Once again, Zenon and Aurea grabbed onto the wall and began moving, trying not to fall.
The sun was slowly setting and they had to find shelter soon as the small opening that let the light inside wouldn't do much for the dark sky.
These past three hours were spent efficiently, keeping a steady and fast pace that allowed them to cover some noticeable distance. Not only that but watching Aurea taking the right path constantly made Zenon somewhat curious.
"Do you exactly know where are we going?"
Without breaking her steady speed, Aurea replied, "Remember my Elemental Ability? Let's say I'm trusting on it."
"What do you mean?"
"Somewhere on the island is making extremely wide and fast waves. We are moving towards it and see if it's a settlement of Unseens or Layer Beasts."
Zenon took a deep breath and kept on moving. Since Aurea's Familiar was better for scouting far places, she sent him to find a cave to spend the night while Leviathan was keeping a lookout for Layer Beast.
They already avoided some close calls by swiftly changing ravines at the perfect moment thanks to Leviathan's intervention.
Already having reached another intersection, Aurea and Zenon jumped towards the right one with an edge wide enough for running. There weren't so many of these so finding one was a blessing.
They had at much one hour left until sunset, so they made sure to use that hour efficiently. Phoenix found a small cave, enough for two people, somewhat far away from them so they had no option but to run for it.
Since this ravine was not that wide, enough to jump between edges, Zenon decided to jump left and have his own track for running.
Not saying a single word between them, they continued to run for some minutes until Aurea suddenly stopped.
Noticing this Zenon asked,
"Wha-"
"Don't make a sound... and don't move." She said.
Seeing the serious look in her eyes, Zenon put his back toward the wall and kept his head fixated on wherever Aurea was looking.
A minute passed, yet they encountered nothing. Zenon peeked at Aurea, who noticed his eyes and slightly shook her head.
Out of nowhere, a fluttering sound began to enter Zenon's ears, and he moved his eyes toward wherever it was coming from.
A massive butterfly appeared and stuck to the wall where Aurea was.
Zenon's eyes slowly moved and noticed a big red and orange eye looking almost everywhere. Its wings had a black, white, and blue pattern that made an annoying sound. It remained in place for some seconds before launching himself towards Zenon's wall.
Not only that, but it landed just in front of Zenon, where he saw yet another red and orange eye.
'Another Second-Rank... and this time it's a mixed Mindless. A fucking butterfly.'
It was not as big as Zenon thought, probably around two meters and a half, but still, those eyes were enough to induce fear in everyone that dared to maintain visual contact.
His forehead was slowly getting wet due to the cold sweat appearing. He tried his best not to move, as it seemed like the Layer Beast was completely blind.
He moved his eyes toward Aurea, who was as scared as Zenon but still remained still. Then, she slowly pointed to Zenon's feet. Confused, Zenon's eye slowly went toward where she was pointing and found a medium-sized rock.
He once again looked toward her, and Aurea mimicked a kick. Zenon's eyes widened while thinking,
'This girl... fucking hell, she wants to kill me.'
Keeping his breath, Zenon slowly put his foot just under the rock and with a quick motion, he kicked it and sent it tumbling down the ravine.
Just when the rock bounced again the wall...
*WHOOSH!*
The butterfly launched itself toward where the rock hit, smashing part of the wall. Not only that, but his wings happened to graze Zenon's cheek, cutting it slightly.
'That's-! That's the Ability?!'
Drawing a breath, Zenon's eyes fixated on the butterfly, who quickly began to fly away from both of them. After another minute of standing completely still, Aurea muttered loud enough for Zenon to hear,
"Alright... take silent steps until I tell you."
Zenon nodded and did as she asked while trying not to make a sound as he took deep breaths. His heart was beating like crazy after such a close call, far deadlier than the previous ones. After five minutes of slow and silent steps, Aurea said,
"I think we can keep on running again, the cave is still somewhat far, so give everything you can."
"Fucking hell, what was that?"
While running, Aurea replied,
"A mixed Second-Rank Mindless known as Blue Emperor. It's an extremely fast Layer Beast. A proper way of killing them, since they're blind, is by luring them to a wall and giving the final blow there."
Zenon's eyes widened and he said, "Wait, you killed one of those?!"
Aurea looked at him for a brief moment before rolling her eyes for the second time today.
Still, Zenon was nothing but impressed. In just two days Aurea had already killed two different types of Layer Beasts! She managed to kill a Tarantula and that butterfly! Zenon's opinion of her was changing constantly with each achievement she told.
Unnoticed by Aurea, a small smile formed as he thought, 'I guess working with her is going to be better in the long run.'
After some more running in the almost darkness of the sky, they finally reached the cave Phoenix found an hour ago and wasted no time on going inside.
They didn't know how dangerous the night could be in this place and honestly didn't want to know. The day was already deadly enough for them to wonder just what.
Once again, Aurea summoned her sack and prepared another quick campfire with Zenon's help. Just as they prepared some meat for cooking Aurea said,
"I got enough leaves and sticks for two weeks probably, but we need to hunt some Layer Beasts for more food. This is my last bunch."
Zenon sat near the campfire and said, "Alright... but who gets the killing blow? I mean, I guess you want to get Sacrifices as much as I do."
"Well." Aurea sat as well, "Since it's a Second-Rank, we can distribute the Sacrifices between us after killing them."
Zenon frowned his head, not understanding what she said. Aurea noticed that look in his eyes and continued,
"Really? Ugh… we can distribute Sacrifices between our Souls as long as both parties agree on doing so. However, there's a chance of the other party stealing your own, so you should always trust who you are trading with."
Having said that, Aurea leaned on the wall while taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and let the hot temperature of the campfire relieve the unforgiving temperature of the canyon.
Zenon did the same but decided to check out something he received a day ago and hasn't still seen it. Opening his Carapaces Runes, he looked at the column that appeared next to his other two Carapaces.
[Carapace: Sharp Fang.
Carapace Rank: Tier-II Mindless.
Carapace Description: The Tarantula peacefully lived inside her nest along with her children. Then, the darkness was engulfed in flames.
Carapace Innate Attributes: Poisonous || Enhanced].
Zenon decided to summon it and was left dumbfounded by the design.
They were really similar to the two fangs the Tarantula had, with a sleek and curved blade that reflected mostly everything. Hell, Zenon could clearly see his reflection on the blades!
'Damn... didn't know I was covered in that much blood.'
The handle was made of woven spider silk, which perfectly fit Zenon's hand. Not only that, but it gave Zenon a far better grip than the usual dagger pommel, making it easier for powerful strikes and other techniques.
Zenon then realized that the blade ended on a pointy tip, exactly like the fangs of the Tarantula!
'Impressive...'
Zenon got up and began slashing the air, testing the weight of the weapon. They felt as light as a feather and the air supposed little to no restriction of his movements. Just as he wanted to test them again,
"Damn, you call that using a dagger? Looks like you are randomly flopping your arms."