With the auburn-haired girl in the front, leading the way forward, we moved toward the location. I followed her close behind, using the sea of trees around me as a pillar for me to walk properly.

The rest that I’d while conversing with her earlier, quite helped me a lot to regain my stamina even if it was just a tiny, bit

I thought I needed to put on a little longer, but just like what the mischief spirit had said, it was just a little ahead. As before, long she stopped in one spot, looking to the right and left, and murmured in a low voice.

“They should be around here.”

Honestly, It was no surprise for them to change the location, especially when a single man pitted against multiple opponents, such as D-rank monsters where they always hunt in a pack like this red lychantes.

However, the question is which direction?

If my inner direction was correct, we should be coming from the southwest of the forest, and slowly went to the center. To that point, it was impossible for them to come from the south side as well, or we might encounter them along the way.

Of course, there was a chance for that to happen, but quite unlikely because of the auburn girl also coming from the center, and met me halfway in the south of the forest.

Probably she was looking the flower around that place, and seemed impossible for her to hang around where the red lycanthes should be.

And, if my memory was right, the east part of the forest was just a steep cliff. At first when I saw the place, I was trailing of the idea of falling from there, but soon I realized it was too steep to climb without any good equipment.

Of course, it wasn't a bad idea to fall while climbing. But was it worth the cause? Perhaps, not. Breaking every single bone while slowly bleeding out for goddamn know when I'd die, didn't seem a liberation that I wanted. With that, I crossed out the idea from my list.

If someone who was familiar with this forest probably would never go in that direction. And I would assume he was, perhaps a local or something, because that was what I sensed as I conversed with the auburn haired girl. So, the choice would be either the west, the northwest or perhaps slightly to the northeast.

Pretty solid choice to me.

But, before I could say anything, she already moved, looking to the left and right possibly, searching for some kind of hint. I couldn't help but to follow her, as I dragged myself along, and leaned against the trees.

As I observed her doing the work, it occurred to me, that she really is a smart lass. She could think and act by her own decision. Oftentimes, education in this world is hard to come by, usually only middle or higher class that could afford it. And, especially more so, when the place was on the edge of the empire like here. Perhaps, she was taught by her parents, or there was some educational institution over her pace. I couldn’t help but to wonder about that, but this wasn’t something that I should ask, not right now.

As we moved from one spot to another, looking for some kind of hint. It was not much longer, before we spotted a peculiar spot, where the long grass had been trashed, as well a bit of red blood splattered on it, indicating the sign of struggle.

Also, I noticed on the tree close to the spot, there were several marks of claws, possibly from our monsters, or perhaps it wasn't. And, there were more of them, leading to the northeast, as I assumed. I immediately pointed that out to her. Her face turned grim, perhaps never sensing the situation would be this bad.

As if it was on a cue, we heard a howl of a wolf in the distance, possibly in the northeast from where we stood. With that, our direction became much clearer. There was no doubt, there was something over there, our monster perhaps. But I didn’t know for sure if her father was also there.

“He should be fine, he should be fine.” She repeated the word over, and over as if it was a prayer, “Please protect him, the merciful God.”

“I think he should be.”

I patted her on the shoulder. As much as I wanted to give encourage, I didn’t have a heart to give any false hope. However, it was something that I wanted to believe because of how much confidence she had before. At the very least, he should be capable of enduring for a bit longer before we arrive.

“But, before that, let’s be more on guard, we don’t know how many are there, also we won’t know for sure if they won't come to us, either.”

If I was alone, perhaps, I wouldn't need to put myself on guard like this, but I wasn’t. And, I didn’t want to make any careless mistakes anymore. Just like before.

“Thank you. I’ll be more careful.”

“Alright let’s go, then!” I stepped forward leading the way.

—

It was not long before we could see it, in the clearing ahead, a man as big as a bear. His red hair, flowing behind his head like a mane, made of fire. But, in front of him was none other than a pack of red lychantes. There were four in total.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The monster exactly like what the mischief spirit’d informed me, it seemed she wasn’t lying after all. Well, perhaps it was a foolish errand to doubt her at this late, when every proof seemed to have said so.

From how I looked, the situation wasn't as dire as I was expecting. While the man was outnumbered, four against one. But, he was holding better than I was expecting. Even, with only a knife in his left hand, he stood bravely in front of them. Not a single trace of fear in his face.

The knife itself didn’t seem like anything magically enhanced from what I observed, as there was no glow on it. It was just a plain normal knife. Which made the man more impressive, perhaps he wasn't just an ordinary guy after all.

Well, maybe he wasn't. I didn't there wasn't any of your run out of mill guy would dare to venture to this forest, as the forest was avoided for some reason.

He kept them at arm's length as he tried to pull himself back, to put more distance. The lychantes pack was staring him down, as they slowly, but surely moved, try to surround him from all directions. It was quite abnormal for me because surely they already have a number advantages; they could just run him down.

Or perhaps, they sensed him as a threat. When I thought of that line, I noticed one of the red lychantes had its foreleg slightly raised, limped. Also, its fur soaked in blood, from all the bleeding in its body. Though, that didn’t seem to come without a price, for the man’s right arm was bleeding, his short sleeves of white shirt ripped to the shoulder, revealing a series of gash of red marks, where blood trickled from there.

“Why are there so many of them? When we separated there were only three,” She muttered beside me.

We hid in between the trees, as we observed them from a distance, approximately fifteen meters away. When she noticed her father was hurt, she’d expression an urge to jump in to help, but she restrained herself, as she clenched hard on her knee.

I was ready to stop her, but apparently I didn’t have to stop her. Perhaps, knowing full well that she could do nothing but adding more trouble not to herself but also to him.

Then she looked at me with the eyes of expecting me to jump in to help, but soon realized I wasn't in a different state than her, and hung her head. Instead, opted to ask for my opinion.

Welp, sorry about that.

“What do you think we should do now?” Her voice sounded calm at all, but in her tone there seemed to be some kind of agitation.

“For starter, let me take a bit of a breather,” I said, as I leaned against the tree for how many times, I wondered. Seemed I’d overestimated myself a bit, even to reach here, I’d almost used every bit of my stamina.

“I think, the situation seems a lot better than I had anticipated. At least, we don't need any drastic measures. But, we can focus on raising our success rate, instead.”

“But do you think it's right? From what I saw the situation seems worse than before. Last time, there were just three of them, and now there are four. Especially that big one. I don’t think, the last time it was here.” She pointed at the red lychantes that looked bigger than the other, one that was in the back rank.

“That is probably the leader,” I pointed.

“The leader. Then does the situation actually worsen?”

“No, actually it’s much easier because of that. Do you remember what we were talking about before, about red lychantes considered being D-rank monsters?”

“... hmm? I didn’t recall having that conversation before. Probably it wasn't me, you were talking to.”

When she pointed that out to me, I realized she was right. It wasn't her, but the mischief spirit.

“Anyway, you know it now, right? Usually rank in monsters means something aside from the potential danger, or destruction that lies with them. In this case D-rank monsters refer to one of kind monsters such as goblins, or red lycanthes because the nature of the way they hunt. They always hunt in packs. Do you know what it means?”

“You mean, they are more well organized than we thought…”

“Not quite, but yes, they are more organized. But, that was not what I talked about. When they have a leader. It just becomes much easier. Just like humans in nature, when you crush the leader the rest will scatter like ants in the rainfall,” I explained. While, my left hand slipped inside the pouch on my hip, looking for a potion.

I wouldn’t be surprised if all the potions inside or half of them were crushed under my body when I fell from the tree. But, they weren’t, thanks to the solid material they were made from, I suppose, which making them a lot stronger than average glass.

My left hand felt the smooth surface of the potions as they clinked noisily inside, before I finally grasped the one that I was looking for. The chunkiest one, and with red liquid. The health potion. I uncorked the potion with my mouth, when it was in the field of view of the auburn haired girl, she asked curiously.

“What is that?”

“A health potion.” I curtly answered.

Maybe you’d wondered why I didn’t drink the health potion earlier, even though I was in the bring of collapsing. The answer is simple, really, the HP potion is none other than a scam potion. It gives you the impression that it actually does something, like closing the wound or something. That is a common misperception among new adventurers.

But, it wasn’t. It just gives a boost to your system regeneration. And how fast do you think your system regeneration, do you think it is as fast as in a lizard, where it could grow their tail in an instant? Not even close to that. And the health potion couldn’t give back any loss of blood either, making them completely useless.

So, why do you think I drank it now?

If there is one thing that agreed among veteran adventurers is that HP potion isn’t completely useless. For the fact, it gave an aftereffect like a boost in vigor, such as in an energy drink. And, that was exactly what I needed right now. So, in that case, why not use HP potions while also giving a slight boost in self-regen, but also in vigor, while having a similar price.

Putting the health potion on my lips, I drank all the contents inside. It had a bitter and a weird taste that I couldn’t get used to, even with the amount of times I’d drank it.

Slowly but surely, I could feel my body lighter, though the effect only lasted for a few minutes, which should be enough.

“So, listen, here is the plan,” I said, opening up the conversation, she closed her distance to listen closely.

She nodded several times, as I went over the plan. She raised some questions here and there, before she finally agreed on it.

“But, do you think you will manage?”

"Of course. However, the plan here lies with you and your father. So, instead of worrying about me, you should worry more about yourself ."

“Geez, that’s not what I’m asking,” she said. “Um, I know it is weird, but I don’t recall hearing your name before. I’m Elaine Raveest, thank you for helping.”

“...I-I’m Bobby, just call me Bobby,” I said.