Death Heir's Devouring System
Chapter 54: No Time for Mourning

Chapter 54: No Time for Mourning

Azrael frowned, ’Now this could be troublesome.’

Not long ago, he’d seen a woman lose her sister. In her grief, she tried to interrupt the healers’ work in the camp, so he had been forced to beat some sense into her.

It would be bad if history repeated itself.

"Now that I think about it," he muttered, "I didn’t even bother checking how she was before disappearing."

He scratched his chin, only to shrug a second later.

"Probably still useless."

His crimson armor trembled slightly, absorbing the blood that had splattered from the slain monster.

He shifted his gaze on the Chosen. He was waiting to see if there would be an outburst or if she would be able to keep it together.

’You better keep it together, I went through enough shit to save you.’

Slowly the battered Chosen turned, taking slow steps toward Azrael. Her sister’s lifeless body hung in her arms, swaying side to side.

"Thank you for saving us," she said. She tried to bow, but her trembling body wouldn’t let her.

"It’s unfortunate our companion didn’t make it... But so is life."

Azrael nodded, ’Good, she is disheartened... But she is keeping it together.’

"Let’s put some distance between us and the battlefield and wait out the night. We are going to sleep in shifts. At dawn we will split. You will head east. There is a camp of Chosen that would welcome you."

He spoke only the necessary, turning his back to them eagerly to leave the area before any other threat could arrive. Since Cinder was resting, he wouldn’t be able to use the beast to fly away should the worst happen.

But the three Chosen didn’t move. They simply stood still.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, a grimace forming on his face.

"Can I... take my sister with me?" the woman asked. The other two Chosen stepped beside her, clearly concerned for her well-being.

"No," Azrael said coldly, rejecting the request. "Blood, and especially dead bodies, will draw monsters. We can’t take that risk."

The woman’s arms trembled. She took another puff from the miraculous cigar. Its healing effects were the only thing keeping her on her feet.

"Can we at least bury her?"

Azrael clicked his tongue. ’If I deny that, they might become a liability. It would make this entire rescue pointless.’

"Five minutes." He met her gaze, unfazed.

His voice was emotionless, leaving no room for argument.

"Not a second more."

She didn’t argue. None of them did.

Without a word, the three women dug the deepest hole they could, an action that Azrael found illogical. They were exhausted, yet they were willing to exhaust themselves further just to bury a body?

It’s not like the dead could thank them or repay them for what they’d done.

’Would I think differently if I’d been raised by humans instead of a Skinwalker?’ He wondered, his eyes observing for any potential threat.

’No, the only reason I’m alive is because of the mindset it taught me over the years we were together.’

Thankfully, nothing had approached them during the five short minutes.

True to his words, once time was up, he walked away. The three women he had saved quickly followed his side.

By now, night had descended. It wasn’t possible to see where one was going, but no one was risking sleeping on a fresh battlefield. Who knows what might attack during their sleep?

Once Azrael had judged that they had put enough distance, they neared the tallest tree they could find and climbed it.

"I’ll take the first watch," said the Chosen, who had buried her sister, puffing on Gray’s Cigar.

"Do as you wish. The three of you will take shifts. Wake me only when the sun is up. Consider it the bare minimum for saving your lives."

Azrael said nothing more as he lay down to sleep. He didn’t care for these women’s well-being. All that mattered was that they were alive and mentally stable enough to reach Seraphina’s camp. That was as far as his agreement went.

A second later, he was out cold, exhaustion overtaking his body.

The three women stared at him in silence. There was evident frustration on their faces. He was cold... heartless even. But the truth remained he had saved them. So they wouldn’t defy him. They wouldn’t speak against him.

Their personal opinions or feelings didn’t matter.

Only survival did.

*****

True to his command, they woke him up only when the sun peeked past the horizon.

Azrael studied the woman who had lost her sister carefully. There were dark circles under her eyes. She had been unable to get a wink of sleep, no doubt.

His point of interest was her wounds. Most of the serious and deadly injuries were patched up, thanks to Gray’s Cigar.

’It would take a dedicated healer to fix her internal injuries. But these things shouldn’t pose much of a threat.’ Azrael figured that if he sent them alone, they would most likely reach the camp.

"Go in that direction, you will either run straight into the camp, or a squad of patrolling guards will find you. Follow their word, and you will be escorted to relative safety."

He gave the simplest instructions he could.

"Is... it true that Miss Seraphina and Isolde are there?" one of the three women asked.

"Yes. Now I have wasted enough time on you. There are more that need to be sent to the camp."

With that, he was out of their gaze, not bothering with something as meaningless as goodbyes.

Silent as a shadow, he moved through the Golden Lands. Truth Seeker was dismissed, replaced by Maiden Skin. The stealth boost mattered more now, especially while traveling on foot.

He took a glance at Truth Seeker’s progression.

Item Blood Progression: [8.000/1.000.000 (cubic meters)]

’The blood of the Duskguard wasn’t enough to add even a single digit to its progression. It’s a miracle that Seraphina has managed to raise it up to 8,000.’

Instinctively, his eyes went to the south, where the canyon with the blood lake was located.

’Once I explore the entire Golden Land, I am going there. Truth Seeker was invaluable in the battle against the Duskguard. I can only imagine what it would be able to do once the armor ranks up.’

Since he was traveling on foot, he presumed it would take a long time until he saw a noteworthy scene.

But he was quickly proven wrong.

Ahead, the unmistakable sounds of battle echoed. But there were no screams. No roars.

’It’s unnaturally quiet.’ He noted, getting lower as he neared.

Peeking from the golden bushes, his breathing halted at the scene.

Before him stood knights, similar in design to the Unworthy Ones, black flowers blooming from their skulls. But these ones didn’t carry swords. They wielded massive bows.

And they weren’t alone. The archers were accompanied by two Duskguards. Even with Cinder and three other Chosen’s help, Azrael had barely managed to kill one of these things, and now there were two fighting together.

But they weren’t targeting other Chosen.

They were hunting something else.

A towering creature, five times the size of a human. Four massive arms. Crimson blood soaked around its form.

A Reaver Danger Level monster.