“Husan! Keep Ava safe!” Muzaid dodged to the left, the rock had melted from a Red Scorpion stinger’s attack. His twin dao hammers surged with whitish aura, “Makya, don’t you dare run away!”

“On it!” Husan also dodged a similar attack before throwing two punches to one of leg joints of his Red Scorpion opponent. His fists immediately turned numb, “Cursed desert, they’re tougher than I thought!”

Ava had the same idea, drawing her prior experience in fighting Red Scorpions. In absence of large crossbows, use the scorpion’s movements against it! Attack its joints to seal its actions, deliver the killing blow! Of course, getting up close and personal was more dangerous.

The Post Human jumped and ducked, running at side walls to evade joint attacks of three Red Scorpions emerging from a tunnel. Each time her soles touched a rocky surface, she created huge sums of needles. Each time she evaded, she pushed said needles to the monsters’ joints.

Crack, crack, crack!

With each hit the scorpions were sapped from moving, their joints locked by stuck needles. Ava then stomped the ground, creating stone javelins. She kicked them into opened mouth of said scorpions, skewering through! Said javelins then exploded inside their bodies!

The three Red Scorpions died before they can even scream but their stingers continued to move on reflex. Ava sensed the danger and threw more stone javelins, deflecting the stingers. A Red Scorpion deeper in the tunnel was caught in their discharges, rapidly melting away.

The four armed elder was flabbergasted, “Hey Muzaid! No one told me the young missy is this capable!”

“Hmph! I can do even better!” Irritation was evident in Makya’s tone. The scout used thin wires to lock her opponents. She ran across one of them, tugging the wires along to decapitate its stinger and chuck it to a charging Red Scorpion, killing it.

Ava stomped the ground again, creating and kicking extra stone javelins to nail down a Red Scorpion behind Muzaid, “Ava is very strong, Brother Muzaid.”

“Yeah! Thank you for the support!” Muzaid saw the opening and brandished his dao hammers on the head of said pinned monster. It shook a bit before its rear exploded in gore and shrapnel, mauling yet another Red Scorpion.

Husan rode the momentum by kicking another Red Scorpion next to Muzaid, “Gahahaha! Bring on the heat! Come scorpion, slay scorpion!”

The old man’s excitement however was short-lived; there were still some surviving Javalan Flies! As the mantis stalked the cicada, it was unaware of the oriole behind it! The remnant swarm avoided fighting Red Scorpions and instead buzzed straight at Muzaid and friends.

Makya was the first to notice it, tugging her thin strings and nearby Red Scorpions to block the incoming flies. The impact dazed some of the flies and newly arrived Red Scorpions took the chance to smother them with corrosive liquid, forcing Makya to jump away.

Ava on the other hand stomped the ground to bring up a stone pillar. She punched it, turning the pillar into waves of rock needles toward the flies that chased her. Each Javalan Fly was split into halves and the needles continued their travel to pin a nearby Red Scorpion.

Husan was more miserable; his arms took multiple hits from the flies, battered and bruised. Muzaid noticed Husan’s trouble and shook his dao hammers, throwing an energy wave that stunted the winged attackers. The flies were then melted by agitated group of Red Scorpions.

It was chaotic as each party switched positions and targets to take advantage of each other. Javalan Flies suffered the most as they only know to do straight ramming assaults. Their numbers dwindled over time as more Red Scorpions attacked them, melting the huge swarm.

Kas had long escaped with Ava’s Sand Komodo mount but they cannot escape far as more Red Scorpions showed up, to block the party’s Sand Komodos from leaving. The rat shrieked as loud as it can, to warn others that the fight was far from over, more enemies inbound!

“Damn! The scorpions are going after our mounts!” Muzaid’s ears perked up. He was too far away from the encircled Komodos, unable to lose his current opponent.

Husan twisted off a stinger from a dead Red Scorpion and then threw it to one of monsters trapping the Komodos, “Muzaid! Use the stingers to stun lock them!”

“Save your breath, old man. I’ll do it!” Makya jumped forward and imitated Husan’s action with her wire weapon. Four stingers struck three Red Scorpions, killing the monsters and opened a path for their Komodos to retreat.

The remaining Red Scorpions outside shrilled in response, causing intense ringing in ears of Muzaid, Husan and Makya. Ava remained unaffected, jumping outwards from the tunnel in front of her. Even more Red Scorpions rushed outside, answering the summons of their kin!

“Cursed desert, there’s more of them! Muzaid, we should retreat!” Husan was thoroughly terrified. It took practically his all to down a single one. For one that died, ten more showed up!

Muzaid flung his dao hammers to free himself from being trapped by newer Red Scorpions, “Yeah! Run for it! I’ll open a path!”

“Brother Muzaid, does Brother Muzaid trusts Ava?” Ava flashed next to Muzaid, startling the warrior.

Muzaid’s eyebrows arched upwards, his breath ragged, “Trust? What trust?!”

“If Brother Muzaid wanted it, Ava can clear them. But…” The Post Human hesitated, her solution might be unpalatable to him.

Muzaid shook his head, not minding the implications. He would rather grasp to any chance of survival, “Ava! You can do your thing! This brother won’t blame you! Life’s first, loot second!”

“Ava confirms, step back.” The young girl nodded to him, face blank. She flipped backwards, into some of more intact corpses of Red Scorpions.

Makya giggled inside, voice drown in heat of battle, “Hmph, good riddance…”

The Post Human ignored her comment and instead focused at task at hand. She withdrew several jars of water and tapped them. At the same time Ava kicked at leftover Red Scorpion stingers as well. Both items fused into strange contraptions, similar to bouncy balls.

Ava stomped around, creating rocky walls that impede or block most of the tunnels in vicinity. She left some unobstructed, kicking the strange contraptions into them before rocky walls sealed them as well. The Post Human proceeded to sprint toward Muzaid after the deed.

Gu dong! Honglong!

The entirety of the island shook, tremors abundant! Muzaid could feel on his legs that the tunnels underneath the island were exploding for multiple times. Did she just…Fire Talismans? Heavens! Muzaid and Husan stopped in their tracks, unable to stand up!

Large portions of the island cracked; crevasses spread like spiderwebs in all directions. Air rushed in, fanning the fires to cook any Red Scorpions not killed by the initial blast. By the time Muzaid’s party managed to leave, it looked like a volcano had detonated on the island.

“Is it…over?” Husan rubbed his eyes numerous times, unsure of what had just happened.

Muzaid closed his gaping mouth, “Uh…I guess it’s good that we’re all alive. Ava, a jar of water please.”

“Ava confirms.” The Post Human waved her hands, passing a water jar to the warrior. She brought out a medical salve next, “Sister Makya is injured?”

“Umm…. thanks?” Makya accepted the salve while being slack jawed. When she thought about it, challenging Ava was pretty much laughable. Ava didn’t need any help…she needed her help instead.

Glug, glug, glug!

Muzaid and Husan greedily drank water, quenching their thirst after the chaotic battle. They accepted the medical salves given by Ava, tending to their wounds and bruises. One of Muzaid’s dao hammers had dimmed while Husan’s metallic knuckles had lost in the explosion.

Makya on the other hand had ran out of steel wires and her left shoe was missing. Ava and the Sand Komodos fared better, without much fatigue. Kas peeked out, jumping along leftover Red Scorpion corpses, burrowing into them to get out their dao cores.

Muzaid got up, “Ava…uhh..next time tell us before you do that, haha. Anyway, Muzaid the warrior, expresses his gratitude for saving us.”

“Same here young missy, Husan expresses his gratitude for saving us.”

“Umm…I’m sorry Young Miss Ava…. Makya expresses her gratitude for saving us.”

“Ava acknowledges. Please rise.” The Post Human waved her hands, not wanting them to stand in ceremony. She didn’t really care for formalities and wanted them to be more alert instead.

Bang!

Ava punched one of rock debris scattered in the area, turning it into a stone javelin that killed a creeping Red Scorpion behind the party. She kicked another piece of rock into the air, splitting it into numerous stone javelins that pinned other surviving Red Scorpions in vicinity.

“There are still some Red Scorpions? Cursed desert!” Muzaid was the first to react to her action, brandishing his weapons again.

Ava walked toward him, patting his waist as she was shorter than him, “All Red Scorpions had been subjugated, Brother Muzaid. We have one hour to retrieve the materials.”

“One hour? Why is that, young missy?” Husan shot her a question. All of these Red Scorpions were pretty much dead or heavily injured. What would happen next?

Ava beckoned them to come closer before materializing a little statue, “This, Old Man Husan. The cleaner of the desert.”

All of them stared at it, unsure what to make out of it. It wasn’t a snake or a worm but instead a creature of some kind. The statue became animated, floating on Ava’s tiny palm. It swam in the air, swallowing what seemed to be rocky islands, mapped to their current surroundings.

At this point Muzaid had put all of his trust in Ava, “Whatever that is, it doesn’t look like it’s friendly. Husan, you’re okay with monster materials?”

“Uh…this old man didn’t do all the work…ask young missy instead, haha!” Husan gained his cheerful personality again, realizing he had just survived a disaster.

Muzaid gave Ava a glance and she nodded in response. The warrior gave Husan the thumbs up before walking toward Makya, “So Makya…I would like to know why did you hate Ava. Just you know, she single-handedly saved all of our lives.”

“Umm…it’s just that….” Makya stammered, her face flushed. She felt quite guilty over the situation.

The warrior sighed, “Makya, we can always talk it out. What seems to trouble you?”

“Truth to be told, I wanted to test Young Miss Ava…I didn’t mean it….no…” Makya moved her face away, not wanting to meet her eyes with Muzaid’s gaze.

At this juncture Ava stepped in, “Ava forgives Sister Makya. Sister Makya was stalking Ava back in Eastern Kazar, right?”

“Stalking? Oh...?” Realization struck Muzaid. Ava did mention someone was tailing them back in the City and she responded by throwing wooden skewers at the pursuer.

“Yeah…that was me, sorry...” Makya turned quiet as mosquito, “I got mad since…the skewers, ripped my clothes…”

Muzaid sighed again, it turns out to be petty rivalry. Nevertheless, considering the situation, it could’ve turned deadly, fast, “So that’s how it is. I hope we can cooperate fully now, Makya.”

“Yes. Makya truly sorry for all the trouble.” The girl went down to her knees, bowing at Ava.

Ava patted her shoulders, “What is done is done, Sister Makya. Help Ava to get monster materials, before cleaner of the desert comes.”

The plain girl nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at its food. The party then spread out, carving and extracting useful materials from Red Scorpion corpses. Shells were useful for armour, stingers useful for antidotes while their dao cores useful for special dao weapons.

Despite the devastation from earlier explosions, the party had extracted some hundreds of jins worth of materials. Great risks go with great rewards. While these weren’t the materials Husan was looking for, they were more than enough to sustain his shop for several months.

Initially the party piled all of the extracted dao cores at Ava but she waved her sleeves, indicating it was okay for them to keep the cores for themselves. They put significant fraction in front of her anyway, insisting Ava should get the lion share of the collected loot.

The Sand Komodos also got into work, using their powerful jaws to rip open the vicious monsters’ corpses. While the team extract the scorpions’ shells, pincers and dao cores, the Komodos chew through the scorpions’ scraps of flesh, gorging themselves.

Muzaid let them have the bounty as Red Scorpion’s flesh was tough and had some poison. Making the meat soft and removing said poison were too much work for most sapient beings. Such trifles do not bother the Sand Komodos in the slightest and they happily munch on them.

Each material was tagged with papyrus paper, wrapped with strings and piled respectively. Muzaid understood Ava had some means of storing the items and so asked for her help again. The process lasted for forty-five minutes until Ava looked at a certain direction.

Some of the pursuers from the City were now here; Ava detected no less than ten beings in close proximity. She signaled with her eyes, putting the rest of Muzaid’s team on high alert. The Sand Komodos stopped eating and huddled close to the party, ready to escape any time.

“Lookie here! What do we have here, guehehehe!” A raspy voice guffawed, the owner a two zhang tall giant.

Muzaid recognized him, a notorious wanderer in these parts, “What do you want, Shalim?”

“Oh…all of your loot? And leave the girls here…I can consider letting you back with legs.” The bronze-skinned Shalim raised his sabre, prompting nine of his friends to circle Muzaid’s group.

Ava was direct against these kinds of people; she kicked on a mangled Red Scorpion corpse in front of the bald-headed Shalim. The corpse exploded into multiple sharp blades, crafted from the scorpion’s tough shells. This took him by surprise and Ava exploited the gap to run away.

Clank, clank, clank!

Shalim however was no ordinary man, able to deflect most of the flying blades with his glowing bastard sword. His friends did not have the luxury, two of them got bisected by the flying blades. Muzaid responded next, grabbing both Husan and Makya to follow Ava.

“Cursed desert, they got away! What should we do, boss?” One of Shalim’s henchmen, a hunched man spit on the ground.

Shalim licked some of his wounds on his shaking hands. The impact was heavier than he thought, “Hmph, let them run away. We can get rich enough by taking their spoils here.”

“Yes yes…you’re right boss. Boys! Loot everything!” The hunched man exclaimed, Shalim was right. Even if they let Muzaid’s party get away, the war spoils were abundant enough. With two of their brothers died to Ava’s attack, the loot split would be even better!

Ksh, ksh, ksh!

Muzaid’s party made hasty retreat, their mounts galloping away for more than fifty li. It was until Shalim and his goon disappeared from view that Ava signaled Muzaid and his party to stop. It was now one hour from her initial warning. Muzaid smelt a sweet fragrance in the air.

What was it? As the party sat on the sand dunes, some of the dunes had shifted and moving toward the broken stone island. It was an odd sight, seeing these dunes all moved to a single direction. There was no wind, yet the dunes ‘rolled’ from all directions, to a single point.

“Brother Muzaid, that is the cleaner of the desert. It comes if there is plenty of food and noise. Here are its prowling grounds.” Ava pointed at the shifting sand dunes.

Muzaid was quite perplexed, unable to process what he just saw, “Cleaner of the desert?”

Honglong!

He gasped in astonishment as the dunes burst, revealing some kind of creature that flew to the broken Red Scorpion’s lair. Each of the bursting sand dune was accompanied by webs of thunders, that zapped anything in front of them. The sweet smell became stronger.

Husan clasped his hand, recalling something, “I remember it now…they’re Thunder Vipers! Cursed desert, there’s a lot of them!”

“Thunder Vipers?” Makya never heard of it, her frown visible.

Husan exaggerated his arms, waving about, “How do you evade lightning? There’s no mistake about it, the signs, the behavior. It’s them all right. Only them snakes and some others dared to hunt Red Scorpions.”

“Old man Husan is correct. Thunder Vipers are some of the desert cleaners. Ava advises to leave this place immediately. Shalim is dead.” Ava nodded approvingly at Husan, he knew what he was talking about.

Muzaid took a deep breath to calm his mind. He was mentally exhausted, “Okay…let us move to our next destination then.”