By the time Eleanor and Johny left the cave, Grid showed some signs that he would wake up. Nobody in the cave noticed but Yuna noticed Grid’s fingers twitching for a second.

“My brother’s fingers just moved”

Everyone looked at Grid. His condition was the worst out of all the casualties in the last battle excluding the man Robert killed. Although his fingers twitched just now, everyone sighed except Yuna who was smiling while looking at her brother. Nobody believed he would wake up tonight. But, they didn’t want to say it to maintain Yuna’s mental stability.

The adrenaline rush started to run out, Sharon was the first to sleep after Robert and they leaned on each other when they slept. After that, Yuna’s eyes drooped too. She treated Grid’s wound so she got nothing to do anymore. Finally, she slept beside Grid’s wounded body.

Richard stared at the moon from the cave. He couldn’t sleep, his thought was filled with the possibility of another attack. Guarding the cave while everyone slept.

****

The light from the sun flooded the cave. Robert woke up early and the first thing he saw was Sharon’s face leaning on him. He jumped back out of surprise, Sharon almost fell because of that. Robert caught her body and heaved a sigh of relief. He shook his head and chuckled. After he fixed Sharon’s position so she wouldn’t fall, Robert stood up and walked to the cave entrance. Outside, he saw Richard sunbathed on the ground with his belly facing the sky. Richard looked back and saw his brother with his sore eyes.

“You haven’t slept yet?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Go back inside. You should sleep.”

“Alright, since you woke up already. I can sleep at ease.”

Richard stood up and walked inside the cave. On the way, he almost tripped over a stone. Robert could only laugh at him.

“You couldn’t even walk properly. Hahaha.”

Robert wandered around the cave to inspect the location. He picked some fruits along the way, Robert also discovered something strange. He found the tracks of beasts. Robert narrowed his eyes, he crouched and touched the footstep with his hand.

“These footsteps are new.”

Robert’s eyes followed where the footsteps lead to. It went in the opposite direction of the cave.

“Phew, good thing they went further from us.”

He ran back to the cave to inform the others about what he discovered. When he arrived at the cave. Everyone was still sleeping. He sighed and sat down beside Sharon.

“There is no need to panic. They went further away.” Robert muttered to himself.

Tapping his foot on the ground, Robert then stood up and walked back and forth. Finally, Sharon and Yuna woke up at the same time. Robert stopped his walk and told them to gather in a circle. They sat down in a circle pretty far away from Richard and Grid. Yuna leaned her body forward while raising one brow.

“What happened?”

On the other hand, Sharon sat cross-legged and her finger couldn’t stop tapping her knee while glancing at Robert occasionally. Robert noticed her weird behavior but chose to shrug it off.

“I found beasts' footsteps outside.”

“Beast? Isn’t that normal considering we stayed in a jungle.” Sharon said.

“No, what I found was magic beasts’ footsteps.”

Both of them popped out their eyes so wide refusing to believe what Robert had said.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure, their footsteps are weird. Only magic beast have weird footsteps like the one I saw.”

Sharon and Yuna stared at each other for a while before they nodded and looked back at Robert. Their eyes were narrowed full of determination.

“Let’s reinforce the cave!” Both Sharon and Yuna said at the same time.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Robert smiled at their reaction. He gave them a thumbs up for their bravery.

“I thought you are going to chicken out. Hahaha, look like I was wrong.”

Robert’s statement made Yuna caught off guard.

“Who do you think I am? I’m the bravest out of you all!”

Yuna stood up and raised her hand, palm closed like someone in a protest campaign. Sharon covered her mouth chuckling while Robert laughed out loud.

“Yes, yes. You’re the bravest! Hahaha.”

“Then, let’s wake up Richard,” Yuna said.

“Don’t wake him up. He slept right after I woke up. He must be so tired right now.”

“Then let’s find some food for breakfast first!” Sharon said.

“I’ve got some fruits. Let’s eat these fruits while we fish.”

They walked outside with a small bucket made of leaves and some fishing rods made of wooden sticks and vines. They sat beside the river leisurely then threw the bait. They used berries as baits. Robert learned from a book in his father’s library that fruits could be used as fish bait. Some fish like carp lived near berry bushes waiting for the berries to fall into the river.

They chatted while waiting for the fish to bite the bait. Not a long while, Sharon’s fishing rod moved. She hurriedly pulled her fishing rod causing the fish to flap out of the water. It had a weird shape, the scales were sharp and looked like stones. Unfortunately, the vine on the fishing rod snapped.

Sharon humphed and stomped her feet.

“Don’t worry, Sharon. That was close.” Yuna said.

Robert glanced at both of them and raised one brow. The others looked at Robert the same way.

“What’s wrong?” Sharon said.

“You guys didn’t notice, anything strange?”

Both of them tilted their head sideway.

“That fish, didn’t you see its shape? It was weird.”

“Fish are fish. What are you talking about, Robert.”

Yuna smiled then clapped Robert’s shoulder. It was then, a fish with legs came out of the river running straight at Yuna.

“Kyaa!”

She jumped back and screamed. When the fish got close enough, it opened its mouth wanting to bite her. Robert punched away the fish and stood up preparing for another attack. Blood flowed out of his fist.

“This fish is tough as hell.”

But, unlike what he thought. The fish jumped back into the river and its legs transformed into fins. Right after that, Sharon held Robert’s injured hand to inspect it. She inspected it out of reflex without Robert’s consent. Robert could only smile at her. Later, she realized what she did and released his hand. She glanced at Robert who smiled at her in return. In the end, she turned back and cover her face, it was red as a tomato.

“What was that?”

Yuna’s heartbeat raced, even now. Although Robert got rid of the trouble, she kept her guard up. Robert turned his attention to Yuna.

“I don’t know, it is the first time I see it.”

“You said you saw beasts’ footsteps before right?”

“Yes… Now that you mention it. Everything become weird after I found those beasts’ footsteps.”

“I have a theory. What if… What if every animal in this jungle turned into magic beasts in a night?!”

Robert gaped his mouth then laughed out loud.

“There is no way!”

“Right? There is no way. Forget what I said.”

“Anyway, the river is dangerous. Let’s pick some fruits for now.”

They wandered around the area to pick edible fruits. Along the way, they found an animal's corpse. A reindeer, but its antlers were made of crystal. The crystal had sharp edges enough to cut your skin if you were grazed by it. Robert walked closer then he crouched and touched the corpse all over its body to examine it.

“The corpse was mangled badly. There is no way a human did this.”

A rustling sound came from the trees. They gripped their spears preparing for a fight. The rustling sound got louder until it abruptly stopped. Everyone was looking around to spot the thing that jumped around the trees. Not long after, two monkeys jumped out from two different directions. One tried to strike Robert while the other one tried to strike Sharon. They were strange, the monkeys had sharp bone blades on their arms and their fangs looked like sabertooth.

“What the hell is going on?! All these animals are weird.” Yuna shouted.

Robert dodged the first attack and slashed the monkey. On the other hand, Sharon blocked the attack while Yuna counter attacked the monkey.

“I think your theory is right, Yuna. Ugh!”

The monkey slashed Robert’s chest. Luckily, the slash hit him while he jumped back. So, it was not deep enough. He crouched and glanced at his wound. Gritting his teeth, he tried to stand up again. Sadly, he failed then fell to his knees.

Although he fell to his knees, his eyes focused on the monkey’s movement. Robert chuckled then smiled.

“Heh, I bet you’ll slash me with your right hand after this.”

Just as he thought, the monkey attacked with its right hand. The monkey’s movement might be fast. But, Robert knew its next move so he dodged it and thrust his spear to pierce its head. The monkey tried to defend itself with its left blade. Robert changed the spear directory to its right hand. When the spear pierced its right hand, Robert threw it up and slammed it back to the ground. He pierced the head before the monkey recovered. Just like that, the monkey was dead.

“Sharon! Yuna! Observe its right hand when you defend, and observe its left hand when you attack.”

Yuna and Sharon nodded their head. Robert found out the monkey’s right blade was longer than its left blade. It always struck with its right hand to maintain the distance with its prey while dealing heavy blows. When the monkey defended an attack, it used its left hand because the blade was shorter so the monkey could move the blade faster.

With Robert’s guidance, they killed the monkey easily. After the fight, they went straight to the cave to treat Robert’s wound.