Saving Siar

While he was a bit greedy for Demon Core's, this was neither the place nor time, so he swallowed his desire before he kept moving.

Fortunately, with the defeat of the snake demon, the rest of his trip was unperturbed, and finally the dense jungle began thinning.

The thick jungle floor was slowly replaced by a rocky ground, a thin layer of ash on the surface, making it clear that the volcanoes in this area were still active.

With a little more walking, the vegetation disappeared completely, a gray lifeless landscape being the only thing left.

Looking at the mountain ahead of him that stretched far into the sky, Minos spent a minute searching for the safest path up before he began climbing.

With his physical quality, a mountain of this caliber was akin to a stroll, and it didn't take much time for Minos to reach the top.

The mountain, or rather volcano, had a large hole in the center, a thick steam dispersing from it as the sound of crackling magma echoed from within.

After taking a quick glance into the crater, Minos made his way around the rim of the volcano, searching for a good spot to scout from it.

Finding an area, he tapped on his spatial ring, revealing an arm-sized telescope that he had created in the past.

Putting it up to his eye, he slowly scanned the land, the occasional demon beast being the only thing that caught his attention.

Suddenly, Minos finally spotted a human, however from his memory he knew this wasn't anyone from the Talisman Guild.

Looking closely at them, Minos noticed the badge on their chest, revealing that they were from the Alchemy Guild.

And based on the Five-Moon's inscribed on the badge, it was clear this was one of their elites, not to mention her young age made it even more clear that she was definitely some sort of prodigy.

Of course for cultivators it was hard to tell age from appearance alone, but with his Omniscient Eyes, Minos could immediately see the truth from deception.

While he was slightly interested in such a genius, especially one in a skill he had yet to learn, now wasn't the time to chat.

But just as Minos was about to turn away and continue to search for one of his own, he noticed the girl in question began fighting something.

While her alchemy skills went without question, her cultivation was unfortunately a little lacking, only being in the Air Layer of the Inner Heaven Realm, a layer behind even Minos.

If there were no surprises, this young genius may very well lose their life here, and while Minos would like to help, it was impossible given how far away he was from the battle.

Shaking his head with a little pity, he was about to turn away, not wanting to see the end results of such a gruesome battle, but suddenly something changed.

The girl seemed to explode with a hidden power, a red-mist escaping the pores of her body as her strength multiplied.

'Blood Explosion Pill?' Minos thought with wonder.

While he wasn't an alchemist, he was no amateur when it came to pills, and he was naturally aware of one as popular as the Blood Explosion Pill.

From the name alone, one could predict the nature of such a pill, but it was exactly for that reason that it was so rarely used.

As the battle finally reached the end, the girl managed to win out thanks to the blessing of the Blood Explosion Pill, however it was no time to face the side effects.

Collapsing onto the floor, the girl began coughing out blood, her body shaking for a moment before she collapsed into unconsciousness.

To fall unconscious in an environment like this was no different from death itself, so while she managed to just barely escape dying, it seemed her escape wasn't destined to last long.

'What a shame.' Minos sighed, knowing he couldn't save her.

Turning his telescope away, Minos kept searching for fellow guild members before he finally spotted a familiar face.

'Lon?'

Not far from where the girl was, one of his own men was slowly walking, his face firm as he silently threaded through the dense jungle, avoiding the dangers along the way.

Remembering his location, Minos kept searching around, and once he confirmed there was no one else in the area, he headed back down the volcano.

As he walked, Minos didn't forget to release his eagle puppet, allowing it to soar into the sky and find his exact location.

Compared to before, Minos had fully upgraded his eagle puppet, having installed recorders into its eyes so he could see in real time exactly what it saw.

With such an ability, it didn't take much searching for him to find Lon, who was still slowly crawling through the jungle at an even slower pace then Minos had in the past.

Slowly walking up behind him, Minos gave Lon a tap on the shoulder, causing him to quickly roll forward as he turned around and threw out a dagger.

Clutching the dagger between his middle and index finger, Minos looked at Lon with some approval, satisfied with his performance.

"Nice reaction. Good to know that your skills translate so well to the real world." Minos said with a smile as he tossed the dagger back to Lon.

"Captain! How did you find me?" Lon asked, as he grabbed the dagger and hid it back into his robe.

"That's not important. What's important right now is finding the others, so follow me." Minos said.

Nodding, Lon began marching behind Minos as the two headed back towards the volcano range.

As they walked, Minos kept using his eagle to make sure the area was safe, of course his eagle wasn't completely foolproof, so Minos still kept his pace slow.

Looking at his small display screen, Minos began scanning through for the safest path, however a frail body suddenly caught his attention.

'It's her?' Minos thought with slight shock, surprised that she hadn't died even after all this time.

Given that he was so close, Minos no longer had an excuse to ignore her, not to mention it would always be good to build a connection with such a genius.

Besides, anyone with the luck needed to survive hours unconscious in a place as dangerous as this was destined to not be a nobody.

Changing his direction, Minos slowly made his way towards her, not walking for long before he found her weak, almost lifeless body collapsed on the floor.

The soft breathing that escaped from her was the only thing that made it clear that she was still alive, otherwise one may mistake her for a corpse.

"Who is that?" Lon asked in a whisper.

"I don't know, but since we're here, we might as well save her." Minos said, as he picked up her body and began heading for a safer spot.

He had already scouted out a nearby cave, so with her body on his shoulder, Minos entered the dark cave, sending Lon to grab some wood so they could build a fire.

Lon returned quickly with the wood and began stacking it up in a ring as he enclosed it with a few dry rocks.

With everything set, Minos flicked some fire Nux onto the branches, causing it to quickly ignite and light up the dark cave.

Taking his large coat off, Minos heated it over the fire for a moment before laying it across the floor, gently placing her body onto it.

Leaning over, Minos placed his ear over her chest, listening to her weak heartbeat that seemed to be on the verge of extinguishing completely.

After inspecting her body a little more, Minos shook his head slightly, not sure he could save her given her condition.

"What's wrong, how's her condition?" Lon asked from the side.

"Not good. I can only do so much, whether she survives or not is ultimately up to her own luck." Minos said, as he began administering some medication.

While she was digesting the medicine, Minos began rubbing some paste onto her open wounds, sewing closed the ones that were too big to close on their own.

Of course he made sure to remind Lon to look away while he was working, not wanting to expose the girl's body to a stranger's eyes.

For Minos this was just work, not to mention he had a wife, so he wasn't interested in this girl, just doing what he needed to make sure she had the best chance of recovery.

After replacing her torn clothes with something he quickly knitted together, he let her rest while he joined Lon, the two discussing what to do next.

As the two were chatting, the sudden sound of a cough caught their attention, reducing them both to silence.

Standing up, Minos headed over to the girl's resting spot, sitting next to her as he watched her tightly sealed eyes slowly open.

"W-who are you?"

"I'm Minos, and this is Lon. We're the ones who saved you." Minos said.

"Saved me…? Thank you so much, I definitely would have died had I been left out there."

"No problem. Anyways, what's your name?" Minos asked

"Siar, my name's Siar." Siar replied

"Siar? Well It's nice to meet you." Minos said with a soft smile.