Chapter 37 - Once Again, Towards the Rando Woods

Mount Karol, where the Sabretooth Gorilla and the Great Cloud Serpent had fought, was actually a small mountain range that ran through the Rando Woods deep into the forest. There was a cave at the north-western end of Mount Karol, about 50 km from the entrance to the Forest near the city of Corona. Two mercenaries stood at the entrance of the cave watching for anything that might be approaching.

The two mercenaries heard noise coming from their surroundings and tensed, grabbing their weapons, but quickly calmed down, when they realised that it was the Boss with the rest of the guards, who were approaching. It was indeed Sagat and his men, who had travelled at dawn to reach the Cave quickly. While travelling in the Forest can be tricky, Sagat and his men knew the area extremely well and had used it as their area of operations for years, so they could move with complete ease and speed.

Sagat entered the cave, which was illuminated by luminous pearls, naturally bioluminescent materials obtained from the bottom of the sea. While they are only rank 2 materials, they are not exactly easy to obtain, so their price is somewhat high on the market.

Sagat passed through several tunnels and intersections, never stopping to check the direction. The cave was a natural labyrinth, and Sagat was lucky to find it on a magical beast hunt when he was still just a Praetorian, several years ago. Since then, he began to work and modify the cave so that it would become his secret lair, a place where he could take shelter on a rainy day. The cave was approximately 2 km in diameter from end to end and had several exits to the Forest, but Sagat left only one functional, and the rest he obstructed with stones and other materials to camouflage them. One of the exits led precisely to an area that could be considered the most borderline area of the Woods overlooking the Rhodnius Territory.

Eventually, Sagat came to a room at the south, western end of the cave. Inside were several of his men on guard, all of whom had a lecherous look on their faces. In a cage, bound with chains on her hands and feet was an incredibly beautiful woman. She had a face that seemed sculpted by the Creator himself, with a fine nose, large, enigmatic brown eyes with a hint of copper and full, but not exaggerated, lips that were provoking to be bitten. Her beautiful pale-skinned face was accompanied by long black hair that reached down to her hips. She had a voluptuous figure, yet a slender waist, shaped like an hourglass. Even the scornful face and scowl with which she regarded the soldiers accentuated her beauty, as if every little movement of her face was capable of igniting the lowest fire in any man's heart. Indeed most men would feel their hearts break if they saw such a woman bound hand and foot, and would throw themselves at her feet to obey her every whim. She was the perfect definition of a beauty capable of bringing down a nation.

Many of the mercenaries actually wanted to abuse her, but beyond lusting after her, they dared not come within 4m of her. She was a wild woman, and several of her companions had died with their limbs and necks torn off when they tried to approach her, even though she was bound hand and foot.

When the woman looked at Sagat, there was a clear tone of anger in her eyes, but she said nothing. It was as if she felt it was beneath her stature to even speak to him. "If you keep looking at me like that, I might not be able to resist riding you a couple of times," Sagat said mockingly. In truth, even for him, a strong-willed Qi General, it was very difficult to resist the charm of the lady in front of him. However, even if he had three times as much courage as he had, he would not dare to touch a hair on her head.

This, for two reasons, firstly, Sagat was indeed lucky to be able to capture her. When the Rando Woods explosion occurred, Sagat was in the vicinity of where one of the igneous rocks fell. Entering the crater, he discovered a very small stone at the bottom, dark golden in colour. Sagat had no idea what it was, but he knew it must be special, so he kept it with him. Immediately, he and 3 of his men went deeper into the Forest, and discovered several more craters but did not find another stone like the one they had found in the first one. They went deeper and deeper into the Forest, and found several Magical Beasts, but with Sagat's power, none were a problem for them. On the second day of searching, in a large crater, they saw the woman reach deep into the crater and pull out a dark golden "stone", larger than the one Sagat had found. The woman was clearly badly injured, weak and staggering.

At first, Sagat and his men were ecstatic at the sight of the woman, and ambushed her to capture and "play" with her, at the same time taking the "stone" from her. However, the target they thought to be easy, turned out to be an iron plate. Two of Sagat's men were dismembered by the woman's attacks, which had an unparalleled ferocity, and the other of their companions was lucky to be left alive, but his meridians were destroyed by a strong electric current and he had severe burns on his body. Whether he would survive in time, it was difficult to say. Sagat had to use all his strength to attack the woman, and even then he was almost defeated by her. Had it not been for the large wounds she had, which flared during the fight, he would have died. The woman lost consciousness and Sagat took the opportunity to tie her up and take her to his lair. Searching through the woman's possessions, he found that she had many fragments of the dark golden "stone" with her.

However, the woman awoke soon after and had Sagat not bound her with chains made of Star Metal, a rank 7 material, it is possible that she would have already escaped and caused a massacre among his men.

The second reason is that Commander Roland, when he saw the woman, asked for her as part of the deal with Sagat. The latter was reluctant at first to include her in the deal with the Rhodnians, but Roland's promise to make them part of the Great Sacar Tribe, and to give them Martial Models and Secret Techniques that would help them continue to grow in level, as well as the great fortune they had agreed upon, made Sagat sell the woman, without further consideration.

"If you really dare to approach me, perhaps I will let you do so" said the woman in a melodious voice, capable of awakening the basest instincts. 'A true Succubus' thought Sagat to himself.

"Don't think you're fooling me. You are getting weaker and weaker, you have not been able to heal your wounds in this environment, without food or water, it is surprising that your body has not yet given out. Apart from the order I gave my men not to let you rest, your abilities are deteriorating more and more. In no time, you will be so weak that even the weakest among me will be able to "have fun" with you for a while. You should cooperate with us and tell us the origin of these dark golden "stones". Otherwise, you will go through all the men of my Gang before I get rid of you," threatened Sagat.

The woman's face paled slightly, but she fell silent and said nothing more. Certainly her status did not allow for any mockery from a mere General Qi, and had it not been for her severe wounds, she would have torn him to pieces multiple times by now. However, she also could not help but feel some despair deep within herself. She also glanced towards the corner of the room. There stood another captive, a young woman with curly brown hair that reached her shoulders. She still had some baby fat on her cheeks, and was, shall we say, cute. She was asleep, with dried tears on her face and her maid's dress gave away her profession. This was precisely Eliana, Ailan's sister, who had been brought in at dawn by Sagat's men.

...

Nerun and the others, meanwhile, were calming Ailan, who wanted to run to Jackal withouth thinking, and eventually Elijah ended up slapping him to calm him down while saying "You need to calm down. We know you're in a big hurry to get to your sister, and we'll help you. But you can't just run off without any thought and a plan, otherwise you and your sister will both lose your lives."

Ailan calmed himself with difficulty, and although he understood that if he ran off without planning, he would most likely lose his life, however, the thought of the danger his sister was in made it difficult for him to calm himself or find any peace of mind. Finally, knowing that time was a luxury they did not have, they made a hasty plan. Elijah handed a Jade Box to Ailan and told him to keep it, but not to open it. He then told him to leave at a brisk pace for the rendezvous site, but not to rush into any exchange upon arrival. He had to make sure that he received his sister at the same time as he threw the box. They would be following him and protecting him from the shadows. If foul play was involved, they could respond swiftly and safeguard his life.

Ailan wasted no time, and ran out of Corona, and off in the direction of the Forest. As he ran he looked around, but found that Elijah, Nerun and the rest had completely disappeared from sight and he himself had no idea where they were. However, he knew he had more important things to worry about, so he followed the path in the Woods, with great familiarity towards the Lake of the Rainbow Roses.

Ailan noticed that there were several groups of adventurers and mercenaries in his vicinity as he entered the Forest, but he didn't dawdle around approaching any of them. A couple of hours later, with an hour to go before noon, the appointed time, Ailan arrived exhausted at the Lake of Rainbow Roses. Significant mental exhaustion from the abduction of his sister, as well as physical exhaustion from running without stopping for several hours, had taken their toll on his body. This was probably part of the effect the kidnappers wanted to create in him.

Heading towards the eastern shore of the lake, Ailan noticed a couple of men with various wounds on their bodies, guarding a curly brown-haired woman with her eyes covered. When Ailan saw her she couldn't help but shout "Big Sister. Big Sister, are you all right? Have they done something to you? Forgive me Sister, it's my fault. This is all my fault. Release her this instant. It's me after all you want, I'll give you what you asked for, just let her go now."

"Hehehehe, you brat, you got us into big trouble. If it wasn't for you, none of this would have happened, so you're reaping what you sowed. Tell us, does anyone else know about what you stole, who did you tell, who are your associates?" asked one of the mercenaries, who was missing an ear and part of his nose, which only made him look even more ferocious. If it were possible, he would have jumped straight to Ailan and made him experience first hand, the pain they themselves suffered at the hands of their Boss.

"I didn't tell anyone. I didn't have time for anything, I had barely stolen the Jade Box, and I was making plans to sell it, when you had already taken my sister. I'm sorry, I just saw an opportunity to make a few quid. Do not harm my sister, I beg of you, I will return the Box, release her at once," lied Ailan. Despite his state of mind, he knew that his only chance of getting out alive for him and his sister was with the help of Elijah and the others, for that reason he decided not to rat them out.

"You liar. You must be working with someone else. Otherwise, I don't know where you got the guts to take on us Violent Tigers and Boss Sagat," the other said with restrained rage. It was important that they press the boy to find out if anyone else was aware of what had happened.

"It's true, I haven't told anyone. You are right that I didn't do it just for money. The truth is that I saw Boss Sagat meeting with people from Rhodnius beforehand. I am originally from Karpathia and I recognised the Chief from the Rhodnius military who attacked us years ago. When I saw that they had made a deal, I followed Jackal back to Corona, and then took advantage of an unguarded moment to steal the Box," said Ailan nervously. He mixed lies with part of the truth, for several reasons, for one, it was difficult for him to create a story out of nothing, and for another if he told the truth it was easier to be believed that he was really alone.

The mercenaries' hair stood on end. If anyone of importance in Ansem found out that they were making deals with the Army of Rhodnius, they would be convicted of high treason and hunted all over the world. They definitely couldn't let this boy get away, they thought, as they made signals with their eyes to each other. They were about to act.