"It seems like stealth for a big lug isn't exactly easy." Soren said sarcastically.
"Hey, I have been doing a diet for a while. Besides, stealth ain't exactly my forte." The crab explained angrily.
The trio were heading towards the marked area, while the crab and Soren were bickering with each other.
"Well, let's just be glad for the fact that the guy was as vigilant as a lazy couch potato." Soren said with a relieved look on his face.
"What is a couch potato?" The crab asked curiously.
"Basically, that is how you describe someone who is extremely lazy." Soren explained.
"Ok then, why did you describe him as a couch potato in terms of vigilance? Couldn't you just say that he is as sharp as a hammer? Or just completely useless?" The crab asked curiously.
"Maybe I could have used tha- Hey why are we still talking about this topic? Case and point, that guy was useless in the watchout." Soren said while in thought before he got angry.
"Anyways, how far are we from the marked area?" Soren then asked.
"Maybe around thirty minutes from here? It could be more as well." The crab said while it was shrugging with its claws.
"Well, at least it's not in the other side of the forest." Soren said with relieved expression on his face.
"So, now that we have a bit of time to ourselves, can I ask the relationship between you two? So what are you? Siblings? Friends? Co-workers? Strangers? Lovers?" The crab asked curiously about Soren and Lavenza.
"Friends and partners. Why do you ask?" Soren answered bluntly and asked back in the same way.
"Well, you don't get to see leviathans swimming in these waters. Those guys are few and there are even less of those who would want to spend time with the merfolks, especially after what happened." The crab explained a bit seriously.
Those three words actually caught Soren's attention. "After what happened". That phrase would definitely allow him to know a bit more about the merfolks and their story, as well as clues for Pallas City but he didn't count on that, all that much. So in the end Soren decided to ask?"
"After what happened?"
"You know, the big battle around 500 years ago. Ever since then, the leviathans now are rather hostile against humanoid creatures and especially the merfolk. So it's pretty suprsing to see you two not having ripped each others throats." The crab explained happily.
"Oh, I see. Didn't know it was that bad." Soren lied through his teeth on that part before he started thinking for a bit. 'It's better to avoid that topic for now. Still though, the events of 500 years ago, could it be the same as the events that led with Lavenza being separated from her family? Or could they be something completely different? Anyways, the moment I get a chance to go to the library, I will make sure to read all history books that are related to events that I know of.'
"Anyways, what's your story Shellhead?" Soren decided to ask as well since the crab was asking him.
"My sto- Hey, why are you calling me Shellhead now?" The crab asked with a shocked voice.
"Well, I can't call you You or Crab, so I decided to use a nickname for you, even though that will be completely redundant in the next twenty minutes or so." Soren commented on that last part of the sentence.
"Still couldn't you think of something better, or even better, just ask for my name. It isn't that hard."
The moment those words came out of the crab's mouth, Soren felt like he wanted to bash his head on a hard wall, so much that he either bled to death or became stupid. After spending the next thirty seconds or so on calming down, he then asked:
"So what is your name?"
"Shellhead." The crab answered with a monotonous voice.
"..."
"..."
"... Are you serious?" Soren asked while being on the verge of litterally screaming and having the entire forest coming to his location.
"No. It's Crus. Hehe." The crab said jokingly.
'Remember, he is a child Soren. Remember to keep your reason and not lose it for such a stupid reason. Remember that the moment you find a pillow, bash it until it gets destroyed.' Soren thought to himself while trying to keep his cool though.
"So what's yours?"
"... Soren. And this, is Lavenza." Soren answered with a small hint of anger in his voice, although the crab didn't notice that.
"Cool names. So, what brings you into the forest?" Crus asked curiously.
"Hunting wolves. For a mission." Soren said seriously.
After that point, Soren and Crus started making small talk for a little while the three of them were making their way towards the marked spot.
...
-Coral Forest, Gore's party camp-
After Soren and Lavenza left his field of vision, Gore continued indulging himself with the wine he was drinking before Soren interrupted him. The wine itself was actually enchanced with a tiny amount of magic so it doesn't mix with water and it had sweet, yet powerful taste that warmed up your body.
"Uhhh... Such a fine wine. *hiccup* I don't get any opportunities to drink these days, so tonight I feel like wasting myself. Besides, aside from adventurers, what else would bother attacking us, especially with the repulse powder we put around our camp, I would be suprised if monsters would even bother getting close to us. Ahahahaha. Still, what's up with that kid? He was resting nearby some rocks, but I don't remember seeing any rocks nearby. Maybe it could be those three boulders, but those are a little bit far from the camp and it didn't make sense to come here. Uhhh... Well, I don't feel like he is nearby since I haven't heard anymovements, but still I did feel like I heard heavy steps when the kid left." Gore monologued for quite a bit of time while he was enjoying the wine in his cup.
*rustle* *rustle* *rustle*
"Hmm..." Gore heard a movement in the darkness of the forest, bur he didn't feel anything moving. Although he might have been tipsy, he would never allow himself to slack off.
"Interesting." At that moment, Gore took out his sword and shield from the small bag he was carrying. The sword itself was a bit more like a claymore, but Gore could easily lift it without much problem, while the shield was rectangular and was made by some bronze-ish metal with a sword insingia in front of it. He kept his guard up for whatever was in the forest and waited for the thing to attack, but after a while, nothing came out.
"Did I imagine that?" Gore said to himself and decided to wait until either something came out or until enough time passed. 5 minutes passed, those 5 turned into 10 and those 10 turned into 20. After seeing that the thing either didn't have any intention to come out or it has already left, Gore decided to sit down, but he still kept his guard up.
"Good grief, I'm getting all jumpy for nothing at this point." Goren said while acting like he was dropping his guard down. After that, put the sword away for a bit and decided to drink some wine. He decided to play the waiting game of the rest of the day. Once nighttime came, he would make sure to update the others and keep his eyes out for the thing that was lurking in the shadows.
After another 10 minutes passed, more sounds were heard.
*rustle* *rustle* *rustle*
At that moment, Gore felt two presences. Those presences looked tired but they were on edge. After a few seconds, two figures came out of the shadows. Those two figures were Rohan and Matt who looked like they had gone hell and back. Gore was suprised by the adventurers since he was one of the very few who could recognise them.
"Rohan! Matt! What happened guys?" Gore asked suprised by the way these two looked.
"Gore? Thank the lucky stars we found you here." Matt was the one to speak first, although his voice was weak.
"What the hell happened guys to you two? What kind of beast would be able to even do this to you?" Gore asked with a lot more worry. At that point, both Lily and Paul woke up and came out of their tents and saw the two ragged adventurers.
"Rohan! Matt! What happened to you!?" Lily was the one to speak from the two.
"Sorry to worry you guys like this." Matt said a bit jokingly.
"Guys, can you please explain what is going on? Because as far as I know, very few monsters would be able to give you a run for your money." Paul was the one to speak this time.
"Geius." Rohan then said one word weakly.
"Wait. Did you just say...?" Just as Gore was going to end his question, Rohan then said:
"It is Geius, the king Geis Crab. He is in the forest and he is mad. Thankfully he looking for something that can't be hidden easily so he didn't rough us up too badly once it saw that we didn't have whatever he was looking for." Rohan explained.
"Then what is he looking for?" Paul asked.
"No clue. And its better to avoid making any contact with him. Send a warning to the guild and say that King Geius is back and everyone should avoid making contact with that monster at all costs." Rohan said seriously.
"I'm on it." After Lily said that, she grabbed a shellphone and started speaking.
"Also something final. Did you happen to see a young kid with blue hair and tail and green eyes? He also should have a small eel with him who had similar cahracteristics as the kid." Rohan asked curiously expecting a no.
"He passed by around half an hour ago. At the time that I saw him, he had made a snapping sound and said that he accidentally made some noise while he was hunting." Gore explained.
After that sentence, Rohan felt pretty irritated. He couldn't believe that Soren would attempt to hunt during this time period, escpecially with the stronger monsters coming out during this time. Thankfully, there wasn't much time left before the light would come back, but it was very risky. Even though the this part of the forest barely had any monsters, it was still extremely dangerous to hunt.
"Dammit, Gore where did Soren go?" Rohan asked angrily.
"The kid? He went to that direction. He also had some sort of third presence near him, but I couldn't tell what it was but it didn't seem like it was hostile towarfs him so maybe ut was just following him, so I decided to warn him nontheless to be careful." Gore explained normally.
"Matt, stay here and keep the guild updated for the current situation. Should anything else happen, inform me immidiately." After Rohan said that, he got up while holding his body from not falling.
"Rohan, what are you trying to do now?" Matt asked worriedly.
"I'll look for Soren to stop his hunt. At the very least, I won't the let him die a dog's death." Rohan said with a serious expression.
"Rohan, you are in no condition to do that. Let me do it. At the very least, my condition is much better than yours." Matt said seriously as well.
"Look, he is my- Ouch."
"See, you are in no condition to do so. I'll go for the kid. You take some rest and get yourself healed up. Paul, Gore, in case something happens, give me a call. Take care now. I have a kid to save." Just as Matt said that, he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder by Gore and he said:
"Wait, go towards that direction. He shouldn't have gone too far with his speed."
"Thanks friend." Once Matt said that, he left towards Soren's direction.