"...Dirk?"

"Right here."

"Oh. Good..."

Ava let out a breath when she found Dirk. All the previous events of the night came back to her at that time. She was silent as she recalled everything that happened. It was truly a bit shocking. If it weren't for Dirk's odd familiarity as to how to handle Casma's wounds, she probably would have died. It was only now that Ava was realizing this oddity, but because this wasn't the first time Dirk had shown such skills, she didn't worry about it much. She was only thankful.

"How's Casma? We should probably check her wounds."

"No, let her be. When she wakes up we'll check them."

Dirk shook his head. Unfortunately, without the supplies of an actual hospital, there wasn't much they could do for Casma. Dirk didn't have any cleaning supplies, splints, stitches, numbing agents, or anything else he would need to properly mend her wounds. The only thing he could let her do was rest and let her body recover some strength. That was the reason he fed her so much food the night before.

"Oh..."

Ava nodded to him. After rubbing her eyes, she moved over to the pile of bags that comprised his bed. When she saw that he had no blankets, she frowned.

"Aren't you cold? How'd you sleep last night?"

"I didn't sleep."

"Huh?"

Ava turned to him in surprise.

"At all?"

"I was keeping watch. There was another group here."

"So?! How could you not sleep?!"

"Relax. Since you're up, I can sleep now."

Dirk sighed as he shifted, laying flat and using the bags he was leaning against as a pillow. Once he was comfortable, he closed his eyes with his head facing the ceiling.

Ava watched him as his breathing became shallow and his face relaxed. Thinking for a second, she got up and grabbed a blanket, laying it over him. He was still only in his armor.

After that, she sat next to him, watching his face. She subconsciously combed her fingers through his brown, wavy hair, straightening it out. Dirk never let his hair get so long that he could put it into a ponytail, but he still maintained some length.

To Dirk, perhaps this long hair was a symbol of defiance. He always had to keep his hair short on Earth, but with his newfound freedom, he could let it get as long as he wanted.