Release that Witch

As Guelz Burnflame approached the training hall, he could hear a thumping noise from its interior. There seemed to be a rather intense activity going on, as if a heavy and blunt instrument was repeatedly hitting against a sandbag.

”Chief!”

The guard at the door lowered his head and bowed.

”Is that Lorgar practicing inside?” Guelz pointed towards the ajar gate.

”Yes, she came here early in the morning, and said not to disturb her.”

”I’ll have a look.”

”But Chief...”

”What?” He cast a glance at the guard.

”Nothing, you may enter.” The guard shuddered slightly.

”Seems like my daughter is becoming more and more dignified.” Guelz did not feel the least bit disgruntled by the guard’s obstruction and instead raised his eyebrows with interest. The way things were going, the Raging Flare clan would have a new successor when he could no longer climb on to the Burning Stage.

He opened the door to a training hall which was assembled from thousands of leather pieces, hemp ropes and wooden poles. In Iron Sand City, only the Chief himself, who owned the largest Stone Castle around, could build an indoor training ground like this.

The hall was not paved with dirt or stone, but fine yellow sand instead. Thus, it felt like one was walking in the desert. The sand was fine and small but not soft, and many sharp objects were concealed in it. These were often broken teeth or weapon fragments left behind by the trainers. There was also a considerable amount of blood that seeped through, which therefore caused a portion of the sand to turn dark red.

Guelz’ grandfather once said that if all of the yellow sand was dyed red, Wildflame would forever occupy the position of the strongest clan and remain peerless in the Southernmost Region. This was because he had considered that if the clan was ever defeated, they would have to vacate this Stone Castle, and as a result, the overhead leather tentage, as well as all of the yellow sand, would have to be brought away. Even if they could not rebuild a training hall like this, at least they would not need to dye the sand again when they retook the first position.

A row of metal bars was erected on one end of the training hall. His daughter was here barefooted, with her pants and sleeves rolled up. She repeatedly threw heavy punches at the hanging sandbags. Guelz had no doubt that if these punches were thrown on a person’s body, the viscera would be split into pieces.

”Hmm, excited after seeing the Osha clan’s performance?” He smiled at her.

Lorgar turned her body and performed an aerial kick at a rebounded sandbag. Her slender legs moved as quick as lightning and sent the sandbag, which was as tall as a person, flying. The hemp rope holding the sandbag was finally overwhelmed, and snapped halfway through the violent swaying. The sandbag spun through the air and fell heavily on the floor, causing the interior sand to spill out.

”Hoo...” She exhaled loudly, causing her bestialized hands to return to normal. ”You don’t have to tell everyone, Papa. You already know what I’m thinking.”

”You admire that Divine Lady called Ashes, right?” Guelz laughed heartily. ”After all, in one-to-one combat, it’s hard to find you a suitable opponent from this city.”

Lorgar puckered her mouth. ”Unfortunately, they’ve just won the right to enter Iron Sand City, and there’s unlikely to be another contest for some time. Even if we issue them a challenge invitation, they’ll probably decline.”

”Of course. As the newly-promoted clan, they’ll have many trifles to sort out in order to gain a foothold in this city. Perhaps there’ll be a new challenger during the next spring. Nobody would want to waste their energy at this time.”

”And that’s why I can only hang out with these sandbags for now.” Lorgar sighed. ”Did you come to see me just to say this?”

”You would rather hang out with these sandbags than talk to Papa?”

”Err... that’s not the case.” She shook her ears and lowered them as if to admit her mistake.

”Ahem, watch your expression.” Guelz controlled the urge to stroke his daughter’s soft and fluffy ears, and instead issued her a solemn reminder. No matter how cute she looked, it was not befitting of a future clan leader to reveal such an expression. She should remain serious at all times, because this was the only way that her subordinates would revere and obey her.

”Oh.” Lorgar immediately straightened her ears and replied seriously.

Guelz gave a nod of satisfaction. Ever since his daughter had awakened as a Divine Lady, she increasingly enjoyed fighting, while her strength and ability consistently improved. From the Mojins’ perspective, there was nothing wrong with these. However, as she grew older, the abilities gifted to her by the Three Gods were beginning to show signs of sequela. At first, Lorgar looked just like a regular person, except that she would transform into a large desert wolf when she used her abilities. After many fights, she mastered the technique of transforming a single limb, and thus had an assured means of controlling the God’s Stone of Retaliation. As the effective range of the God’s Stone was only two to three steps, she was able to bestialize her arm by keeping a distance away from the stone. The force which her arm could then exert was too great for any normal person to resist.

She thereby became unbeatable in a duel. The clan’s warrior contingent, which had suffered a severe loss of personnel through the process of defending the first position and was showing signs of instability, became rejuvenated and stronger than ever before when she joined. Nobody had dared to challenge Wildflame’s position for five years now. But, after many years of practices and battles, a section of Lorgar’s body had permanently become wolf-like, such as her pointy ears and a half-visible tail. These did not revert to normal even when she withdrew her abilities.

Therefore, at present, Lorgar was a half-human, half-wolf monster.

As could be imagined, she would never be able to live the life of a proper Divine Lady. No charming warrior would ever be attracted by her body and looks, while Lorgar herself was not fond of those who were too unqualified.

Perhaps only her dear father did not mind whether she was a human or a beast.

Thus, she set her heart upon becoming the chief of Wildflame. Only by standing in the position which everyone had to look up to could she silence the questions about her.

”What do you think about the holy duel?”

”It looked exhilarating, but in truth, it was just a trick by Osha’s chief, Drow Silvermoon. Aside from Ashes, there was nothing impressive.” Lorgar wagged her tail.

”I must say, this tactic was brilliant indeed. She used her ability to bring the audience into the duel while steering clear of the restrictions, and completely controlled the direction of the duel.” Guelz remarked, stroking his beard. ”Not one person died to determine the outcome of the duel. I’d never seen something like this for many years. I believe that when the Cut Bone clan looks back on what happened, they won’t hate Osha for it.”

”This type of trick can only be used once,” Lorgar retorted disapprovingly. ”I’m willing to bet that in upcoming duels, the audience will start to adorn God’s Stone of Retaliation as well. Although Osha’s methods may have won their opponent’s respect, it may backfire one day. You can’t fill your stomach with respect. Who knows, maybe their first challenger will be a resurgent Cut Bone clan after a short period of recovery.”

Guelz patted his daughter’s shoulders relievedly. That she was able to notice these things, and place the clan’s interest at the top of her considerations, were signs that she had the makings of a chief. Although she was keen on a well-matched and entertaining contest, she would not deliberately look for such opportunities and thereby ignore threats to the clan.

Just then, the guard who was keeping watch outside the training hall walked hurriedly up to the duo. After saluting, he reported, ”Chief, I’ve just heard the news that the Osha clan has issued another request for a holy duel!”

”What?” Guelz was taken back and his face changed color. It had, after all, only been a day since they gained entrance into Iron Sand City. ”To who?”

”The fourth-placed Sandstorm clan.”

”Aren’t they moving into Iron Sand City from the small oasis?”

”No. I’ve even heard that they rejected Cut Bone clan’s arrangements to move out.”

Crazy, what are these people thinking? Was it not their intention to move into Iron Sand City?

”Looks like we were wrong.” Lorgar had remained silent for some time before she laughed softly. ”Perhaps, a duel with Ashes isn’t as unlikely as I’d imagined. What do you think, Papa?”