As we traveled through the forest one thing became abundantly clear.
"You don't know where we're headed do you?" I asked Vivi.
"Of course, I know- where we're going!" She pouted. "But also... just out of curiosity why did you come up with that conclusion?"
"Because we've been going around that cave for almost a whole day now."
"Tch, I knew it! I left my scent there, so I keep gravitating towards it." Scent? Was she always a mutt?
Anyways, we were getting nowhere under her guidance.
"Just stop for a minute." I looked at the cave to our left. "We came from that direction, and that was definitely not the way to the cliff. That only leaves the other direction."
The whole area was almost linear. The almost plain marshy land stretched across the length and was blockaded along its sides. On one side there was a cliff from which I fell off, and on either side, there were unsurmountable mountains or walls.
I bet one side led to the edge of Rottheim, with led to the crater below... or the city's moat, and the other led to the cliff.
If we went all the way to the edge of Rottheim towards the crater, I doubt the possibility of our survival would be very high. From what I could tell, the monsters kept getting stronger the further in we went. Exponentially.
The moose was barely a low-level beast. I doubted that the level of Rottheim was too high, especially granted that this was an area for beginners, but it was concerning nonetheless for a farmer like me.
Anyways, we had a general sense of direction now. If Vivi didn't find this cave firsthand I wouldn't have been able to draw a line.
I almost wanted to commend her for leaving the scent behind. But still, there were plenty of ways to mess this up.
The cliff was only a small portion of the width of this glade. And even if the width was small, it was still large enough to make it impossible to predict where the exit to this place was. Even if I recognised the environment, it would only lead us to that cliff.
And falling down a ledge is much easier than climbing up one. What I needed was the actual entrance to the training area. I needed to lead the way back in hopes of not completely losing the way.
UGHHH! I exhausted my brain.
"Speak if you think you remember something." I looked at Vivi once more as we approached our journey. I had to carefully map out where we were going. Even if it was only a kilometre or two when I ran inside, the amount of ground I had to orientate through was enormous.
This was a multiple day venture without any hope of success.
"I have nothing to say." With that sullen face of hers, our little journey began.
From the looks of it, the swampy forest was at least a kilometre wide, with veins and plateaus around every corner. Landmarks I couldn't see in the dead of night when I first entered this hell. It was impossible to navigate through on luck. So we followed the hills guiding the edges. Quarter a day tracking one side and another quarter on the other side. Only resting when we were too tired.
Food was an easy fix even when Vivi's supply got depleted, there were plenty of animals and in my case monsters to chow on. But water was slowly turning into a problem. The beings around us were comfortable drinking water straight out of the little mud pools. But with the blood and dirt accumulated in those pools, neither Vivi nor I could get around to drinking it.
Unfortunately, that was but a small portion of our worries.
We had to do all of this survival jig while making sure that there weren't any high-level monsters around. But for a minute I thought I would be fine even against the big boys if Vivi was nearby. It was a weird sense of safety.
But at the same time, it also irked me. I was curious as to how she got here in the first place. My circumstances made it so that I was unable to make sense of the direction in which I was headed. But what about her? Why did she not know?
I was curious and annoyed. With her memory, we could've gotten out of here on day one. Ultimately I decided to take it at face value and not pry into her business.
So we covered ground during the day and relaxed and slept at night. Every day led to some progress. With every step of the journey, we started to remember our way there. Almost.
And then 6 days passed.
###
{6 days before the breakdown.}
The path in the light of day was still as devoid of humans as it was at night.
'If we came this far we should only be a small portion of a kilometre away now.' I surmised after the ceaseless travel. I couldn't help but feel excited as I saw a tree that looked almost like the one I almost bumped into that night.
'Mom, I'll be back soon.'
Just as I decided on the direction to move in next-
"HEEELLLLPPP!!" The deep growl of a human man. I didn't even consider it twice, I had an immediate response- If there was a human he would know.
"Vivi, let's go!" I took off with my D rank agility that I gained from eating rabbits all these days.
My feet felt light and with every stride, I covered more distance than before. Some of the strength that become a part of my legs made the time between my strides tiny.
I should be able to cover a kilometre in no time.
"Pretty fast aren't you?" Vivi said while running as if she was taking a brisk walk. "Well, I'll go ahead. We'll probably need that man alive." In a second she accelerated so quickly that my eyes almost lost track of her. But it was fine, we were headed in the same direction. I doubt that I would lose her.
"Natural Predator." My senses got pushed to their limits. I saw Vivi's silhouettes and followed them.
It took an entire minute for me to reach the scene where she was. In one of her claw-like hands, there was a decapitated head of a white moose. On the ground, there was a man lying and dressed like an adventurer.
The scene of a battle? Did she fight the moose? No from the looks of it and how fast the whole endeavour was, she didn't fight it. She butchered it in one go. The same type of being I almost died fighting.
My first thought revolved around the incredible strength Vivi had. It was almost mind-bending. To be able to pick a fight and kill a moose so effortlessly in that little time- It was incredibly impressive. I was glad that she didn't continue the fight we had when the week started.
My second thought after looking at the guy on the ground was-
'What kind of adventurer gets crippled because of a moose?' Even a farmer like myself managed to kill one. And also- 'Jackpot!'
"Open the moose's guts before it explodes." I instructed the red-haired lady.
"On it." Vivi ripped the moose apart like paper. I tore the remaining piece of my shirt and wrapped it around the man's severed thigh.
'Looks like the moose just bit it off recently. He can get treated if entrusted to the right hands.'
Anyways, it was the end of his adventure career. Even when treated, he would probably be a cripple for the rest of his life. But he didn't care about that. From the looks of it, this man just wanted to live.
"What's your name?" I asked to keep his sanity intact.
"G-Gorgon."
"Gorgon, what a wonderful name. Do you have a family?"
"Yes, up in Rottheim town."
"Good good. Do you wish to meet them?"
"Yes, please."
"We'll take you to them, just point in what direction, okay?" The man pointed slightly to the right more so because his hand was unable to move. To our west!
'Nice!'
"Vivi, let's go." I gave the wounded man to her and watched her leave. "I'll be there in a second."
I grabbed a piece of the Moose and ate it as VIvi ran off.
[Adding points.]
{ Strength - Ten/Ten - F }
{ Agility - Eight/Ten - D }
{ Endurance - Nine/Ten - F }
{ Dexterity - Five/Ten - F }
I should be able to keep up better. I started dashing in her direction. And soon enough I was able to pull off a speed as quick as Vivi (who was carefully carrying a heavily injured man). She probably could have gone faster if she wasn't burdened by that man.
Half a kilometre really wasn't far away. Before we knew it, we had arrived at the cliff from those days ago. I was ecstatic that we were finally here but the situation drew on me again. We couldn't just jump up there. And if we spent time looking around for the practice area's entry that should be in this vicinity, the man would die.
"Can you get up on your own?" I asked Vivi.
"Yep… It's only around 50 metres." She shrugged confidently with those thick shoulders of hers'.
But 'only'? What did she mean by 'only'?!
"Well, I can't climb up that. You get the injured dude up top and I'll wait."
"That won't work. Just because it's morning doesn't mean there are no monsters. You saw the moose right?" She said out of concern for my safety.
"Hn. And if there are monsters I might have to run away." I completed her thought process. That made sense. Although it was embarrassing to admit, I wasn't the best with directions either. If I were to run away and get lost now, I would be lost for quite a while. "So what do we do?"
"I'll put my scent on you." She grabbed my shoulders with a serious face.
"Shut it. Give me another option."
Vivi started thinking and then a visible a-ha moment hit her face.
"I'll keep the guy down and send you up the cliff first. Then I'll follow from behind with the guy. How does that sound?"
I mean it wasn't impossible so-
"Okay?" I asked confused and somewhat scared.
"Cool." Vivi sat the man against the cliff.
"Wait." I needed to get something. If we were getting out of here, we needed resources to survive in the Rottheim town. I went over to the bag and searched for all the coins in there. Luckily there were enough to get us by and get me back to the town. I shoved them all in my pockets. "I'm ready." I announced.
And right then, for some bizarre reason, saw Vivi cracking her knuckles.
"Let's do this!" She said.