C27- The Plaguehorn (1)

After arriving at Celati with his trusted group, Felyp met with the governor. Entering the town hall, he got inside the meeting room, where Norman was.

Norman got up and greeted Felyp.

"Welcome to our city Mr. Vyolor. Do you want something to drink while we talk?"

"Can I have some coffee?"

"Sure. Ellie!"

Ellie entered the room and she asked.

"Yes, governor?"

"Two cups of coffee, please."

"Yes."

She left the room and went towards the kitchen.

"I am guessing the reason you are here is because of your son?"

"Yes. Where is he? Is he here or did they leave already?"

Ellie entered the brought the coffees. After she left, Norman continued their conversation.

"Actually, some days ago, we found a clue on the thing that caused this plague. Your son and disciple went after it just yesterday. I must say, your disciple is a very interesting kid.", said Norman while scratching his chin and smiling.

"Hm? Normally I would agree but I feel like he did something outrageous again, from the way you said it. What did he do?"

"Well, he jumped on a catapult with your son and they flew towards their destination with magic. He even made wings to fly."

Felyp stared at Norman's face with no expression. Then the corners of his mouth lifted up and he suddenly laughed loudly.

"HAHA! Those kids never stop surprising me, but flying? I also dreamt of that when I was a child, but doing it is another thing. It's not easy to fly."

After laughing a bit more, he wiped the corners of his eyes and said.

"But I guess I can't find them with my horse even if I tried. Did they leave anything for me behind? Like a letter or something?"

"Hm... Not that I know of. You might want to ask that girl that was with them yesterday. I don't know who she is, but she stays at the same place as those two. Ellie can take you to there."

"A girl? I sent them here on a friend's request and they are here playing with girls?"

"I don't know, I was busy with the plague. You should ask her about everything, she probably knows more than I do about this."

"Alright, I will go to her then."

"Okay. Ellie!"

Ellie entered the room again.

"Can you show where Corvin and Noah stayed to Mr. Vyolor here?"

"I can."

Felyp got up from the couch.

"That would be great, thank you."

Ellie and him walked out of the town hall and went to the inn Amy was staying at.

*****

"How close are we?"

"How should I know?"

"Weren't you confident about finding that thing over here?"

"I just said it probably is towards this direction, I never said I know how far away we were."

Corvin and Noah were walking towards where the ratman came to attack them. Corvin suspected the Plaguehorn would be around where it came from. After camping for a night, because Noah woke up too late after passing out, the two were on the search.

"Well, even if we fi-"

Crack!

"Shh!"

The two whispered to eachother.

"Is that another ratman?"

"I don't know."

Noah and Corvin looked around and saw no movement. Then Noah looked on the ground. He picked up the thing and said.

"Oh, I just stepped on a branch, it was nothing."

Corvin stared at Noah with hatred.

"I was scared you idiot. Look where you are stepping. We are close to real danger, you know."

"I know, I kno-"

Crack!

"What did I ju-"

"Corvin. I didn't step on anything this time."

"What?"

Rustle Rustle

The sound of moving plants came from forward. Noah and Corvin both stopped talking and held their breath.

Rustle Rustle

Step Step

Three ratmen appeared, running towards the two. The two stood on guard and hoped to not be noticed. But, unexpectedly the ratmen didn't even turn their heads towards them. They just ran towards a random direction and left their sight.

"Phew~, I thought we were goners."

Noah tried to lighten up the mood and get rid of the fear, but Corvin thought different.

"Noah, do you know where they are going?"

"No, why? Isn't it good if they don't attack us?"

"Why aren't they attacking us, you think?"

Noah thought for a second, but the only thing that came to his mind didn't make sense so he ignored it.

"I don't know, why?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. They are doing something, and we don't know what it is. We need to be fast before they kill more people."

"Corvin... Did you also think the same thing as me?"

"Maybe. What did you think?"

"They ignored us and went to attack defenceless humans, but that doesn't make sense. Monsters don't do that."

"Yeah, normal ones. They were once humans and minions, you know. They might even be planning something entirely different. We need to be quick and kill that colossus."

*****

After a routine of resting and running, the two spent five hours searching for the Plaguehorn.

"You said we needed to be fast, but you know, it is almost evening."

"You think I am happy for being late?"

"I can't help it, I want to fight a colossus but I also don't want to fight one."

"What are you talking about? I am the one who is on the fro-"

"Corvin, look at that."

Noah cut in his words, stopped running and pointed at something.

"Huh? What?"

Corvin turned around and looked at what Noah pointed at. It was a road sign that showed two different roads.

"It's just a road sign, we aren't taking any turns, just ignore it."

"No, not that. That."

Corvin looked again. Behind the sign, there were less trees. Corvin could see some houses if he strained his eyes. Something was blocking the wiev.

"Huh? I can't see clearly. What do you see?"

"It is foggy there, but it's not normal fog. I can see the difference between the setting sun's yellow and that colour, but I guess you can't."

"What do you mean?"

"That's a village there. Just like you said. There is a human settlement there."

"-! Come on, let's run there!"

The two ran towards the village. As they got closer, Corvin could clearly see the yellow fog that covered the place. The village was completely abandoned. It was obvious that no human had been here for at least two months. There was a faint smell of death, but it had dissipated so much that it was barely noticable at this point. Corvin stopped before getting close to the foggy village, and he stopped Noah too.

"Why?"

"I don't think it's okay to get in this fog without care. I will make masks from the spare protective clothes but I can't see anything properly, can you light a torch and hold it for me?"

"Okay."

After Noah light up a torch and held it for Corvin, he took a bunch of things out of the bag. He cut two pieces of the protective clothes Dion made for them, and made two masks.

"I am glad we took them with us in case we had to deal with more patients.", said Noah.

"But we never used them since we never saw a survivor around here."

"Ugh... Why do you have to put it that way?"

"I don't know... Come on, let's go."

They put the masks on and walked towards the foggy village. The torch in Noah's hands started to get brighter. Noah started to feel more and more heat and stopped walking.

"What happened? Scared?"

"Well, yes but no, that's not why I stopped. Look at this Corvin."

"Hm? Torch?"

"Yeah... wait, let me just show you."

Noah aimed forward and threw the torch as far as he could.

"What are you-"

FWOOOSSHHH!

The fog caught on fire and spread to the whole village. The hot air created a warm wind that blew out of the village in all directions, making it easier to handle the cold of the north. Some wooden structures caught on fire and lit up the village that was getting darker because of the sunset. The two stared forward, dumbfounded. They weren't staring at the fog that caught on fire. They were staring at what appeared from behind the fog.

"Is that it, Corvin?"

"I think so... Can't believe we were going to bump into it without seeing it..."

Standing fifty meters away from them, was a giant rat that looked like a polar bear. It's head didn't have skin, and it's hollow round horns had burning fire in the middle, where the fog used come from.

It was the monster they had been searching for, the Plaguehorn.