Panic filled Aksa's voice as he mumbled, "I can't find it..."
Aksa started patting his body with his hand, trying to cover as much area as he could so that he could be certain the knife wasn't just somewhere hidden.
He tried doing that multiple times, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't sense it anywhere he touched.
Aksa started becoming desperate as his other hand started getting tired, and the mutant's head started getting closer to his face.
Aksa then remembered that the mutant's body once belonged to a human, and a man, to be exact, so an idea surfaced in his mind.
He started punching the mutant's stomach hard enough for it to flinch. Once the mutant got distracted, he swung his leg with all his might, landing a kick directly in its nuts.
The mutant immediately reacted, screeching in pain as it became paralyzed in place. "As I thought, they still have the same weaknesses that humans have," Aksa mumbled as he pushed the mutant away from him and then quickly stood up.
Once he was back on his feet, he suddenly heard the sound of metal dropping on the ground coming from behind him. Once he turned his head to check, he found his knife on the ground.
It had slipped into his back once he fell after the mutant jumped on him, and he was too focused on protecting himself that he didn't feel it pressing against his back.
Although he wasn't feeling any pain, he wanted to check if the knife had pierced his back or not.
However, he knew he didn't have the time for that, so he immediately picked it from the ground before dropping to his knees and swiftly swinging his hand, planting the knife inside the mutant's neck.
As it screeched in pain, Aksa continued stabbing its neck until it was about to be separated from its body. Then, before he pulled the knife one last time, he pushed it to the side with utmost power, completely detaching its head from the body.
Aksa sat in his place for a few moments, breathing heavily as he tried to rest his body a little. However, Kael immediately called for him.
Aksa turned his head to face him, only to see him running in his direction, firing arrows constantly as he screamed, "Keep going!"
Aksa nodded slightly before quickly standing up, loading a new arrow before he pushed forward.
With the help of Kael's arrows raining from above, Aksa managed to reach the medics' tent. Before entering it, Aksa watched as the fire slowly ate into the thick leather that it was made of.
The medics had given up on stopping the fire, as no matter what they tried, it wouldn't die down, so they switched their focus to the few patients that were still alive inside, trying to move them to safety.
Suddenly, a scream emerged from inside the tent, making Aksa rush inside, only to find that the medics were surrounded by a few mutants.
Since they were too focused on saving the patients, the medics didn't consider the possibility of the dead patients inside turning into mutants, so by the time they realized it, they were already cornered.
The medics were mostly women, and no one knew how to fight, so they couldn't help but scream in the hopes of someone appearing to help them.
Aksa quickly fired one of the arrows infused with Kael's blood at the mutant that was closer to the medics, making it instantly drop dead.
The rest of the mutants immediately switched their focus to him as they realized he was a real danger that they needed to get rid of first.
The mutants quickly launched at him all at once, but luckily, there were only 4 left, so Aksa didn't face much difficulty in dodging their attacks.
He slowly stepped back as he lined another arrow, luring them away from the medics and trying to pull them outside the tent.
However, before he could go back any further, one of the mutants jumped at him, aiming for his face with its jaws wide open as it flew in the air.
This time, Aksa simply stepped to the side, letting the mutant land on the concrete, tiled ground right next to him before he swiftly twisted the knife in his hand and shoved it into the mutant's skull.
Aksa then put his food on the mutant's neck, pinning it to the ground before and forcing it to stay in place before loading and shooting two arrows back to back into its skull.
As he crouched to pull his knife out of the mutant's head, he also made sure to pull the two arrows as he was quickly running out of them.
Before he could stand up again, two mutants suddenly ganged up on him, swinging their hands that now turned into large claws at his neck.
Aksa managed to dodge their attacks at the last moment, rolling on the ground before their claws could reach him. He then immediately loaded the arrows he had just pulled out of the other mutant into his bow before firing them towards their necks.
As they screeched in pain, Aksa took the chance to immediately jump on them, pushing both of the mutants to the ground before slashing their necks with his knife.
Then, before the other mutant could reach him, he quickly pulled another arrow from the special ones as he twisted his torso and shot it, landing directly in the middle of its head.
For a bit, he sat still in the same place, looking at the tent roof as he caught his breath. Then, he heard a familiar voice.
"Aksa? What are you doing here?"
When he turned his head, Aksa saw Iriel rushing towards him while taking off her mask.
"Oh, Iriel," Aksa uttered as he looked at her with a smile, "Kael told me to come check on the medics here, but it looks like all of you are fine."
"You just fought against all those mutants alone, and you are this calm?" Iriel replied as she pulled a small piece of cloth from her pocket, wiping the blood on Aksa's as she inspected the wounds he got from the other mutants.
"You don't have to worry about that as long as everyone here is okay," Aksa explained as he tried to stand up, but Iried immediately stopped him.
"Where do you think you are going? I still haven't finished healing you yet," Iriel said as she grabbed a small pouch that was hanging on her hip and poured a white powder into her palm.
She then started rubbing it on all of his wounds. Aksa flinched as he felt his wounds burning, but Iriel held his face before she said, "Try not to move, okay?"
Aksa nodded. He then watched her blow into her palm before she uttered, "sona van sala gab [May your pain fade]."
She immediately rubbed her hand against Aksa's wounds, which made him feel like his skin was burning.
Aksa closed his eyes from the pain as the white powder started mixing with his wounds, and his skin started rapidly constricting.
"This should do it," Iriel mumbled as all his wounds closed.
"Who is this boy, Iriel?" One of the medics asked as she appeared behind Iriel, "Do you know him?"
"I met him a few hours ago." Iriel explained, "He came with the hunter who was kind enough to bring us the white lily. His name is Aksa."
"Thank you for the help, Aksa," The medic said as she bowed her head slightly, "We would've been in so much trouble if it wasn't for your help."
"Ah, no need to thank me," Aksa waved his hands right and left as he said, "I really didn't do much."
"No, you really saved us there," The medic replied, "I'm Seren Malor, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, Seren." Aksa nodded.
"Also, Aksa, you look different," Iriel said as she narrowed her eyes.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Aksa looked at her, confused.
"I don't know. You look-- fuller, I guess?" Iriel explained, tilting her head slightly as she tried to think of the right words.
"What does that even mean?" Aksa asked.
"I don't know. It doesn't even make sense in the first place," Iriel replied, shrugging her shoulders as she shook her head.
As they were talking, Kael suddenly stepped into the tent, frantically searching for Aksa with his eyes as he called, "Kid! You ok?"
"Oh. Everyone is ok..." Kael uttered as he found everyone looking at him in confusion.
"You did good," Kael said as he patted the boy's head while looking at the dead mutant bodies lying around. "You got better at using the bow real fast."
Aksa opened his mouth to speak, but a loud explosion sound suddenly interrupted him. Then, the tent roof collapsed, with the debris of a collapsed wall splitting it in half.
Everyone inside looked outside, only for their eyes to open wide in shock.