After the thing that didn't happen, Mia had gotten back up and moving once more. She could instinctively tell which way her little impromptu base was with the help of the alert rune she'd had. But it was nice to know she had already been moving in the right direction anyways. What she was curious about was what she'd managed to catch! Or, not catch but, severely hamper? I'm actually not sure how long these runes will even blind somebody for so maybe it was just a momentary shock? Ah well, figure it out when you get to it.

Currently, Mia was hoping for something that was explicitly NOT venison to be whatever had activated the trap. She wasn't sure if it was just that specific deer that tasted terrible, or if it was sick or something, but she didn't think she'd actively take a bite of it again. Maybe she just ate too much? She didn't care either way. There were plenty of other proverbial fish in the sea to eat here, deer would be the last thing on the list.

Ok, next thing on the list. Let's saaaayyyy rabbit? What was that called? Mutton? No that's sheep... I think it's just rabbit meat actually, little bit lame for a name, no? Maybe these are just rose tinted glasses I'm wearing here but that initial squirrel I ate when I first got here wasn't too bad, maybe some of that? Ah listen to yourself Mia, treating the worst food you've ever tasted like some kind of gourmet course. Of course, having the mind to put to that task is probably better then having to put it to surviving a life or death fight. Which would I prefer, hmmm chance of dying or bad food... Yeah, probably bad food.

Aaaannnd we are here! Alright, let me check on that trap! If all went well, there should be some poor animals footprints scattered all around as it freaks the hell out cause suddenly it's eyes were gone. That should be what happened sooo-oh god damnit! Mia would've done a face drag thing where you pull your eyelids down if she had an actual hand right at this moment. Where there should've been a panicking animal, she was instead met with a trampling of boot prints. Clearly another sign of humans. A thought came to Mia's mind, It isn't paranoia if you're right. Move with extreme caution...

Mia prowled around the area she'd just claimed as her own. Eyes peeled for any trespassers who she may or may not be able to converse with if things went well. Though hope was held thin for that particular avenue of thought. Right now Mia was expecting a fight but hoping for a conversation... Actually, another thought occurs. How in the world would she hold a conversation? She could understand the language they spoke but it wasn't like she knew the letters to it. And it most certainly wasn't any English language that she knew. Before Mia just thought she'd write something out to them, but that wouldn't be possible unless she knew how to write their letters. Maybe pictogram will work...? I could see pictures being a possible way to success I suppose. I'm just gonna carve a picture into the ground.

Right before she started on that, a third thought occurred to her in this chain of thought. Wait a minute, it's too dark out here for them to even reasonably see it. Plus, if I'm not here how would they even know it was me who drew it? I'll have to try something else if I want friendly relations with these people... Or at least, relations which don't end in us killing each other? You know what, I'm gonna go looking for them right now. What better time to endear myself then when they're not encased in a wall of death?

Mia stood with a new pep in her step, walking towards the tracks of the humans that were very clearly recent. Alright, so, how exactly does this work? Tracking ranked up and everything, but it can still work as just basic tracking, right? She sniffed along the ground, taking in the scents of the world for... The first time surprisingly. All this time she'd been tuning it out, which was a pretty dumb thing to do. It probably could've been fairly helpful, but dead carcass is kind of a gross smell. Anyway, It smelled like a strong saltiness she noted. Well... Something something, only humans sweat. Follow the smell of it and you'll reach the humans. Simple as that, right? Let's get this going!

...

Supposedly, being in the deep forest was fairly dangerous. Which is why when Zack had lead the group to it, everyone immediately dragged him back to the town. It had been a bit of an awkward story for him to explain why he was back so soon, but the fact that going after his target had led him to the deeper forest was proof enough on it's own for Miller to decide to assign one of the EGO users to this particular hunt.

"So I know this is just one of the monsters that seemed more troublesome, but what exactly are we after here?" Mira asked while pushing her way through a particularly nasty part of the thicket, following right behind Zack's footsteps. "And can you not lead us through shit like this please?!" She just about shouted at him.

"Well my bad, if I'm actively choosing where to go my skill doesn't even work!" He shouted right back, "don't start yelling at me for doing my job." He turned around to glare at them. "But to answer your first question, it's a small wolf monster that can use shadow magic. Moves pretty damn fast and has some good attack power as well presumably. Probably tier four or five if we're gonna guesstimate?"

"The hells a guesstimate?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow, pulling herself out of the thicket, followed shortly by other members of the party.

"Oh just... Guessing about what something might be based on what you've seen about it. That's about it really nothing that special. Just the two words mashed together." Zack said hastily, trying to dismiss the idea before any other questions about where that little word might've come from happened to occur. He was still running the whole "amnesiac" excuse after all.

"Right, if you say so." Mira shrugged. "Well, if it's a shadow user I suppose it was in good taste to send me to do the job." She smiled wickedly, clearly anticipating the fight. Which unnerved Zack a little bit, but then again he supposed all EGO users would be somewhat odd in the head given the nature of how you got the ability in the first place.

"And might I ask why that is? I know Kalee has some form of infinite regeneration, but what exactly do you do Mira?"

"Huh, forgot you're kind of new to this whole search and destroy thing. Right, well I usually head expeditions out for the stronger monsters. And as to what I do? I'm proficient in light, fire, support and mind magic. So, basically I'm impossible to deal with for stealth attackers like the monster we're after here. Like I said, in good taste to have me doing this one. Instead of Kalee or Bari."

"Is there a particular reason why one of you three need to be with the group if it ever ends up going into the deeper forest?" Zack asked as he waved away a stray branch, holding a lamp cautiously away from it with his other hand.

"Well we don't really need to go, but stronger monsters tend to pop up more here. It's also just more hazardous in general, we're basically just safe guards." She said nonchalantly.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Any idea why-Woah!" Zack cried out as his foot snagged on an unseen root, falling flat onto the ground. Luckily, the lamp hadn't broken on impact.

One of the members of the search party took a few steps up and crouched down, "You alright there?" He asked quietly, clearly caring a bit more about the safety of the party then Mira did, this entire time she'd been rather care free. Or well, not care free but definitely not worried.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Help me up?" Zack mumbled as he pushed himself up, taking the hand that was extended to him by the man. He set the lamp down on the ground and dusted himself off, though he didn't get much time to himself.

"You should watch your step." Mira said with a light smirk.

"Yeah gee thanks, I'm alright how about you?" Zack glared at them again, though it wasn't like they stopped smiling.

"I'm doing great, it's like a comedy routine really." She shrugged, her grin slowly transitioning into a grin that could be considered a shit eating one.

His eye twitched, though he didn't let her see it. Zack bent down, grabbed the lamp, and turned back around to face them. "Anyway, as I was saying. Any idea why stronger monsters tend to live in the deeper forest?"

"Well, that ones pretty simple actually. To begin with, the mana that forms monsters is a lot thicker in this particular patch of our forest. So monsters naturally move towards these areas on instinct. Though what with the rising flux going on, every single day monsters get culled into oblivion. So every time a monster manages to survive a flux, it usually ends up in this part of the forest. Those that spawn in after the flux are still weaker-ah hell this is winding on to long, let me summarize. Monsters live longer and end up coming here meaning they've had more time to get stronger. Fresh monsters could still spawn in here but the fact stands that all the monsters that do actually survive fluxes end up here. Make sense?"

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks for ans-WH!-What the hell?!" He yelled out as he jumped backwards, stumbling backwards sloppily. I can't see! What just happened to me?!

"I know the monsters probably aren't all back yet cause the flux just happened and they're still coming and everything? But oh yeah just let em know we're all here why don't you." Mira called out sarcastically.

"NO! somethings blinding me!" He whipped around in the direction of Mira's voice.

"Nothing's actually happening to you calm down, looks like some kind of shadow magi-huh." Mira's eyes narrowed, after a short moment she held her hand out to the open air and a bright light enveloped Zack, illuminating his surroundings instantly.

PFF! From total darkness to instant flashbang good lord! Immediately, he covered his eyes from the blinding pain that was this spell. Though he noted he could see again, this was most certainly not the most pleasant way for that to have happened! After a few moments the light dissipated and Zack blinked a few times. Getting the white spots out of his vision.

"Did you have to-"

"Shut up, time for jokes is over." Mira stated with a dead serious expression on her face. "You aren't going to die because you're a little upset about a bright light. But you will die if this monster decides you're a particularly good target." She calmly told Zack, before drawing her staff from it's place on her back. Holding the magical implement against the cold air she stood vigilant in the dark. Zack glanced back to look at her, marveling for a moment at the white aura around her eyes. Must be a spell of some kind, I wonder if I'd be able to learn if I asked somebody about it?

"That's... Weird." She muttered slowly. The white glow around her eyes fading away after a short moment. "Nothing's here... There was no monster to cast that spell, how did they...? Unless..." She pondered to herself.

"Uh, Mira?"

"Could it have... Surely not right? Did that monster use delayed magic as a trap...? That's... Eheh! Hahahaha! That's honestly kind of impressive! It's a shame we have to kill this thing. Most people don't get to the level of using delayed magic until months into their studies. Let alone being able to effectively use it..."

"Mira?" Zack asked a little bit more concerned. "You alright there?"

She held a hand to her mouth and coughed, clearing her throat. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little surprised at the magic this monsters been able to work. It's genuinely kind of impressive, a bit of a shame that it's wild and we don't have any tamers in town. Something this intelligent probably wouldn't accept a contract anyway though."

I'm just gonna save any questions for later...

"Well, we should keep moving. Regrettably we must put this monster down before it grows further." Mira said with a sigh. "Lead the way." She gestured for him to keep moving, a little downtrodden but still perfectly ready to carry on.

...

Scents a little bit stronger now? Getting closer I think. Picking up on a little something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it either... But it's distinctly not bloody? No. not distinctively not bloody, distinctively not dirty. The two things have kind of melded for me recently. It's like, almost nothing but more a faint smell of flesh. Starting to think that means human? Distinctly cleaner then others but also not very clean either. I mean hey no judgement, I'm probably not one to talk right now either.

Well I'm-oh shit lock in, right ahead of you Mia. That's what I've been looking for! Whole group of people!... Right next to where I dug into the ground, staring at it... Yikes. They do not look particularly friendly, alright how can I introduce myself without them trying to kill me? Pop out right in front of them? Nope. Not going to risk that. "Hey guys mind if I join you and come back to the tow-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-yeah no. So what, should I like... Go into stealth and kidnap one of them? But... How? Also that wouldn't even work out particularly well because how would I take them without uh... Alerting the others? I could... Do a dance in front of them? Aeughhhh absolutely not!

I can't just wing this, cause, I have a lot of reason to believe that I can and will get absolutely brutalized if I just pop out in front of them. Humans are pretty clearly stronger then the monsters around here if they've been able to survive these hordes, especially if they're daily occurences. So I really need a winning plan here or I might just actually die on the spot for trying to introduce myself. How, in the hell, do I go about this?

Mia's thoughts began to drift inwards, slowly losing focus on the outside world despite the group of humans being so imminently close to her. Going over possible ideas or plans to not get literally murdered because of ignorance. Though, in her focus, she somehow failed to notice one key detail.

"It's right there!" A man called out pointing straight at her.

...Eh?