Chapter 30: Going deeper

We made it back to the sky palace the second time, and not long after we arrived, we spotted Leah. She sat down close by and was watching. The moment she spotted us, she got on her feet and rushed over.

"Good morning," she said with her usual bright smile, but I noticed the tremble in her body before anything else, the kind that only came from hunger. I could tell, I had felt it a lot before when my father tossed me out to survive for days.

"Gabe, you eaten?" I asked straight. I did not want someone hungry and struggling to be carrying my stuff.

"Yeah, I got some..."

"Don’t lie." I cut her short. I already realized that something was off with her. Her eyes kept darting around even now, as if she was worried that someone was going to see her.

She dropped her head.

"Leah, if you have eaten, then tell us and we will get you something," Lia said, bending down to tend to Leah. Beastmen all faced the same thing, so Lia had soft feelings for her.

"She has not eaten. In fact, I don’t think she has since yesterday. Someone must have taken her pay," I stated, and her head shot up.

"No, nothing of that sort," she tried to argue.

"That reaction was all I needed. I don’t know what you are going through, Leah, but I will not help if you do not tell me what is happening. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The best that I can do is feed you and pay you after a good day’s work," I said and then proceeded to bend down. I held her face softly. I could see the mark on her face, someone had hit her and it showed.

"If you want to stop it, then tell me and I’ll help you."

She shook her head vehemently. "I swear it was nothing. I misplaced the coins that you gave me," she said, still trying her best to hide what had happened. Sadly, there was no way to save someone that did not want to be saved. You could try, but they would never be truly free.

"Sigh, fine then, let’s get something to eat first. But before that, this is Mira. She will be joining the team as well."

Leah looked at Mira, who was standing close to me. She raised a brow and then spoke.

"Boss, you have two beast women and a beast child carrying your stuff. Do you have some sort of beastmen fetish?" she asked.

My eye twitched.

"Keep your mouth shut and come eat."

I grabbed her by her ear and dragged her. She cried but followed. We walked into a restaurant and, as I believed, she began eating like she had not eaten for days. And with me urging her to keep eating, she went on nonstop.

’Someone is pushing Leah into this. I only pray she does not make any wrong decisions due to this.’

[...]

"Goblin on your left, Mira," is called out, and Mira moved. She was like a cat, moving on all fours with clean acrobatic movements. She evaded the goblin, spun in the air and then attacked, with a slash from her own claws. They crackled with lightning as they dug into the back of the goblin. Blood gushed out and stained the floor, while the goblin collapsed to the ground hard.

She did not stop. She rushed over and landed a finishing blow. I was shocked at how easily she had shifted into the role of combat. Her eyes were concentrated, and her usual free spirit never vanished and was replaced with something deadly.

While she was handling her own stuff, Lia was moving even better. Her flame wings kept her above ground and allowed her to dodge and evade attacks fast.

A goblin lunged at her, leaping into the air with teeth barred and ready to bite into flesh. Lia weaved to the side as the goblin went by. She grabbed it by the leg, flew down and used its body like a whip to attack another goblin, sending it flying hard, and then she used her flames to burn the goblin into ashes in seconds.

She was stunning with her flame. She moved with confidence as her power basically controlled the battle, and Mira’s power made use of that and took out the enemies fast.

I watched them eagerly, but it seemed some goblins were not happy with the fact that I was doing that. They rushed toward me fast. I pulled my sword, black lightning cracked and covered the entire blade.

This was the ability I gained from helping Mira awaken, and this was the first time that I would be using it.

The goblin lunged at me, its teeth and claws ready to sink into my body. I weaved it, it went past me and slammed into the ground, rolled and turned back to attack me, but I was already mid slash, blade coated in lightning as it dug into the neck of the goblin.

[You have gained 10EXP]

The goblin hit the floor hard, and its blood stained the floor. I did not look at it more than I needed to because another was rushing my way. It had a rusted sword and was attacking eagerly. I blocked its attack and pushed it back, then stabbed into its head and killed it.

My EXP continued to grow while I weeded them down fast. The lightning allowed me to cut through them faster and with greater ease. I was mowing down undead at a very fast pace.

We finally ended the wave and all the goblins were dead now, which meant we could go deeper.

Leah started picking up the cores while we rested.

"That was so fun, master," Mira said in happiness. She rushed over to me and got on my back.

"Let’s kill more," she said.

Lia walked over and grabbed her, pulling her off my back.

"It’s really dangerous the deeper we go, Mira," she explained.