(Time-Stilled World, 98 Kilometers from Forest Entry, Day 7 Nightfall)
Of course, it wasn't just a coincidence that Karl, Raiden, and Cipher had randomly bumped into Leo and Bob in the middle of a forest that defied direction, light, and logic.
It was Karl.
It was always Karl.
The moment his transcendent-tier senses picked up subtle movement patterns within a one-kilometer radius, something faint brushing against a root, a couple figures bound West with clinical precision— He began tracing it.
He didn't say anything aloud. Not yet.
But he tracked it. Quietly. Patiently. Taking note of every footfall against projected human motion, as he watched for the rhythm, the spacing and the weight behind each impact.
Once satisfied that the movement was human, and more importantly, not hostile, he nudged the others in that direction with careful, subtle steering.
Not that Raiden or Cipher noticed, as they were simply too tired, too whittled down and too grateful to question the sudden stroke of luck.
'Idiots,' Karl thought, lips curling faintly as he stirred the contents of the pot, watching the broth simmer above the fire stones.
The warmth spread slowly through the shallow clearing, as vapour rose from the pot and carried with it a whiff of delicious stew cooking.
"I still can't believe you two ran into each other like that," Cipher said, pulling off his gloves and stretching his arms.
"Neither can I," Raiden added, smiling faintly as he sat down beside Leo. "I'd almost given up hope of reuniting with the two of you.
Even doubted if you two headed back for the emergency beacon,"
Leo didn't say much.
Just offered a faint shrug and nodded, as if the whole affair had been inconvenient but not worth dwelling on.
Bob said even less.
He just chewed slowly through the dried nut bread Karl handed him and avoided making eye contact with anyone.
Karl, meanwhile, remained crouched beside the cooking pot, head slightly bowed as he stirred, but his gaze flicked up every few seconds, observing them all in turns.
'I don't buy it,' he thought, scooping a ladle of broth into Cipher's wooden bowl.
'That bullshit story about protecting her until the end? That's clearly a lie.
I saw Patricia fight, she was not a dead weight, but she wasn't worth dying for. And those two cold bastards definitely left her behind the moment things got hard—' he thought, as his eyes flicked to Leo first and then to Bob.
'Too calm. Too composed. Not even a tremor in their tone when they said she was gone. They're clearly not saddened by her death… They're relieved.'
Karl's lips twitched, almost in amusement.
'And yet look at Raiden… sitting there like he just got his family back. Cipher's face says nothing, but even he isn't doubting the story. Fools. Both of them.'
He dropped another slice of dried root into the pot and stirred gently, letting the steam fog his vision while his thoughts remained razor-sharp.
'The Skyshard kid… and Bob. They're not just ruthless. They're cold. Ice-blooded bastards who made a decision to abandon a teammate and didn't even flinch…. They're both killers to their core,'
He smirked to himself.
'The question is… which one do I kill first, once they outlive their usefulness?'
—-----------
After dinner, the group resumed their westward journey as a unit— only for trouble to start knocking every couple of hours, much to Leo and Bob's surprise.
What had been a relatively quiet stretch of travel for the two of them turned into a constant string of skirmishes the moment they rejoined the others as monsters of all sorts began zeroing in on their location all of a sudden.
First it was a large python.
Then a different version of the plain lizard.
However, the first real challenge came just before their next break, as a low, guttural bellow tore through the forest, louder and more primal than anything they'd heard so far.
*THOOM*
*THOOM*
*THOOM*
The ground vibrated with each step, as bark cracked and branches snapped under the weight of something enormous approaching from the northeast.
Then it emerged.
A towering six-armed gorilla, its frame covered in bark-like plating, its chest heaving with every breath it took.
Moss clung to its fur, and fungal growths pulsed across its back like tumors ready to burst.
Its eyes glowed a dull, necrotic green, as it beat all six fists against its chest and let out a thunderous, echoing roar.
*RAAAWWWRRR*
"Formation!" Raiden shouted, already unsheathing both his blades, as he slid the mana stone in his hand back into his utility belt.
Karl ran back, avoiding conflict.
Cipher vanished into the shadows.
Leo stepped right.
And Bob didn't wait, he charged forward first with his skill [Silent acceleration], his tall knife glinting as he slashed toward the beast's right leg.
*CLANG!*
The blade bounced off against the beast's tough skin, barely leaving a scratch.
"Too tough!" Bob yelled, twisting away as a massive arm came down to crush him.
"I'll try and break the outer plating!" Raiden growled, leaping forward and slashing across the creature's shoulder, as although sparks flew, the beast barely flinched from impact.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
His footing shifted as he darted to the rear, finding the narrowest window to strike.
*Clink—*
*SHUNK*
One dagger went in, just beneath the armpit of the lower right arm, puncturing a soft patch beneath the fungal armor, as he activated [Kill Strike].
*BOOM*
The beast shrieked, as the explosion took off his right arm entirely, with Raiden not missing the cue.
He followed up with a precise stab at the opposite side, while Cipher reappeared from the shadows and launched a mana-imbued bolt of condensed lightning straight into the creature's open jaw.
*KABOOM*
It staggered.
And that was when Bob drove his blade upward— straight into the lower spine, to end the beast's life for once and for all.
*Thud*
The monster collapsed like a sack of wet stones, all six arms twitching violently as it let out one last gurgling moan before going still.
Breathing heavy, the group stood in a circle around the carcass.
Steam rose from the beast's open wounds. Sap like blood oozed from its body onto the soil, as the forest fell silent once more.
"…Well," Bob muttered, wiping a few specs of blood sap from his face. "That was new."
"That's the second gorilla we faced," Cipher said, panting lightly. "Those are not fun"
Leo crouched beside the corpse, inspecting the broken fungal plating with narrowed eyes.
"We haven't run into anything like this in the past few days," he said, almost to himself. "In Fact we have run into nothing apart from the spiders…. "
He trailed off, as Raiden looked over with a big frown on his face.
"None?" he asked, as Leo shook his head in confirmation.
"Nothing. We walked for the last two days without coming across a single monster," he said, as both Raiden and Cipher frowned deeply at his response.
"We've been getting hit by beasts like this every two to three hours," Raiden muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "It's made progress nearly impossible."
Leo didn't respond aloud, but his gaze lingered on the fallen creature as a thought began to stir in the back of his mind.
Because if there was one thing he'd learned during his time with Patricia… it was the fact that the forest never targeted anyone without reason.
Something always triggered it.
And if it was targeting this group, then it meant that someone within it was surely attracting the trouble.
But….. Who?