Chapter 72: Volume 1 Chapter 72: Surtr's Act of Repayment!
Surtr had no idea why she found herself in a vast desert.
When she awoke, she was wearing only a tattered black dress and carrying a massive black sword taller than herself.
Aside from that, she had no currency for trade, nothing to prove her identity—Surtr couldn't even remember her ethnicity or which country she came from.
The only thing she remembered was that her name was Surtr, and the sword beside her was called Laevatain.
Despite the harsh conditions of the Hotlands, Surtr seemed unaffected, moving through the desert like an ordinary traveler who had lost her way.
She walked for several hours straight, resting only when she felt tired.
Suddenly, a disaster beast hidden beneath the sand lunged at her, its scythe-like mandibles ready to slice Surtr in half.
The unexpected encounter made her breath catch, and instinctively, she gripped the sword that had never left her side.
Whenever Surtr put the sword down, she found the surrounding temperature unbearably hot.
Fwoom!
Flames erupted as if the sword had been swung a thousand times before.
Surtr drew the sword and slashed upwards, slicing the attacking beast cleanly in half.
In the blink of an eye, a disaster beast over three meters long, including its enormous mandibles, lay dead at Surtr's feet.
After effortlessly slaying the beast, Surtr felt no emotional response.
"Could it be... I'm actually super strong!?"
Without her memories, Surtr had to figure out many things on her own.
Of course, she hadn't forgotten basic life skills—it's not like she would forget to remove her pants when using the bathroom.
With sword in hand, Surtr continued walking for dozens of kilometers, only stopping as night fell.
She came to a conclusion:
"I really am super strong!"
Along the way, she encountered more than one disaster beast.
In the Hotlands, someone like Surtr, who appeared small and alone, was essentially a walking meal.
But whenever Surtr swung her sword, no matter the size or strength of the enemy, they stood no chance against her.
She only came close to getting injured once when she encountered a group nearing double digits in size.
Other than that, her encounters with disaster beasts could only be described as a massacre.
This newfound confidence made Surtr increasingly bold.
At first, she worried about facing dangers alone, but soon she felt entirely liberated.
As long as she avoided the monster-infested settlements, there was no one she couldn't defeat in a one-on-one fight!
But as the sun set, Surtr encountered a new problem—she was hungry!
Not only hungry, but thirsty as well.
Although she could easily slay beasts many times her size, this power didn't seem to help fill her stomach.
In the oppressive heat, Surtr had a sudden craving:
"I really want ice cream!"
She didn't even fully remember what ice cream was—she just felt that it was natural to eat it in hot weather, and even if it were cold, eating ice cream didn't seem wrong.
But how could there be ice cream in the desert?
Forget ice cream; Surtr hadn't even found a place to get water after traveling such a long distance.
After casually killing another disaster beast, Surtr decided to try roasting its meat.
She had the knowledge for this, but where would she find a grill or wood?
Surtr ended up skewering a few pieces of the beast's meat on her sword, the flames from the sword quickly cooking the meat.
But as soon as she took a bite, she regretted it immediately.
The meat was sour, bitter, and tough—without any seasoning, it was unbearable.
Realizing it was already night, she decided to endure the hunger until morning when she could search for food and water.
When morning came, it started raining.
The rain in the Hotlands was undrinkable.
When it fell on Surtr, it felt like her skin was burning.
Her already tattered clothes were further corroded by the rain, causing them to lose their color.
The second day, unable to find food due to the rain, Surtr waited until it stopped, then forced herself to eat the roasted flesh of a disaster beast, despite feeling nauseous.
On the third day, the heavy rain returned as expected, and this time Surtr stayed put because she caught a cold.
The rain seemed to suppress the power of the large sword she wielded, leaving her body weak and vulnerable.
Surtr thought she might die in the desert, but she was fortunate—a caravan passed by and found her.
"Garde said that life in the Hotlands is tough, so we should help each other even more!"
Surtr couldn't understand the language of the lizardfolk, but she was lifted onto one of the caravan's beasts and slept for a whole day.
When her sword regained its luster, Surtr felt fully revived.
It was then she realized that her rescuer was a beautiful lizardfolk girl, even by the standards of her own kind.
You might wonder how Surtr could tell the difference between beautiful and less attractive lizardfolk.
Surtr had no memory of such details—she just knew that in her memories, people who looked like this lizardfolk girl were either handsome or beautiful.
"Raya!" That was the name of the lizardfolk girl.
Surtr also introduced herself, but due to the language barrier, she couldn't communicate her desire for the girl to just drop her off somewhere, leaving her with some food and water.
Since she couldn't make herself understood, she decided to follow the caravan until they reached a town, where she would then part ways.
Until then, Surtr would protect the lizardfolk girl!
She noticed that the girl was one of the caravan's guards.
Although the guards were strong, they were nowhere near Surtr's level.
If danger arose, Surtr would step in and repay the girl for saving her life.
On the seventh day after waking up, Surtr saw the lizardfolk girl returning from patrol with a handsome crocodile-like man.
Though his tail was missing a piece, which Surtr found regrettable, he was otherwise quite perfect in appearance.
Of course, Surtr wasn't shallow, and it was clear that the relationship between the lizardfolk girl and the crocodile man was very close.
So, Surtr simply watched them for a while before turning away.
But after a short time, she saw the lizardfolk girl running off in tears.
Could it be that this crocodile man had wronged Raya in some way!?
Surtr was furious.
She instantly recognized that the crocodile man was no good—using his good looks to toy with an innocent girl.
Surtr decided that today she would rid the world of this scoundrel!
After comforting Raya, not caring whether she understood or not, Surtr grabbed her massive sword and marched toward the crocodile man.
She stood before him, mimicking the posture of the lizardfolk before a duel, picked up a stone, and tapped it with her sword while staring at him.
"Crocodile man, I challenge you!"
Garde: "???"
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