We ran the rest of the way up the mountain and found Betsy surrounded by a bunch of the cultivators. There were two on the ground with their limbs sticking out at weird angles and lying in pools of blood.

  “Jesus, what’d she do, go bowling?” I asked no one in particular. Niku was too far behind me to hear me properly and probably didn’t know what bowling was. All I could think of was the scene in The Lion King where Timon and Pumbaa bowled into a bunch of hyenas… I think?

  I balled my fists and wished once more I had some kind of weapon. That guy with the big war hammer had the right idea. No finesse, just crush people with your strength, and apparently I was pretty strong.

  “I’m coming!” I shouted one last time. None of the group even looked towards me. They had Betsy in a circle and were poking and prodding at her. They weren’t outright attacking, but we’re trying to just keep her where she was, probably to stop her from doing anymore damage.

  I squinted and tried to plan my attack when I realized there was one more guy, well, or girl. They had the hoods of their robes up, shrouding their faces and features. The person was standing apart from the rest and was waving their hands around. I figured they were the ones controlling the dragon, which meant they were probably the most powerful of the group. I grunted and looked back at Niku while I pointed at the lone cultivator, making my plans known to my new companion.

  Niku nodded her head and reached into the bag she carried on her hip. For as long as I had known her, I don’t think I had ever seen her reach into that bag. Most of the pills and that sort of thing came from a shoulder bag she wore. She held a small vial in her hand, but only for a moment before she tossed it towards the apparent lead cultivator. I watched the vial fly through the sky and land on a rock by the shrouded person’s feet. When the vial cracked and shattered, deep black smoke started erupting from the area where it exploded.

  ”Oh, hell yeah,” I mumbled as I leapt into a flying tackle through the smoke towards the illusionist.

  Which of course I missed.

  I flew through the air in the smoke until I came out the other side and landed on the ground with a thud and skidded across the rocky surface. I yelled and cursed and rolled in my landing so I could look back to where the person was. They were of course gone.

  As I tried to quickly climb to my feet, I heard a loud explosion that came from my right, where the group that was holding Betsy at bay. I looked and saw the ground blow up and then saw Niku pump her elbow in celebration as two of the cultivators were blown back.

  BOMBS? SHE HAS BOMB POTIONS?!

  I blinked and then watched Betsy use the distraction to attack once more. Lightning went up her horns, and she went towards the woman that was closest to her. The woman was wielding a spear, and Betsy knocked the spear tip away and then closed the gap in a blink to knock the woman to the ground. At the same time, her back hoof kicked out to kick another man in his, well, below his groin.

  “Maikeru, behind you!” Niku’s voice rang through the air and saved me.

  I turned just in time to watch a straight sword get thrust towards my gut. On instinct, I reached out with my hand, because I’m a fucking idiot, to grab the tip of the sword and sidestep what might have been a fatal blow.

  “You grabbed my sword?” An incredulous female voice shouted in confusion and anger.

  I couldn’t answer; it fucking hurt, and the blood flowed from my hand and down her sword to the ground. Now I looked at her and realized, objectively, that she might very well be one of the fairies you read about in Xianxia novels. If I hadn’t had Niku well, maybe I would have become a bad guy. We stared at each other as I stood there and shrugged. “Um, I guess?”

  We were standing directly across from each other and staring into each other’s eyes. Hers were full of hate and anger and confusion while I just stood there. She tried to pull her sword away and out of my hand, but I just held on. The pain was already there; it wasn’t going away. I matched her energy and pulled her closer to me by the sword blade and raised my fist.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “I’m supposed to be down there in that caravan, and you’d be robbing me,” I said as my fist connected with her chin.

  She may have been spiritually strong, but man, she folded like a lawn chair when I rocked her chin. She barely even grunted before she fell to the ground in a pile.

  “That was easy,” I muttered as I dropped her sword and looked at my hand and winced. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”

  I sighed and shook my head as I once more tried to get serious and looked back at Betsy to see how she was doing. She stood there with her attackers all around her on the ground. Some dead, some just knocked out but definitely in a lot of pain.

  “Hell yeah, Betsy!” I yelled and fist-pumped the air using my injured hand and felt the blood flow down my wrist and into my robes.

  Betsy bellowed loudly in triumph and stamped her hooves on the ground. Her eyes were closed as she celebrated her triumph.

  Niku’s voice rang through the air, stopping the celebration. “Maikeru!”

  The alarm in Niku’s voice made Betsy open her eyes and stare at her driver. Then a shocked bellow came from the ox, and alarm spiked in our connection. I felt Betsy scanning my spirit through our link, and I stared at her and Niku with a raised brow.

  “What’s wrong? It’s just a cut?” I asked them before I looked at my hand.

  It was a lot deeper than I thought it was, and I blinked as I stared at the gash. “Um.”

  Jesus Christ, am I really about to pass out again?

  My vision was tunneling as I stared at the cut. I may have been a powerful cultivator on the road to immortality, but a fighter I was not. This shit was all new to me. I didn’t know if it was the loss of blood or the realization that the cut from the straight sword was a lot deeper than I originally thought,but the last thing I knew was that Betsy was behind me and gently putting me on the ground.

  I was standing? My legs all of a sudden, my legs didn’t want to work, and I didn’t have the energy or strength to stand up. My lower body may have been made from rubber bands for all they were able to support me. I stared up at Betsy for one last second.

  “I’m fine. What’s the big deal? We won the fight. It’s all good, baby.”

  I could feel Niku kneeling down next to me, and then my eyes were closed, and I was out.

  It seemed only a moment later,was sharp and my eyes shot open from a terrible smell being waved under my nose. I felt like I was in a high school pool area with too much chlorine. It was sharp, intense, and holy shit, did it wake me up.

  “It’s not that bad I promise!” I shouted involuntarily.

  “How did you get such a nasty cut on your hand, what did you do grab that woman’s sword?” Niku’s voice came sharply once I settled back down and realized what was going on and where I was. I must not have been out for very long because I was still in the same place I had been. Betsy was giving me flashbacks as she stared down at me with concern in her eyes, and I felt like I had just crashed my wagon and woke up in a field.

  No.. I crashed my truck. I blinked and shook all of that away.

  Betsy gave an indignant huff at Niku’s accusation, and I gave a sheepish laugh before I changed the subject. “Remember the last time you woke me up in a field?”

  Niku smirked, and I realized she was applying some kind of salve to my hand. It smelled fresh and offered a cooling sensation on my hand. Not that my hand was hot, but it felt nice. I also realized the blood had stopped flowing, and the cooling gel she was using was sealing the wound, which was a very odd sensation. It wasn’t just like using a liquid bandage. This stuff was actually mending my skin together.

  “If I remember right, you asked me if I was an angel from the heavens,” she said and gave me a sidelong look.

  I blushed and lowered my head. “Yeah, you know, I’m still not sure you’re not.”

  At this, Betsy groaned and rolled her eyes before walking away to get the wagon.

  It was Niku’s turn to blush, and she turned away from me as she put the tube of gel away. “It’s getting light out finally, Betsy probably has the right idea. We should link up with the rest of the caravan. They most likely saw that dragon and are wondering what the hell is going on.”

  I nodded and inspected the palm of my hand. It looked like the salve would stay there for a bit, and it had crusted over and turned into a sort of scab, so it wouldn’t get wiped away. I raised my eyebrow and nodded my head and looked at Niku with a soft smile. “That’s pretty neat, thank you, Niku. You’re yet again proving what I said about you being from the Heavens.”

  Her eyes went wide when I leaned in suddenly and kissed her. It was a full, on-the-lips, deep kiss that took her a moment to match the energy with, but when she did, her eyes closed and she pressed into me. The only thing that finally broke up the kiss was Betsy rolling up with the wagon and giving an annoyed bellow.

  I broke away from Niku and grinned over at Betsy. “Sorry girl. You ready to go tell the caravan we saved the day?”

  Betsy huffed and then shook her head. “Who saved the day?”

  I frowned. I’d never get over the gruff voice the obviously very female ox had, but it must have just been an ox thing. Kinda like how female dwarves had big beards. “Yeah, yeah, come on, let’s go.”

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