Chapter 18: Mutated.

Remote and distant was a cave-dwelling deep into the mountainside. Here, the woman arrived with the curious Aza'zel, who had his head in the clouds of speculation as he reviewed his interactions thus far with Wendy.

Heat waves bellowed out from the cave entrance, blasting relentlessly into the face of both Aza'zel and the woman. He listened carefully, her laborious and dry breathing pointing out the hardship of this trek… It is to be expected, as she was no more than an ordinary human.

She glanced over her shoulder with a hint of surprise in her eyes. She could tell that Aza'zel wasn't having as much of a hard time as she did approaching the cave-dwelling, recalling how her lady mentioned something about this young boy wielding the credentials to command nature.

Unable to proceed further, the woman sidestepped from the dry soil and opened the mountain path to Aza'zel.

"I can't go any further than this," she said. "You'll have to proceed on your own, Lady Thorns is waiting for you inside."

Aza'zel paused in his steps for a moment, realizing that while this cave-dwelling was a particular spot to hide from the scouting of ordinary vultures, Kane had to personally search the Nameless Valley if he were to nurture hopes of finding Wendy.

This was also a pretty good location to probe for someone's strength.

This walkway of dried soil and cracked earth was nothing short of a scaling tool; those capable of ascending the path into the cave-dwelling were no ordinary people, it might even assist in unlocking a person's inner potential by providing stimuli to their genes, prematurely triggering the consolidation of genetic sequences. Aza'zel merely paused for a brief few seconds, but he proceeded to trudge forth nonetheless, as he wasn't intent on concealing his capabilities when facing this woman anymore.

A rudimentary application of source energy within a limited field allowed Aza'zel to block the heatwaves from penetrating past his gray trench coat as he advanced. Of course, if the volume and magnitude of energy within the waves of heat were to increase, it might prove troublesome.

Aza'zel was also curious about how deep could Wendy reach, but he was positive that she wouldn't wait for him near the milestone of her absolute limits, as she wouldn't dare expose the extent of her abilities to outsiders. The sentiment is, of course, mutual.

The energy in the waves kept increasing with each step forward. A few minutes later, nothing but charred rocks and burnt foliage was in the surroundings, not to forget a thin layer of volcanic ash that twirled about under the influence of immense heat.

The cave-dwelling was well within sight now, but any ordinary human who might've reached this point would have experienced severe dehydration by standing here for a prolonged period of time.

Any further, and their blood would start to boil, then their skin would blister, their hair sparkle with flames, and their eyes might splinter like blasted yolk. Any vultures who dare trespass here would be asking for death. However, this was still within tolerable range to Aza'zel.

…

Feeling his trench coat unbearably warm and dry, Aza'zel fought the urge to let loose and disrobe the moment he entered the cave-dwelling. It felt as though this was the gate into the depths of the volcano, but he knew that this was no more than an illusion fueled by common discomfort.

"Took you long enough," Wendy's voice greeted Aza'zel from the depths of the cave-dwelling, introducing the woman into his world of echoes. The constantly billowing waves had partially disturbed his senses, and if she weren't to speak, he might have suffered some difficulties trying to pinpoint her location.

Wendy stepped out, strips of cloth wrapping her chest and waist, while whatever remained of her skin was exposed to the beholder… sweat, and moisture coating the fair texture of her body.

A hint of exasperation laced her tone, casual as it was, sounding like a housewife venting to her long-lost spouse who finally came home. The sense of familiarity in her tone was wholly uncomfortable to Aza'zel, who shivered uncontrollably.

"Did you get injured in your head?" he asked, though his brows creased beneath the shadows of his hood since he could feel the familiar aura of an Abomination from Wendy's position.

"You surely have a way with women," Wendy maneuvered around the sarcastic question with a roll of her eyes. There seemed to be some hidden meaning in her statement, but she wasn't about to let the young boy dwell on it as she continued, "Did you do something to that silly girl before disposing of her?"

"What girl?" asked Aza'zel, only to realize a moment later. "You're talking about Mask?"

Aza'zel frowned. He didn't want anything to do with Mask and her elder brother, Kane.

Wendy could have definitely earned herself some benefits from Shadows with Mask as a hostage, but she overvalued kinship in the world of vultures and undervalued the greed of ambitious men like Kane.

"I planned on leaving her to her own devices," Aza'zel responded a moment later after some consideration. "You just so happened to pick her up, I don't know if something happened to her in the interval."

"She's damaged goods alright," Wendy exclaimed, kneading her forehead. "If I had known, I would've handed her over to her brother for free, let him handle that ticking time bomb."

Aza'zel felt curious and asked, "What happened?"

"Can't you see for yourself?!" Wendy rolled her eyes, only to recall that the young boy indeed could not see.

She chuckled awkwardly and stepped closer, as the distance between them in this cave-dwelling wasn't particularly vast. Aza'zel could make out Wendy's silhouette approaching him, but he couldn't feel any circulation or concentration of source energy from her body and thus, he didn't mind at all.

Wendy reached over, grabbed the young boy's right hand, and rested it on her neck. A bit of distance below her left ear, where a wiggling mass of flesh, not unlike a deep wound, pulsed against his palm.

"I had her hands and feet restrained," Wendy said, and the feeling of her windpipe vibrating with each word was quite the novelty. "So, she went ahead and bit me instead… If I didn't hurry here where the waves of heat counter the miasma, I might have turned into a host for the Abominations by now."

Aza'zel remained silent, feeling the evil aura of the miasma infesting the wound while his brows creased even harder. "That is to say, you're not hiding here, but you're trapped?"

Wendy chuckled. "That's one way to put it."

Aza'zel recalled something. "What about Mask?"

If he guessed things correctly, an Abomination might have possessed Mask's body by now, and an Abomination in a human's body was different from those condensed from dense miasma, as they could freely leave the dungeon and roam the Nameless Valley by its entrance.

Such mutated Abominations can absorb the evil miasma in the same manner humans absorb source energy to evolve, not to mention that Mask had outstanding talent among her vulture peers.

"Help me cleanse the miasma in my body." Wendy's words shocked Aza'zel from his contemplation, and his heart rate accelerated while numerous thoughts raced in his mind.

She wasn't asking whether or not he could help; she demanded his help, which had a whole other meaning than simply asking for help.