Chapter 24: The chase
The forest was quiet, far quieter than one would expect from a forest filled with numerous beasts and even a hive led by an E- rank Mantis. There were no roars, howls or echoes of battle. No sounds at all, not even the sound of wind rustling through the trees.
One could be misled into thinking the forest was mourning the dead villagers with a moment of silence, which could be a reasonable argument if the Primordial Expanse didn't make it clear that it couldn't give a shit about the loss of a few humans.
'Maybe I was wrong about them? I can't believe I started acting so rashly and immature just from a few words from a random shopkeeper.' Alex thought.
Shaking his head, Alex kicked some rocks as he waited for Joanne to speak. She was the only one who knew how to track and she was currently inspecting the forest around her for any marks left behind by the Mantis beasts, while everyone else stood around staying alert, waiting for her to report back some good news.
Unfortunately, good news didn't come.
"We've lost them." Joanne sighed as she re-joined the group.
"Well we keep looking, sur-" Raymond started speaking but he was cut off by a voice snapping out of nowhere.
"I can't deal with it anymore! What the fuck are we even doing here!? For all we know Joanne could be leading us on a wild goose chase. I mean who knows if the hive we are looking for destroyed the village, it could have been a group of bandits!" Rotnam, the quietest of the group, suddenly lashed out. He had hardly said a word the whole time and now his sudden outburst shocked everyone.
"And you! You are the only one who can see these supposed tracks while the rest of us have blindly followed you this whole time!" Rotnam said again, pointing at Joanne this time.
"How about we all calm down here, okay? We are all in a volatile state right now after seeing what happened to the village, we need to stay together if we want to take revenge for them. Internal strife will only make our mission even harder." Alex chimed in this time, offering his own opinion to the group. He was hoping that the team could stay relatively united until they wiped out the Mantis hive, after that he couldn't care less what anyone thought.
Rotnam didn't seem inclined to listen to what Alex had to say though, while Raymond looked like he had something to say, but chose not to. Instead he followed Alex's lead.
"Alex is right, now is not the time for this. We can settle any disputes after the mission is complete. Right now we have a common goal, to kill these beasts. The longer we stay here arguing, the more time they have to widen the gap between us. All of you are here to get paid, well we can't get paid if the mission isn't complete." Raymond's words seemed to have brought some sense back to Rotnam as he simply glared at Raymond, Joanne and Alex before scoffing.
"Fine. Lead the way." He said and ignored any looks from anyone else.
"We should spread out for now and scan the perimeter around us. There has to be something, those beasts couldn't have just disappeared into thin air." Raymond resumed his usual commanding and confident tone as if the previous argument never happened.
With word from their employer, the team did as he said and each person chose a direction and walked that way.
'In hindsight what Rotnam said makes some sense, from the beginning we haven't caught sight of a beast once and it's true we never did see the perpetrator for the attack on the village. But what he said is unreasonable. It doesn't matter what he thinks of Joanne, she is the only one who can lead us to the beast hive anyway.'
Alex considered if the group should go back to the village and look for more clues, but shook the thought off after deliberating. Although what happened was cruel and gruesome, their mission was to destroy the Mantis beast hive, not save the village. Not to mention that any evidence left behind had probably been burned to cinders.
Minutes and eventually an hour ticked by, and Alex had found nothing that pointed towards any recent movements in his area. He wasn't anywhere near an expert in tracking, but he did the best he could with the tips Joanne gave before everyone set off. With nothing to show, he made his way back to the meeting spot everyone agreed to meet at.
When he arrived, everyone but Raymond and Joanne were leaning on the shrubbery, waiting in silence.
"Found anything?" He asked Brute, but extended the question to everyone else.
"Nothing." Brute replied and everyone else shook their heads.
"Let's hope Joanne can come back with some good news then."
'Speak of the devil.'
Right on cue, Joanne and Raymond were coming back from their directions at the same time and everyone shifted their eyes towards Joanne, she had the highest likelihood of coming back with good news.
"I found something, there is evidence of Mantis activity a couple kilometres ahead in my direction. However, it's getting dark. It's too dangerous to continue the hunt at night, we could be attacked from anywhere, and Mantises are notorious for their stealth attacks at night."
Rotnam showed displeasure at Joanne's suggestion to wait the night out before they set off again. They had been going around getting fuck all done for the last week and right as they find their target's trail they had to stop. It just didn't sit right with him.
But he complied. He would rather save his words and get the mission done than risk being kicked out and lose his chance at earning a beast core.
'What's one more night anyway? This waiting better all be worth it.'
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