Taming the Obsessive Heir’s Broken Demoness

"Goodness! The leader is wasted! Looks like we'll have to go without him."

Riize turned around, watching questioningly as Ethan closed in with a small smile on his lips.

Trailing behind him were two fellow hunters who had readily placed themselves on each side of the drunk Gerald, holding onto the sluggish man's arm and carrying him away without any word.

Before Riize could open her mouth to ask, Ethan had voiced out his explanation the instant he took the seat across from her.

"Please don't worry for Sir Gerald. We'll be settling him in a nearby inn for convenience's sake. As for the expedition, we'll be carrying it out according to the plan."

Ethan assured, before asking her, "Before that, has the leader informed you of the expedition's purpose?"

Riize shook her head. While she might have had a gist from the information she'd gathered beforehand, Gerald hadn't told her the purpose himself. Prior to this, they had only discussed the possible routes they might take for the trip.

Due to the constant shifts in the Demon Realm's topography, which was caused by recurring natural disasters and supposedly – some mystic disturbances – they would need to constantly make on spot improvisations as they progress later on.

"Well then, have you ever heard of Blood Ores?"

Riize paused, as if caught off guard by his sudden inquiry.

'Blood ores? As in, stones that are extracted from the Abyssal Spawns?'

The precious ore the Zephirres had been searching for… Were they perhaps blood ores? But, what would Kairos need them for?

The lines between her eyebrows wrinkled to form a frown. From what she knew, Blood Ores were similar to mana stones, a typical kind of precious stones that contain powerful energies. However, unlike mana stones and the magical energy derived from them, the energy contained within Blood Ores were lethally toxic to humans.

This was because those ores were generated from the Abyss' demonic miasma, therefore carrying similar toxic traits far more potent due to their high concentration. In short, blood ores were akin to the highly-concentrated condensation of the poisonous demonic mist.

Staring back at the young man who eyed her with interest, Riize feigned her indifference, shaking her head as she waited for the man to fill her in.

"Blood Ores are stones that grow out of the backs of Abyssal Spawns. They are usually shaped like jagged crystals, bearing dark red colors akin to that of dirtied blood."

Ethan explained with his hands flailing in the air, as if struggling to give her a clear depiction of what the stones look like.

"Now, you must be wondering why we're talking about these ores." Ethan winked at her, sending chills down her spine. "You guessed right! The blood ores were exactly our target for the trip!"

Riize was rendered speechless by the young man's over-the-top performance. Nevertheless, she let the overly-excited him spew out whatever's in his mind, having no intention to interrupt his fun.

"It won't be easy," he admitted. "The ores must be extracted while the Abyssal Spawns still held a breath within them. Whatsmore, the spawns should be handled with extra care as any defect on the stones might cause the energy within to leak out, draining all value from the stones."

"Now then, why don't I continue as we make our way to the designated spot?" Ethan suggested with a smile.

Seeing her nod, he snapped his head to the squad and signaled for them to finish their preparations, before turning back to her, "Let's go. Our steeds are ready."

Riize watched their trained movements in pensive silence. Just as Ethan was about to leave his seat, Riize tugged at his sleeve, eyeing carefully at his reaction.

"Before that, I will be bringing my companion along, will that be okay?"

She revealed the lime green jiggly slime in her pockets. Ethan blinked and blinked, a strange wide grin surfacing on his face.

"A slime? Sure. Why not?"

===

They were traveling by Phantom Sand Lizards, a type of lesser monsters who were both easy to tame and resistant to the Red Sea's extreme weather. With strong limbs and thick sturdy hides, they were often one of the best choices one could get to travel across such extreme terrains.

After crossing the border's last checkpoint, the group was met with a vast, barren wasteland with little vegetation. The Red Sea, often referred to as the hunter's heavenly hunting grounds, was a neutral zone that didn't fall under any demon kingdom's jurisdiction, making it relatively safer for outsiders to explore to a certain degree.

Before officially entering the Red Sea, Riize had distributed a rough map of the wasteland's topography and outlined the route they would be taking. After a brief discussion, the group agreed to target only mid-sized Abyssal Cracks to limit the number of Abyssal Spawns roaming within the area.

The squad was undoubtedly trained. Along the way, they had been met with numerous abyssal spawns who had roamed around either by group or alone, and not once had they failed to bring them down.

Unfortunately, the extraction of their blood ores were incredibly inefficient. Out of nearly 50 spawns, they had successfully extracted not even a tenth of the ores, failing either from breaking the ores on the process or accidentally killing the spawns, prompting all signs of life and energy to disperse as the ores grew dim.

"We can't go on like this." Ethan stated the obvious, to which everyone agreed with grunted voices.

"Yes, our stamina and energy are gradually being chipped out by these aggressive monsters."

"Moreover, these monsters attack us like crazy the moment they lay their sight on us while we, for the sake of not damaging the ores, can only hold back and deal with them lightly and carefully, which is nearly impossible as our lives are literally on the line!"

Another took out their pocket watch and expressed his worry about the time.

"2 hours have passed, we have only 6 hours left before the end of the Hunting Hour!"

And amongst all their mumbles of depression…

"Ize, I'm hungry."

The slime sheepishly said as it rubbed its jiggly stomach.

"..."