And so the party pushed forward and away from the safety of Freesia, delving deeper into a forest that had quite the mysteries itself, and the one they tackled on today was the Chimera

William led the party and acted as the vanguard followed closely by Lucy while Claude and Myles were the last, protecting the rearguard in case of any ambush that might catch them off guard

That left the adventurer's party in the middle, while at the center was Fae and Siegfried, as a mage he had to be protected so he could focus with his spells that might leave him exposed to attacks

That was the composition that they chose as they wandered within the woods, what they did not know however, was that Yuna herself stalked around close to the party looking for the beast or any tracks that might lead the party to its lair, her soft voice resonating inside Fae's mind and telling her of what her spectral blue eyes could see

"How are you faring?" Although the voice she now heard was anything but Yuna's, prompting her to raise an eyebrow and look to her right side

"Oh, hello Siegfried" She greeted the mage as both of them spoke softly as to not drown out any noise around them

"I'm doing alright, what about you?" She asked back, bringing a smile out of the young man, Fae herself wasn't sure of his age but she was certain he couldn't be older than her

"Fine as well" He replied with a slow nod that accompanied the previous smile

"I asked since the last time we met you didn't look so well, I'm glad you're doing better though" She remembered that he was referring to when she and Yulia exited from that dungeon after meeting with Yuna for the first time

"Much better" She ended her words with a chuckle that the other couldn't but smile to, though he did have other things to ask

"I'm also curious about your magical knowledge" His words made her raise an eyebrow in attention

"What kind of spells do you know of that would be useful in the battle?" While he continued Fae gave a small smile

"It all depends on what you know" And that same smile that Fae had, quickly turned into a smug smirk as she was pleased with the curious expression Siegfried made

"How so?" He asked her a question she was pleased to answer, but for that, she needed an example

"Can you bring up a tiny flame?" Siegfried's curiosity made him not even think about her request as he raised his thumb that was the surface of ignition for a small flame

As they walked together in the middle of the group, Fae raised her right hand and more specifically, she put the tip of her index finger next to that innocent looking flame

Siegried's eyes slightly widened as that flame of his quickly escaped from his thumb to wrap around Fae's finger, almost like she stole his own strength

"That's beautiful" His eyes were wide while his tone had a touch of shock and awe

"Hehe" The other could barely hold herself from the praise she has gotten while the flame that was dancing around her index finger quickly vanished away

"So you can use a mage's spells against them? I'm glad to not be on your bad side" Siegfried told the now laughing Fae

"I'll take the compliment" And so the both of them were seemingly pleased to put an end to their conversation, focusing back again on finding any tracks that might help them in their search for the beast

Yet it was to no avail, the group spent hours and hours back to back looking for any trail, any track, or any footprints that would lead them to their quarry but it almost seemed like the Chimera itself was just a figment of the witnesses' imagination, though Fae would put a hard disagreement on that statement

The sunset came with its orange delight, and then soon enough that little light that helped the party soon set down, leaving them with complete darkness that was only betrayed by the torches the adventurers' lit up

Although even with those torches, Yulia put the group at a halt as she went on to discuss things with William and lucy, to Fae it seems that maybe they wanted to postpone the hunt to when it would be safer for them, although how safer could it when you're hunting a mythological beast

Fae crossed her arms and kept her gaze locked with Yulia's back as the latter was talking to William and Lucy, and with the way she nodded it seemed that at least they weren't disagreeing with each other

She heard somebody getting closer to her and so Fae looked over her shoulder, having then a smile on her face to give to the knight that now stood beside her

"Hey there Claude" He gave her a greeting in the form of a nod before handing her what seemed to be a waterskin that already had its cap removed, Fae smiled in appreciation and took it out of his hands to drink from it

And with a refreshed exhale, Fae ran her free hand through her hair and gave Claude back his possession with a beaming smile

"Thanks!" He wasn't able to express that he was happy to be of help, but he didn't need to as Fae could already tell what kind of person he was

"You two seem to be friends" A voice neither of the duo's said, and as both of them looked behind they could see another knight that walked up to them, his voice was younger than the other male knight, much younger

"Ser Myles correct?" Fae asked the brown-eyed knight

"That would be my name yes, And yours should be Fae?" He extended his hand to her that she shook tightly

"Yup, nice to meet you Myles" And with that, their hands parted away not before he replied to her

"The pleasure is mine young lady" He then crossed his arms

"But like I was saying, you two seem to know each other much before all of this" He looked at Fae who gave a slow smiling nod as he was talking

"We do" She looked at Claude who gave a nod of his own to her

"Long story short, we became friends when he was staying at Freesia, we even fought against the goblins that attacked it together" Myles chuckled and rested his arms down to his sides

"That sounds like quite the interesting story, how about you tell it to us over a couple of drinks when we get back" Fae smiled and gave him a slow nod

"Talking about getting back, I don't think we'll be hunting anything today" He then continued with a shrug to his partner Claude, who himself let out a sigh

"So might as well have your story to entertain us" Fae couldn't but smile, she wouldn't be truthful to herself if she'd say that she didn't bear any excitement to that idea

"Hah" Yuna let out a scoff that could only be heard inside of Fae's mind

"If I wasn't a ghost, half of me would have been bitten off" She continued on, much to Fae's confusion

"It's right in front of you" Fae looked with furrowed eyebrows past Myles and into the dark woods, her fingers curled tightly on the handle of her shortsword as both knights took notice and looked in the same direction

Two orange eyes popped up to be seen by the trio, and then another pair on top of the first, and the third pair were green eyes that moved almost erratically around

"Looks like your tale will have to wait" Myles unsheathed his sword while Claude readied his claymore with the point of the sword aiming at those malignant eyes

"It's here!" He yelled to the others to take notice while the Chimera itself slowly came out of the dark, Fae gulped as she could finally get a good look and only a half panicked one at what was in front of her

It was just as she remembered, the body of a lion foaming at the maw, a goat's body was merged and seemingly assimilated by the back of that same lion while its tail was a long, green snake

"In formation!" William yelled as he ran past Fae as he himself alongside Claude and Lucy were the first in front of the beast, all members of the party had their arms at hand and the ones who had shields raised it high towards the beast that was eyeing each and every one of them

Fae held her shortsword as hard as she could and as she stared at the deathly eyes of the Chimera, she wondered how the hell was this a good idea

The Chimera roared with all its might at the nightly skies almost like it was warning any higher power that would have wanted to help the hunting party, it shook Fae's heart and left ringing ears even though she covered them as hard as she could

The lion lowered its head again to gaze at the men and women, although this time embers came out of its mouth while the goat screeched

"Behind me people!" William yelled with all his might as he put his tower shield in place to protect everybody from harm, although it was a pretty big shield, how was it to protect the rest that were behind him, Fae thought

The chimera unleashed a scorching tempest out of its maw that targeted the knights and adventurers yet William's shield suddenly formed a colorless wall made out of the magic that pushed back the fiery death away

The chimera wasn't pleased in the slightest as it noticed that no hurt befell on its preys, the same prey that now were filled with little, yet the most determination they were going to get tonight

"Now!" Yulia screamed, a blue translucent bow in her left hand and an arrow in her right hand made of the same mana

"Push forward!" She then drew the string of her bow with her arrow and unleashed it on the Chimera, the blue lightning-fast arrow was headed for the goat's head and almost pierced it's eye was it not for the quick reaction of the beast lowering it's head away

But that wasn't what they had in store for the chimera, their trump card was right behind Fae and he already started conjuring red runes, Myles and Fae were tasked with keeping close guard on Siegfried while the rest was to keep the Chimera busy

Lucy Put her shield up to face the Chimera while her sword was right on top of her shield, pointed at the beast as her blue eyes were locked with its own orange maleficent eyes

With a yell, she pushed forward at the beast's face with her right foot forward and her sword thrusted right towards its eyes but the beast was quick, far too quick as it dashed backward and then lunged at Lucy, slashing the air with its right paw, claws peeking out of their fleshy sheaths and ready to claw through her armor like a knife through butter

Although the female knight had enough experience to duck under the paw with her shield up to deflect the train wreck of a force, if she were to block all the force completely it would have sent her flying

The strength they had were their numbers against the beast, and they used it as much as they could as quickly, everybody surrounded the chimera, Lucy and William took the brunt of the fight facing the lion while Yulia, Claude, Athena, Edyn, and Gunther took the attention of the snake that lunged forward, striking down at the previous place Yulia was if it weren't for her fast reflexes

"Be careful of the lion's legs!" Athena informed everybody as at any moment, the lion could choose to kick its assailant with its back legs and if they weren't ready for it, it would most certainly be a fatal blow with its sheer size

The Chimera no matter how agile couldn't get quite a hold of Lucy and William as their footing and body movement was without flaw, lunging and clawing the air with its paw as they deflected the heavy extremities of the chimera with their metal shields

And so it decided to change its attack method, roaring with all its might as it jumped up and turned 180 degrees midair to then exhale fire to the ones that were previously behind it

"MOVE!" Yulia's eyes widened before she pushed Athena next to her away, her bow melting away as it then gained size, forming a shield that she used to cover her body from the flames that struck from above, the heat was scorching and she could feel it, but she had to handle it, it was much better than the flames engulfing her own body

However there was no rest for the guild master it seemed, as soon as the fire died out, the ground shook with the tremors that spread from the chimera falling back down, and as Yulia looked through her conjured shield, her eyes widened at the gaze of the chimera slashing the air with its right claws, barely evading it by dodge to the right under its arm, not before stabbing under it with her blueish arrow, but that was but a mere prick for the beast

Claude and Athena charged forward and past Yulia who was helped by Gunther and Edyn, giving her seconds of rest so she could pick her composure back again as the duo slashed at the chimera with their claymores at the thick hide that protected the monster

Athena's blade was blocked by the lion protecting itself with its claws while Claude had a hit with his oiled blade right into its face, making a big opening on the lion's face that made it reel back and roar, throwing everybody around out of balance

It then lunged away from everybody that surrounded it, to then charge back in the blink of an eye at William and Lucy who threw themselves away from the path of the unstoppable force, the snake however didn't let the others behind the chimera take any advantage of its blindspots as it lunged toward Gunther, who barely dodged away from the living spear

Though they had to not let that snake deter them from fighting and Claude showed it quite clearly as he advanced forward, followed closely by the rest who supported him

The snake hissed and then went to charge at Claude with its jaw open and its dagger-like fangs ready to puncture his neck, but he raised his claymore and the snake bit hard into the blade, fracturing the blade slightly but that was the distraction that Claude needed

He let go of his blade and wrapped his arm around snake, putting it into a headlock and pushing down with all his weight as Gunther and Edyn immediately joined him to add more weight and push down on the half subdued snake

Athena however, was the figurative and literal executioner of the plan, raising her claymore in the air, and with a scream that pierced the skies

She smitten down on the monster as her blade cut the head off the snake clean off while all the three that held it in place let go to watch the rest of the snake twitch and move erratically in the air, blood squirting from the clean-cut

The lion roared, this time much louder and stronger, was it anger? or desperation?

It dashed towards lucy, and when it missed, it charged William, and when it missed it went back to Athena, and then Claude, Yulia, Gunther, And then Edyn

It kept dashing and lunging, charging at anybody that was closest to it with extreme prejudice, each one of them had to react quickly to get themselves out of harm's way, but it was so exhausting, and the chimera itself didn't seem to be any tired

But then it spotted Fae and the ones next to her, and roared louder and stronger than any ever heard a beast do, throwing everybody's senses away as they tried to cover their ear from the deafening pressure, the ones next to the Chimera felt such a pressure that they almost fell down

But as Fae got another eye at the beast, it was charging again, and this time, right at her

"Fae! Siegfried! Brace for impact!" Myles yelled as hard as he could, Tightening the grip on his sword and shield while Fae looked at Siegfried who was softly mumbling the incantations of his spells

"Siegfried! be careful!" He didn't seem like he had any plans to move away from harm's way, he was so close to finishing his incantations, he had to, now or never

Myles tried to get into the Chimera's way but the size difference was too much, he would die if he tried to throw the chimera out of its path, but he tried, he slashed at it when it passed by him with his longsword but the hide was too thick, and the blade too light

Fae dodged the Chimera away in a flash while it passed by her at a lightning speed, it's aim was Siegfried and for that, it passed through each line of defense that they had

"Ignite!" The mage had to cut his incantation short as time was of the essence, a huge ball of fire was conjured from the rune that was surrounding him and then it slingshot its way right at the chimera

Alas the power that the spell had from the short incantation wasn't enough, it was too weak and the Chimera's hide absorbed both the explosion and the fire

And now, it was the beast's turn to attack as it threw Siegfried on his back with a push of its paw, growling at him with a frothing mouth as it was most pleased to be able to finally dirty its claws

Fae and Myles pushed forward as they both took one side to attack from, slashing at the Chimera face but before their blades could even touch it, Myles was thrown away by a quick smash of its front right leg that even though he blocked, the weight and force of it was still enough to send him flying away

But Fae landed her blade as she planted it right into the shoulder blade of the left leg, delving the sword as deep as she could as blood sprayed from the wound and into her face, the lion roared before it sought to push her away with its right leg, slashing away the air with its claws and wanting to land them right on Fae's neck

But the latter could pull her blade away and try to defend herself from the blow with it, the claws screeched against her blade as sparks flew away from the contact alongside her sword that was thrown away from the sheer impact it received

The chimera roared before it grabbed Siegfried from his shoulder with its mouth, digging its teeth into him as he screamed with fear and agony

"Stop it! it's taking him away!" Fae desperately screamed for the rest to hopefully do something as the beast charged back from where it came

Everybody stood in its path to try and stop its charge, but they were all knocked down from the sheer size and force the chimera possesses, Lucy and Athena took the worst of it as they screamed in pain when they landed on the ground, William was protected by his shield while Yulia and Claude were knocked flat

Fae gritted her teeth and looked for her sword but it was nowhere to be, it was far too dark to be looking for something that was sent flying in the air and so she just ran behind the Chimera

Myles tried to call out for her to stop but she seemingly didn't hear him, and so he did his best to push through the pain he was feeling and went after her

"Fae!" Gunther threw his sheathed sword to the sprinting Fae who grabbed it

"I'll take care of the injured you go after it!" She gave him a confident nod and then went on, running as fast as she could behind it, using all the strength her legs had while she held Gunther's sword in a reverse grip to not slow her sprint, Myles tried his best to keep up with Fae and to not lose track of her even though his armor and shield weighted him enough

The chimera opened its maw once again to drop the barely conscious Siegried on the ground, he was trembling as he desperately tried to block the blood from coming out of his shoulder with his hand

Though it would seem that it wasn't necessary, as the monster was going to end his existence before the blood loss would

It opened its jaw and then lunged for him but as he closed his eyes and accepted his death, he heard the monster roar, and as he opened those same eyes he saw it recoil back, a second cut appeared on its face with blood slowly seeping out of it

A white spirit appeared in front of him with a slightly curved sword, both her armor and her weapon were quite the novelty for him to see, but her saving his life was enough for him as he could barely speak a single word with how much he trembled

Yuna looked over her shoulder to make eye contact with the fallen, bleeding man

All she could give him was a small smile and a nod while he couldn't but look at her with an open mouth and wide eyes

The specter looked forward again to stare at the beast that now, was more furious than ever, but Yuna got what she wanted, Siegfried was in safety as he crawled away, for now

"Yuna!" Yuna's eyes gently moved to the sound of her name, Fae joined the battle and soon enough she was followed by Myles who was even more confused to see a Spirit that seemingly was protecting the adventurer

The chimera's patience was running dry as it lunged at Yuna, but unlike the rest, she was already dead, she merely vanished away at the harm

"Take care of Siegfried! he's bleeding a lot!" Fae pointed at where Siegfried was hiding away from the beast while her other hand held Gunther's sword

"We need to neutralize the Chimera first!" He replied to Fae who furrowed her eyebrows

"I will!" Even though she said it with confidence Myles couldn't help but be skeptical of her plan

"PLEASE! JUST GO HELP HIM!" She almost took on a pleading tone that made Myles sigh and sprint to where Siegfried took refuge, leaving Fae to face the chimera

Fae flipped the longsword she had and grabbed it with both hands, tightly

The lion slowly moved closer to her, growling as his eyes were looking at Fae with curiosity, one woman stood in front of it, yet it felt the presence of two

But for it, it didn't matter as humans were its prey and that wouldn't be changing any time soon as the chimera showed it with lowering its body to then lunge at Fae, she dodged, but Yuna stayed in place like an after-image of Fae, delivering a slash to the Chimera's face that made it roar and fall on the ground, it rolled until it hit a tree that the sheer weight of the lion made it fall down

Fae took the opportunity as she went on to deliver a stab into the body of the goat, Gunther's longsword was long enough for Fae to feel like she was doing some damage, but feeling the bones and organs that were run through with her sword made her squirm

As Fae delivered that blow, Yuna appeared on top of the goat, her curved sword running across its throat as blood sprayed and jetted away in liters

The Chimera was none too pleased with what happened though flaying its legs as Fae backed away and Yuna vanished to appear next to Fae who retreated meters away from the monster

Even with the snake and goat defeated, the danger wasn't marginally reduced as the lion was the most lethal out of the three

"We're making progress" Yuna held her ethereal blade tightly, standing with Fae side by side as it cleared any fear and doubts that the latter had

"But now how do we take the lion down" Fae muttered under her breath as both spoke to each other their eyes were still glued to the lion that was slowly recovering from the concussion it received

"We'll have to improvise sadly" And as soon as Yuna finished her words the beast roared with all its might, backed into a corner with all two of the animals fused with it dead, it was more desperate for survival than ever

Its mouth was frothing and foaming from the rage it was building, its orange eyes looked bloodshot and the claws it had were brought out as far as they could go, for the chimera this wasn't a hunt anymore, it was a fight for survival

It charged towards Fae with a full sprint that wasn't stopped until it missed Fae who jumped away from harm's way, but when the Chimera was going to take advantage of Fae fallen down to finish her off, Yuna appeared as it slashed at it's face, only blocked by the lion raising its claws to intercept the ethereal blade

Fae quickly however joined Yuna in the fight even with all the adrenaline building up in her veins that gave her shaky hands and a lightened head

The beast raised it's right leg to strike at Fae, but Yuna came out of Fae to block the deadly strike and that's when Fae pushed forward to slash at the leg that tried to end her

When Fae defended, Yuna attacked, When Yuna defended, Fae attacked, the two women fought in complete synchronization, and the Chimera was always caught off guard because as soon as Yuna was separated from Fae and it wanted to attack the latter, the former would always appear out of Fae to defend her

It just didn't understand how to fight the duo, and for that, it was going to have to brute force its way through Yuna to be able to get its claws through Fae

"Be careful, it's growing more and more enraged" Yuna held its blade dipped in red blood tightly, Fae could but reply in a nod as her eyes were fully focused on the lion, the weight of the sword was a bit too much for her liking but it was better than being unarmed

"Fae! hit the ground now!" Fae looked over her shoulder to see red runes on the ground and in the air all around the injured Siegfried, multiple balls of fire of the same size as the previous attempt at the spell were summoned, and their target was none but the lion in front of Fae

She immediately ducked down, putting her hands on top of her head to try and protect her from any debris that might hurt her while Yuna simply vanished away in the air

The chimera roared at the huge fireballs approaching her at high speed before they all hit on target, making it scream in pain and each fireball made a thundering boom as they collided with the chimera

Fae with hope written all over her face slowly got up seeing the smoke slowly fade away to unfortunately present the still standing chimera, blood was all over it while its left leg's flesh was burnt

"No way, it's still alive" Myles gave Siegfried a shoulder to lean on as even he was shocked that the beast still stood, and it wasn't just going to do that, it charged right at them

Siegfried and Myles' eyes widened, not at the Chimera charging yet again at them, but at the sight of red powder slowly forming in the air, from Siegfried, all the way to the Chimera

Those red particles slowly started moving towards Fae until they started swirling around her right arm, accumulating more and more until each particle ignited each other and formed a line of fire that danced around her arm in the form of a coil

That spring of pure and bright as the sun fire slowly moved from her arm to her hand, as she raised it in the air the particles formed a spear of fire, it was longer than any man-made spear for combat but it seemed to no weight to Fae, it grew larger and brighter as Fae absorbed the magic around her

And then with a yell that shattered the heavens, she threw it as hard as she could, and just as it left her hand it immediately shattered the sound barrier, exploding in sound and rippling the air around Fae while the spear of fire itself was too fast for the lion to even register

Completely piercing its face, penetrating all its body and then coming out of the other side of the lion, the spear vanished away in the air soon after

Although the momentum of the once alive lion was still kept, and Fae couldn't even move a single fiber of her body

"Fuck" The corpse of the lion smashed into her as Myles gently let go of Siegfried to then sprint to come at Fae's help

"FAE!" He yelled trying his best to push the corpse of the lion to it's side

"Say something!" He screamed to then grunt, pushing with all his might until he eventually rolled the corpse

His eyes widened as he could see Yuna covering Fae with her body, Fae was completely drenched in the blood of the chimera but that didn't matter, for she had an exhausted smile on her face

"Thank the gods" He said, letting out a final exhale of relief while he gave both Yuna and Fae a helping hand each

Fae gladly took it while Yuna vanished in the air, leaving more questions than answers for both Myles and Siegfried

"Who was that?" Myles asked her as Siegfried slowly walked over to them, he had clean bandages that were wrapped all around his torso and shoulder

"J-just a moment" Fae could barely stand, her legs gave up on her and she put her hands on the ground to sit down

"Right I'm sorry!" Myles apologized but Fae just chuckled and dismissed it with a wave of her hand, although she did not dismiss his offer for her to drink from his waterskin

"Thank you, I need it badly" She drank nonstop from it

Myles on the other hand inspected Fae for any wounds that she might have, sometimes the adrenaline numbs the pain and people don't feel their wounds until much after

"I'm fine, don't worry" She gave him back his waterskin with a small smile that was quite the detail on her blood-soaked face

"I'm glad to hear that" He told her, a small smile on his face that was hidden behind his helmet

"You really are strong" Siegfried now spoke, Fae couldn't do anything but chuckle at that statement

"He's right, you're much more than you let on huh?" Myles added on while Fae only smiled, all three of them looked at the corpse of the beast next to them, the face was completely blown apart and unrecognizable while they wouldn't dare to look through the hole to see inside the body

"Fae!" A voice said, one that even before looking at the source already made Fae smile

Yulia came running towards what happened, her eyes widened as she noticed the lifeless body of the chimera, but her worries still hasn't subsided as she looked at the blood-drenched Fae

"Are you okay?!" She said out loud, Fae chuckled

"The most okay I'll be tonight" She continued laughing while Yulia put her hands on Fae's head to inspect her from any wounds, then she moved to her neck and then her body

"Calm down mom I'm fine!" She said out loud, laughing while Siegfried and Myles had relieved smiles plastered on their face

Yulia smiled herself before she now took a good look at the body of the Chimera, it was really dead, finally over and with the way the injuries looked, it was clearly magic

"Good job Siegfried, I'm glad you're alive to enjoy your victory" Yulia said, but the one she was talking to and also Myles laughed

"That's not my victory, that's Fae's" He replied to her, prompting a raised eyebrow while Myles confirmed what he said with a slow nod

"What do I even say to you" She told Fae, a warm smile on her face before Yulia ran her knuckles on the top of Fae's head

"Stop that hurts!" Myles and Siegfried laughed and were pleased enough to see things turning well

"Siegfried I'm glad you're okay" Athena reached them, receiving a nod from the man that told enough that he was okay

"You too, good job" She then addressed Fae with a big smile, looks like she overheard them, Claude also appeared as he gave her a thumbs up and then a thumbs down, it was his way of asking her if she was okay

She laughed and gave a thumbs up

And soon enough Lucy, William, Edyn, and Gunther reached them, they were all impressed by how the results turned out but all were glad it turned out without casualties and with few injuries

....

"Hey here's your sword" Fae approached Athena's party who all were surrounding Siegfried who was telling them exactly how the events unfolded

Gunther turned around to be met by Fae

"Thanks" She told him, presenting the sword he gave her previously back to him

"Oh, right, you're welcome" He seemingly reluctantly took it off her hands, Fae turned around and walked away as soon as he took his sword back but before she could put one foot forward

"Good job by the way" She turned around with a raised eyebrow to look at Gunther, giving him a slow nod

"To you too" And then she walked back not before hearing laughter behind her that confused her even more, but she was too tired to be curious about it the only thing she wanted was to walk back to Yulia

"Still not forgiving him huh?" She asked Fae with a smirk while the latter only let out a sigh as she too leaned against the tree that Yulia was at

"You're doing really great for a novice adventurer, you know?" Fae chuckled and looked at Yulia

"It's all thanks to Yuna, without her I don't think I'd be this confident in battle" Yulia smiled

"Let's go take a walk how about that?" Fae couldn't refuse the offer, and she made it clear with a quick nod

Yulia and Fae passed by the group of knights who all had their helmets removed, all except Claude, it would have made Fae annoyed but she was used to him keeping his identity so secretive

"We'll be back in a moment" Yulia told them, William gave her a nod

"Don't go too far, scream if anything's wrong" His caring tone made Fae smile as both she and Yulia gave him nods

And so Fae and Yulia finally gave Yuna enough privacy so she could join them in the conversation as the three women walked away from the temporary camp

"That's impressive" Yulia replied while Yuna was telling her the tale of what happened, especially on how Fae formed a spear of fire from the magic that was in the air, was it spent magic that Siegfried used? or did she absorb something else?

"I'm just glad that you're safe honestly" She then addressed Fae who could but laugh and scratch the back of her hand

"I once told you that I'd keep her safe, I intend to continue with my promise" Yuna interjected, Yulia chuckled and nodded

"But well, these days she's the one making sure people are safe" Yuna then smiled while herself and the guild master looked at Fae who whistled and played it off like she was looking somewhere else

"Hey, what's that" Her masquerade though stopped quickly as she noticed the entrance of a cave, Yulia raised an eyebrow while Yuna vanished to appear closer to that entrance

"A corpse" Yuna muttered to herself as she looked down at half of a torso mangled and bitten off on the ground

"The smell" Yulia put her hand on her face to try and help her breathe anything but that putrid odor

Fae got closer to Yuna and to the leftovers of what once was a body

"You don't seem to be bothered by the sight" Yuna asked her friend, who shrugged

"I'm used to gore" She then looked curiously at the cave

"The smell is too much for it to be one corpse, do you think this is the lair of the chimera?" She lifted her head to look at Yuna

"Possibly" She replied

"Do you two want to enter or something?" Yulia asked, with her tone she hoped dearly that the answer would be a sounding no

"We have nothing better to do, besides, might as well make sure there's nobody alive inside" Fae said, Yulia scoffed

"I doubt anyone would be alive, but alright sure" And so the three women got inside, Yuna took lead as she wouldn't be at harm if anything would hurt her, though that anything was a lot of bones and leftovers of bodies, ripped off extremities and blood, too much blood

"Jesus Christ..." Fae widened her eyes in shock, both Yulia and the ghost had similar expressions

A mountain of bodies was in front of them, far too many

Fae stepped forward with her shirt pulled over her nose

"That chimera hunted too much for its species, this is bizarre" Yulia said, Yuna stayed close to Fae

"What are you doing?" She asked the Fae who crouched down to inspect the body of what seemed to be a young man covered in nothing but dirty and bloodied rags

"With the state of the body, this person died around two weeks ago" Fae said, much to Yuna's confusion

"How do you know that?" She asked her, Fae didn't lift her eyes from the body

"The red skin suggests that it's at least up to 10 days since the moment of death, while the teeth and nails falling out, pushing the likelihood up to 2 weeks" Fae then noticed something weird as she removed the rag that covered the torso of the body

There wasn't anything but an incision at the torso, a long, clean-cut, far too clean if this body was the result of a murder by your typical bandit

She picked up the dagger she got from Archard and with it inspected the insides of the body, she took an uncomfortably long time for the other two women

"No way..." She slowly moved back from the corpse

"What is it?" Yulia put a hand on Fae's shoulder as she spoke

"This body had its organs removed, all of them" She then got up clumsily, almost falling down

"This isn't the work of the chimera! this mass grave is man-made!" Yulia slightly furrowed her eyebrows

"Fae calm down, your face is so pale, are you okay?" Yulia tried to speak to her since it didn't make sense for Fae to freak out now of all times, especially how calm she seemed when they discovered this

"She's right, you're shaking, maybe we should leave this place at once so you can get some air" Yuna added on, Fae had her hand on top of her mouth while the lump she was feeling in her throat kept growing

And suddenly she felt the sudden desire to throw up, she left running outside

"Fae! wait!" Yulia then ran after her while Yuna vanished away