Loa struggled to pull his awareness free of the battle's aftermath. The overlapping waves of fierce pain from every part of his body made even his breathing tremble. The stench of blood and char permeating the sulfurous mist mingled with the searing agony of burned skin, as though he lay on a branding iron, and the aching, numbing pressure in his overworked meridians, as if countless fine needles were stabbing them... it nearly drowned his will.
But he knew he could not fall now.
Forcing his nearly exhausted body to hold on, Loa used his left hand, which he could still barely move, to fish a fine-steel dagger from the leather pouch at his waist. It had been forged from scraps left over from making his thousand-forged longsword, and it was sharp enough. He staggered to the Male Fire Lizard's enormous corpse, avoided its still-twitching limbs, located the approximate position of the Magic Crystal Core within its skull, and began cutting.
With the sharp dagger and his remaining battle-qi, he laboriously cut through the tough hide and skull. When his bloodstained, blackened hand finally touched the still-warm, fist-sized hexagonal crystal, crimson throughout with what looked like lava flowing inside, the pure yet violent fluctuations of fire elemental energy against his fingertips lifted his spirits slightly.
"A late Rank 6 fire element Magic Crystal Core..." Loa placed it in a piece of freshly stripped hide and wrapped it securely.
The Female Fire Lizard and Young Fire Lizard came next. The process repeated, but he had to work faster. Every second he lingered increased the risk of other magical beasts or adventurers following the scent of blood. Once he had secured three equally hot Magic Crystal Cores of different sizes, he began collecting the greatest prize of this expedition-the Redflame Gems.
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