It didn't take long for Zach to cool down enough to realize and, most importantly, admit that he might have made a mistake. It wasn't just that he let Julius' anger get to him and that he lost his temper enough to insult one of his few friends.
He was lost.
Without Dukiel's help, Zach had no idea where to go or how to find his way. But he still didn't regret telling Dukiel to stay with Julius. It was the one shot at redeeming himself he had.
Besides, Zach felt that things would work out one way or another. Sooner or later, he would find the camp or someone else that could help him find the camp just like how he always found his way to the right classroom.
He was usually late, but he still arrived.
Zach had set out with the goal of arriving before his classmates since it…He couldn't say since it seemed like a good idea when it had already failed once, and he had just done it again.
But he wanted to act alone.
"...Like a dark and mysterious lone wolf."
Zach narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin in self-admiration while murmuring to himself.
"Did you say something, Master?" Yanael, who was half a step behind Zach, asked curiously.
Zach blushed, realizing he had said his thoughts out loud.
"N-no. Why? Did you hear something?"
"I—"
"Schh!" Zach interrupted Yanael and put a finger to his ear. He narrowed his eyes and looked around.
"I think I hear something."
Yanael gave a subdued smile and clasped her hands in front of her as she watched Zach focus.
After a while, Zach turned in a specific direction and sharpened his hearing even further. As the seconds passed, he could hear the sounds more clearly.
He wasn't sure what the sounds were, but it sounded like a lot of trees breaking, shouting, and fierce roars. It was a cacophony of powerful sounds. It was similar but different to the sounds Zach heard when Yanael fought the fighters in the center of the Giupusta Locale just a few days ago.
It was the sounds of battle.
Zach turned to Yanael.
"I think there are people fighting in that direction."
Yanael nodded.
"I think you are correct, Master."
"Is that what you were about to say?"
"It could have been."
"I'm sorry for interrupting you, Yanael."
"Don't be. It would be impolite of me to take offense when your word precedes mine, Master."
Zach nodded. Yanael had put up a facade he couldn't see through. She looked calm, friendly, and benevolent. But her eyes were pointed downward and her eyelids were almost fully closed. It was impossible to tell whether her smile reached above her mouth.
"Well, let's go."
Zach would be lost in the forest if he didn't grab someone's coattails to cling to. He had already messed up by leaving behind Dukiel and Julius. He couldn't let go of this opportunity to get another guide.
He had a feeling it was his classmates, who would be less than pleased if he came and asked them to show him the way, but it would solve itself, or he could bribe them.
Zach started to wonder what would be a good bribe for the influential people like Anerias and Violina.
"This way, Master." Yanael gently grabbed Zach's shoulders and steered him toward the fighting again before he got sidetracked and lost. Although her sense of direction wasn't anything to write home about, she at least had the capacity to follow the sounds without going astray.
"Right." Zach focused.
But then he started wondering what was causing the trees to break and snap so loudly Zach heard it even as far away as he was.
"Here, Master."
"Right."
…
After a while and several instances where Zach was about to turn in the wrong direction, they finally got close enough that they could make out the details of the fight.
As Zach had expected, it was his classmates embroiled in battle with one of the residents of the forest.
Zach had not, however, expected the size of said resident.
It was an ape almost as tall as the trees. It had light tan fur to cover its rippling muscles that looked like they were about to burst whenever it swung its long, thick arms or picked up a tree to throw at the students.
Its head was two or three times the size of a human, and it could easily swallow one with the way it opened its mouth wide to roar and show off its glistening, bronze-colored teeth and tusks.
'Is it the boss of this place?'
Zach frowned and looked at the ape.
He turned to Yanael.
"What do you think?"
Yanael retracted her gaze from the battle and faced Zach.
"It's only strong because it's big." There was an air of superiority around Yanael when she spoke as if she was telling Zach that it was not a threat to her.
"Great." Zach nodded. "Please go ahead and kill it."
"As you wish, Master." Yanael nodded.
Although the ape wasn't a threat to Yanael, it was because it would never land a blow on her. It was still powerful.
So, against the other students, who couldn't avoid the ape's attacks, even if some of their familiars could, the ape was an unprecedented threat. The students were on the losing side and could only delay the inevitable by having the two strongest familiars intercept the ape's attacks.
However, both the Ice Spirit and Blackfire Hound were reaching their limits.
If nothing changed in the battle formation, the students would inevitably lose the fight and, most likely, their lives.
It was a golden opportunity for Zach.
If he saved his classmates, they would have a harder time holding a grudge for him taking advantage of their kindness before leaving them in the dirt. Like so, he would have secured a reliable guide to the camp.
Zach stayed at a safe distance as he watched Yanael transform her bracelets and sprint toward the bronze-toothed ape.