August stepped into the shade of the trees and left the sun behind him, a faint unease already growing inside him. The sticks and leaves crunched beneath his feet, every snapped twig sounding out like a thunderclap to his ears. The rattle of Ladybug’s chains accompanied it as she returned to the trees once more.

He led the group deeper, angling away from the area he had explored last time he’d entered the forest, entirely unwilling to take the chance that more of them might be present. The greenery grew thicker the further from the treeline they moved, and the ground was soon carpeted by fallen branches, brush and overgrown vines.

“May as well start here,” August said quietly, removing his [Flint Axe] from his inventory.

Rittan hefted his own tool and strode towards a toppled tree that was leaning precariously against two much thicker trunks. August knelt down, using his axe to sheer through some of the tangled vines, and stashing it away into his inventory. He hefted the uncovered, dried out the log from the mess, and deposited it with the rest.

August took a moment to activate [Locate Object], watching as half of his mana bar was greyed out, the reserve cost needed for the skill to function. White lines traced outwards, highlighting branches, stones, and more through the mess covering the ground.

Kalter stepped into his view and dumped a fallen branch, thicker than his thigh, around beside him. She bent down, snapping most of the smaller protruding branches off at the trunk of it before tossing them into their own pile.

August scanned the group—most of them were collecting wood in its various forms and putting their axes to good use. He turned his focus towards digging up the stones he could see in their chosen area, given he had used up basically their entire stockpile during the making of the [Kiln].

The piles grew and depleted as they worked, August quickly moving everything into his inventory when it grew to the point of being an obstruction. The rocks became more difficult to find as he cleared the area out, and he was quickly reaching the point where he would need to venture out of sight of the main group to find any more—something he wasn’t planning on risking. Once he had truly exhausted the rocks, he moved back to untangling the lengths of vine that ran along the ground, cutting them to useable lengths as he went.

After what had to be at least half an hour, the entire area had been stripped bare of all everything useful. There were no longer any branches on the trees that were easily reachable, and it almost looked as if the grass might be able to regain its hold on the area, now that it was no longer under the tyranny of the strangle vine that had attached to just about everything in the area.

“Where were the fruit trees you spoke of?” Kalter said, scanning the interstice in the greenery.

August took a moment to figure out their position in relation to the camp before he turned and spread in fingers in what he thought was the right area. It was closer to the area where the attack had occurred but not close enough that he wasn’t willing to make the journey.

“There are two of the trees over that way,” August said, dropping his arm, “Two minutes—if that.”

“Should we press forward?” Haiko wondered, fiddling with her too-tight vest.

“There have been none of the noises I’ve come to associate with the Efkini,” Rittan said, throwing his support behind the idea. “Although I am not certain about what that means—they may hunt silently, after all.”

“August?” Kalter said, looking to him for confirmation.

The Efkini that attacked him at done so without any kind of tell, and the only thing that had given him any warning had been Ladybug’s sudden stillness.

“They definitely attack from stealth,” August admitted, “There’s currently no way for us to discern whether or not something is there unless it makes itself known or Ladybug discovers it first.”

“We can’t remain paralysed by fear,” Kalter said, blowing a breath out of her nose. “The longer we stand around doing talking about it, the larger the risk of being found becomes—move it.”

Kalter strode forward in the direction he’d indicated without another word, leaving the three of them behind. Haiko stepped into his peripheries, and when he turned, he found her smiling down at him.

“She remains as impatient as always,” Haiko said, catching August’s eye. “That much certainly hasn’t changed.”

August nodded at the callback to their earlier discussion before he stepped through the gap in the trees and followed after her. Ladybug swung past him in a blur, retracting her chains as she went. The monster tumbled through the air before landing on—

August winced at the monster’s unfortunate choice as Kalter turned to stare at the thing sitting on her shoulder. The two had a silent staredown, although August still wasn’t sure how the Efkini could even perceive its surroundings in the first place. He was considering speaking up and calling the monster back before Kalter huffed in annoyance and turned forward once more. Ladybug let out a pleased trill, either celebrating her victory or simply happy to be carried through the forest.

“It’s nice to see you two finally getting along,” Rittan said, a current of amusement underlying his voice.

“Shut up,” Kalter muttered, barely loud enough to hear.

“Were they at odds with one another?” Haiko asked curiously.

Kalter turned her head far enough to look back at them over her shoulder, eyes narrowed in warning.

“Not exactly,” Rittan said, scratching his cheek at the look. “When Kalter was first summoned, we had something of a scuffle, and Ladybug was kind enough to separate us.”

“Something of a scuffle?” Haiko questioned. “I suppose this was during the same incident that you mentioned, August?”

Kalter muttered something unpleasant under her breath that he couldn’t quite catch. A flicker of blue appeared ahead of them, and soon one of the two trees he’d spoken off came into view—exactly where he’d left them.

“That’s the one,” August offered, keeping his voice level. “I can see the Sadapple trees.”