Four days had passed since Alnea, and the girls had begun exploring the canyon in earnest, combing through its depths in a methodological manner. Their target, of course, was to look for clues to precious resources, and Fortune Springs, while keeping an eye out for dangerous areas of the canyon. And while they did make some progress on their latter aim, their search for external aids to their training had yet to yield any fruit.
Not because of their lack of effort though. Rather, they were putting in so much effort in their search, that they had hardly slept at all. Or maybe that also had something to do with their training. But the effort they were putting in their search was unquestionable. Their lack of progress, despite all their efforts, was just a testament to how large the canyon they were in was.
As far as Alnea could remember from the time his master had flown them into the canyon to drop them off, the canyon was roughly seven kilometres at its widest. Just that width alone was larger than the length of the first canyon he had trained in. Even the second canyon he had trained in had a width of only two, or three kilometres, with around nine to ten kilometres in length.
However, from what Alnea remembered, the canyon that he was in at the moment was at least thirty kilometres long. And that was just what he had been able to see from the air. It could be that the canyon was even longer than what he remembered. In any case, the length of the canyon was much larger than its width. Such a large canyon… It could easily fit several core cities like the former corer city of Anneve. Former, because it had long been decimated by the Heterodox, and Enthralled Wanderers.
But in a way, comparing the canyon to the core city was not fair. The core city was circular, while the canyon was more like a long gash along the surface of earth. Its immensity, and depths could not be described by just a simple comparison with the core city. Especially considering how complex its terrain was. Like the bed of grass that they were standing on.
Commonly referred to as the Devouring Grass, these twin blade, black coloured grasses often grew in damp, and dark areas, with cold, and humid climate. Contrary to what one would expect from their names though, these grasses were not any kind of Oren Beasts. Nor where they any precious herbs. They were just normal grasses, weeds even. But they did have one little characteristic that set them apart from other grasses. Their ability to devour any senses that was being used to observe them.
Be it sight, smell, hearing taste, and touch, these Devouring Grasses were capable of devouring all kinds of senses, making it impossible for anyone to observe them. Though, from a certain perspective, not being able to observe them was also a kind of observation, Alnea thought, as he glanced at the bed of grass under his feet. Or rather, he looked at the patch of darkness he was stepping on.
Different from the darkness around them, which they could at least see through with the senses of their Spirit, the darkness of these grasses was completely invulnerable, and impenetrable to senses of their Spirits. It was as if… he was floating in the empty darkness of his Domain. Except he was not. And neither were Yuri, and Cecilia. They had been clearly walking in the Night Canyon. And had been doing so for quite a while. That was until they stepped onto the Devouring Grasses.
“…Devouring Grass,” Yuri mumbled, as she bent down to pluck a blade of darkness. “This is going to get troublesome.”
“What do you mean?” Alnea said, looking at Yuri in confusion. “It is not like it is some Oren Beast. It is just a patch of some grass. What is there to be worried about it?”
“Have you forgotten about the Red Herring Grass already?”
“…Is the Devouring Grass also like the Red Herring Grass? Will it also slow down our thoughts, and makes us put our guards down?”
“No, but the end effect will be something similar,” Cecilia said, as she warily glanced around them. “I had thought that something was strange when we did not encounter any signs of a Beast’s territory for so long. So, it was because of the Devouring Grass…”
“I don’t understand what you two are talking about. What is so dangerous about the grass?”
“You already know the answer to that question,” Yuri said, as she got back up from her squatting position. “You are just not thinking about it in the right direction.”
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“…That still does not make sense.”
“Think, about it once again, Alnea. What can you feel from the grass?”
“…Nothing.”
“Exactly,” Cecilia said. “You cannot see, or feel anything from the grass. Doesn’t that make this the perfect hiding place for Oren Beasts?”
“Oren Beasts hiding in such tiny grass? Don’t be…” Alnea stopped in mid of his sentence, as he recalled all the Oren Beasts he had met. Though most of them of were large, he had also met a few smaller ones. Besides, some Oren Beasts, even if large, could still hide themselves within the bed of the Devouring Grasses, if they so wished it. Like the snake type Oren Beasts. Ones that could silently wrap themselves around his feet, and he would not even notice them until it was too late.
Alnea felt all his blood drain away from his face, as all sorts of situations went through his head. Having killed Oren Beasts with ambushes to the point of even losing count of them, he knew what the true terror of being caught unprepared by his enemies was. Just being bitten by the snakes would be enough to send poison coursing through his veins. And if the snakes were a little bold, they could even use their Innate Abilities… The most terrifying ones though, would be the snakes which liked constricting, and suffocating their prey, before swallowing them alive…
It took all of his will for Alnea to force himself to not make sudden movements. That would be the most foolish move he could make. If there were really some Oren Beasts around him, then making sudden movements would surely trigger them into action. Besides, since both Cecilia, and Yuri were still calmly analysing the situation, they should probably have a way to deal with the hidden beast. However, he could not accept just standing still, and doing nothing to help them out of the situation.
“…Should I use my Aspect?”
“That will not work with the Devouring Grasses,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “Your Aspect might be able to disperse darkness, but its light is too soft. It will not work against the Devouring Grasses. On the contrary, the grasses will absorb all the light falling on them, while the light that won’t fall on them will make us too conspicuous of a target. It would be…”
Yuri abruptly paused in mid of what she was saying, and fell into deep thought. After a while, she turned towards him, and said, “Your Aspect might just work.”
“…But didn’t you just say that the grass would absorb all the light?”
“The grass might be able to absorb all the light, but what about the Oren Beasts hiding in it?”
“You mean…”
“Use your Aspect when you are ready,” Yuri said, before turning towards Cecilia. “If there are any Oren Beasts hidden in the grass, then they will all most probably come running straight for Alnea once he uses his Aspect, so be ready to deal with them.”
“Don’t worry,” Cecilia said, to both Yuri, and Alnea, as she moved closer to him, keeping her eyes fixed on the grass around them, with Yuri doing the same on his other side. Then, as if they had gained some telepathic connection like he had with Yuri, the two girls both urged their Aspects at the same time, covering themselves in a bluish white, and a green light. Even their surroundings glowed with the light of their Aspects for a few moments.
But that was it. Though the light from their Aspects was bright enough in normal circumstances, but when surrounded by Devouring Grass, most of their light was swallowed up by the darkness under their feet, while what was left was not enough to illuminate all of the area in which the Oren Beast might be hiding in. It was not their fault though. Their Aspects was not of the element of Light after all. Unlike his.
After Yuri, and Cecilia gave him the signal that they were ready, Alnea did not hesitate to urge his Aspect to gather in front of him, and form a spherical mass, almost like a ball of golden yellow light, lighting up their surroundings as if Enn himself had descended into the canyon. A sight, that the canyon, and its denizen has had most probably never experienced. So, it was only natural for them to react fiercely to such a foreign sight. Especially when the Beast bearing witness to the sight was a Dark Devouring Snake.
As Beasts which were not known for their excellent vision, these snakes were extremely sensitive to anything, and everything that they could see. So, when a sudden bright spot appeared in the eyes of the snake, it instantly knew that something was wrong. It had been keeping a watch on its prey for a while, slithering its way towards them, getting ready to bring them into its Devouring World’. But before it could do so, a brilliant golden light filled its vision, startling it into action.
Of course, it did not jump towards the light because of its novelty. As a beast with the concept of devouring engraved in its blood, growing to the point that it had meant living through countless life and death fights. Fights, which gave it enough experience to know that the strange light glowing in front of it was a sign of its prey launching its Innate Ability. And so, it did the same. Raring its head, as it lifted nearly half of its body into the air, it screeched, and locked its eye towards—
Flashing like a snake herself, Cecilia appeared right next to the Dark Devouring Snake, and slashed through it head before it could activate its Ability. Not that Alnea had been afraid of the snake’s attack in the first place. He knew that using his Aspect would make him the prime target of all the Oren Beasts lurking around them, but he was not alone. Standing right next to him, guarding him against all their possible enemies, were his only friends, his teammates, and his Heart. What did he have to be afraid of?