After a quick breakfast with our leftover stew, we proceeded with our journey in tailing the beast. As soon as dawn arrived, it began its journey albeit slowly. What an early bird! Although it was no longer running but limping all the way. I guess fatigue had finally caught up with it. With no food or water and running the whole day straight, it was obviously going to tire itself. We kept a respectable distance just in case it led us into an ambush.
Is this going to be a slow-moving day? I was expecting something more— exciting. Should we offer it some food or water to speed up the journey? As tempting as that sounds, I'm worried that when it sees us, it might detour somewhere else. I guess I will have to suck it up and just follow after it.
***
Midday arrived, and we had not travelled far from where we started. I was munching on some jerky as we trailed after it slowly. I'm surprised Lily was completely focused all the way despite it limping so slowly.
"Give me one of those," asked Lily without even turning to my way.
I passed one to her, and she started munching on it while continuing her focus on the beast. Why is she so focused on it when she can literally hear it from afar?
"Something's not right. Why did it stop all of a sudden?" she whispered with a mouthful.
"Perhaps it had gotten too tired and at its wits' end? Not something we need right now though," I answered.
"No, it's not dying, that's for sure. Its heartbeat is still beating normally. Something else is going on. This doesn't seems like any normal behaviour," she insisted.
"Y... you can hear its heartbeat from here? Just how insane are your ears?" I asked her with a soft tone.
"It's because of the bell. I can focus my hearing on it, which sorts of transmits its heartbeat to me as well. I was surprised that I could hear it in the first place," she explained.
The beast turned its head to the left and suddenly bolted with a speed that none of us were expecting. We were caught off guard and immediately ran after it. But with its sudden acceleration, it managed to place some considerable distance between us. Damn it, what fools we were thinking that it was tired and was about to die. It was hiding its strength to shake us off despite having a broken leg.
"We're going to lose it, it's gaining distance too fast!" shouted Lily.
"Point me the way. Rose, give me Accelerate!" I shouted to both of them.
"Wait! Something's wrong, why's the bell ringing so much?! Hold your position!" shouted Lily.
The three of us stopped dead in our tracks. We awaited Lily's instructions, but she closed her eyes and focussed her ears. We kept quiet while she gave us a vague breakdown of what she was hearing.
"There's still a lot of ringing, but it's not moving away from us. What's going on? Is it being attacked? Wait, the bell stopped ringing completely. Oh no—that's not good. We gotta move," she started heading towards the last location of the bell.
We followed after her but kept our senses on full alert. Something strange had happened, and I'm not about to get caught off guard. I hope the beast had not perished, or our tracking mission is officially ruined. I will destroy the entire landscapes to find what killed our beast if I have to.
"We're close. Be on your guard," warned Lily.
We poked our heads out of some bushes. The beast was lying flat on the ground as though it was sleeping. Is that another possibility we didn't think of? We slowly approached the beast, and it became evident that it was dead as it showed no signs of breathing. Damn it, I'm dead wrong, no pun intended.
Lily checked on the beast's heartbeat by placing her head on its body. I went to inspect the body for any injuries while Rose went to inspect the head. She let out a loud "Huh?" which triggered me to check it alongside her.
Inside the mouth, there was a white creature. Did it get choked trying to eat this thing?
"H... hey, can you help me out? I'm kind of stuck in here," spoke a voice.
D— did the beast just speak? Or is it the white creature?
"C'mon, Onii-chan. Let's help him out," said Rose as she started pulling the white creature out of the beast's mouth.
It took some yanking, but we managed to pull it out in one piece. It looked like a small white wolf covered in blood. How is it even still alive?
"Thanks for saving me, lads. Owh, sorry about that. I didn't realise there were two ladies here. Oh geez, look at my fur covered in blood. I need to get it cleaned quickly before it turns matted," it started licking its paw.
"W… who— what are you? Why can you speak in human tongue?" I asked it.
"Oh, right. Where are my manners? I am Okuri-Inu. At your service," it lowered its head while introducing itself.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Zen. This is Rose and Lily. Mind telling us how you ended up in the jaws of that beast?" I asked him as I pointed.
"Boy, do I have a story for you. However, can I tell my tale while we head towards the stream? I hate being all bloodied up. Not good for ma fur, ya know," he said.
"Uhh—sure. Are you hurt? Don't try anything funny, by the way; you wouldn't like the consequences," I warned him as we followed along.
"Strangely, no, just some bite marks, but the beast was strangely weak that it couldn't pierce through my hide. I was just minding my business, strolling along the forest floor, when that beast suddenly charged at me, trying to take a bite at me as though it had never eaten in ages. Guess I got lucky that it choked itself to death while trying to swallow me. Thanks for saving me, by the way," he gave a few adorable barks.
"Is this the first time you've encountered such a beast? Awfully dangerous of you to be strolling around alone, isn't it? Don't they run rampant around the forest?" asked Rose.
"Not that I recall, they barely come to this side of the forest for sure, as they usually speed their way towards somewhere in a hurry most of the time. Never bothered to figure out why, probably there's some free food for them or something," he started increasing his pace once he realised that we had no problem following him.
We came upon a small stream with fresh water flowing. Is it safe to drink perhaps? Never mind. Okuri-Inu had already begun taking a bath in it.
"So... whatcha doing in this part of the forest? I mean, humans usually avoid coming here in the first place. The pretty elf is not out of place though," he asked as he splashed around in the stream, rinsing off the coagulated blood on his fur.
I glanced at Rose and Lily. Both of them nodded lightly as they seemed to agree with me. This… Okuri-Inu is awfully suspicious. However, we don't have any other options but to play to this wolf's tune. Perhaps he can be resourceful and help us.
"We are looking for the location of the beasts. Do you happen to know where they are?" I asked him.
"Ohh… you're looking for them beast? Sure, I know where they are. I used to sneak around peeking at what they do. It's not too far from here, to be honest. Hey… why don't I guide you there? As thanks for saving me earlier." He barked joyfully.
I squinted at him with suspicion. Why would he even offer to bring us there when he almost got eaten? Just because we helped him? But what if he's telling the truth? We've got nothing to lose since we have no idea where else to go.
"Can you give us some privacy for a moment?" I asked him, and he sat down, wagging his tail and tongue.
"Can we trust him? I don't buy his story," I whispered.
"I agree. That blood around his body doesn't belong to him. He might have been the one who killed our beast," whispered Rose.
"Do we have any other options at this point? We have come so far, much further than any of our previous attempts at tracking them. Let's just keep an eye out on him while he escorts us. Anything funny from him, and I'll turn him to a pulp," whispered Lily.
I glanced towards Okuri-Inu who was still sitting down staring at us with his tongue out, as though he was waiting for an answer from us. Lily's right, we don't have any other options now.
"All in agreement? Alright, let's go," I said.
"Hey, Okuri-Inu. Lead the way. Bring us to their location safely, alright? You're gonna be our guide," I smiled at him.
"Cool! You can just call me Inu, by the way. It's much easier. Let's go, humies… oh, and elfie," he started jumping for joy as he started moving north.
We might be dancing to his tune, but sadly, we don't have much of a choice. He told us it was not far from here, so we might be able to reach before nightfall. A little worried about what might happen in the darkness that we might not be prepared for. I cannot drop my guard even for a minute, especially when Okuri-Inu is around.
***
Not too far, my foot! It's nightfall now, and we had not even made it yet. We asked Inu how much further the location is, and again he said it was not too far. I asked him to give an estimation of the distance, and he said it was probably a couple of kilometres more. How is that "not too far"?!
I called it quits for the day and started a campfire. I suspected that by the time we actually reached our destination, it might have been dawn the following day. There was nothing much for us to eat as we didn't have time to hunt any game or food. I guess it's meat jerky along with some canned food for dinner then. The three of us stuck close together as it was getting cold now that night was upon us. Despite being surrounded by lush greenery, the majority of the Eastern continent is a desert area, which meant that nights can get relatively cold.
Two beautiful women rested their heads on my shoulder for comfort. Ugh, am I even gonna get used to this? I must promise myself so as not to be biased towards one of them for my own sake. Can't take any of them for granted. I can already predict that Rose is going to be jealous when she starts getting old while Lily remains beautiful.
Inu came close and sat on Lily's lap. I can see that she was not comfortable with him suddenly sitting on her lap.
"Miss Lily, you're really beautiful. Would you be willing to be my wife?" asked Inu with an upbeat tone.
"Uhh… thanks? But no. Can you find your own place to rest instead of my lap?" she asked politely.
"Aww, c'mon. A strong, beautiful woman like you should be with a strong male like me," he smiled cheerfully.
"Once again, thanks for the flattery, but no," she lifted her knees to force Inu off.
"What are you looking for in regards to your partner? Please don't say you're interested in that guy," Inu insisted on the topic.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Zen is a partner of my dreams, and you're way out of your league if you think you stand a chance of being with me," snickered Lily with her signature evil laughter 'fu fu'.
"Really? This guy? A weakling can't even protect you. You're wasting your time with him, fasho. Pick me instead, you'll never regret it," he started hopping around.
"Hey—dog. One more word out of you and I'll beat you to a pulp," spat Lily as she clenched her fists.
Lily spat those words before I even said anything. No idea what Inu is trying to do by riling Lily or even me up, but I'm certain he has his own agenda. One that I am eager to find out. Inu seems to have finally gotten the hint and walked over to a fallen trunk to rest.
"I won't give up on you, Miss Lily," he said.
"You best give up now. I'm not going to change my mind," Lily said loudly.
Persistent little bugger, isn't he? Lily wrapped her arms around me and snuggled with me. It would appear that Inu had pissed her off by insulting me. You would think that I would be insulted first. I never knew Lily would be so overprotective of me. I thought Rose was the overprotective one.
"Hey… it's just a wolf. No reason to get this riled up," I whispered to her.
"No… he's not just a wolf. And he was being serious that you can't protect me, despite you saving me like four times before. There's something behind in his eyes. We need to be really careful around him," she whispered back.
"No argument there. I don't trust him either and we don't know what his endgame is," I sighed.
"Which is why you should keep this with you," said Lily as she passed me the small elven bell.
"Oh, when did you extract this out? Won't this annoy elves if I keep carrying this around?" I chuckled.
"Well, just keep it wrapped up and only use it in times of need. And what I mean is when I need to find you," she giggled.
"I guess I'll keep that in mind then. Either way, should we take turns sleeping tonight?" I asked both of them.
"For our safety, I think we should," answered Rose.
"I'll take point while you two princesses sleep first. Goodnight, you two," I comforted them.
***
Finally, we made it to our destination by midday. Phew, what a journey that was. Inu was clever enough to bring us to a vantage point where we could survey over the… should I call it a den? I would have called it a den, if it weren't for some cloaked bipedal beings walking around. Are those humans living with them? It looked more like a campsite than a den.
"Inu, you brought us to the right place, right? I hope you ain't messing with us," I asked him.
"Why would I mess with my saviours? It is the right place. You can see beasts roaming down there. I didn't lie one bit," he explained.
"But—who… what are those bipedal beings walking around? I can't see their faces. Are those humans?" Rose asked.
"Don't know. Never spoke to any of them before," said Inu nonchalantly.
"I'm—confused as well. From what I'm able to see, it seems to be some bipedal beast under those hoods," gasped Lily.
"Are you telling me there are sentient beasts among them? Then why are they attacking us in the first place?" I said out loud without expecting an answer.
The sound of a horn resonated loudly, and a gate made of rocks opened to allow something in. Wait— those sentient beasts had brought in humans! What are they trying to do with them?!
A large bipedal beast wrapped in what I can assume is some cloth made of skins walked towards the group of humans and inspected each of them. Can this beast be the mastermind behind all these attacks? It is not as large as the Chaplain Beast, but I can tell that it is strong, despite being all skinny-looking.
It lifted one of the human's faces and allowed blood to drip from its wrist into the human's mouth. The human started gagging from the blood and started screaming, writhing in pain on the ground. And what followed was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen with my very eyes. The human started clawing at his own face, seemingly trying to tear his own skin apart. Sharp bones protruded from his spine, and that made him crouch as his body could no longer stand properly. His fingernails grew longer, yet he continued to claw at his face and body as he tried to remove more of his skin, all the while screaming in agony loudly. All of a sudden, the human stopped moving and dropped to the ground, seemingly dead. The large bipedal beast kicked the mutated human aside and proceeded with the next one, while the hooded bipedal beasts carried the mutated human elsewhere.
I punched the ground hard. Fucking hell, are you telling me all the beasts that we fought and killed were humans?! Why is this even happening? Why is this— skin-covered beast turning humans into beasts and attacking us? Why… who is this beast and what is its purpose?
I glared at the "ceremony" taking place and gritted my teeth. A part of me wishes to run rampant and destroy everything in the den, but we are horribly outnumbered. Despite us killing a number of beasts from the recent attack, there were still a lot roaming here. I need to calm myself and not make any rash decisions. What we need to do is to infiltrate this den and kill that damn beast. And I know just how to do it.