Chapter 111
An immensely distant range. Though the chance of the roaring creature finding them was low, they couldn't be at ease. Predators generally have extremely keen senses for finding prey. That being might have special detection abilities.
Having tasted fear once, they could no longer feel the same tranquility as before. Fear of the predator had been imprinted deep in their unconscious.
Just then, Damian returned from scouting.
And all eyes turned to him.
He approached the flat rock with leisurely steps.
Seeing his completely composed appearance, Cecil asked, "Candy... didn't you hear it?"
"I did."
"...Are we really okay?"
"If it doesn't find us first, we'll pass by safely. Now that I know its approximate location, it saved me the effort of looking for it later."
Cecil and the group members wore dumbfounded expressions. He was talking about going to find that beast.
"We're going to look for it...?"
He answered indifferently, "No, I'll have to look for it after separating from you all."
His tone was like dealing with an annoying homework assignment.
"..."
Indeed, his way of thinking was different. He was considering that beast as his prey.
His unwavering demeanor released Cecil's tension as if she had swallowed a tranquilizer. If even Candy had made a fuss, her anxiety would have increased instead. Fortunately, he was as unshaken as she had hoped.
He was someone who had stepped into this land of his own will in the first place. Remembering that fact, this man's madness felt reassuring in the current situation.
Even Cecil, with her strong sense of independence, felt like wanting to lean on and depend on Candy.
She looked at Trisha's face pressed close beside her. Trisha was looking at Candy with a satisfied expression as if he were her personal knight.
"Trisha... are you okay?"
Startled, she managed her expression before saying, "Ah, Sis... I still can't really grasp it..."
"..."
She looked at Martha and Bertrand, her group members. Distrust of Candy was evident on their faces. If even Cecil, their de facto leader, took an ambiguous stance, the team could split.
She needed to establish a firm position.
Having made up her mind, Cecil approached Damian.
Then, she took out all her frost wind bombs from her pocket and held them out.
"Here. I'm entrusting them all to you."
Bertrand, startled, tried to stop Cecil.
Those were Cecil's most powerful weapons.
"Hey, what are you—!"
Cecil turned her head and cut off Bertrand's words firmly, "Shut up."
She looked back at Damian.
Damian also showed reluctance to this.
"It's too much."
"I'm not giving them to you. Use what you need, and return what's left when we separate."
"The person who made these would use them better."
"There's a saying, 'Magic engineers don't know what they're making.' Just because you made something doesn't mean you can fully draw out a magic tool's potential. I'm entrusting them because I think you'll use them better than me."
"..."
Her choice was to discard all mediocre options and bet on the best hand.
Who would she trust over the overall first place? Moreover, he was working with the best first-year spirit summoner.
He silently took the frost wind bombs after hearing Cecil's words.
***
Sion followed the faint scent spread in the air. It was clearly the smell of firewood burned by people.
After walking for a while, she faced a cliff. The scent continued along that wall. Following it straight ahead, she encountered a small cave.
The burnt scent was strongest there. She could easily deduce that someone had camped in the cave to avoid yesterday's rain.
Sion entered the cave. There she saw a campfire reduced to ashes and blackened skewers. When she stirred them with her foot, live embers were visible. Less than a day had passed since they left.
There were traces of people sitting around the campfire. Three people had stayed in the cave. She couldn't yet be certain if these were that man's traces.
Coming outside, Sion tracked strange traces left at the cave entrance.
Giant boar footprints. And traces of something that had swept past it.
At the end was a boar carcass lying split in half.
The cut surface was distorted as if crushed by some powerful force. It looked like a powerful wave had swept through this area.
She only knew one man who could use such powerful force.
Suspicion now became certainty. A faint smile played around Sion's face.
She touched her sword hilt and muttered to herself, "Not much longer..."
***
Martha spoke while checking the terrain before them against the map several times, "There's no path."
Cecil and Bertrand stuck close beside her and checked the map together.
"Are you sure you checked properly?"
"Yes. It said there should be a walkway here but look, there isn't."
When Cecil checked, Martha wasn't lying. Though surrounding landmarks matched the map, the place where a path should be was abruptly cut off.
To the left of the path was a tall rock face. Ahead and to the right spread cliffs.
Cecil gathered the whole team and discussed new routes.
Rock climbing was impossible. Not only did they lack equipment, but the rocks were slippery from moisture.
"We'll have to follow the valley where the elevation is lower."
Bertrand swallowed and said, "But that's..."
There was a detour. The problem was that where they stood was the only path that went far around from where the beast's sound came.
While seriously pondering, Luna's wolf spirit returned from scouting with something in its mouth.
What it held was a huge lizard. Its body length was much longer than a grown man lying down, and its body was covered in black scales hard and glossy like obsidian inlays.
After conversing with the spirit, Luna told Damian, "It says this one was following us from behind. Not sure... since when. And seems there are more in the pack."
Everyone's senses sharpened at the word “pack.”
"Looks like they see us as prey."
Luna nodded.
"They're moving systematically."
Luna and Damian sensed this was an ominous sign. Because the lizard's appearance closely resembled a dragon. They couldn't dismiss the connection to the “wingless dragon”.
Seeing how they moved in packs and followed systematically, they might have intelligence beyond reptiles.
"The collapsed walkway might not be a coincidence either."
"I... think so too."
Guiding prey into their territory.
It was a drive hunt.
It meant it was already too late to avoid the fight of eating and being eaten.
Damian made his decision without hesitation.
"Let's move for now. We need to pass through the ravine before sunset at least."
***
After three hours of walking, they entered the detour. Being a long U-shaped valley, they would inevitably be surrounded if both front and back were blocked.
Though the width itself was broad enough for ten carriages to pass simultaneously, the tall cliffs spread on both sides made it feel psychologically narrow and stifling.
Small waterfalls appeared occasionally on the cliffs, but due to the height, half turned to mist mixing with wind before reaching the ground.
Sunlight didn't reach deep into the valley. The ground was all slippery with moss, and beside it flowed a stream of water so small it was embarrassing to even call it a brook.
There was no leisure to admire the natural scenery. It was because of anxiety about what might jump out at any moment.
Everyone showed clear signs of fatigue, perhaps from just walking.
Damian took the lead with the others following behind.
Soon after, Luna's wolf spirit that had gone ahead scouting returned.
Three wolves each came back with one lizard in their mouths. The increasing number of captured water lizards wasn't a good sign.
Luna's eyes gradually widened after conversing with the wolf spirit. She approached Damian and said.
"...The atmosphere isn't right. We should prepare for battle."
"How many?"
She hesitated, choosing her words before speaking, "...Many. Very many."
Damian took out a potion from his chest and drank it in one go then said, "I'm counting on you with the others."
"Yes. Be careful..."
Luna was more suitable for covering wide areas since she could control many spirits.
Damian planned to fight alongside his companions, then when the pack leader appeared, send his companions to the rear and face it alone.
He briefly looked at Cecil's group following behind. And his eyes met Trisha's who was stuck close to Cecil. She, too, watched Damian with an expression showing mixed feelings.
To Damian, Trisha was someone who stirred mixed emotions. Sometimes he thought it would be more comfortable being with someone who knew his identity, but then he wanted to avoid her because she might bring up memories of Lisa buried in his heart.
Sometimes he wanted to separate her as she would only interfere with practice, but sometimes, he wanted to keep her close and protect her securely from dangerous situations.
As if reading Damian's mind, Luna asked, "Are you worried... about your friend?"
Damian shook his head.
"Let's finish quickly and shake off the burdens."
He took the lead again. The others followed his movement.
After advancing about ten minutes like that, Trisha discovered something strange and asked Cecil while looking up at the cliff, "Sis, can you see... on that cliff?"
"What?"
"There seem to be strange... holes."
Trisha pointed. Whether due to shadows on the cliff's bumps, ambiguous-sized shadings that were hard to distinguish appeared here and there.
Cecil took out a telescope to check. They really were holes. Just barely big enough for one person to stand. Rather than caves, they might more properly be called burrows.
And suddenly something black emerged from that hole and crawled down the cliff.
"...!"
It was agile like a cockroach.
It wasn't just one. Black things began pouring out of other holes in the surroundings.
Soon after, Luna's wolf spirits began barking fiercely as if giving a warning.
Cecil immediately shouted, "Candy! They're coming!"
A moment later, something more terrifying happened. That roar that had made the group members tremble in fear began echoing through the valley again.
Its source was very close.