"Fuck!" Antion cursed under his breath. "What was that all for? What was wrong with the place Layn choose for us to go and die like dogs in this damned forest?!" he protested, clearly agitated.
"Shush," Pavrien silenced the man to his left. "They are still close. You don't want to alert them," he whispered, making sure to modulate his voice.
The two of them went a bit deeper into the forest than the rest of the expedition party due to Irea's personal order. And while the rest of the group was safely hidden away in a cave they cleared and blocked, the two of them were out trying to scout the situation.
"Don't tell me you are scared," Antion countered after a moment, once he made sure the local defending forces couldn't hear him speaking anymore. "Or could it be that you slacked on the training Layn put us through before we reached the camp?" he asked, unwilling to just let this junior of his get one better over him.
Even though Antion no longer held his position as the prefect, a part of the pride he had from his former job remained.
"You know fully well that it's not about being scared of those monsters," Pavrien bounced the argument back as he started to slowly crawl back. In the thick vegetation, they were currently hiding, any attempts at standing up and retreating would be sure to catch the attention of the locals.
"Yeah, yeah," Antion muttered back, unwilling to keep this kind of conversation going even if he was the one to start it in the first place.
Once out of the thick bushes, the two of Layn's mercenaries made their way back to the hideout of the rest of the group. Not only was the entrance to the cavern blocked, but it was also carefully concealed. Given how the monsters and animals alike were out for their blood, rather than just hiding the entrance with leaves and branches, Irea made sure to add some aromatic herbs to conceal their smell as well.
"We are back," Antion crawled as far as he could without disturbing the delicate balance of the cover before whispering.
"Wait a moment," a manly voice responded from the inside. "Make sure nothing is watching," a command followed before the entire cover of the hideout started to move.
As it turned out, the entire thing was created with a simple, wooden grate on which all the additional elements were hung or roped in. With this kind of design, one could seemingly just pull the thing away to reveal the cage itself, yet thanks to some additional bounds and locks from the inside, doing so would at least alert everyone inside in advance.
"So? What did you learn?" Irea asked the two as soon as they got inside and followed to the deepest part of the cave. Given how relatively small it was, it was yet another of the precautions their group needed to take to hide their voices from the monsters outside.
"The monsters are still scouting the area, but it doesn't look as if they were aware of our exact location," Pavrion said in a low voice, following the general directive Irea gave before.
"I told you, this is the best moment to sally out," Al insisted while patting his knee.
"It seems like this might be the case, after all," Irea admitted as she bit her lips. "Well, let's get going then. Nothing good will come from just straying here," she decided before raising her eyes at the rest of the group.
Out of the eight people that set off for the journey, two were already injured. While they could still walk, Irea didn't have many hopes for them to keep up with the rest of the group if they really had to hurry.
Right now, the two injured mercenaries continued to recuperate their wounds by sleeping while allowing the few herbs that Irea found to do their job. Given how they could only hold their screams of pain with the utmost effort, they were put to sleep in a rather forceful manner.
"Great," Al grinned. While he followed Irea's decision to keep their profile low during this mission, it was clear that he was brimming to get some fighting done. "You go wake those slackers up, I will..."
Before Al could enlighten everyone on what he would do while Irea would be busy, the silent yet devastating sound reached everyone's ears.
The sound of the cover to the cave being torn apart as someone or something attempted to go through it.
"ON YOUR FEET!" As soon as this happened, Irea jumped on her feet and rushed towards the entry-throat of the place. While Al could boast the greatest physical strenght and ability in the entire group, she was, without a doubt, the strongest in general.
"ARGH," as soon as the wounded people started to wake up, they inevitably released a loud moan of pain. This resulted in an increase in the speed at which their only line of defense was crumbling.
Now it was clear that the clash would be unavoidable.
"Prepare for the fight," Irea said with a calm voice as if she didn't scream at everyone just a moment earlier.
Then, a huge claw penetrated through the thick cover of the entrance before pulling down and tearing the entire thing apart. While it made it look as if the claw was sharper than it should be, it was actually the weak material that allowed for such a thing.
Yet, Irea didn't wait for the monsters to swarm the entrance. As soon as the claw appeared, she closed her eyes for a single second before opening her eyes, raising her hands, and chanting a single word.
"Burn!" she shouted, pushing her energy through her body into one of the few spells that Layn taught her before disappearing.
A ball of fire... Didn't appear. Such crude technique was something that Layn would be too embarrassed to use, not to speak about teaching it to anyone. That's why, rather than using what most of the young sorcerers and mages would dream about, Irea produced a river of fire that gushed forth from between her hands.
In an instant, the entire entrance of the cave stood in flames. The leftovers of the cover they used were the first to burn, revealing the massive gathering of monsters and animals alike waiting for their turn to rush inside.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MI-COUGH!" Al shouted, only for his words to get stuck in his throat. At the same time, Irea dug her feet into the ground as the air from the inside of their former hideout pushed heavily against her back. Yet, simple coughing couldn't stop someone like Al. Pushing forward, he reached Irea and tapped her back before leaning over her ear. "If you keep that up, you will suffocate us all!"
"Ah," Irea muttered, overwhelmed by the shock caused by her own incompetence. Probed by Al's warning, she instantly cracked the spell structure that continued to turn her mana into gushing flames.
Yet, the deed was done already. Thankfully, while the materials they used to cover the entrance to the cave continued to burn, it was clear that there wasn't enough fuel for the fire to continue for long.
But that also meant that the monsters standing on the other side of the fire would no longer be hampered by it either.
"At least we won't suffocate now..." Al muttered while gripping his handy ax. Even though the situation was dire given the number of the enemies, there was no sign of worry or fear in his eyes. As Irea looked at the man, she could clearly tell that he was in the beginning phase of a battle frenzy.
Then, someone descended right in the middle of the swarm of monsters.
***********
"We need to hurry." This time, it was Sitra to rush their small group. Ever since they reached the forest, her mood was worsening at a visible pace.
"I don't even want to ask why," Layn muttered in response, not counting for the girl to actually hear him.
Even though they had no other choice but to ditch their horses right where the woods started, the noise of them moving through the thicker and thicker vegetation was enough to muffle the sound of his voice.
The girl continued to repeat her warnings over and over as they continued to push deeper and deeper into the forest. And sure enough, the entire group was forced to a halt when Sitra suddenly dug her feet in the ground and came to a grinding halt.
"They are right ahead," she said with a trembling voice.
'For someone who had no problems rushing into the enemies back on the play, she surely is cautious enough when encountering simple monsters,' Layn noted before pushing the girl's hand away.
Right in front of him, a massive army of monsters and animals stood in waiting. A small fire in the distance was the only thing that was stopping its advance. And through the flames, Layn could see the face of the person he cared the most about in this new life of his.
"This is the moment I was saving my everything for," he muttered before decisively cutting the supply of magic to his translation spell. Right now, he could care less about the future trouble that its lack would give him. After all, he could replenish its dictionary in just a few days.
Layn channeled all the mana he managed to spare over the last few days along with the fresh stream of energy that he used to maintain his translation spell all this time in the exactly same forbidden spell that he used when dealing with the Germanian's troops.
This time, however, he could only afford to create a small blade. Yes, a blade. Not even a knife. And using the last of his strenght, he rushed forward before jumping off the small ridge they were in, right in the middle of the entire gathering of the monsters.
"I wonder how much energy do you guys have in you," he muttered in his own language, one that would develop only in the far-off future.. And then he pressed the tiny crimson blade against the skin of the nearest animal.
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