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We entered the room to see multiple men and women in white coats with a few being armed.
Their gazes lay on us with a lot of them not being friendly so naturally, I returned their indifference with a glare but that soon returned to expressionless as my eyes met Alice's.
Hux breaks the silent atmosphere and greeted us. "Ah, Shin, Himura, we were just preparing for their departure."
He points at the old men and women with white coats including Alice.
As he speaks, my gaze falls on the armed men and women. In the naked eye, it's clear that they are weak and very under-equipped.
I trust that Alice would be able to fend for herself but she plans on protecting them as well, there's a good chance that she might die since she had a child body making her weak physically.
"I know you already have your answer but shouldn't we be looking for a traitor?"
As Akira spoke, I also spoke. "I'll accompany them."
Even though I was mentally exhausted, I still had a clear mind to know that a large group like them would be a prime opportunity to find a traitor.
I smiled at Hux so nicely that it became somewhat menacing, all I could do now was pray that both my charisma stat and poker face level are high enough to convince him.
Behind that artificial face was but a man both afraid and angry accompanied by a distant but constant ringing inside of my head.
"You're here aren't you, Demonic beast?!" I asked in my head intensely as my heart beats faster. I only heard this certain sound once before back in Kliyer.
I have called it "Dread" as it warns me of an imminent demise far before it would actually happen meaning the pure hidden aura of this Demonic beast that hides among them was already threatening my life.
I won't be able to handle one of them and I had to kill five just to leave this godforsaken place. Alice will be coming along with it and I cannot let that happen, Astoria and Freya could be dead by now so saving Alice would be a better priority.
"W-well if you wish then you're welcome to do so but today should be your rest right? Are you sure you want to join?" Hux asked with a bit of concern.
"I insist."
I continue to smile and eventually, he lets me join.
Shin smirks a bit but he didn't join so I was left on my own. I wore my leather armor and joined them at the surface.
The sky wore a grey hue and winds raged on, a storm was brewing.
There were about fifteen of us and five including me were their guards.
We walked far north around the mountain and reached a small cave with remnants of a previous camp.
Alice walked to a flat rock to sit on but she almost fell from exhaustion so I had to catch her. I already knew that she wasn't okay so I instructed her to breathe properly.
"Just breathe slowly and steadily, close your eyes and let your body rest."
Alice does as I said for a while so I looked around to see most of the researchers being exhausted as well while the scouts were setting up the camp while steadily catching their breath.
Immediately, I slipped a certain item into Alice's right pack while everyone wasn't looking including the traitor among them.
A minute passed and she soon woke up.
"Sorry, if it wasn't for my child's body, I wouldn't be this exhausted." She apologizes to me.
I looked to my side to see them doing their own things as both of us sat beside each other near the entrance.
"It's fine, you're saving your mana for the barrier right?"
Alice never once summoned a single black hound to ride on meaning there must be a reason why she was pushing herself to walk.
The demonic beast was probably luring us into a trap while trying to strip us of our stamina which probably meant that they weren't going to bring a lot of forces to capture us then however there's a good chance that they already found out that I killed their source of negative mana and now they're luring us to fresh source meaning there could be more sentient demonic beast that could appear out of pure hunger or something.
"I'll carry you, just save your stamina for now."
It's clear that there is to make us weak enough that we wouldn't be able to put up a fight meaning there will be an inevitable fight.
"I'll take that offer then, sorry."
Alice leans her head to my shoulder, I could feel her sweat touching the remains of my left arm.
"If only I was stronger." She speaks self-deprecatingly.
"Then, take care of yourself instead of pushing yourself to the limits just to end up hurting yourself. Remember that you are a homunculus now, you have all the time in the world."
I said in a bit of an ironic tone but I didn't care, I just didn't want those eyes on her.
I muttered to myself. "Besides, I'll probably be by your side for god knows how many years..."
Opposites attract as they say but that doesn't mean the same cannot attract each other. I can't look at her romantically but I just can't leave her alone anymore either because we were both homunculi, her frail body urged me to protect her, maybe I saw myself in her, or because I was the one who coerced her into joining our party.
In the end, I couldn't pick which reason it was but it was probably all of them.
"What was that?"
Alice asked, somewhat surprised by my muttering but I merely dismissed it, pretending that I never said anything.
We spent some time together, side by side as we watched the clouds brew into a soon-to-be storm. There was an awkward silence between us so after some debating and some motivational screams in my mind, I struck up a conversation.
"You're a homunculus now and have been living for ninety-something years, your time perception has already been warped just keep having that conviction of yours while taking your time."
"What do you mean?" She asked me, confused.
"Oh, you don't know?"
I gave her a pretty simple lesson on how one's lifespan could affect how one perceives time.
She didn't have an overly surprised expression since she was probably connecting all of the dots on her mind which I appreciate...unlike a certain someone who asked about every bad idea someone could do with a particular item in my home.
"Ackhoo! w-who dares slander my name!" Astoria screams in the cafeteria.
"Probably Himura."
Freya added.
We made our way into a thick forest, a perfect place for an ambush, and my eyes immediately dart from every direction without showing it as I look for a suitable place for combat for long-bladed weapons.
But from the looks of it, there was no such thing and right now the path that we were taking seemed best so I stopped walking which prompted them all to stop walking as well.
I put Alice down on the ground and I laid down with one ear on the earth. I pretended to do this just to have an alibi on my death perception but now I was curious.
My eyes closed and my ears focused, all that I could hear rustle of green leaves with multiple distant ringing sounds which resounded around me and were slowly getting louder.
I listened very carefully for anything other than those but not such stomping or anything that could resemble footsteps, only a slightly short but constant sound that I could barely pick up.
'Snakes?'
I stood up as the ringing became loud and spoke. "Monsters approaching all around us, either very stealthy or a snake kind of monsters. Surround each other and don't go near the trees since your weapons are long so they'll get stuck on those trees."
As if it's instinct, I commanded them which they don't seem to have any objections on.
"Don't do anything stupid, defend when getting attacked, dodge when you can't defend, and attack when they have an opening."
I gave my last order and spoke clearly to their uncertain hearts. "And remember, to you, your life is far more important than anyone else, abandon us if you have to though expect your face to be destroyed when we get out alive."
Honestly, this felt like I was just talking to myself because the moment, I saw a hopeless situation, I would just grab Alice and make a run for it.
My charisma stat worked its charms and somewhat inspired some of them to speak.
"I ain't doing that, it took too long to get my face as beautiful as it is." The woman with a spear in hand and a shortsword on her waist confidently said.
"Bitch, you're like five out of ten at best, don't get ahead of yourself." A bearded man with a longsword and kite shield responded jokingly.
Those multiple constant ringing sounds became silent leaving only one meaning that they were in the range of my death perception.
We were deathly silent as we began to pick up slithering sounds from a distance.
Six pertmul-like beings emerged from the trees, it was an abomination having three rotting arms, two heads, one coming from the stomach, and their chest was opened into a giant vertical jaw and inside of it were rotting human organs.
Their weapons vary from each other, they were probably from the scouts used for their molecular fusion experiment.
The scouts around hardened their faces but all of them seemed to still have a will to fight which made me smile slightly without me noticing.
And the moment they all charged at us with ferocity, we merely ready ourselves to fight them as we stay in one place.