Ashen Crucible

Chapter Twenty: Desire

Chapter Twenty: Desire (Part 1)

Another ten meters!

Su's jade-green pupils constricted violently as his body erupted with scorching heat. He launched into a sprint, every muscle fiber mobilized to achieve unparalleled coordination. Calculating rebound forces from each footfall with precision, he optimized energy distribution to reach near-maximum velocity within seven meters and four explosive strides. Like a leopard pouncing, he closed on the shrubbery - in those wide panicked eyes reflecting his own image, he saw his target.

A swishing sound cut through air as Su grazed past the bushes. At this velocity, his composite dagger sliced effortlessly through everything in its path - including the skull housing those terrified eyes.

It took Su eight meters to skid to a halt. He glanced at the black-green blood staining his blade before turning to examine the trampled shrubs.

A humanoid creature lay amidst the foliage. Standing barely a meter tall with faint green skin and a disproportionately large head, it wore crude leather armor and clutched a barbed javelin. A blowpipe hung at its waist beside a leather pouch. Su's lightning strike had split its skull, though its limbs still twitched involuntarily. The creature's sinewy musculature suggested extreme agility.

Kneeling beside the corpse, Su pried open its mouth to examine snake-like fangs with hollow venom channels. The javelin's hardwood tip bore blood-groove carvings designed to maximize tissue damage. When Su examined the blowpipe, a 15cm dart tipped with grooved animal teeth fell out, its bitter odor confirming neurotoxic poison.

After test-firing a dart into distant tree bark, Su methodically stripped the corpse. No metal components were found - even the armor combined mysterious lightweight bones with nearly indestructible leather. The darts' machine-precision uniformity suggested industrial manufacturing, contradicting the primitive appearance.

Night fell with deceptive calm.

By the time Mad Dog discovered the body at dawn, rapid decomposition had bloated the corpse with stench. Unfazed, the mercenary dissected the remains before planting composite explosives in its abdomen and encircling it with extracted fangs.

The trap detonated violently when natives returned at midday, bone shrapnel cutting down seven warriors.

Meanwhile, Su tracked fresh footprints toward dense woodland. High in the canopy, his enhanced senses detected bitter body odors and sap-scarred branches revealing natives' arboreal mobility.

A commotion drew him to the forest edge - ten natives marched through, carrying paralyzed Xie Na on a litter. The rear guard wore feathered headdress and wielded a serrated bone sword.

Su struck like a viper, dropping from branches to ambush the rearguard. Their bone blade deflected his dagger briefly before Su's full-body slam drove steel through its throat. Snatching the weapon, he blew a poisoned dart into another native's neck, watching the victim convulse mid-air.

Chaos erupted as Su hurled the bone sword like a buzzsaw, severing legs. Dodging javelins, he scaled a tree only to descend moments later and slit throats of wounded natives. Four remaining warriors swarmed the trunk, but Su reappeared at ground level for close-quarters s*******r.

Victory came at cost - a javelin had pierced Su's side, while a stray dart numbed his leg. After painfully extracting the projectile, he limped toward Xie Na.

Her paralyzed body showed a dart wound below the left breast. Su squeezed black blood from the puncture before administering her antidote kit.

"Thank you. You saved me again," Xie Na rasped as mobility returned.

"I wanted dead things, not you," Su replied tersely, retightening his blood-soaked bandages.

When Xie Na insisted on departing alone, Su silently hoisted her onto his back. Her right hand secretly tightened around a salvaged javelin tip as they vanished into the shadows.

Chapter Twenty: Desire (Part 2)

"Thank you..." Xie Na murmured against Su's ear, her body warming as full breasts pressed against his back.

Su froze. His right hand snapped down to crush her wrist with steel grip. Despite her delicate appearance, Xie Na's arm now pulsed with rock-hard strength, desperately driving the salvaged javelin tip deeper into his right flank. Though Su overpowered her, the weapon had already buried ten centimeters before his intervention.

When two more thrusts failed, Xie Na coiled like a spring. Her powerful legs pistoned against Su's back, propelling her backward in a gymnast's flip. She landed light-footed, all traces of paralysis vanished.

The kick sent Su stumbling forward. He turned slowly, observing Xie Na from five meters away before glancing at the protruding weapon. Grasping the blood-slicked tip, he extracted it with methodical calm. "Why?" His tone could've been inquiring about the weather.

Xie Na smoothed disheveled hair, predatory gaze locked on his spreading bloodstain. "You saved me twice. Without you today, those monsters would've devoured me. You're decent - would've made good lover material. Had you graduated, you might've risen high in Dark Dragon Riders. But 'had' is the word. Your head's worth a fortune now - plus a guaranteed Rider commission."

"For that?" Su adjusted his bandages, cinching the wound tighter.

"That's enough to sell any dignity." Bitterness tinged her voice. She made no move to stop his first aid, knowing the neurotoxin she'd endured would soon paralyze him permanently. Part of her found relief - neural damage would spare him future pain.

"Who paid?" Su gripped his dagger, posture unchanged.

"The Cookes." Her bitter smile held tragic charm.

Su's brows lifted fractionally. He'd expected Fabregas, not the mid-tier family he'd cuckolded. "The ones who tried to gang-r**e you?"

Xie Na barked mirthless laughter. "I'm a nobody. After Junior Cooke's death, they threatened to break me into a brothel w***e unless I delivered you. The only escape was becoming a Rider, but this camp offers one slot. Helping them won't get me commissioned... just rich."

Her eyes darted to his immobile stance. The toxin should be stiffening his muscles now, yet his bleeding had stopped. Unease flickered across her features.

"For this?" Su repeated.

The question ignited her. "YES! I've f****d my way up since twelve! This face bought half my skills! You privileged bastards never understand gutter rats!"

Memories of wasteland survival flashed through Su's mind. "Enough reason," he conceded finally.

The dagger flipped in his grip. Xie Na's breath hitched as Su blurred across five meters - steel kissing her throat before she could react.

Realization struck: This was how Cooke died. Su's acceleration defied human limits, bypassing combat reflexes. Her survival instincts warred as Su's blade drew blood.

Tilting her head back, Xie Na thrust her chest forward. "f**k me first," she rasped. "Maybe you'll spare me afterward."

Su studied her eyes, then sighed. "I considered you pack. Wolves survive better together." The dagger withdrew. "Run. This mercy won't repeat."

Xie Na gaped as Su turned. Her throat constricted, cry dying unborn.

Clapping echoed through trees. "Touching!" Roberson emerged, grinning like a shark. "Too bad you wasted chivalry on a w***e. That black captain was wrong - you're the exception."

Mad Dog's belt jingled with native fangs. Su crouched combat-ready as primal instinct screamed danger.

"Cookes paid me triple," Roberson chuckled. "Let's make this quick."

He exploded into motion. Xie Na barely retreated two steps before his arm vise-locked her throat, dagger scraping her ear.

"Drop your blade," Roberson growled, tearing open Xie Na's combat vest. "Or I'll carve these pretty t**s off."

Xie Na's clawing hands proved futile against his augmented strength. Her desperate eyes pleaded with Su.

Su stepped forward - then pivoted into backward flip, vanishing into forest.

"f*****g storybook bullshit!" Roberson hurled Xie Na aside. Her spine snapped audibly against a tree.

The chase commenced. Su moved with feral grace, emulating natives' arboreal techniques. Behind him, Roberson bulldozed through foliage, bark exploding under each stride.

Mad Dog's laughter turned maniacal. Blood vessels web his eyes as combat high surged. Ten meters shrank to five as Su suddenly hooked a root, whipping into reverse thrust!

Their daggers clashed in silver web. For sixty seconds, death danced between them - until Su detected Roberson's micro-limp from earlier braking.

Breaking contact, Su ricocheted off a trunk into full retreat. Roberson's parting s***h opened a ten-centimeter gash across Su's back.

"Tasty..." Roberson murmured, staring at bloody dagger tip. Some primal warning made him abstain from licking it.