“Did someone brought a flashlight?” Laura asked.

“Hold on,” Octagon said.

Suddenly, a fireball appeared and float within his palm.

“Whew. I thought we were dead.” Dice said.

The three of them went down to the downhill rocky slope.

“Hey,” Dice called out to the Comodo. “Stay there.”

The Comodo ignored him and went to sleep.

They together went deeper and saw the huge charred graffiti across the cave. Then there it is, bones scattered around. There’s still the lingering toast of the flesh as they covered their noses in disgust.

“This is a monster’s den.” Dice said.

“I heard that there’s a monster somewhere that’s residing within this area,” Laura replied.

“Guess we have the answer now.”

Octagon inspects around and produce a strong fire that effaces away the shadows. He saw footprints that is thrice larger than the carriage.

“Guys?”

“What?” Laura asked.

“You might see this.”

Octagon pointed out the footprints.

“Uh-oh. We’re toast.”

They finally reached the destination. They saw the decapitated trees and the tracks the carriage wheels, they followed it and saw hole that was dug deep. The other began to scan the area while Linda and Alastor was left to analyze what they could come up with this mess.

“No bodies nor my Liber. I bet that they’re still alive.” Alastor said.

Linda thought otherwise. “Whatever this is, it’s something big. The smartest decision would be plausible is to find a safe place to hide until we arrived.”

“Hmm, since that this area didn’t work for them, might as well find a new geographical are where they can pull a new stunt.”

“Are you thinking what am I thinking?”

“Yep. And it’s going to cause another headache.”

Ken and Cid came back from scanning the area.

“So, you any have clues?”

“Yes, and I’m pretty sure this is going to be a bumpy ride. Damn it.”

“And where would it be?”

“In the mountains.”

“Shit. No kidding. That area is out of our jurisdiction.”

“Although it pissed me off too, I think they made the right decision. Bringing whatever the monster chasing after them, it would do more damage in the Glade.”

“I’m not going to deny it too,” Linda said. “They’re pretty smart. That’s what you’ll expect to a Class A mercs.”

“There’s a lot of mountains stocked up. It will take us forever to find them. It’s like searching a needle in a haystack” Cid said.

“Stop whining. We need to start searching for them now. There’s no telling when will that creature return.”

“Yeah. Whatever that things, they made their tails wag and turn their shit off.”

“Whatever it may be, it’s terrifying enough to switch them into survival mode.”

Now that they’ve come to realization that they must proceed with extreme caution. They knew very well that there are some monsters live within behind the mountains, that is why they were prohibited to go beyond.

They evaded places that is open for the enemy to attack them. They went to the least expected places that the monster would come looking for them and went at the side of a mountain.

“We’ve been going out for hours.” Ken tiredly said. “Don’t you think they’re dead?”

“They’ve been gone for a day. There might be a chance that their assess still intact.”

“Hmm. Fuck it.” Cid said. “7 hours of free sighting and there’s still no trace. They hid their asses well. We couldn’t find them as if they’ve completely disappeared.” There’s an exaggeration of his last word. “Or maybe they went AWOL.”

“Cid calm down.” Linda held his shoulder. “Or you’re going first.” Her concerned expression suddenly turns the other direction and switch to deadly serious.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Now, if we were them, where we would hide in this tundra?”

“Trenches. Beneath the mountain.”

“The problem is where to look.”

A sight caught Ken’s eyes. It was the wheels track the fade off in the woods. “Uhm, guys. You guys might want to look at this.”

“What is it?”

They went and followed the tracks until it led them to a dead end beneath the mountain.

“I hate to break it to you, but it’s a dead end.” Cid scoffed.

Alastor who is the least pessimistic picked up a stone and threw at the base of the mountain. Their eyes squinted as the rock bounce back from inside of what seemingly an illusion.

“Or maybe not.” Linda said.

She began to chant and her hands began to gesture.

“Postus Retilious.”

The wall of illusion began to deduce into dust and the entrance of the cave appeared before their eyes. They went inside, but Linda chanted the illusion spell again. The din light vanished.

“What was that for?” Alastor asked.

“That illusion was chanted for a reason, whatever may be.”

Ken initiated on performing a fire ball magic.

“Well, no use to whine now.” Cid said. “We might as well move forward.”

They trail the road through the darkness. They can feel that the atmosphere is crawling on their skin. Alastor sneezed as he shakes his head.

“What the hell is this place?” Cid asked. “It reeks of black magic.”

“Yeah, no shit. It’s all over the place. It may not be strong, but dear lord, it’s mind wrenching.” “I hope that this would gone soon.”

“Speaking of which, I haven’t saw Tin these days. Where has she been?”

“She’s busy. She’s part of the stock team and went with the other in the sea to gather stocks from the other country.”

“I wish I was in her position.” Ken said. “I could really use a vacation right now.”

They stopped when they heard a faint gasp. Ken flew his fireball to the source and in surprise a face lurked out and blew off the fire ball. What happens next is that they were ambushed. A fireball emanated and the three suspects walk out in the shadow.

Linda was tied while the others was in a pause as the tipping point of their weapons was in their head.

“We’ve come here at peace.” Ken briskly said.

“Who are you?” Dice asked.

“We’re the rescue squad.” Linda said. “We came here to rescue you.”

“How ironic. You look like ones who needed the saving than us.” Octagon said.

“Spare us the mockery.” Alastor said. “If it isn’t because of the dark magic, we wouldn’t be in low spirit.”

Laura sighed. They undid their doing and called Liber.

Liber carrying the carriage of the stock foods cried happily as he sees Alastor. Alastor pet him with a relief before sitting beside them with the fire in middle.

Dice began to explain the precedence of the event to this point where they were given no option but to stay put while waiting for the rescuers.

“We’re sitting ducks here since yesterday. We need to formulate a plan. Look, I’m not going to die here, there’s chicks waiting for me and god knows it’s going to be a hell of a ride.” Dice said. He plucked out the wine cork and relentlessly drank it. “I would rather die wrap in the arms of a woman rather than that uncanny monster.”

“All right then,” Alastor started. “We’ll have to make a trap.”

The goal is to finished the trap before the sunset. Likely, because of their proficiency, they were able to pulled this off and began to execute the plan.

Ken who is the fastest of them all unwillingly volunteered to become the bait and no was covered by blood. The stink lingers the air and was caught by the sharp nose of the monster that was disrupted in his afternoon snack.

The monster leaped off to the source of the scent. It growled and shook the nearby trees. The wind flickered the leaves and the birds flew away. It’s gigantic body emersed from the whirling dust and its arms stretched to reach Ken. He quickly shifted his weight and dash backward. The primate unleashed its fury as it grew its claw and tried to kill Ken, but this time Linda threw ice wall magic to block the attack.

“Here it goes.”

The ice wall shattered with ease.

“Yep. Sprint inside the cave.” Linda ordered.

The others camouflage in the darkness and waited patiently for the monster to enter. The primate’s head lurched in and its body struggle to get inside so it bent to get inside and began to explore the cave.

It went deeper inside and glance around. It’s instinct sharpened as it sensed a threat coming from his right side. It was a fireball that directly shot on its face. It momentarily stammered and, in that instant, Liber sprinted passing the monster. It tried to grabbed Liber but failed as Dice, Laura and Linda fired its back with various kind of magic. It stumbled forward to gain distance. Just as they plan, the monster went straightly to the hole they made. Various hooks began to emerge and pierced to its skin, decapitating it.

“Run inside the carriage!” Alastor shouted.

They quickly went inside and drove it outside. Looking behind the cave the inside exploded and the smoke began to trailed outside into the sky. The boulder crumbled down and blocked the entrance.

“If you can’t kill it, bury it alive.” Alastor said.

“So far, so good.” Linda said. “It would buy us some time and if not, we’re toast.”

Their breath left their lungs as the base of the mountain eradicated and the monster sprung out. The primate monster roared as its chalked skin grew bright red.

“Oh fuck!” Cid shouted.

“Yep, we are dead.” Dice added.

The monster grabbed the nearby trees and threw it at them. Liber struggled to evade it with lone his senses but was unable to predict the destination of the object and its trunks were able to disturb its sight.

“Why are we running by the way?” Alastor asked.

Dice raised a brow. “Uh, because it’s a rampaging shithead that is obviously out of our league?”

“Yeah, that was yesterday, but now we have the manpower. We kill it and we have more food stock.”

They were stumbled on to that realization and grinned.

Liber stopped and was ordered by Alastor to get away. They waited for the enemy and stood their ground.

The enemy landed in front of them. The monster’s eyes grew bright red as its claws swiftly aimed to them. Linda blocked it with her ice wall and Cid and Ken blasted it with fire magic. The monster blocked it with its bare hands. Ken pursuit the opportunity and strengthen his fist, hitting the stomach of the enemy.

The enemy fumbled and was not able to counter as Laura and Octagon bombarded the enemy with fire and wind magic. Alastor sprinted as he held high his sword, he sprung to its leg and cut the part where the nerve lies on. The enemy kneeled as Dice and Alastor cut off its left leg.

The last thing that the monster recall is the light that blinded its sight.