The clash of metal rang along with the sound of the lizard angry hisses and curses, only their enemy didn't know they were cursing her at all since she didn't understand their language

Watching his clansmen fighting a losing battle the leader's thoughts started to calm down, the panic receding as logical thought started to take over

'This is a training session for her'

It was very obvious from the women's fight that she didn't have any real fight experience at all, at least not weapon-wielding creatures, her stats also seemed a little worse than her enemies even after being boosted by the aura

'Even so she has some great moves that contradict her inexperienced actions, she must have been trained in a safe environment'

He analyzed, his final guess brought him to think that she was indeed from the new world as there was no way a vampire could have not fought after being introduced to the Infidome

'The problem is her teacher'

The way the man standing behind him acted gave a clear sign that he could easily get rid of them, that move he did just now alone showcase his ability to assassinate him with ease, why he didn't was pretty obvious though

'He's treating us as training dummies'

He knew this because that's what they also did occasionally, taking out their youngins to fight beasts or perhaps even other tribes to sharpen their skills and prepare them for battle

The thought of being the same as beasts in their eyes made him grind his teeth in anger, but what could he do, he knew he was going to be killed someday in this dog eat dog world, it was already good enough to have lived this long

'No! I won't let these arrogant bloodsuckers just get away with it, I must at least go down with honour!'

Like his comrades he didn't feel fear, fear was the luxury of the living and they were dead lizards walking

While his thoughts reached a decision his comrades were already on their way to the afterlife after being a grinding stone for Ellis's skills

Turning around she looked toward the archer who threw away his bow and empty quiver, lunging at her with his claws and tail

Behind him the black scales lizard that had been still all this time was now dashing toward her as well, hand on his sword's hilt

Taking a stance she prepared for a hard fight, knowing the leader of this group wouldn't be an easy foe

The mad archer lunged at her the second he got within range only to have his head sent flying threw the air along a trail of blood

His sacrifice was not on vain though as it gave the leader the chance to close on the distance that would have been hard to cover with the harpoons superior attack range

That was within Ellis's plans though, he was fast but not faster than her weapon, by the time he was within an arm's she would be able to hook him with the back if the harpoon's tip, followed by her barrage of attacks

'Got you!'

A sly smirk ripped through his mouth, showing his glaring teeth, growling at her to die while unseating his bladeless hilt

Noticing his preliminary attack she knew something must be off, and she confirmed it when she saw the black blade of smoke slicing at her through the air

She raised the harpoon in her other hand to block but it passed through it, making her try to avoid it with a backflip, this time her speed was the one too slow

'I can't escape it!'

Realizing the inescapable attack her calm mind tried to analyze the attack in an instant

'Black smoke that has a suffocating feeling to it, the only thing that comes to mind is poison'

Since it looked like poison than she knew the best way to deal with it

Midway through her backflip she let her legs go up into the air, clashing with the black smoke which much to her expectations instantly seeped into her legs without hesitation, it seemed to target organic materials in its attack

The leader didn't expect this move from her but it was all the same to him, as long as the poison seeped into her body there was a chance she could die, whether or not her teacher had any way to remove it didn't matter, he did his best

With that he resigned his fate to death, knowing that he would die the next moment since that devil behind him would lash out in revenge

Whoosh!

The sound of the wind surely came as soon as he expected it to, only it came from the front

"Huh?"

His hopeless eyes lifted to meet with the woman's, receiving a firm stare down as her leg which should have been instantly numbed was now coming down at him like a pillar falling from the sky, crushing his neck with the last thought on his mind being his uselessness to the end

"Haa, haaa"

Ellis took a few deep breaths once the battle was finished as she tried to suppress the ripping pain coming from her leg muscles, other than forcing herself to achieve the last attack she could also feel the two poisons clashing against each other inside her, the battle taking its toll in her poor flesh

Clap clap clap.

Slow claps came from YuJu as he approached her pained self, looking happy with her performance

"Master-"

"Don't worry about it, your legs won't suffer any crippling damage yet, the root energy is still in effect, even though it's supporting the poison it also has the power to heal your flesh, just enough to keep pace with the constant damage"

He cut her worries off with his explanation, the pain though was still there, eating away at her calm demeanour

Even so, she didn't utter a word of complaint, not even a grunt of discomfort for this level of pain was manageable with her skill's constant calming effect

Her eyes moved toward the hole those lizards had once again escaped to, thinking of pursuit, but it wasn't her decision to make so she waited for his orders instead

"Let's collect the stuff we need from the dead ones while those guys evacuate"

"I thought this hole was the only entrance?"

"Even a rabbit knows to dig more than one exist, what makes you think intelligent beings won't do the same? Surely they chose a cave with a few spread out entrances"

He explained while walking to the dead leader's body and picking the death neckless on his neck

"Mist Serpent, Hidden Sand Slitherer, Dire Ophidian, judging by this collection he must be from the far eastern tribes that dot these deserts, if they are already here then it safe to assume that most of the low to mid-level hunters and tribesmen had come to harvest some of this swarm's leftovers while the high levelled hunters and various large tribes are heading toward earth for a share of the spoils"

"So they weren't heading toward earth?"

"No, they definitely were, they were taking a longer path that is all, the swarm came at surprise though which resulted in them shifting targets, temporarily, unless they gained something worthwhile then they would store some of the spoils and continue on to raid our land"

Knowing this made Ellis more determined to kill as many as she could here, the more she killed the less the humans would have to face, maybe only one or two people would be killed by the ones she slew since they would only visit places that were destroyed already, but even a single life was plenty for her, especially when it went along with her master's plans

'I won't allow the next group to escape'

She thought with while picking up the hilt which the leader used

"Is this a special weapon that shoots out poison smoke?"

"No, it was that lizardman's skill, the sword itself was probably made from some sort of natural poison absorbent mineral, it's practically useless o us"

Since it was useless she decisively threw it away, she was no border and would only keep what she needed, unique but useless stuff were unneeded!

The two ransacked the bodies in no time, after all only the weapons were of use and they wore no actual clothes to be checked

Done with the short looting Ellis stood before the hole while YuJu went to grab Anput who he hid among the nearby rocks, far enough not to be affected by the battle and close enough so that she was within his immediate reaction range

Once he came back with her in his arms he motioned for Ellis to jump down

"Ladies first"

"Master is such a gentleman"

She remarked in jest before following her down into the underground den where they started to loot whatever remaining useful items