Book 2 - Chapter 90

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 fatigued had finally caught up to it. With no food or water and running for the whole day straight, it was obviously going to tire itself up. We kept a respectable distance from it in case it leads us into an ambush.

Is this going to be a slow moving day? I was expecting something.. more exciting. Should we offer it food or water to speed up the journey? As tempting as that sounds, I'm worried that when it sees us, it will detour to another location instead. 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 were. I was munching on some jerky as we trailed after it slowly. I'm surprised Lily was focused all the way despite it limping so slowly.

"Give me one of those," asked Lily without so much as turning to look at me.

I passed one to her and she started munching on it while still being focused on the beast. Why is she so focused on it when she can literally hear it from afar?

"Something is not right. Why did it stopped moving?" she whispered with a mouthful.

"Perhaps it had gotten too tired and at its wits' end? Not something good for us either," I answered.

"No, it's not dying that's for sure. It's heartbeat is still beating normally. Something else is going on. This is not a normal behaviour," she insisted.

"Y.. you can hear it's 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 transmit it's heartbeat to me as well. I was surprised that I could hear it in the first place," she explained.

The beast turned it's head to the left and made a sudden bolt of speed that we weren't expecting. We were caught off guard and tried to follow after it. But with it's sudden acceleration, it managed to gained some considerable distance from us. Damn it, what a fool we were thinking that it was tired and was about to die. It was hiding it's strength to shake us off despite having a broken leg.

"We are 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 is wrong, why is the bell ringing so much?! Hold your position!" shouted Lily.

The three of us stopped dead in our tracks. The both of us waited for Lily to give us instructions but she closed her eyes and focused with her ears. We kept quiet while she gave us a vague breakdown on what she was hearing.

"There.. is still a lot of ringing but it is not moving further away. What's going on? Is it getting attacked? Wait.. the bell stopped ringing completely. Oh no.. that is not good. Let's go," she started heading towards the last location of the bell.

We followed after her but kept our senses on full awareness. Something strange had happened and I am not about to get caught off guard once again. I hope the beast had not perished or our tracking mission is officially ruined. I will destroy the surrounding landscapes to find what killed our beast if I have to.

"We're close. Be on your guard," warned Lily.

We poked our head out of some bushes. The beast was lying flat on the ground as though it was sleeping. Is that another possibility that we didn't think off? We slowly approached the beast and it became evident that it is dead as it had no signs of breathing. Damn it, I am dead wrong, no pun intended.

Lily checked on the beast's heartbeat by placing her head on the body. I went to inspect the body for any injuries while Rose went to inspect the head. She let out a "Huh?" which triggered me to check it alongside her.

Inside the mouth, was a white creature. Did it get choked when it tried to eat this thing?

"H.. hey, can you help me out? I'm kind of stuck in here," said a voice.

D.. did the beast just spoke? Or is it the white creature?

"C'mon onii-chan. Let's help him out," said Rose as she starting pulling the white creature out from 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 still alive?

"Thanks for saving me lads. Owh, sorry about that. Did not know there were two ladies here. Oh geez, look at my fur covered in blood. I wish to get it cleaned as soon as possible," it started licking it's 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 bowed to us.

"Nice to meet you, I am Zen, this is Rose and Lily. Mind telling us how you ended up in the jaws of that beast?" I asked him.

"Boy do I have a story for you, but can I give my story as we head towards a stream? I hate being all bloodied over. Not good for ma fur ya'know," he said.

"Uhh.. sure. Are you hurt or something? Don't try do anything funny by the way or you wouldn't like the consequences," I warned him as we followed.

"Strangely no, 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 charged directly at me trying to take a bite at me. I 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 encounter such a beast? Awfully dangerous for you to be strolling around alone, isn't it? Don't they run rampant around the forest?" asked Rose.

"Hmm.. they barely come to this part of the forest for sure as they usually speed their way towards somewhere in a hurry. No idea why though, maybe they're hungry or there's free food being offered," 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? Nevermind. Okuri-Inu had already began taking a bath in it.

"Soo.. 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 furs.

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 sneaked 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. Now that is just sus. Why would he offer to bring us there? Just because we helped him? But what if he's telling the truth? We got nothing to lose now as we are stuck and have no idea where else to go.

"Can you give us some privacy?" 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. Those blood around his body doesn't belonged to him. He might had been the one who killed our beast," whispered Rose.

"Do we have any other options? We had come so far, much further than any of our attempts at tracking them. Let's just keep an eye out on him while he escorts us. Anything funny from him and I'll beat him up," whispered Lily.

I glanced towards Okuri-Inu who was still sitting down looking at us with his tongue out, as though he was waiting for an answer from us. Lily is 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 going to 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 while moving towards north.

We might be dancing to his tune but we don't have any choice. He said it was not far from here so we might be able to reach before nightfall. A little worried that something might happen in the darkness that we might not be prepared for. I cannot drop my guard any longer, especially when Okuri-Inu is around.

***

Not too far my foot! It's nightfall now and we had not made it yet. We asked Inu how much further is the location and again he said it was not too far. I asked him to give an estimation on 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 by the time we actually reached the destination, it might had been dawn the next day. There was nothing much for us to eat as we did not have time to hunt any game or food. I guess it is meat jerky along with some canned food for dinner then. The three of us stuck closed together as it was getting cold now that night is upon us. Despite being surrounded by lush greenery, majority of the Eastern continent are desert areas which meant that nights can get relatively cold.

Two beautiful women rested their heads on my shoulder for comfort. Ugh, am I really going to get used to this? I must promise not favour one of them over the other for my own sake. Can't take any of them for granted. I can predict that Rose is going to be jealous when she starts getting old while Lily remained beautiful.

Inu came close and sat on Lily's lap. I can see that she is 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 to move from her lap.

"What are you looking for in regards to your partner? Please don't say you're interested with 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 me choosing you," snickered Lily with her signature evil laughter 'fu fu'.

"Really? This guy? This weakling can't protect you. You're wasting your time with him fasho. Pick me instead and you'll never regret it," he started hopping around.

"Hey.. dog. One more word out of you and I'm going to beat you to a pulp," spat Lily.

Lily spat those words before I even said anything. No idea what Inu is trying to do by riling Lily or me up but I am certain he have his own agenda. One that I am eager to find out. Inu seems to 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 am 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 4 times now. There's something behind in his eyes. We need to be 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 follow 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 can survey over the.. should I call it den? I would had called it den, if it wasn'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 promise I did not lie," he said.

"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 with 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 with 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 this 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 face and allowed blood to drip from its wrist. The human started gagging from the blood and started screaming, writhing in pain on the ground. And what followed after was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen with my very eyes. The human started clawing on his own face, seemingly trying to tear his own skin apart. Sharp bones protruded from his spines and that made him crouch as his body can no longer stand up. His fingernails grew longer yet he continued to claw on 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 human aside and proceeded with another one while the hooded bipedal beasts carried the failed human somewhere.

I punched the ground hard. Fuck, are you telling me all the beast 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 here 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 decision. What we need to do is to infiltrate this den and kill that damn beast. And I know just how to do it.