Chapter 3998: Coward’s Blood (Part 1) "You refused to make camp, and I’m the only reason you are still alive." Nalrond said. "Without my survival spells, we wouldn’t have lasted a day. Without me, you would have never found your way to the nearest oasis in the ever-shifting sands of the Blood Desert. "If you didn’t stick to me this whole time, you would have become a dried corpse, like it probably happened to your idiot friends. The least you could do is thank me." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 "Fine. Thank you." Friya sighed. "Now what? Can you call for help?" "Yeah, right. Help!" Nalrond’s voice held enough sarcasm to make the Yellow Wind tribe laugh and Friya’s blood boil, even though the conversation was staged. "Sorry, Milady. There’s nothing I can do without a communication amulet." That was the final nail in the alleged coffin of the two alleged lost travellers. "No communication amulet, no mention of dimensional magic, and neither of them is scared of the other." Hassar said, and the two other tribal leaders nodded. "The woman must be a noble who bought a powerful weapon she probably can’t use, and the man must have invested all his money in that blade." "A wise choice." Sehir nodded. "The Desert is a treacherous place, and there is no point in earning a lot of gold if you die before you can spend it." "I agree with the chieftain." Tarek leaned as close to Lith’s prototype as the arrays allowed her. "The young man is of too poor means to be a real mage. That sword has a horrible design, and the craftsmanship is too rough to be the work of an expert. "I bet that he bought his weapon from the apprentice of an expert because it was all he could afford." Without Invigoration or a Forgemastering spell, there was no way to establish the power of an artifact aside from imprinting and using it. Tarek’s estimate failed to take into account that Nalrond’s blade wasn’t meant to be sold or displayed. "On my mark." Hassar raised his hand, and the soldiers let go of the hostages. They switched their blades for spears and assumed a crescent-shaped formation right in front of the edges of the cloaking arrays, trapping the lost travelers between the lake and a field of sharp steel. Tarek finished conjuring her spells and nodded at the chieftain whose fists were already ablaze with violet flames. "Mark!" At Hassar’s mental command, the corridor in the cloaking arrays disappeared. Friya and Nalrond could now see the people of the Yellow Wind tribe and their prisoners without the help of the Eyes of Menadion. The Agni’s eyes went wide, and his muscles tensed as the spears prickled his neck, making it bleed. ’These guys may be humans, but they wield enchanted weapons. Fuck.’ He inwardly thought. Friya yelped in surprise. She needed sheer willpower to raise her hands in surrender instead of moving them to the hilt of Dreadnought, but it paid off. The people of the Yellow Wind tribe bought her act and lowered their guard. Tarek put away the Home Stone, the remaining soldiers standing guard over the prisoners walked closer to enjoy the show, and the mage apprentices recalled the evacuation protocol. "You’d better not move, Miss." Hassar threw Friya a long, appreciative look, but he never dispelled the Raging Sun in his hands. "It’s always a pity to spoil such good merchandise, but I’m a simple man, and I prefer not taking unnecessary risks." Friya swallowed hard, the frustration from holding back her fighting instinct made a decent replacement for the panic she didn’t feel. "Who are you and what do you want?" She said, looking around like a trapped animal while she took in the dimensional coordinates of the key areas of the village. "One thing at a time, Miss. Drop your weapons on the ground and kick them towards me. Slowly." Hassar said, pointing his open palms at her while Tarek shifted the sand around Nalrond into spinning blades. The couple did as bidden, trying their best to look scared. ’No Awakened.’ Friya said via the underground mind link. ’The bearded guy is a deep violet while the old perv is a bright blue.’ ’Old perv?’ Nalrond asked in confusion. Sehir’s lustful gaze left no doubt about his plans for Friya, but he was barely older than her. ’The old hag staring at you like a slab of meat.’ She replied. ’Oh, that perv.’ He inwardly nodded. "Now, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to strip. Both of you." Hessar’s lecherous told them he was anything but sorry. "We can’t risk you hiding an alchemical tool or a hidden weapon." "Fine!" Nalrond pulled up his robe, revealing his chiseled legs, abs, and chest, drawing half the gazes of the Yellow Wind tribe in admiration and the other half in envious contempt. When he lowered his arms to throw the robe on the ground, however, long bone spikes erupted from his forearms. He cut swathes of spears like grass and charged forward before the soldiers could recover from the surprise. His shapeshifting into his Agni form and the white desert robe turning into a pool of quicksilver that coated his gray scales with enchanted metal made the entire Yellow Wind tribe freeze like deer in headlights. Surprise turned into panic as Nalrond broke through the shattered formation of the soldiers and his blades through their flesh and bones. Panic became mayhem as lopped limbs and heads fell to the ground, accompanied by fountains of blood. "Take him down!" Hassar ordered. "Take them both down!" He turned towards Friya just to discover she wasn’t there anymore. More screams of pain and cries for help erupted behind him, where the woman had suddenly appeared. Somehow, the rapier was back in her hands, and she used it like a master to protect the still chained prisoners, stabbing anyone who dared approach them. Friya killed the soldiers who had managed to escape her blade’s reach with a hail of fire, setting people and tents ablaze. ’They can use dimensional magic!’ Hassar thought. ’It was all a ruse to make us lower our guard and get to the prisoners.’ The mad beast, the bloodthirsty woman, and the raging fire were each a threat that could end the Yellow Wind tribe by itself. To make matters worse, the Agni stood in front of the lake, making it impossible to form a bucket line to douse the flames. "Tarek! Sehir! The woman!" Hassar drew his khopesh and charged against the mad beast. "Everyone else, retreat!" The soldiers of the Yellows Wind turned their backs to the Agni into a frenzied sprint rather than attempt an orderly retreat, taking Nalrond by surprise. ’It’s a suicidal move unless-’ Unless the chieftain unleashed the Raging Sun without waiting for his men to be at a safe distance. The tier five spell mixed the earth and fire elements to produce a small-scale volcanic eruption whose destructive power could tear down a castle’s gates. The sand below the Agni’s feet turned into lava and then exploded upwards, throwing him in the air. Hassar then released his second tier five spell, Cruel Sun, dousing Nalrond in darkness-infused raging flames.