Dan pulled on Klaus' collar and shook him hard. "Why didn't you help him yourself?!"
The Tracer in his hand was so dim that he couldn't put his mind at ease. It could even be said that Merell was practically dead! With that much life force left, inside a forest crawling with hundreds of magical beasts… the chances of survival were slim.
The only thing keeping Dan from giving up on Merell was the fact that Klaus still issued an order to save him. For sure, he knew about his dangerous situation since earlier.
Klaus didn't even bother struggling from Dan's grip. He let the person do what he wanted then he calmly replied, "I have a bigger responsibility."
"Tsk," Dan clicked his tongue and let go of Klaus.
"Forget about the students. I'm going alone," Dan spat near Klaus' feet. He started moving towards the back door of the tent.
Before he could exit the tent, Klaus suddenly said, "Do you think Merell is weak enough to fall in such a state?"
Dan's steps halted. He turned around and glanced at Klaus who was looking straight at him. "What do you mean?"
"There's a beast out there that was capable of doing that to Merell. I hope you change your mind about going alone."
Dan harrumphed and continued walking. Just before he disappeared from Klaus' vision, without turning around, he said, "If Merell dies, I'll see to it that you won't be able to go up the ladder you are climbing. Even if it destroys me."
Dan left.
Klaus paid no heed to his words. He fixed his clothes and started piling up his papers. He seemed so calm as if he didn't have any problems.
….
Dan stomped on the ground as he walked. He was so frustrated that he could literally feel his entire head pulsate from anger. If he couldn't stop himself, he might just burn the entire camp. Then, he started thinking about Klaus' words before he left.
Dan was a person who acknowledged strength. He had known Merell since five years ago and was his best friend ever since. He had never denied the fact that Merell was much stronger than him, even though they were both Peak D-ranked mages.
He stared at the Tracer in his hand once more. He stared at its edges and… at its dim light.
How could such a beast reduce Merell into such a state? Even if Merell couldn't defeat it, he should at least be able to escape unharmed. Or are there too many of them? Right in the back of Dan's head, something screamed at him that he really needed help. But who could he turn to?
Suddenly, Dan touched a bump by the side of his pants, just below his left pocket. He rummaged through it and found that he still had more Tracers with him. In particular, those who belonged to Aeon Morgan's group.
Them?
Dan couldn't help having second thoughts. If they were really up against a terrifying beast, wouldn't the students become mere cannon fodder? When he brought a stone in front of his face, however, he started thinking over it.
He kept on asking himself. Are they capable enough?
Are they really?
After a few moments, he remembered where he found their group. They were extremely deep into the forest. Not just anyone could go there. Moreover, they even seemed to be relaxing.
They should be capable enough!
Dan placed his hand on one Tracer and started tracking their location. He determined a path and moved deeper into the forest.
He took a roundabout path. There was no need to be covert about his mission, but he really just wanted to be away from people as much as possible. Every now and then, Dan would check on Merell's Tracer if the light dimmed further.
In no time, he was able to find the group. The six of them were already there. They stayed at the spot near the edge of the clearing, west of the camp. Dan shook his head and was already thinking that he made a mistake in choosing this particular group to accompany him. Based on their location, they were ready to escape at any time. Now that he was about to tell them they were going back into the forest, how would they react?
Dan had no choice though. He gripped Merell's tracker tighter as he moved towards the group.
Dan wasn't invisible. After he re-entered the clearing, the group stopped talking and started looking at him. He was already feeling kind of fidgety. As he walked, he tried to formulate the words he should say in order to convince the group to join him, but he could never think of anything respectful and convincing.
Time ran out for him after he reached the group. Suddenly, words started pouring out of his mouth. "Please… help me. My friend's in trouble."
….
Aeon looked dazed as he ran. He was thinking that he made an irresponsible decision by diving back into the forest despite its current state. However, he couldn't let this chance slip by. This was the opportunity he was looking for. The opportunity to start building up merits in order to free his dad from being imprisoned.
But... he really didn't need to have the others to tag along. They didn't need the merits he was trying to accumulate and might not even get anything out of this task aside from doing a good deed. When Dan asked them for help, he volunteered himself alone. He didn't think at all that the others would follow him.
"I can't believe we're going back into the forest!" Suri said. He literally just woke up from being unconscious for half a day. He didn't even have enough time to rest and eat his fill! "Aeon, stop making rash decisions!"
Suri's yell immediately woke Aeon up from his thoughts.
"Dude, a person's life is at stake," Aeon scratched his head, "we need to reconsider."
That is what Aeon said. But he knew deep down he was just trying to rationalize his actions.
Suri sighed in resignation, completely unaware of Aeon's thoughts.
"But why is this guy with us?" Suri gestured at the person running next to him.
Samuel harrumphed and said nothing.
Dan wasn't deaf. He could hear what the others were talking about. He felt that he really misunderstood the group.
Suddenly, he stopped and raised a hand.
Everyone behind responded. Swiftly, everyone moved away from the path they were traveling. Each of them took a tree for them to hide.
At that point, the group concluded that the Lake Beasts had really conquered the area near the camp. They had only been traveling for about 20 minutes, but they had already encountered a huge beast. Moreover, there were seven of them! No smaller or average-sized beasts could also be found around. The only possibility is that they were already eaten. Just below the roof of the trees, a few gigantic birds flew from one branch to another.
As the beasts left the area, they started moving again.
It really wasn't hard to evade the beasts. They just really need to be completely aware of the surroundings. With Dan and Aeon around, they could easily monitor the whole perimeter around them.
Dan gripped Merell's Tracer tighter to get a glimpse of his current position.
After Dan and the group left the camp, Dan took the time to examine Merell's current location and behavior. The latter was moving extremely slowly, but his destination was probably still the camp. The light did not dim one bit, so his condition should be fairly stable. Now, their current goal was to reach Merell who was about an hour away from them.
The pressure was pressing down on all of them, but they handled it really well. No one ever panicked and got too agitated. Also, they could move inside the walls when needed with the help of Samuel.
The group sailed extremely well, and after a little over an hour, they arrived at the spot where they were expecting to see Merell. Everyone followed Dan, the person who knew about their target's exact location. At that point, they were already able to heave a sigh of relief and relax.
Their target was alive.
He was moving.
They were already there.
Everything's good.
Dan continuously eyed the surrounding area, but he couldn't see any person walking around in front of him. The Tracker clearly pointed in that area, but there was literally no one there. Merell was a wind mage. There was no way he was underground.
Suddenly, the group felt the ground quake at even intervals.
The group immediately hid behind a few sets of bushes and crouched.
Dan started to panic. He couldn't find Merell anywhere! Moreover, there was a large beast roaming around the area. Dan silently prayed for Merell to be careful.
After a few moments, the beast became visible to them—a colossal Saber-toothed tiger. It emerged behind a few thick trees and stopped just in front of the bush they were currently staying at.
Of course, just like the other beasts they encountered, they were highly capable of slaying it. The persistent problem was that they really couldn't assume that there were no other beasts around, mainly because the beasts deviated from their usual behavior. So they just stared at the beast through the gaps in the bush, waiting for it to move on.
Strangely, the tiger did not move. It patiently stood there doing absolutely nothing.
Everyone stared at each other, completely bewildered. Even Dan, the most experienced person within the group, had no idea what was happening. He could only shrug at the questioning gazes of the others.
They were all already extremely tense when they suddenly heard some creaking noises. Korona almost flinched from being too surprised, even though it wasn't that loud.
Aeon heaved a sigh of relief. Korona was right next to him as they hid. If she made some noise, they would both be attacked by the tiger. As he heard the creaking sounds, however, he started thinking that it was quite familiar. Realization dawned on him when he suddenly heard a loud creak.
One thing popped up on Aeon's mind.
The giant monkey with the pouch!
As a person goes deeper into the forest, he or she would notice that the trees become much thicker. Most monkeys in the forest were not capable of bending the thick branches of those trees, despite their unusually larger sizes. Aeon only knew about one beast who was capable of this because it had several rocks inside its pouch, making it a lot heavier than it should be.
And that was the monkey with the pouch.
Aeon scooted over and tried his best to get a better view of the scene in front of them.
Just as Aeon had thought, it was the monkey with the pouch. He watched as it landed on the ground, right in front of the tiger.
They would've all passed it as a normal interaction between two Lake Beasts because they don't harm each other. But something with this encounter was extremely different.
The moment the monkey shifted and his pouch became visible to the group, everyone's eyebrows immediately furrowed.
At the mouth of the monkey's pouch, an arm was sticking out. Slowly, the monkey pulled it out and laid it on the ground.
It was a person. An unconscious person who they were all familiar with.
It was Merell, the one they were looking for.
….