Deeper into the Hurin Plains, the fields of golden grass were slowly fading away; instead, there were fields of brownish-red ferns that covered the landscape. Within this field of dull red was Oscar, treading carefully.

These ferns were thicker and longer than the clean golden grass. Oscar was worried that an enemy could be waiting or hiding inside. He observed his surroundings every step of the way.

"They said it was straight ahead, but I've seen nothing resembling cliffs. Just how far away are these Rust Cliffs."

No beasts attacked Oscar on his way forward due to his diligence. Any hints of danger were avoided or waited out until they went away.

"Thankfully, Emily taught me a lot about how to mind my surroundings." Oscar said in relief. Who knows how often he would have been in trouble without Emily's teachings?

Step by step, he trudged through the dense red fern that came nearly to his chest. The humid air dampened his clothes stuck to his back. Rather than walking across tall grass, it felt like swimming through a swamp.

"If the others died around here, it'll be hard to fi~!!!!!!!!!!!!" Oscar's eyes widened.

His next step did not touch any ground but only empty air. His body lost its balance and footing, falling forward straight down.

Oscar realized that he was on the edge of a sharp cliff.

With all his strength, Oscar dug his arm into the rocky cliff to stop his fall. Straight down were more red ferns. The height of this cliff was about a hundred meters.

"The low visibility makes it hard for me to spot this. I didn't think I was on a cliff from the start." Oscar turned his head up to look forward and was struck speechless.

Far in the distance were several hills of red. Unlike the usual round hills, these were flat and held up by nearly vertical cliffs on all sides. The red of the plants contrasted against the brown cliffs into an amazing image.

A nice gale came forth, conducting an orchestra of movement from the red ferns on the flat hills and the ground below. They swayed around as if the hills were alive and welcoming Oscar.

"If there's anything I'm glad for as an Exalt. It would be seeing amazing and beautiful places such as this." Oscar muttered as the view took his breath away.

Oscar quickly shook his head. "I don't have time to be admiring this place. I need to find the others."

In a swift series of moves, Oscar scaled down the cliff.

"Compared to the hellish task of climbing up and out of the hole during master's training, going down is child's play."

The fern and grass bent and broke from Oscar's landing.

"If they went straight ahead like me, they should have come down here. There should be some traces of them around. If only Nicholas had told me more about his mission, it would be easier."

The search commenced.

From his landing point, Oscar searched 10 meters out in all directions, then 20 meters, then 30, and so on.

This method is slow but efficient. Not a single nook or cranny was overlooked under Oscar's watchful gaze.

"This is…." Oscar found a spot that was devoid of red fern and grass.

The dirt was overturned, and the plants were plucked out and tossed aside. In the center was a clutter of ash and charred branches. Oscar knelt and felt the ash with his fingers.

"A campfire but very cold. They probably stopped here soon after arriving. Most likely a week ago when they departed." Oscar felt like the detective in the 'Red Hat' book, trying to deduce what happened.

"But where did they head to next?" Oscar saw a mess everywhere but no clear indication of their destination.

With the campsite as the start, Oscar employed the same method as earlier, branching out in all directions except where he came from.

"GRAH!" A large wolf-looking Exalt beast pounced on Oscar from behind. The entire time, it had waited in an ambush for any prey.

"Nice try." Oscar turned around to meet the beast.

"Reis Awaken"

For this detour rescue mission, Oscar lifted his ban on Reis and went all out. The obsidian buckler, empowered by Oscar's Reis and coated in Ein, clashed against the beast's sharp teeth, creating sparks.

"Gruh?" The beast was confused that its sharp fangs could not puncture through Oscar's defense. Not only that, it was blown back.

"A Spiked Hyena…." Oscar identified the creature.

The Exalt beast was red, perfect for camouflage in this environment except for its black spikes. Its namesake was the line of spikes that protruded from its back like a porcupine.

"A Middle Apprentice Exalt, but quite a weak one. Don't get in my way." Oscar stared intimidatingly. His progress was already slow as it was. There was no time for this damned hyena.

Unfazed by Oscar's aggressive posture, the Spike Hyena charged ahead, brandishing its thin, long, and sharp claws.

'Stone Gaze'

Oscar used his paralyzing spell for the first time in a while. The earlier battle against the Rock Ankylon was for training his 'Ein Awaken' in life or death, so he avoided using it.

But against this Exalt Beast, there was no need.

The Spike Hyena froze in place, trembling in its efforts to break free. But Oscar had already made his move and used 'Ein Awaken' in a split moment to concentrate his Ein.

The Spiked Hyena's brain was reduced to mush in a single punch through the eye. The use of 'Ein Awaken' allowed Oscar to recoup some loss of Ein and elevated his punch to a more potent move.

"Phew." Oscar breathed out discomfort from using 'Ein Awaken' for that moment.

The nearly headless Spike Hyena fell to the floor, creating a large puddle of blood.

"There's no time to take you apart, so I'll take your core." Oscar dug his hand into its chest and pulled out a red core with black lines before putting it away in his bag.

"This hyena probably just advanced to the Middle Apprentice Exalt realm. I thought the deeper regions had stronger beasts." Oscar wondered.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The howls of other Spike Hyenas alarmed Oscar. He looked down at the blood on his hands and quickly escaped while washing them off.

"Shit, shit, shit. This one was just a scout. The heavy hitters are coming."

Oscar reached in his bag and tossed away the recently acquired beast core. The other Spiked Hyenas would be able to find him by its scent. He rushed out of the scene.

Long after he was gone, the beasts came forth.

The Spiked Hyenas crowded around the corpse of its fallen comrade. Each of them had larger spikes than the dead hyena.

The one with the largest spikes and the largest body found the discarded core and ate it. Ein surged around its body as it howled. The spikes grew slightly bigger and denser.

This was the pack leader, a Greater Apprentice Exalt.

It caught a whiff of Oscar's scent but did not decide to pursue him. The others began to eat their fallen comrade with a ravenous appetite. The dead hyena took Oscar's place as their meal.

Far in the distance, Oscar was panting heavily.

"I should recover my Ein." Knowing the dangers ahead, he needed to be in his peak condition.

His Ein fully recovered after a session of Ein Meditation, returning Oscar's complexion to a healthier glow.

Oscar looked up and around until he spotted the cliff where he came from. The cliff acted as a compass or north star for Oscar in this dense ocean of red.

"I traveled far, but at least I can still see the cliff. Where is Nicholas?"

The search continued with little result as Oscar ran around like a headless chicken.

"Could they have gone in deeper?" Oscar wondered but soon shook his head. "No, Nicholas is only a Middle Apprentice Exalt. Any deeper is a large risk, even for their group."

From his count, Oscar knew Nicholas was in a group of four. They would have taken a mission appropriate for them, not some suicide mission very deep in the Hurin Plains.

"They have to be around here somewhere…." Oscar did not give up and persisted as the two suns slowly set. He was getting anxious as this place would be far more dangerous at night.

"Hmm?" Oscar reached one of the other cliffs he spotted when he was hanging on the cliff. There was a large cave, but that was not what caught his attention. It was the patch of blue cloth that was stuck on its side.

Oscar ran to the cloth and picked it up.

"This is a piece of the Pavilion's uniform. It's semi-defensive clothing but not that effective. It seems they ran into trouble." Oscar's face darkened. For the uniform to be torn like this did not bode well.

Every student made sure to take care of their uniforms, for it was their pride, and there was no way a uniform would be damaged by accident.

"They were attacked…."

His gaze turned to the gaping mouth of the cavern. Due to the time of day, very little sunlight made its way inside. It was unclear how deep or large this cavern was.

Should he head back? The safest action was to head back, send a message to the Blue Ocean Pavilion, and wait for them to handle the situation.

However, the night was almost upon the Rust Cliffs. It was hard to avoid danger and find his way around the obscure plants, even during the day.

"There's no choice." Oscar cut off a thick, wrapped its tip in cloth, and poured oil onto it. He got this oil just in case he needed light in the night. With some flint, he set it on fire.

With the makeshift torch in hand, Oscar bravely stepped into the cavern. The light of the fire extended well into the dark crevices, illuminating the surroundings.

His pace was fast, and his eyes darted everywhere due to the time constraint. There was no telling what lurked in this cavern, so the priority was to find anything as fast as possible.

"H…He…llo…."

The soft, quiet pleas for aid stopped him in his tracks. His face, full of pleasant surprise, looked everywhere before stopping on one spot.

A hand was sticking out from behind a corner.

"Hold on. I'm coming." Oscar whispered, not wanting to cause alarm. He bolted and turned the corner to see a man fallen with blood covering his chest. His face was sickly pale, and his chin dyed in dried blood.

"Nicholas…."

The fallen, half-dead man was Nicholas, who Oscar saw a week ago. The person who had a lively face was reduced to this horrific state.

"O-oh….Oscar, why?" Nicholas looked half-surprised and half-relieved.

"I overheard that your group never came back since a week ago. What happened to you? Where are the others? They aren't here with you." Oscar hurriedly took out some bandages and medicine to help Nicholas.

"The others…." Nicholas's already pale face turned even whiter like a ghost. He quivered in fear and grasped Oscar's shoulders with all his feeble strength.

"You have to run from here! It ate the others. This place is its storage, and we're all snacks!" He gasped for breath and vomited blood from the pain in his chest.

"Calm down! What is it? What happened to you?" Oscar tried to control Nicholas and calm him down.

Nicholas's eyes teared up as he recalled the tragic few days.

"We were on a mission to get the egg of the Rainbow Didus. The intel on the mission board said it was in the Rust Cliffs of the Hurin Plains. So I grouped up with three others and came here.

Everything was fine at first. We were Middle Apprentice Exalts and one Greater Apprentice Exalt, so it was easy making our way here as long as we were careful. But it started when we found this cavern.

The Rainbow Didus came out of the cavern and tried to fight us off. To our shock, it was a Greater Apprentice Exalt, and we fought with everything we had against it, driving it back into the caves.

In the end, we won by overwhelming it with our numbers. Then it came….

A second Rainbow Didus!"