As the trio walked along the path, a feeling of something weird drawing closer, troubled their conscious. Unlike the previous day, the delightful melody of birds chirping became mysteriously silent.
"Stop!... I can smell a faint scent of blood ahead... no, the smell is everywhere, it's surrounding us." Lupa warned with a deep frown.
Vincent and Ester stopped in their tracks after such an ominous warning. If Lupa couldn't figure out the exact direction, then the situation was more serious then it appeared.
Lupa walked a few steps forward. She did her best to figure out the scent's location, but the smell seemed to be too intense and scattered around to trace.
"The smell is all over the area in front of us. It's also to our sides." Lupa wiped her nose a few times. The smell was uncomfortable to her sensitive nose. She turned around and continued, "Only behind us is no smell. What should we do?"
"That's a problem, the only way I know to the village is to walk with the dawning sun, that means going to the East of this land. " Ester said. She felt useless for not knowing more.
"But its the smell of death! My nose is picking something rotting... but it's too strong for just one corpse. I believe there are many dead things up ahead." Lupa was sure her nose was picking up the smell of multiple corpses.
[I think its best to decide as a group. We have enough water and food for around two weeks or a little bit more. A detour shouldn't affect us that much.]
[But one problem is upon us. Where is this danger that has probably killed so much to make this smell possible? It will be a problem if the killer is hiding with the cover of the scent.]
Vincent didn't know what to do. It seemed great danger was lurking in their path. He became tired to fight for his life, yet it seemed another situation was upon them. At least this time, they could prepare.
"Let's make a group call. Who wants to take a look at what's ahead and travel a safe path afterword? " Vincent asked.
"I don't know. I'm useless in a fight." Ester kept feeling like a useless person. Her body faintly shivered at the thought of a fight with the possibility of death once again.
"I will always follow my mate everywhere. But the smell is covering the scent of anything else. Only my eyes and ears can help." Lupa explained.
[Are you sure this is the right call? If so, I will rest to help when in need.]
-That would be preferable.-
Kazumi became silent, closing her eyes and resting on the soft emerald grass. She needed to recover as much mana as possible for any potential unknown situation.
Vincent turned his gaze at the two uncertain girls. He had to make the difficult choice to walk the path of danger, yet his heart strangely raced at the knowledge of this kind of danger. His thoughts and body wanted different things.
Vincent hated watching or hearing of the fighting between people and countries back on Earth. There were no superheroes involved in their outcome leaving everything at a bitter end.
He never liked to see news with bloodshed, but the time for that ended after switching worlds. He was forced to witness and experience more situations than any sane person would ever wish to see.
Vincent fought three fights to the death and scammed a noble. With these new actions, he was slowly changing without knowing. He felt an adrenaline rush at the thought of a possible fight.
Vincent wanted Ester to stay safe. He grabbed the small half of the mudcrab shell and wrapped it around Ester's arm with a rope. Then he placed the heirloom short sword in her other hand.
Ester soon held a durable mudcrab shell shield and a short sword ready to protect herself with.
Lupa, on the other hand, didn't need help with equipping a weapon. She however stood in front of Vincent with her tail wagging from the anticipation of receiving something.
"Fine. Those puppy eyes are telling me you want something." Vincent summoned a large object releasing a tempting aroma as it materialized.
[1x Cooked Freshwater Mudcrab Leg (Uncommon Quality) summoned. x0 remaining.]
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"Here, cut three bite-sized pieces. We might need a boost to run away." Vincent instructed with a warm Cooked Freshwater Mudcrab Leg in his hands.
Lupa shapeshifted her arms and followed his orders with a grin. The three of them shortly had a small bite-sized piece of cooked mudcrab meat in their hands.
[1x Cooked Freshwater Mudcrab Leg (Uncommon Quality) gained.]
Ester placed the warm piece of meat in a small bag dangling around her waist. It used to have a little amount of seasoning until it was all used on the cooked fish.
Lupa gazed at the warm, cooked jewel-like meat in her hands. The drool on her lips announced her intention, forcing Vincent to come up with a plan quickly.
"Here, use this small bag I was going to keep. You will look like Ester that way." Vincent used the competitive nature of the wolf girl to his advantage.
As he thought, Lupa placed the meat in the small bag and tied it around her neck like a precious necklace with the spare red ribbons lying around the cart.
Lupa had a triumphant grin painted on her face while she glanced at Ester and pointed at the bag; she was the only one to receive more than meat. She felt like a winner from this.
Ester frowned a bit, but let it go as a caring act.
Such actions made the three forget about the anxious or frightened feelings for what could be in store for them ahead.
Vincent, Ester, and Lupa carefully walked forward, leaving the cart behind. Lupa walked in front with her awareness raised to the max. She detected a corpse in the distance with her heightened eyesight after a few dozen steps.
"I can see a corpse far from us. It looks that of an animal, but it looks strange." Lupa notified. She tried to notice anything else, but only one corpse could be seen.
"Lets carefully approach it. I can find who killed it with my Inspection ability." Vincent decided to use the ability to his advantage like a murder case detective.
The closer they approached the corpse, the sight of blood splatter on the ground and smeared on trees gradually increased to the point of becoming disturbing. It felt like a horrifying fight took place.
A corpse of a giant bear without arms and legs soon entered their sight. It was larger than the Great Fire Boar, and it seemed to have died many days ago. The pungent smell of rot permeated around the corpse.
[Name] Great Earth Forest Bear (Corpse)
[Description] Killed by Bleeding and Dismemberment. Killer Nok Ape.
[Loot] Earth Core
"Ester, it's telling me a Nok Ape killed this bear. Do you have any ideas if its dangerous to this all alone?" Vincent asked after he used inspection.
"That... that can't be possible! Nok Apes are around two feet tall; even if it became a magic beast, it wouldn't be strong enough to kill a bear this big." Ester stared in disbelief at the bear.
"Uhmm... this was a magical beast, a Great Earth Forest Bear. The markings must be hidden under the coat of blood." Vincent added.
Ester gulped as her body shook from fear. A faint idea of how a small ape could kill a magical beast soon rushed to her mind. A Demonic Beast was the answer her thoughts arrived at.
"No... don't tell me was a Nok Ape Demonic Beast!" Her hands trembled while saying this.
Vincent immediately felt a sense of danger at the word Demonic Beast. Such a brutal way of killing wasn't ordinary. But these thoughts strangely caused his face to raise a faint smirk unintentionally.
"A Demonic Beast is when an animal awakens. It's the same process of a Magical Beast, yet the opposite of awakening happens. People call it Devouring."
"Devouring starts when an animal begins to awaken into a different element than the core their body could produce or allow."
"My mother had a book with a few animals and their affinity. But it was mostly about familiars. They are animals who are already born with a core and have the ability to form a contract with a non-animal being."
"Nok Apes have an affinity with fire, but this forest seems to have many rare fruits, maybe some with earth affinity. If a Nok Ape who is about to awaken finds such fruit and changes elements than what their body accepts, Devouring would be the result."
"The Devouring would make the Demonic Beasts hostile, enraged, and follow its primal ego. To eat, kill, and survive."
"I heard they live until the elemental corruption kills them. Burnt to death, frozen to death, petrified to death, or suffocated to death. The longer they live in this state, the more violent they become from their suffering."
Ester explained all she knew. It was common knowledge to many, but Vincent and Lupa didn't know. The danger of Demonic Beasts randomly attacking villages was high because of their mindless unquenchable rage.
The smirk on Vincent's face quickly disappeared, replaced with a worried frown. The strange confidence from going head to head with the adult mudcrab quickly waned, yet his body still itched for action.
"You can help with information as you did now, so there's no need for you to fight. We now know what might be waiting for us, thanks to you. " Vincent tried to encourage the worried Ester.
Vincent borrowed the short sword and removed the Earth Core. The location was the same as the gray wolf and boar magical beasts.
[Name] Earth Core
[Condition] Undamaged
[Grade] Small stage one
[1x Small Earth Core (Rare Quality) gained.]
Vincent could learn how the bear recently awakened before its demise from inspecting the core. It was weak compared to other Magical Beasts they fought against, but its large body should have compensated for its weak shortcomings.
"We will run away if we meet any danger and meet back at the cart. But I hope it won't arrive at that." Vincent said while he cleaned the sword and gave it back to Ester.
Ester and Lupa nodded. They had to find a path without meeting this devastating danger. While the three continued walking, the corpses of normal animals would sometimes appear. All had one thing in common, killed brutally and by a Nok Ape.
"Wait! I heard a faint human scream ahead of us. There must be people nearby." Lupa warned.
"We don't know how many monsters or humans there are, but I want to check what the situation is." Vincent turned his gaze at the two while asking, "Should we go?"
Lupa nodded after a few seconds of thinking while Ester shivered as a response. Unlike Lupa, Ester wasn't a fearless fighter.
"We will go back because I don't want to force you. " Vincent said while looking at Ester.