Ikaris laid the scarred young woman in his tent and proceeded to clean and bandage her wounds after boiling hot water. Some of the cuts were deep and needed to be sutured.
Unfortunately, he was no surgeon and his tools were not exactly state-of-the-art. His suturing needle, for example, was some kind of fish bone.
Danchun was out of the woods, but all those wounds would leave ugly scars. The beauty was forever disfigured.
That is, if they were still on Earth. In this world, he was confident that he could spare her this miserable fate. If finding a Healing Sorcerer proved impossible, he could still develop such a Secondary Spark on his own.
From being regularly pricked by the needle Ikaris was using to stitch her up as best he could, Danchun's captivating eyebrows began to twitch, her button nose scrunching up all the while. After yet another needle poke, she half-opened her eyelids, her exhausted eyes settling on the boy.
"How bad is it?" She asked in a hoarse voice.
"Do you want a heartwarming lie or the truth?" Ikaris replied impassively.
"Hey, I may look young but even Nardor is a junior in front of me. Tell me the truth, I can take it."
"Very well. Let's just say that as you are now, you could scare whatever is lurking in the Black Fog. Your wounds aren't serious, but the scars will remain unless we find a competent Healer. And when I'm done dressing your wounds, you'll look like a mummy so you may even stroll through the Black Fog without looking conspicuous..."
" Hell... Good one. Nothing Cultivation or Magic can't fix, then." Danchun winced as she ran her fingers over the wounds on her face.
"Don't touch!" Ikaris admonished her with a pat on her hand. He then took out a slab of fresh meat and said, "If you want to heal faster, eat some Rank 4 Meat and cultivate an adequate Spark."
To make it easier for her, the teenager cut the meat into small cubes and fed her the first few bites before embarrassment drove her to shoo him off to take over.
"I can do it alone, damn it. I'm disfigured, not quadriplegic." Danchun ranted in a semi-recumbent position.
Ikaris smirked. If she had the strength to snap at him, then she was already getting better. Glancing outside, he saw that the sun had been up for a while and said,
"I must summon the new villagers. When you've finished eating and feel ready, we should discuss how you escaped."
Danchun nodded glumly.
"I can tell you about it right now. There's no time to waste. If I took these risks, it was for a good reason." She stated dispassionately. "I know where these lycans reside and where the prisoners are kept."
When Ikaris came out of his tent a few minutes later, his face was covered with a gloomy mask. What he had feared had come true.
They weren't the only ones on this island. If it was just the lycans, he could have lived with it, but from the number of prisoners and all those different races, there must have been a bunch of villages, cities or tribes scattered all over Cutthroat Island.
The real conundrum was how Last Saint Village compared to these other factions. If they too had an Elsisn Stele, it might become quite problematic.
'Maybe I should talk to Anaphiel about it?' Ikaris hesitated inwardly. If she could lend him a few more Tartarus Enforcers, he would already be much more optimistic.
"Wait a little longer." Magnus disagreed. "If these tribes are native peoples of this island or descendants of the previous Lord's people, then they only have one Stele or so. If this Stele had been well used, the plain where we are would have been substituted long ago by a stately city. I am confident that the situation here is similar to that of the Barren Bush. You were wondering how to get villagers faster? Here is your chance."
"The situation may be similar to that of the Barren Bush, but the danger here is much greater." Ikaris snorted as he arrived in front of the summoning point. "Anyone who can survive here for this long can't be too weak."
"And you're not weak either. When you've finished assimilating all those Bloodsparks the Warring Lands will become your playground. Don't sell yourself short." The Vampire reminded him sternly.
Ikaris was silent for a moment, then let out a sigh,
"Let's hope you're right..."
A moment later, five women and nine men appeared before him. All human. As usual their talent was between D and E, but this time there were three Earthlings with C Talent among them.
The pleasant surprise was that two of them had combat potential.
[Kayden Jenkins, Profession: Special Forces]
[Connor Murdoch, Profession: UFC fighter]
[Mia Ocampo: Profession: Psychiatrist]
Ikaris recited his usual welcome speech with a touch of phlegm this time, leaving Ellie the privilege of looking after the new refugees and teaching them everything they needed to know about the Forsaken Lands.
The boy was surprised not to see Malia up, but when he returned to his tent he saw her at Danchun's bedside with a quivering face filled with anger and guilt. She had sniffed the smell of her dried blood as soon as she left the cottage.
"Ikaris. We better hurry up and free the others." She pleaded with him as she heard him come in, biting her lip to blood without realizing it.
"That's the plan, but we can't compromise the safety of Last Saint and his villagers." The boy was not coaxed by her puppy eyes. "I'll go on a reconnaissance trip first to get a better understanding of our enemy."
"Then I'll come with you."
"Only if you have a Stealth Spell or an ability to erase your presence AND your scent." Ikaris immediately put a condition. "We're dealing with lycans with an unusual sense of smell. It would be a shame to get busted and have them change their hideout."
Far from deterring her, Malia was quick to brag haughtily,
"Don't worry about me. I'm half Kitsune and half vampire. Illusions, hypnosis, and stealth are my specialties. As for scent, I have a spell for that since Grallu taught me to hunt."
As he met the young woman's determined and unwavering gaze, Ikaris understood that he would never change her mind. Rather than waste time he growled,
"We leave in five minutes."
"Yaay! You won't regret it." She promised with a big smile.
"Please, don't raise death flags." The teenager facepalmed as he exited the tent.
Before leaving, he had to check one more thing. He made his way to Kellam, Taguchi and Marvin's tent, but his expression took a turn before he even got inside. It was far too quiet.
He stormed in and found only Taguchi meditating naked and covered in sweat, his face constantly contorting as if he were resisting something extremely unpleasant. His tunic and that of the two missing persons were in tatters, scattered in the tent.
Compared to the day before, the otaku's muscles were much more toned, his black hair was longer, and he had lost the sickly pallor typical of a homebound otaku.
"Taguchi, where are Kellam and Marvin?" Ikaris asked tersely, jolting the wretched asocial man awake.
When the man opened his eyes, two yellow eyes glowed fiercely in the darkness of the tent. The savagery on the Japanese man's face lessened as he recognized his Lord. He tried to gather his wits and then spoke,
"It was Kellam's idea. The moon was almost full last night and we underestimated how much it would affect us. When the Alpha called us the third time, Marvin immediately shapeshifted and ran out of the tent. Kellam decided to transform as well to keep an eye on him, but also to spy on the enemy camp."
Ikaris was stumped as he listened to his explanation. It was something Kellam could have done, but he didn't expect him to be so selfless. After Danchun's sacrifice, the Dwilde had also taken huge risks.
"The fur of their Werewolf form must also have natural runes like these boars." Magnus calmly hypothesized. "That explains why the Alpha took the risk of summoning them in the dead of night, but it's still dangerous."
The teen frowned but didn't utter another word. After giving Taguchi some more meat, he joined Malia at the entrance to the village and they set off, leaving Nardor and Ellie to look after Last Saint in their absence.
As soon as they reached the forest they activated their Stealth Spell. Ikaris literally became invisible, his existence distinctly fading, and Malia performed a similar feat with her illusion magic.
Following Danchun's directions, they easily found the entrance to the burrow she had escaped through about 11 kilometers from the village. It was hidden under thick brambles and they had to wander several kilometers into the forest to find it.
They could not imagine for the life of them how the dancer had survived the return journey with all her injuries.
