The night quickly passed, much like many of the nights before. There was nothing to interrupt them while they slept.

No monsters that called this place home. And no signs of that strange rabbit.

Lucien chalked up the lack of monsters to the fact that they weren’t that far into the wasteland yet. Considering how big it was, they were still on the outer rim of it.

He believed that anything this far out would have, more than likely, already been dealt with by adventurers.

However, as they went further, he knew that they would eventually reach a point that hadn’t been touched by most people. Meaning that they would have to face whatever dangers were hidden inside.

But despite the fact that there were no monsters, that didn’t mean they had nothing to do while they were on watch.

Not only did they have to constantly be looking out for any danger, but they also had to keep an eye on the horses and tend to them regularly. Otherwise, the heat would get to the horses, and they would be in a terrible situation.

The sun rose in the early morning, and with it came the heat.

While it was already pretty hot at night, something that normally shouldn’t be the case at this time of the year, it became even worse during the day.

They set off as early as they could, hoping to cross as much distance as possible so that they could get out of this heat just that little bit quicker.

Looking out over the land before them, they realised that there was nothing. No animals, no plants. There was only the earth, the rocks, and the heat.

Even the most stubborn of plants weren’t able to survive here. In fact, If Lucien did see a plant here, it would only act as a warning to him that something had to be wrong with it.

There wasn’t much to see, so while they still kept an eye out, most of their attention was either on staving off the heat, or on keeping an eye on their horses.

They took regular breaks to ensure that the horses had enough water, and would sometimes walk on foot and guide the horses by the reins to not overexert the poor things.

It wasn’t until sometime past noon that they noticed a change in the scenery.

There was a depression in the ground in front of them. An almost steep slope that went several metres down and spanned hundreds of metres across.

There were bits of lava coursing through the depression at a slow pace, and parts that were being lapped at by flames. The heat was getting even worse the closer they got to it.

Could this be? It was difficult to tell being this close to it, but based on the signs, Lucien guessed that this was a footprint left by that ancient monster all those years ago.

It was, awe-inspiring, seeing just how big it was. It truly made him feel just how enormous the creature was when it was alive.

They approached the edge of the footprint and looked down. The drop was pretty big, but little bits had been broken away over the decades, so they would be able to walk down it as long as they were careful.

But the lava and the fire wasn’t exactly something that they wanted to deal with if they didn’t have to.

“Should we go around?” Lynn asked.

“That might be a good idea, but we’ve got to make sure we don’t end up going the wrong way.” Since there was nothing man made to point them in the right direction, it would be very easy for them to get lost, making their journey more difficult.

Compasses were in limited supply this far away from the region’s capital, where they were manufactured, and were thus something that they could not afford. Their only option was to use the sun as their guide so that they could continue going north.

Staying along the outer edge, they walked around the hole, and the further they went, the more certain Lucien was that it was a footprint. He could even somewhat make out the shape left behind by the creature’s toes that extended a bit further out.

They were brought to a stop when they heard a strange gurgling sound coming from somewhere near them.

They looked around, trying to find where the sound was coming from, eventually locking their eyes on a large pool of lava.

At some point, the pool had started to bubble. Little flecks of lava were sputtering out and landing nearby. Over time, more was getting flung out, each bit getting larger and larger.

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The sounds grew louder, as if something was pushing to the surface.

The horses whinnied as they tried to distance themselves from the lava pool. Lucien let them go, knowing well enough by now that they wouldn’t run away completely, and would instead wait for them at a safe distance.

His hand dropped to the hilt of his sword as he watched the pool with intensity.

Suddenly, a large rock was shot out of the pool of lava, heading straight for Lucien and Lynn.

“Look out.” Lucien reacted quickly, grabbing Lynn and pulling her away and to safety as the rock came crashing down on where they were.

If they had been even a second slower, they would have been crushed under the rock, leaving a splatter of blood and their squashed bodies behind.

If that were to have happened, it would have been safe to say that the horses wouldn’t have been able to survive for much longer either.

Lucien believed that their carcasses wouldn’t last long in this environment, meaning the only thing left for adventurers to come across would be the supplies carried by their horses.

Everything about their mission and everything that made them who they were would have been lost to time. And Lord Whitmore would still be left in the dark. A potentially dangerous situation for the entire region.

But luckily, that wasn’t the case.

“That was close,” Lynn said, slightly shaken, as she stared at the rock.

Just as she finished speaking, the rock started to shake and rumble.

Cracks formed along the rock as the rumbling intensified. The cracks grew, forming multiple distinct segments.

Five small segments pushed out of the main bulk of the rock, one on the front facing them, and two on either side. It was like something was burrowing its limbs out of the rock. But strangely enough, the limbs looked to also be made out of pure rock.

With one final shake, a pair of golden slitted eyes were uncovered, and were looking at them with a burning intensity.

The legs pushed down into the earth, lifting its massive rocky body off the ground.

It’s rocky body sloped down from the centre like a miniature mountain, with the smallest parts being around its head and legs. The legs were short and stocky, like tree stumps. And the head was even smaller when compared to the rest of the body, as it jutted out from the rocky shell.

The creature looked like someone had started carving a tortoise out of a boulder, but didn’t quite finish it. It shared some similarities with the sketch of the mountain monster found in Ernest’s journal. Albeit, much smaller, and without the large tusks.

However, the creature was not small by any means. It dwarfed Lucien’s height, being over two metres tall at its highest point.

Lucien wasn’t sure where the creature ended and the rock began. Was the creature hidden inside? Or was the entire thing its body?

Lucien looked down at his sword and sighed. There was no way he would be able to deal any real damage to it with his sword. He would only end up blunting it, which is something that he didn’t want to see.

As he was searching for a weapon, the creature started shuffling towards them. It moved slowly, much like you would expect from a tortoise, but every step caused the ground to shake and left a deep depression in the earth.

“Stay back. If things don’t work out, we’ll run back to the horses. I don’t think this thing will be able to catch us.” Lucien was pretty certain that they could guarantee their safety after seeing how slow it was moving.

There were a few reasons as to why he didn’t just leave immediately.

Firstly, this was the first living thing they had seen in this wasteland. He was curious to find out more about the monsters that lived here. Especially since they still had a long time until they could get out of here and back to relative safety.

The second reason is that this was a safe opportunity for him to test how strong these monsters were. He could run now, but he might not always have that chance in the future. It was a good idea to learn as much as possible.

The third reason was that parts of it might be very valuable, and could thus be sold for a large amount of money once they returned to civilisation.

I need something blunt and solid, with some heft to it... His eyes scanned the ground around him, eventually settling on a chunk of rock that had fallen off of the creature’s body as it stood up.

He calmly walked closer to the creature, watching out for any signs of magic. Considering how it showed up, he knew that he had to be careful, otherwise things could go very wrong, very quickly.

From what he could guess, there were a few different forms of magic that the creature could potentially have.

It could have something elemental, like a lava, fire, or rock attack. It could either be a ranged attack, or applied directly to its body. Either way would come with its own troubles.

The other kind of magic would be something that wasn’t elemental, but would instead strengthen the creature’s body, either making it stronger, or making it tougher to kill.

All of this information whirled through his mind as he kept his eyes on the creature and approached his weapon of choice.

He picked up the rock and retreated, watching carefully for any signs of an attack. Seeing that the creature did nothing besides turning in his direction, he started feeling the rock he had picked up.

It somewhat resembled the head of a hammer, and was light enough that it wasn’t difficult to swing it, and it wouldn’t impede his movement at all. The only problem was that he would have to get pretty close to the creature to use it effectively.

Other than that, he was pretty satisfied with it.

After looking back to make sure Lynn was safe, he fully focused on the creature before him.

He calmed his breathing, and threw all his thoughts out of his mind. Take it easy. She can protect herself well enough. You don’t need to take any risks.

Admittedly, he was a bit nervous. This was his first real fight since he killed that wolf. He had to convince himself that everything would be okay, and that he didn’t need to put his life on the line to keep others safe.

But there was still a shadow hanging in his mind, stopping him from fully breaking away from it. It picked at the bubbling emotions and feelings of guilt buried deep in his heart.

At a time like this, all he could do was remember Uther’s words. Instead of trying to cast aside these thoughts and emotions, he channelled them into action.

He pushed off the ground, kicking up dust as he skirted around to the side of the creature. He figured that the creature would most likely attack using its head, so he took advantage of the creature’s slow turning speed to attack at one of its blind spots and cripple its legs.

Reaching the creature’s back left leg, he brought the rock crashing down on it, chipping off a bit of rock, but not making the creature so much as flinch.

This might take a while.