The Wastelander

by Tipsy Wanderer

  No. I cannot die! My mission is not yet complete. I cannot fall before I have done what I set out to do! I must find him and kill him, not just for revenge, not just to repair my clan’s reputation, but because it is my responsibility as a child of the gods… and my mission as a demon hunter! If I have to die, I’ll die a glorious death in battle, not a shameful death in a place like this!

  “Almighty gods, please give your devout follower the strength to uphold my convictions!”

  It seemed like the Bloodsoaked Queen’s resolute, pious prayer were effective. Energy poured into her exhausted, enervated frame, allowing her to regain partial consciousness. Alas, her mind was still fogged and she wasn’t able to move in the slightest. She could only sense that she was now in a completely foreign environment.

  Someone was walking back and forth in the area around her. The person actually used a moist cloth to wipe away at her face. This action caused the Queen to feel both rage and terror. These were the gods-forsaken wastelands. If she ended up falling under the control of these ugly, vile, and brutish wastelanders while she was too weak to fight back… she didn’t even dare imagine what would happen to her!

  The Bloodsoaked Queen was unable to control any part of her body; she couldn’t so much as twitch her fingers. Gradually, her mind once more began to sink into that dazed fugue state, but the fiery pain in her throat caused her to feel extremely miserable. Water. She needed water…

  A while later, she felt something cool and refreshing being poured into her mouth. She instinctively gulped down the water, feeling that fiery sensation in her throat slowly subside. Her body now felt much more comfortable than before, and as a result, she once more fell into a deep slumber.

  By the time she woke up again, she had already regained part of her strength. When she suddenly opened her clear, jewel-bright eyes, the first thing she saw was a dilapidated ceiling filled with cracks, allowing her to clearly see the light of the stars spilling in from outside.

  It was night time? She had actually passed out for nearly an entire day! But before she had a chance to think on the implications, she suddenly saw a dirty hand begin to furtively stretch out towards her chest. This sight caused every slumbering cell within the Queen’s body to awaken and burst with furious power. She leapt to her feet with the agility of a female panther, grabbed that offending, impudent hand with thunder-like speed and pulled it backwards, hard.

  As for her other hand, she used it to press down on the bastard’s head. The Queen poured all of her power into that right hand of hers… but the head did not instantly explode into countless pieces. Which was odd. Only now did the Queen realize, to her astonishment, that her right hand was wrapped in dirty, crude bandages that smelled faintly of medicine. Her gloves had already been removed.

  Cloudhawk could immediately and clearly sense those strange ripples emanating from the Queen’s body. There was no mistaking it; it was this power that allowed her to use her strange equipment!

  If I hadn’t removed her gloves to treat her wounds, my fucking head would’ve been burnt to a cinder by now.

  This woman really was a nasty character!

  “Calm down, calm down! I’m just an ordinary mercenary of Blackflag Outpost.” Cloudhawk was in so much pain that large beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. “I saw you passed out, so I brought you back to treat your wounds. I didn’t do anything else, honest!”

  “Shut up!” The Queen was still gripped by shock and rage; clearly, she didn’t believe him. Her voice, however, was extremely pleasant to the ear; it sounded like the tinkling of fine jade or the singing of a bird. It carried an alluring, magnetic quality. Although her voice was quite cold, it also contained undisguisable hints of her youthfulness. The demonic mask definitely contained some sort of voice-altering mechanism.

  The Bloodsoaked Queen could sense that her body was still very weak. She wasn’t sure how long she would be able to maintain her current state so she immediately began studying her surroundings.

  She was in a small, crude, and dilapidated wooden room that was so small there was almost no place to stand. There was a battered wooden desk with a damaged clay basin atop it and a bloody towel soaking inside the basin. The surrounding area was strewn with ripped ribbons and there was also a half-filled bottle of an unknown liquid that emanated a strange medicinal fragrance.

  As for the person in her hands, he was a half-grown boy of fifteen years of age. He wasn’t very tall, but was extremely thin. His black hair was tousled and his entire body was covered with filth as well as wounds. Some of the wounds were old. Some were new. He looked the same as any of the other wastelanders she’d seen, but his eyes had an alert, honest look that made him seem like a decent person.

  “Who else saw me?” The Queen could sense her body growing weaker and weaker and couldn’t help but slightly loosen her grip on Cloudhawk. In the wastelands, only the law of survival of the fittest applied. If anyone else saw how weak and powerless she was right now, things would turn grim for her. “Speak!”

  “N-no one! Everyone was busy divvying up the spoils from the sweepers. I found you in an alleyway and secretly brought you back. Nobody else saw you besides me.” Cloudhawk knew exactly what the Queen was worried about. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul. No one will know that you’ve been injured.”

  The Bloodsoaked Queen’s eyes narrowed into slits, but not out of anger; rather, she was just too tired and too weak, so weak that she no longer had the strength to keep him pressed down. Her vise-like grip loosened from his elbow and Cloudhawk immediately scurried several steps back.

  The Bloodsoaked Queen hurriedly tore off the bandages and put on her powerful gloves, but from start to finish her wary gaze did not leave Cloudhawk. She first moved to the doorway, scanning the outside area and making sure that there was no one else hidden nearby. She then inspected herself. Her clothes seemed to be in good shape and there was no sign that anything inappropriate had happened. Had the kid been telling the truth?

  Cloudhawk shrugged helplessly. “Now can you trust me?”

  “Why were you following me?!” The Queen’s voice was still filled with cold hostility. There was no way someone would’ve found her “by coincidence” immediately after she passed out. “What are you scheming? Who are you!”

  Cloudhawk hesitated for a moment, but when he saw that murderous look in her eyes, he hurriedly explained, “I d-d-didn’t! You got it all wrong. Your gloves and your cross were emanating a strange sound that I could hear from far away. I followed them and was able to find you.”

  The Queen’s face turned dark. “Lying to me will result in a very painful death.”

  “I’m telling the truth, I swear! I can hear sounds coming from the gloves and the cross.” Cloudhawk could sense that she really was on the very verge of killing him. A sudden thought crossed his panicked mind and he immediately called out, “I know that there was someone else outside the outpost who also had powers like yours and I was able to hear him coming as well!”

  The Bloodsoaked Queen paused, startled. His words didn’t seem plausible at all. She had never heard of anything like this before! Her face slowly turned calmer, but her wariness didn’t lessen one bit as she allowed Cloudhawk to continue speaking. “That person didn’t show himself, but I know that he was the one who summoned the sandstorm. I’m right, aren’t I? I’m really not lying to you!”

  “Then tell me, what sort of sound can you hear?”

  “It sounds like guitar strings being plucked. It has a very unique rhythm to it.” Cloudhawk closed his eyes, carefully attuning himself to those sounds. “Each piece of equipment has a different sound, a very strange song.”

  “How could a heathen wastelander abandoned by the gods possibly hear the song of my sacred relics? Not even legendary demon hunters have such abilities! Are you truly a wastelander?” The Bloodsoaked Queen stared intently at him, searching for a weakness or a hint of deception in his young face. In truth, her desire to kill him had not lessene
d in the slightest. If she saw the slightest hint of artifice, she would immediately attack without any hesitation or remorse.

  Cloudhawk nodded dumbly, a look of complete sincerity in his eyes. He didn’t look like he was lying or holding anything back at all. However, he suddenly seemed to think of something as a look of dazzling excitement appeared in his eyes. He asked in a rather urgent manner, “You called me a ‘heathen wastelander’. That means there’s more to this world than just the wastelands. Are there places outside the wastelands?”

  The Bloodsoaked Queen said coldly, “That is none of your concern!”

  “No. I must know. Please tell me, where did you come from?” Cloudhawk was so excited that he actually forgot his fear of her. “What is that place like?”

  Does this kid not realize the situation he is in? The Bloodsoaked Queen truly was very fragile and weak right now, but if she wanted to get rid of this kid, she would be able to do it with ease. However, when the kid stared at her, she could see the hope and desire in his gaze. The emotions and dreams he held in his heart seemed to be pure and completely free of any doubt whatsoever. His eyes were filled with the same resolute faith as that of the true believers who prostrated towards Sumeru, the mountain of the gods.

  A foul, despicable heathen abandoned by the gods shouldn’t be able to have a gaze like this… and yet, he was most surely destined to live and die within the wastelands!

  “I come from a land blessed by the light of the gods. The gods have created countless miracles in our world and the land they have blessed is both fertile and bountiful, allowing those who live off that land to want for nothing. The gods bestowed us with intelligence and wisdom, letting all live peaceful lives of joy and leisure. There is no pain there, no sickness, no murder…”

  That’s it. That’s the place. That’s the place I’ve been dreaming of, ever since I was young! The place which Cloudhawk had fantasized about for so long really did exist! Cloudhawk felt dazed, but also felt a ball of fire burning brightly within his chest. It was like he was a lost wanderer who had suddenly found his bearings again, as though a world of darkness had suddenly been cleft apart by a flicker of light. “Can I go there?”

  “Hah! In your dreams!” The Queen’s response was like a bucket of ice water being dumped over him, dousing his excitement. She glanced at the kid in front of her with a look of utter contempt. “This place is a thousand miles away from Elysium. What makes you think you are strong enough to even get there? Putting that aside, what makes you think a lowly heathen like yourself would ever be permitted to bathe in the glory of the gods?”

  But her words had no effect. Cloudhawk had already decided that no matter how hard the journey was or how far he had to travel, he would still go to that distant place. “What of you?” Cloudhawk hesitated a short moment before asking her the question. “You are from that place. Why did you abandon it to come to the…”

  Cloudhawk could tell that the Queen was an extremely proud person. She was looking at Cloudhawk as though he were a rat she just fished out of a sewer! If she hated the wastelands this much, if her world really was so perfect and pure, then what had driven her to abandon this “land of the faithful” she was so proud of? What had driven her to come here, to the dangerous, filthy, and barbaric wastelands, and stay for over a year? Why had she chosen to live her life in this rat-infested outpost?

  But Cloudhawk fell silent before he could finish his question. A bone-piercing chill had filled the small room and he felt certain that the actual temperature just dropped several degrees. He sensed an all-consuming hatred radiating from the Queen, an uncontrollable desire to kill mixed with unspeakable grief. If Cloudhawk hadn’t personally experienced this feeling, he never would’ve believed that this beautiful woman, as perfect as a work of art, was capable of radiating an aura every bit as baleful and murderous as the most savage of wasteland beasts!

  The Bloodsoaked Queen’s eyes were completely filled with cold hatred. She ground her teeth and said something that Cloudhawk did not comprehend whatsoever:

  “I am hunting a demon!”

  31 A Dangerous Woman

  She had left those fertile lands which were blessed by the gods, travelling alone.

  This was the reason why.

  She was only sixteen years of age, but had discarded her noble birth and glorious future.

  This was the reason why.

  She had entered the gods-forsaken wastelands, spending more than a year of her life in this place.

  This was the reason why.

  The Bloodsoaked Queen knew her mission was a deadly one, but as a pious warrior, an exalted demon hunter, and a child of the glorious gods, she had long ago lost all fear of death!

  “What are you talking about?” Cloudhawk had no idea what she was saying. He scratched his head. “What’s a ‘demon’?” But as soon as he spoke, he regretted it. The Queen turned a disdainful, appalled look towards him, as though she were staring at a mosquito that knew about nothing save buzzing in an irritating fashion. This feeling was quite an unpleasant one.

  The Queen let out a cold snort. Wastelanders were ignorant and foolish beyond belief. They were faithless and had no sense of honor whatsoever. They knew not of the grace of the gods, nor did they know of the vileness of the demons. The Queen felt she was committing a great sin just speaking with such a heathen; it was as though conversing with him were a form of blasphemy against the divine spirits.

  But then, a feeling of exhaustion and powerlessness once more swept over her. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to remain standing; there was no way she could waste any more time here. Right now, she had to immediately leave this place. She turned her gaze towards the young wastelander, slight hesitation in her eyes. Mixed emotions flashed through her gaze before it finally turned as hard and cold as steel.

  Oh, fuck. She still wants to silence me?! Cloudhawk hurriedly took a few steps back. “What are you doing?!”

  The Bloodsoaked Queen said coldly, “I cannot let anyone find out about my injuries. Once this information is leaked, it is possible that the entire Blackflag Outpost will be butchered almost immediately. I have to get rid of any chance of this happening… but fear not. You die in the service of the gods and so I will pray for your soul and ensure that in your next life, you shall be born as one of the blessed citizens of the sacred elysian lands.”

  “Are you serious? This is so completely unfair.”

  The Bloodsoaked Queen ignored his protests, taking a single step forward. Cloudhawk could clearly sense a type of ripple emerge from the Queen’s gloves and enter the air around him. When the ripples spread out, they clashed with the various material particles in the air, causing every single air particle to vibrate at a different frequency than before. That thrumming sound once more filled his ears.

  A flame appeared out of nowhere within the Queen’s hands.

  Cloudhawk was now thoroughly stunned. What type of power was this?! Still, this didn’t seem to be the right time to find out. Cloudhawk called out frantically, “I saved your life! Are people from the elysian lands all as ungrateful and treacherous as you? Is this how the “gods” you speak of teach you to treat people who helped you?”

  “Thus sayeth the gods: The blood of the wastelands is most foul and there is no need to show wastelanders any mercy at all!” The Queen’s movements began to speed up. “And I cannot take any risks!”

  Her face was turning pale once more and a few beads of sweat could be seen atop her fair, snow-white skin. She was doing her best to suppress the agony wracking her body. As the ripples emanating from her gloves began increasing in power, the air around her began vibrating more intensely than before, causing a heat wave to propagate from around her.

  The runes on the Queen’s gloves were already lit up. She was ready to strike… but Cloudhawk wasn’t going to just sit there and wait for death. As the Queen reached out at a frightening speed to grab him, he suddenly shouted loudly, “Slyfox! Save me!”

&nbs
p; Eh?! The Queen hesitated slightly. Slyfox was a famous member of Blackflag Outpost, legendary for his craftiness and schemes. Was he nearby? The Queen was momentarily distracted by this possibility and Cloudhawk seized the moment to pounce straight towards her like a leopard.

  Damn. What a sly fellow! The Bloodsoaked Queen immediately reached out towards him once more. Her gloves held enough power to burn a maneater to ashes; if she so much as brushed this wastelander kid with it, he would instantly be burnt to a crisp.

  Cloudhawk hurriedly dodged to the side and the gloves just barely missed his shoulders. The Queen was every bit as skilled as Mad Dog and was possibly even stronger; otherwise, how could she have been able to receive that thunderous blow from the sweeper leader with her bare hands? However, she was so weak right now that her movements were far slower than normal.

  Bang! As Cloudhawk dodged her attacked, he punched her right in her perfect face. Hard. As someone who grew up in the wastelands, he had never heard of the concept of “chivalry”. Who gave a fuck that she was a “peerless beauty”? The only thing Cloudhawk knew and cared about was that she was trying to kill him. If he didn’t fight as hard as he could, he’d definitely be the one to die… and so he really did hit her with everything he had, smacking her so hard that she saw stars.

  “You bastard!” The Bloodsoaked Queen was filled with a towering rage. She did not expect this wastelander brat would be so alert and so audacious. She was a demon hunter, a warrior of the gods… and she had just been smacked in the face by an underage, half-grown wastelander boy. What utter humiliation!

  “That’s what happens when you try to backstab people who helped you!” Cloudhawk hadn’t expected to actually land his attack and his unexpected success was a huge morale boost for him. If this woman was going to go after him, then he was going to knock her on her ass before she gets a chance to recover her full strength. After knocking her out, he’d tie her up and try to figure out what to do with her.