At noon, the scorching sun hung high above the Rainforest, and its blazing rays poured down, baking the moisture from the earth.
Normally, Acahuala would have at least two rains a day, which was common in the Rainforest.
But strangely, for several days in a row, not a single drop of rain had fallen in Acahuala recently.
After walking a short distance, Goki and his group arrived at Gavial's tribe, a large open area within the Rainforest where the temperature was exceptionally hot and dry.
Though called a tribe, it was essentially just dozens of casually built thatched huts, with no architectural finesse, but adorned with various furnishings rich in primitive tribal style—wild beast skulls, colorful painted pottery, and even some worn-out radios.
This was an Aegir tribe; the men all had alligator heads, while the women possessed beautiful faces and pointed ears. Though strange to outsiders, they never felt anything amiss.
Each of them wore many colorful feathers and vibrant body paint, but the areas that needed covering were covered with clothes—modern replicas brought into the Rainforest by the Columbia exploration team.
Primitive and advanced, savage and civilized, the boundaries blurred in this small Rainforest tribe.
"Oh my, Gavial, that's Gavial, isn't it!"
"Gavial is back! Mom, come out quickly, Gavial is back, aren't you always talking about her!"
When the handsome green-haired Nona walked through the tribe's gate, every Aegir person who saw her would pause for a moment, then joyfully run off to notify one person after another.
"Hehe, Gavial is very popular, everyone in the tribe admires her—this time, with Gavial back, there's definitely no second choice for Mavesotia's victor! You should just stay in the tribe and be the Chieftain!"
Holding a large black Staff in one hand and secretly rubbing her little butt under her big tail with the other, Tomimi tried hard to snuggle up to Gavial, constantly showering her with compliments, while cautiously glancing at the man fanning himself with a hat on the other side.
"I haven't touched your room at all; I make sure to clean it every day, so you can move in right away!"
Gavial's return was a good thing.
But the bad thing was, she brought back two other people!
The quiet white-haired Nona was fine, but that black-haired man named Goki was absolutely super dangerous!
Gavial's friends were always girls. Once, a boy put a caterpillar on Gavial's head and got a beating from her, and since then, no boys dared to get close to her.
Yet this time, Gavial returned with a man!
"Is he a friend? Is he a spouse? Could that Nona be Gavial's grown-up daughter, Tomimi's niece?!"
For a moment, Tomimi's mind raced, even coming up with names for her nephews and nieces, then huffily decided to test this man who didn't seem strong at all.
Gavial must have been tricked by a bad person!
Then, she got spanked—it hurt so much!
Although this man's strength seemed a bit less than her own, just as she was about to swing her Staff to hit him—no, as she was about to swing her Staff to use a Spell, he would roll and dodge like a loach, completely unhittable.
Instead, Tomimi was easily caught off guard by Goki, who swept her leg, making her fall flat and giving her a good lesson.
"Ha, this is what I was afraid of—don't worry, Tomimi, I'll stay for a few more days, but first we need to deal with other issues."
Gavial pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a wry smile to Goki and Skadi, who was looking around; she still couldn't handle this child's enthusiasm—soft-hearted but stubborn, that was Gavial.
"As for Mavesotia, it's just getting started anyway, and I should go see Zumama. You said Kmar also moved into the Rainforest? I thought Liberi people hated getting their feathers wet."
Goki, who was following behind, couldn't help but smile as he watched the two girls chatting happily, their big tails swaying behind them.
Though her face didn't show it, Gavial's tail, wagging much faster, indicated that returning to her homeland made her very happy.
At this moment, Skadi, who had been looking around like a curious child since arriving at the tribe, turned to Goki and noticed his gaze fixed on her tail, immediately pouting her little mouth in annoyance.
"...Goki, do you like big tails?"
Reaching out and tugging on Goki's sleeve, then patting her own empty little butt outside her long pants, Skadi couldn't help but envy Angela, whom they had parted with earlier—both Aegir, but why did she have a tail?
"I like tails, but I also like Skadi."
Looking at Skadi's adorable actions, Goki smiled slightly and answered without hesitation.
For Skadi, telling the truth was truly the best answer; except for the truth about herself, Goki would hide nothing else from Skadi.
"Hmm... well, that's good."
Clearly, Skadi, whose romantic experience was a blank slate, hadn't yet grasped the weight of Goki's "like," but after hearing his words, she nodded reassuringly.
All in all, Little Orca was very easy to appease.
"They said there's a competition there, seems like it involves fighting, can I go watch too?!"
"Of course, no problem, just don't break anyone—but first, we need to handle this matter."
Taking out the blood collection bottle containing the flame from his pocket, Goki placed it in front of him.
The floating flame was still burning quietly, but Goki could see that it was burning much more fiercely.
The further south they went, the more fiercely this cluster of flames burned. Goki understood that the core of this divine kin was increasingly approaching its master.
And Goki himself was gradually approaching his lost power.
Of course, the other visitors who had come to the Rainforest, besides himself, also caught Goki's attention.
"That horned wanderer was picked up by me a week ago. She has horns, and Inam said she's a Sarkaz. I don't know what Sarkaz is, but I heard that some Tiakau people who get Oripathy also grow horns, it's really amazing..."
Accompanied by the greetings of the surrounding tribe members, Tomimi led the group towards the center of the tribe.
"She's been unconscious ever since she was picked up. When she occasionally wakes up, she's dazed and can't even tell us her name; she seems to know nothing at all—we're here, Shaman Grandmother lives here."
Pointing to a small room that was slightly different from the other wooden houses, with incense at the entrance and totems stuck around it, Tomimi wagged her tail.
"She's been running a fever, her body is scalding hot, and she's always holding a very, very large sword in her hand that we can't pry away. There's nothing for it, Shaman Grandmother can only keep looking after her; many herbal medicines have been given, but none worked."
Hearing this, Goki clasped the burning little bottle in his hand.
Sarkaz, sword, scalding hot, wanderer... Somehow, Goki's DNA stirred.
The next second, he realized it wasn't his DNA stirring, but... hiss—
A scorching heat emanated from Goki's palm, and he immediately felt a burning pain, followed by the aroma of roasted meat.
Releasing his hand, he saw that the previously only lukewarm activated flame suddenly began to stir restlessly in the bottle.
Even the Qi emanating from Goki himself couldn't completely suppress it; it was cheering and leaping, constantly hitting the outer wall of the bottle, seemingly wanting to break free immediately and seek and rely on some stronger power.
"Run, this girl is going to explode—Gavial! You too, run quickly, everyone, go, go!"
Accompanied by an anxious shout, an Aegir elder with white hair but still vigorous, holding a Staff thicker and larger than Tomimi's, wrapped with wire and nails, scrambled out of the Witch Doctor's hut. Seeing the group, she immediately waved her hands and ran towards them.
Boom—
Immediately after, before anyone could react, the roof of the small wooden house was blown sky-high with a huge roar.
Next, a cluster of fiercely burning flames rushed out from the damaged house, and the surrounding, originally somewhat humid air was instantly heated to a degree that made one's mouth dry.
Roar—
A hoarse roar came from the room, sending shivers down one's spine.
"Ha—Skadi! Gavial!"
Clutching the activated flame bottle in his hand, Goki's previously relaxed expression immediately turned serious, and Skadi and Gavial both looked at her.
A certain tremor came from within Goki's heart.
He could feel that the flame before him, like the collapsing Flame Demon he encountered on the Sargon border—no, it was stronger than that!
His black hunter's uniform instantly turned into a charred fireproof suit, and Goki, without hesitation, drew his weapon and charged forward.
"Alright, let's go!"
"Hey, you two—Tomimi, stay here and evacuate the others."
Gavial and Skadi paused for a moment, then immediately drew their greatswords and Staffs and followed.
"Gavial, I want to too—ugh! Shaman Grandmother, this way! Everyone, quickly get water to extinguish the fire!"
Tomimi also wanted to follow, but hearing Gavial's words, she still pulled the escaping Witch Doctor and called out to the other members of the tribe.
Meanwhile, Goki had already covered his mouth and nose with a damp cloth and rushed into the house, braving the fiercely burning flames.
As soon as he entered, he saw a red-haired girl with two horns on her head in the smoke-filled room, surrounded by burning flames, wielding a crimson greatblade nearly two meters long, looking warily towards the doorway.
"Who... are you?!"
She clutched her chest, seemingly in pain, but still pointed her greatsword at the people in front of her.
Goki, however, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"I'm starting to suspect I might be the Doctor—Sister 42?"
In the Acahuala tribe of the Rainforest, Goki encountered an acquaintance he least expected to meet in Sargon.
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