33 – The White Liquid

Checo was about to climb the rock as well, but seeing several scorpions flying through the air, he restrained himself. The man could only stare at Elise's butt which kept moving upward.

"Hey, come down, Elise!" Checo shouted desperately. "You really are going to die!"

However, Elise kept climbing until she finally reached the top of the rock. After only a second of standing there, she had to duck to avoid a flying scorpion.

"It's now or never, Elise." Raymund hissed.

The top surface of the rock was relatively flat but not very wide. There was little room to run. Elise took a few inches back until her feet were really on edge, then dashed forward.

"Arrrgghhh!!!" The woman screamed. As soon as she reached the other end, she put great strength into her legs, then jumped up while spinning and stretching her sword.

Checo ran to the other side of the rock to see what was happening. The man was stunned. "Holy shit..."

Elise's body kept spinning in the air. Her sharp sword slashed flying scorpions. Rain of white liquid appeared from the many monsters hit by that whirlwind attack.

However, the attack only lasted a moment. In the end, Elise's body rotation slowed down. She screamed as her body finally started to fall. A loud thud echoed, her body rolling hard in the fields, knocking down the plants.

"How? Does it still hurt with that armor?" Raymund asked.

Elise was able to immediately get up and answer. "Errrr…. Not really, sir."

The female warrior grimaced in disgust as she watched her body almost entirely covered in a white liquid. She really wanted to take a shower to clean up that disgusting thing.

"Are you all right!?" Checo ran up to the woman, jumping over some fallen scorpion corpses. "I've never seen anything like that!"

"I'm okay...." Elise choked. Her ears heard more buzzing in the distance.

"What the..." Checo was at a loss for words.

From the direction of the forest, a different batch of flying scorpions came in more significant numbers.

Because of the shock, Elise couldn't move. The arrival of the new group of monsters meant that her efforts had been in vain. No matter how many monsters she defeats, there are still new monsters.

And then, from the opposite direction, came a deafening roar. The roar was like a beast, but it was foreign to Elise's ears. A strong wind then hit her from behind, and when she looked up, she saw a giant burst of fire. The flames grabbed several scorpions, which instantly fell with their bodies burning and smoking.

That flames came from a dark colored creature with a head like a lizard's, wings like a bat's, and maybe five times the size of a typical car. A dragon. And someone was riding on its back.

"Come on! This place might catch on fire!" Checo grabbed Elise's shoulder.

Elise gasped, looking around. The fire from the burning bodies of the scorpions had already spread, devouring the crops. Even the heat radiation has reached Elise's body.

"Come on, Elise!" Checo repeated his words louder.

As the images of her house burning flashed through her head, it took a while for Elise to come to her senses and run along.

"It's getting more interesting. I didn't expect a dragon to appear in that place." Raymund laughed like a child who had just gotten a toy. "Ask him, Elise! Who rode the beast!?"

"W-who is on that dragon's back?" Elise asked as per Raymund's instructions.

"You seem really new here, huh?" Checo frowned but answered the woman's question anyway. "He is Don Jorge who oversees this place. He is our boss."

The battle between the dragons and the scorpions continued. The fire beast found no trouble at all. If a scorpion managed to get close to it, the dragon would fly backward and spit the flames again.

However, as the number of burnt corpses of the scorpions increased, the fire that burned the fields grew even bigger. There were indeed water sprays here and there from magic users, but that wasn't enough.

"Our boss doesn't want his precious land to burn." Checo snorted, continuing to run. "He only brought out his dragons after many had died. An attack from that beast does have a high risk of burning the plants in this place."

Together with several guard members, Elise and Checo continued to run. And finally, they came out of the plantation area. Too tired and out of breath, Elise fell on the dirt road, covering her mouth because she wanted to vomit. Her sweat mixed with the thick liquid from the scorpion made her body feel even more uncomfortable.

This was worse than when the liquid from those jelly monsters soaked her and Renee's bodies.

***

Late afternoon, Elise walked toward a small river with clear water. Some women wash their bodies there. Instead of going with them, Elise stayed where she was, even though a lot of the white, sticky liquids were still stuck to her body.

"Hey, why just stand still? Why don't you clean yourself up yet?" A woman in a brown robe came up to the female warrior. Unlike Elise, the woman's body was not stained with white liquid.

Elise turned to the woman with short wavy black hair. In contrast to Checo, who have faces like people born in Latin countries, this woman looks like an ordinary European.

"I don't have a change of clothes," Elise answered.

"Don't worry, I've already brought you a change of clothes." The woman lifted a cloth bag while putting on a smile. "This is a request from Checo. He's very grateful to you."

"Don't take her word for it, Elise." Raymund gave a warning. "I know you really want to cleanse your body. However, she can steal your armor if you are careless."

"Errr..." Elise Gulped. "Thank you very much, but I can't do it. Sorry."

"Why?" The woman carrying the bag frowned. However, a few seconds later, she snapped her fingers. "Ah, I see. You're a cautious person, aren't you? Okay, then. I'll wash your armor and dry it. You can keep an eye on me while showering."

"Dry it out?"

"I am a mage who focuses on fire magic. Doing something like that is a piece of cake for me." The woman smiled again. "My name is Regina. Just call me Gina."