Blood Assimilation

With the burning flames illuminating the night and reflecting in their eyes, Brawler Randy, still harboring concern, came and stood beside Liena and suggested.

"Don't you think we should also burn those disgusting tentacles, just in case?"

Liena turned away from the fire and locked eyes with him, but unexpectedly, she nodded, handing him a flame-igniting tool, saying: "Since you care so much, why don't you go and do it yourself?"

Brawler Randy was about to say something, but Liena interjected, adding: "A Demon Seed is hard to kill without locating and destroying its core. So far, only one element could weaken them. From what I heard from the Guild, flames seemed to be the weakness of Demon Seeds, though I've never tried to use fire on them before. Your paranoid idea is not a bad one.

If it's somehow still alive, burning it would definitely kill it."

Hearing Liena's words, Brawler Randy quickly took the flame-igniting tool from her hand and complained: "So that thing might still be alive? Why didn't you burn it instead of pointlessly burning down the remaining parts of the hut, including its resources? What if someone needed an emergency shelter while in the forest?"

"No, you're mistaken about that." Liena shook her head, refusing his claim. She added: "No one would come this deep into a hunting forest to set up camp unless they are seeking death. Most hunters usually hunt their games and leave right away to avoid running into rare magical beasts residing deeper in the hunting forest.

The only reason I'm burning down the hut is to eliminate any trace of combat here after my mission completion."

"Then… The reason why Zandi erected a hut in the forest…" Brawler Randy broached, with Liena finishing his sentence, saying: "That's because he could handle himself after transforming using the power of the sprouted Demon Seed. That thing, despite being sinister from a general perspective, still granted power unimaginable by most to their host.

The only problem lies with its mind-corroding side effects, which deprive one of their reason and sanity the more it grows and fuses with its host's body."

After listening to her words, Brawler Randy frowned and quickly went to set the remaining fragments of the Demon Seed, the black fleshly tentacles, on fire, burning it until nothing remained of it. He was surprised by the device that didn't need energy from him to operate, and also by the fact that he didn't need to add any chemical to ignite the flame.

He could only attribute it to the unique function of the tool, which Liena claimed she received from her Guild to get rid of evidence of her acts during missions.

Brawler Randy saw Zandi's corpse still lying on the ground and raised his voice to ask Liena in the distance.

"What about the corpse?! Should I burn it?!"

Liena facepalmed when she heard him screaming, forgetting where they were. However, she decided not to let Brawler Randy's antics get to her, responding to his inquiry.

"Do what you want and let's get out of here before all hell breaks loose."

A short while later...

After ensuring the fire hadn't spread to cause deforestation and had settled down, Liena hurriedly turned around to leave, with Brawler Randy walking to catch up with her.

"Why the rush?" He asked, running after her.

"Do you want to fight the attracted wild beasts and magical creatures lurking in the shadows?" Liena retorted, not bothering to look at him.

"Oh, that." Brawler Randy smiled, boastfully stating: "With the two of us, wouldn't it be quick work?"

Liena sighed and said: "If you want to stay and seek death, leave me out of it. I'm too tired to deal with your nonsense."

Brawler Randy brushed aside his initial thoughts when he realized Liena wouldn't help in fighting against the creatures he purposely attracted earlier. Pondering for a moment, he changed the topic.

"By the way, when are you going to give me a tour of Mercenary Street?"

"Where do you want to go? Mercenary Street is not small. I can't give you a full tour unless we spend three days, and I can only spare you one day of my precious time." Liena nonchalantly answered, catching Brawler Randy off guard, making him halt in his tracks and look at the figure of the departing Liena strangely.

He had expected her to outright refuse his request as usual, but she somehow defied his expectations with her reply. He wondered what brought about the sudden change in attitude, making her agree to his request this time.

While Brawler Randy remained stunned by her, Liena walked ahead of him. Suddenly, she voiced out.

"If you don't know where you want to go, you can forget about asking me to give you a tour."

Hearing her indifferent words, Brawler Randy picked up the pace and chased after her. Once he caught up to her, he said: "I didn't expect you to agree to my request. Are you bipolar or someone with a split personality disorder?"

Liena, who hadn't heard such terms before but understood the meaning from the way Brawler Randy phrased it, coldly stared daggers at him, causing the atmosphere to become tense, and making Brawler Randy feel awkward.

"Come on. Could you not take my words too seriously? I was merely joking. Just joking, okay?" Brawler Randy hurriedly tried to play off his snide remark as a joke, but Liena continued to stare at him with the same gaze, now filled with distrust, causing him discomfort. He hurriedly shifted the topic, explaining his demand.

"Anyway, I want to visit establishments that focus on combat or those that deal with criminals. I don't want to be an assassin, so you can leave out the Assassin Guild."

Having witnessed the entire process of the mission Liena had just completed, he felt that, even though he preferred combat-related occupations, such complicated and morally ambiguous missions did not suit him. He wanted to focus more on straightforward missions with clear indications of righteousness, evil, and justice.

After listening to his specification, Liena pondered for a moment before suggesting.

"If you're interested in dealing with criminals, you might consider visiting the Bounty Hunter Guild. They function almost like the Assassin Guild, but their focus is mainly on local criminals, such as bandits or those who commit heinous crimes like murder or human trafficking.

Unlike my Guild, they rarely take on demon-related missions, but similar to ours, they sometimes hunt down demon accomplices who still maintain their humanity to act as spies. Whether you're seeking combat experience or training, you'll find both by actively taking on missions from the Bounty Hunter Guild, as they offer a wide variety to choose from."

"Yes, that's the one!" Brawler Randy exclaimed with excitement as the two of them walked side by side, departing from the hunting forest.

Soon, they exited the boundary of the hunting forest, greeted by the full illumination of the moon hanging in the sky. They made their way to the nearby village to clean themselves up.

Then, to uphold her promise to Zandi, Liena decided to head to West Wind Village, which was not far from their current location, to ensure Zandi's family had not been harmed by the person who reported the sighting of a Demon Seed Bearer, as that person might have known about Zandi's condition.

However, upon their arrival in West Wind Village, they found that the mother and daughter were unharmed. Liena chose to deliver the tragic news of her husband's untimely death to Zandi's wife, caused by a magical beast assault, leading the woman to grieve her husband's passing.

As for how they presented their identities to Zandi's wife and daughter, they explained that they were hunting in the forest and came across Zandi being attacked by a magical beast, a rare occurrence in the parts of the forest where they found him.

They claimed to have warded off the magical beast, but his situation was already dire at the time, rendering any healing method applied completely useless. They couldn't save him nor could they carry his bloodied body to his village, as they didn't want to attract wild or magical beasts.

They also claimed Zandi told them the name of his village and about his family before dying, so they decided to bury him in the forest before departing to his village.

Before they departed from the mourning family, Liena withdrew some money from her pouch, with Brawler Randy chipping in with what little he had as they offered it to the mother and daughter.

Initially, they refused the money, but Liena proudly declared herself as a Dungeon Hunter from the city, assuring the woman that she had no shortage of funds, and urging her not to worry about the small expense.

Eventually, the wife of Zandi, not wanting to appear impolite to visitors from the city, reluctantly accepted. She resolved to use the money to support her still-growing daughter.

The next few days passed swiftly.

Upon their return to Imperial City, under Liena's guidance, Brawler Randy accompanied her to the Bounty Hunter Guild and officially registered as a Bounty Hunter, adding a new occupation to his repertoire, and becoming a dual occupation holder like Liena.