Chapter 012. A bigger crime than expected

Ayla felt her arm weigh a ton the moment she let it fall on her side. The deep wound had stop bleeding by now, but the wounded skin felt uncomfortable under the stinging cold air.

Her eyes tend to squint unknowingly whenever she want to concentrate. “They seem to be a lot coming here.” Her voice was small compared to the wind that carried her words.

However, it just so happen that wielders have heightened five senses.

Fortunately, Miroh must have done enough preparations because he was taking this normally terrifying remark better compared to earlier.

That huge explosion had thrown Miroh off for quick second before he regained his momentum by taking deep even breathes.

His mindset isn’t the only thing that improved. His tyrfing had eased up with its restrictive weight gradually and become more manageable to wave around. Soon, it should weigh like any normal sword after completing the calibration.

That spine tingling screech came again but now seem to have multiplied tenfold. Small trees weren’t even spared by the leviaths’ manic state as they flood to the clearing as bloodthirsty animals.

Ayla instinctively wanted to drag a strand of hair behind her ear, but remembered she had tied her hair above her head.

She watch the leviaths prowl further inside the clearing without letting anyone off her sight, bending her knees slightly.

“Ready…”

The cold resistant leviaths that Caelum lured began sniffing the air carefully. Consequently, their white fur coats tensed up, slowly driven mad by Ayla’s now overpowering scent.

Her next words were soon stuck to her throat after the leviaths made a series of powerful leaps, lunging straight to Ayla with barred teeths.

Ayla instinctively conjured her tyrfing to protect herself and leaped backward while also drawing a swift half circle with the tip of her polearm to stave them from getting dangerously close.

Ayla was barely able to get away unscathed under the threat of their claws. The leviaths growled in anger seeing that their prey escaped.

Ayla’s shoulders went up and down tensely after regaining her footing on the ground. She expended quite a bit more aurora just to match their speed.

Their deviousness when they are in a group had left her mind, creating a knot in her otherwise seamless plan.

‘Now how should I go with this?’

“Argh!”

A shout suddenly appeared right above them. Ayla looked up, startled to find Miroh landing roughly in front of her.

His powerful entrance thrown off the leviaths causing them to fall back slightly.

Ayla slowly blinked. She did not anticipate Miroh’s eager participation.

“Are you sure you want to fight them?” She asked just to make sure.

Miroh’s grip on his tyrfing tighten. Being this close to a leviath is a whole another level of fear compared to just spectating on the tree.

Then he remembered being powerless against every tide of leviaths killing his comrades before, and his spirit reignites.

“Yes.”

…In the brink of one’s infernal suffering while drowning in their personal abyss, aurora answers to the strong ambitions of a wielder. There, their nature begins to mold according to the will of their wielder…

Now, his aurora had acknowledged him as his master and will begin to take shape in plodding for his rooted ambitions.

This time is the perfect opportunity to let the sword learn of your mind, body and soul.

Ayla somehow had an inkling of Miroh’s apparent motive. What’s the point of stopping him?

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you.”

She took a step back, leaving the rest for Miroh to settle.

“Yes! I’ll do my best!” Miroh shouted like professing an impassioned oath.

Miroh proceeded to attack upfront, exchanging blows with leviaths one after the other. Thankfully, his body seem to have already adjusted to the new and improved tyrfing.

He had to incorporate majority of the learned martial arts to create a stable synergy with his tyrfing.

He tilted his body to avoid the mouth of a leviath before passing under its arm to sneak on its nape, cutting it in the process.

On the other hand, Ayla’s approach on the leviaths was carefully calculated, leaving no room for unnecessary movements.

She took advantage of her petite body and the gravity to overwhelm the enemy’s tall build, plunging her weapon right through the leviaths’ heads from above.

The leviath only twitched briefly before loosing their balance. Ayla moved away at the same time the polearm vanished from being lodged inside the leviath’s head and materialized back in her hand.

As soon as the polearm was removed, the blood sputtering out the gaping hole began vaporizing into hot steam right away.

Ayla exploit this momentary weakness with a decisive swing of her weapon right across the levith’s nape while on the air.

Such maneuver was physically demanding that Ayla had no choice but to use her aurora.

“Fucking ass, where is he?” She cursed to herself, eyes flickering to her side impatiently.

She was about to execute a javelin throw to a nearby leviath when a small explosion rocked the ground.

“Need any help?”

A cheeky tone asked out of nowhere before countless blue tinted arrows sliced through the air, creating a handful of leviath corpses lying near Ayla.

Ayla rolled her eyes, acting nonchalant at their timely appearance. Caelum was quite over-the-top with his landing, doing a somersault in the air after releasing additional load of arrows.

Azah went ahead of them and assisted Miroh in dealing with the rest of the leviaths nearby.

Ayla wordlessly leaped and stabbed the leviath creeping dangerously close to her side, slamming her foot on its abdomen to nudge it down.

The leviath screeched in anger but before its hands reach Ayla, the crisp sound of flesh tearing resounded.

Caelum smirked wistfully behind his bow, raising an eyebrow at Ayla once she naturally eyed him.

Ayla simply ignored that look with a snort and stabbed the leviath’s throat before it could get the chance to squirm.

As much as Ayla don’t want to admit it. They do form quite good synergy as a team after enduring each other’s presence for years.

Caelum was unbothered by Ayla’s unfeeling attitude and was contented on enjoying Ayla’s brazen and relentless moves by complimenting with his own unique style.

With Caelum and Azah’s assistance, they were able to swept across the clearing until only two leviaths remain.

The two leviaths were strangely docile, a whole lot different compared to their fellow leviaths.

Caelum had cut off all of their upper and lower limbs while keeping a close eye on their fast regenerative ability. So their torso up to the rest of the body downward were facing the flat ground like dried seaweeds.

Azah had just release a signal flare to notify Vega of their location. Hopefully they notice the yellow smoke whatever their situation may be over there.

”They might take some time to come here. Depending on the situation over there.” Caelum sighed, running his fingers over his scalp to shook off any random debris.

Their previously tidy appearances had undergone some changes obviously from just tousling with several leviaths.

Azah was the most carefree lot of the group and wanted nothing more than to lay on the ground.

“I’m so tired. I need to take a vacation after this. Two runs this month is already hell.” Azah patted his thigh and just squatted on the ground directly.

“Oh! That reminds me!”

He pulled out something from the small bag tied on his waist and offered each one to everyone.

“You want shekel cookies? I baked it. It’s not as fancy as those from the capital though.”

Miroh accepted the small package with both hands, thanking him profusely. He began nibble on the cookie, pressured under the expectant gazes of the three.

“Take that as reward for a job well done.” Azah explained, urging him to eat when Miroh halted from biting into it.

Miroh blinked, pleasantly surprised by the sour yet sweet taste. “This is the most delicious cookie I ever had!”

Azah rubbed his nose smugly, fighting the urge to laugh out loud. “Looks like my cooking skills had yet again impressed someone.”

“Darling, I’ll let you eat my share so you can replenish your energy.” Caelum stated fawningly, looking like a lowly official currying favor to their king.

Ayla merely blinked slowly while accepting the cookies. “Now I know who’s the culprit for that explosion.”

‘Oh shit…’

Caelum honestly did not think of the explosions until Ayla brought it up. Unfortunately, he could only punch the air for the grave he unwittingly dug himself into.

“What are you talking about? They were Azah’s stolen explosives.” He lied through his teeth, avoiding Ayla’s blunt stare and accidentally glancing at her hair.

”Wow, look at how frizzy it is! You look like a samoyed dog!” But his attempt of damage control was ineffective.

”Now, why the fuck was I involve in the topic?” Azah stated breezily, blatantly ignoring Caelum’s subtle pleading expression.

Caelum was panicking over Ayla gradually freezing expression. Just one more slip up and the spear looks like it will appear any second.

“Didn’t girls like to be compared to cute dogs?”

“Not when your name is Caelum.” Azah interjected brightly.

“Are they in a relationship?” Miroh asked to Azah softly, who is still basking in Caelum’s misfortune as the two began verbally ridiculing each other. Ayla had already taken out her tyrfing as intimidation.

Azah looked half skeptical and incredulous at Miroh. “You think that’s how a couple acts? Buddy, marriage is the last thing those two will want for each other.”

“Ah. I thought because sir Caelum call miss Ayla darling…”

Azah patted Miroh’s shoulder with a light chuckle. “Don’t let them hear you said that, okay? Just watch the gag show at the side.”

“They only see the other as their rival sibling. That’s just how they normally treat each other.” Azah clarified more seeing Miroh hesitate.

“By the way, I don’t really know your story except that you’re a part-timer.”

Miroh wracked his brain to piece together a good answer. He literally don’t have a reason to lie, but he didn’t know how to say it either. “Uh…my superior suggested I take this job. They said you pay good money just for watching over the goods.”

Azah glanced at him dubiously. “Seriously? And you believed him? Just like that?”

Miroh, who was almost pitted to Leviaths and encounter consecutive near death experience in a single run than his short time in the military combined, could only laugh airily and choose not speak anymore.

He suddenly felt that the money was insignificant compared to what had transpired today.

Then something had clicked in him, realizing Azah’s words. Miroh blatantly wore a baffled expression.

There’s a difference between just knowing this party and actually being involved here.

“Wait! You know my superior? You sound like you know ‘him’?!”

Azah hummed as if he didn’t see anything different with Miroh’s crumbling expression. ”Well, I do know him. But Ayla, Vega and Caelum definitely knew your superior quite well.”

“What do you mean?” Miroh was confused. That sly fox wouldn’t just interact with anybody. Even so, how could he keep this from the military from so long?

“You already met Vega, right? She isn’t just a researcher, but is military affiliated."

"Wait!" Miroh’s eyes could pop out of their socket with how shock he was. He was even animatedly swatting the air in denial. "Are you saying there are military people on this?"

"Not to an extent that is illegal illegal. Think of this as a private venture between like-minded people in the military." Azah was explaining it so casually that Miroh almost bring down his guard.

‘What does illegal illegal even mean?’

"So the chief..." He trailed off. His tone strong of grievance and incredulity.

"Oh, you mean, Keid? Hmmm..you can say he basically lead this party. But he doesn't come to our runs himself. That will cause too much suspicion.

“He recruits one soldier at a time to try and poach some to our camp, but all just stopped coming after, so that’s how we take on calling you part-timers."

‘Somehow I can’t blame them from bailing out.’

Azah continued talking as if he was just describing a distant friend from several cities away.

“Fortunately, those kids didn’t run their mouths on us. We would just let them off and handle it from there in any case. But I think that evil bastard had done something without us knowing. Keid…Hoh, he’s a dangerous guy.”

Miroh felt his throat had dried up same as his mind, feeling unsteady on his own feet. But he had to agree with the Azah’s words. Chief Lakom isn't a man you mess with without suffering repercussion.

In some way, he believe that his chief is obviously capable of making such big moves.

Miroh suddenly felt lightheaded at Azah’s frankness. The cult one would have been a far better circumstance than what he landed into.

"I know this is close to illegal, but I didn't expect..."

'This is borderline treason!'