Chapter 15 - Getting Tracked Down.
Sometime later, Mantis and his main squad arrived at the location of the fallen Shadow Castle nest.
It took them significantly less time than Shia's squad since they didn't dismount or stop once to search the traveled areas for the natural treasures.
"What a beautiful destruction." Mantis said in awe as he gazed at the ruined, closed-shut nightcrawler's nest.
"Our lord and his honored squad have ensured no nest revival occurs." One of his squadmates uttered proudly.
While they couldn't see past the destroyed cave, they were certain that most if not all the underground network of the nest was completely obliterated.
This was a must-have procedure in any expedition since those caves and tunnels were considered Stygian gates and would attract the nightcrawlers in great numbers.
If any passing intelligent nightcrawler noticed such a gathering of low-tiered nightcrawlers and a perfectly sound tunneling network, they wouldn't hesitate to make it their new nest.
Thus, both the government and the agencies had to ensure the removal of any chance of a nest revival.
Suddenly, Mantis' attention was attracted to cleaned-up half-covered footsteps, leading to the northern side of the forest.
"Masai, look here."
He called for the party's tracking expert to check the trail.
A well-built dark-skinned man with a great hairline and a pierced ear crouched next to the trail. Then, he looked in the direction of the footsteps with a deep frown.
Not saying much, he followed the track for a few seconds and then came back with the same expression.
"What's the issue?" Mantis inquired.
"The trail makes no sense." Masai clarified with a rugged tone, "There are no additional marks left after the footsteps. No broken twigs, no crushed leaves, no disturbed bushes. Nothing."
"Are you saying Shia have left behind a decoy footprint to throw us off their trail?" Mantis knitted his eyebrows.
"Either that or they have cleared their path after leaving behind those footprints." Masai shook his head, "No one that careful will leave behind such a footprint."
"It's a decoy, I am certain." Mantis smirked, "I know that arrogant b*tch will try everything in her power to keep me away from messing with her quest."
"If you say so." Masai stood up and looked around him, "Spread out and search for any trails, and be careful not to ruin them."
Mantis' main squad consisted of ten Daywalkers, including him and Masai. Thus, it shouldn't take them long to find clues with this much manpower.
As expected, after ten minutes of scrutinizing the entire place, a squad mate whistled twice, attracting everyone's attention to him.
Mantis and Masai paid him a visit, and they were shown a small heap of leaves shattered and digging deep into the mud. While the footprint was barely visible as the wind had already ruined most of it, for experts like Masai, it was more than enough.
"47 shoe size." Masai murmured as he measured the hidden footprint, "I believe I have seen a giant muscular dude in their squad."
"Yes, she did have two civilians accompanying her." Mantis nodded, "One is blind and one resembles a tank."
"This is it then."
Masai gestured for the rest of the squad to gather...Then, they followed closely behind him.
While they moved slowly, Masai was continuing to find new tracks, always left behind by Arthur.
"The others are excellent at hiding their tracks, but there isn't much they can do about a walking unexperienced behemoth." Masai shared while increasing his pace, sure that he was on the right path.
Unfortunately, if there was a camera above the forest, and it panned out, they would be shocked to find themselves moving in a different direction from Shia's party!
To be precise, Shia's party was moving in the direction of the first located footprints, heading north of the forest!
"Are you sure your strategy didn't make it worse?" Sergio asked for the hundredth time as he looked behind, paranoid that he would get jumped at any moment.
"You worry too much." Levi said calmly, "If their tracker truly was great at his craft, he would easily notice that our original tracks are fake. This will drive them to search for additional tracks. Once they find my brother's 'naturally' crafted footprint, they will believe our track is a decoy even more and will commit to the actual fake trail."
"As they go deeper and Masai sees the additional bits and pieces, he would become more certain until..."
On the other side...
"What's wrong?" Mantis frowned after noticing that Masai had stopped and seemed a bit confused.
"Nothing, the way is here."
Masai nodded and then continued heading deeper on the eastern side of the forest. Though, a sweat drop was falling down his forehead.
'Where is the rest of the trail? Did I lose their track? Did I miss something and take the wrong way? It can't be.' Masai glanced above him, 'Did they go airborne or something? Shia does have an eagle as a mount. Or, wait a second...Don't tell me the first track was a fake decoy and that they were daring enough to place it and head in the exact same path?'
Masai soon shook his head, removing this foolish idea from his mind.
'I am overthinking it. Shia isn't that shrewd or crazy to risk using reverse psychology on me when she has never met me before.'
'A trail is bound to surface sooner or later.'
Ten minutes later...Nothing.
'Where is it, where is it!'
Meanwhile, Mantis and the rest of his squad were following his lead blindly, even chatting here and there like they were on a safari.
Another ten minutes...
'Where the f*ck is it? Have they teleported? There isn't even the aftermath of searching for the treasures!'
Alas, his failure was finally starting to show externally as he was losing his cool before his squad and mumbling all the time with sweat drenching his entire face.
In the end, Mantis couldn't hold it and had to ask him.
"Masai, you know the way, right?"
"..."
Masai remained silent.
"Right??!" Mantis repeated with more emphasis, his expression turning slowly dark.
"Sorry boss, I think, I think we are lost..." Masai confessed at last with a defeated expression.
Silence engulfed the party, killing the chill chatter immediately.
A moment later, Mantis snapped furiously, "What the f*ck do you mean we are lost?"
"I don't know, I genuinely don't know." Masai covered his face in shame, "They must have left double decoys. One at the start, and the second one we committed on. After we went deeper, Shia must have taken everyone airborne one by one and dropped them off in a different location."
"Are you telling me we have been following a dead track for the last half an hour?" Mantis gritted his teeth.
Masai leaned against a tree in silence.
A moment later...
"MOTHERF*CKER!"
A thunderous feminine curse traveled across the forest and forced nearby birds to...well, remain in their places as the curse carried not a hint of threat in it.
Meanwhile, many kilometers away, Levi was on the final notes of his explanation.
"They will assume Shia's eagle was used before considering the first decoy to be a real trail since it was simply too much of a risk to use reverse psychology when many other options are left." Levi smiled innocently as he held his brother's forearm, who was leading him at the back of the party.
"Everything you have said is heavily reliant on Masai's personality and tracking skills." Sergio frowned, "How can you be so sure that he will do exactly what you prescribed when you have never seen the dude?"
Levi went silent for a moment before answering calmly, "You don't need to see or know a person by heart to predict his actions. You just need to trust that he will stay true to his nature and set of skills."
Shia, Sergio, and Jamal couldn't help but turn around and glance at Levi in a daze.
As they watched him walk on uneven grounds and sometimes even trip and get pulled by his brother under his constant reminders, they didn't know how to react.
But, Blee'der knew how.
"Boy, your maturity is too creepy for your age."
"I hear that a lot." Levi chuckled.