Treacherous Path

~{ Elyse POV }~

It had been a while now since Elyse and the adventurer named Auden decided to follow the boar tracks.

Nothing eventful happened, except for a few more boars and a stray Dreg Root showing up. Elyse managed to defeat them all by herself, but it was now clear that they were indeed running from something.

Back when she was fighting off the horde of monsters, she genuinely hadn't been expecting anyone to show up, much less an adventurer. After all, it was because of them that she had almost gotten trampled by a pack of boars.

Her former team had ditched her, using her as bait to draw away the beasts while they made their escape. She was almost certain that they had even darker intentions. Just thinking about it made her blood boil, and she would lop their heads clean off if she ever met them again.

Most adventurers were selfish, self-centered brutes, if not all, only thinking of gold and wealth. As a righteous person herself, she despised these types of people the most. Her hate had only increased when her own cowardly team had probably betrayed her on purpose.

She wouldn't even have hired adventurers if her new captain didn't order her to investigate the valley with a team. Apparently, he didn't know how much she loathed adventurers or he would never have suggested such a thing.

Still, as much as she hated to admit it this adventurer- Auden was right. She wouldn't have been able to fight back much longer. She had pretty much used up all her pool of stamina and Holy Magic. She owed him her life for saving her, but she was still very suspicious of him.

After all, what kind of guy would help a girl without having ulterior motives? It was inconceivable for her to think that Auden had saved her out of pure concern.

But one thing she couldn't deny was that he was incredibly skilled for his age, almost on par with her. His skill with a sword wasn't that great but she was astounded by his sharp instincts and knowing exactly what to do while in danger. A few times when she thought he would've been run through by the Boar spikes, he had already dodged and taken down a few more beasts. However, he would've probably been a lot better with a different weapon, the long sword wasn't exactly practical for his interesting fighting style.

'How many years has he trained?' She wondered, looking back at him.

To reach where she was now, she had enlisted and trained under the Caelumio Knights since she was just a young girl which was no mere feat. Most girls her age would either be at a magic academy or being courted by foolish, ignorant guys, or training to be a mage.

But Elyse wasn't like them, she had always been stronger than other kids her age and had a very powerful affinity with Holy Magic. She was perhaps the first girl in her village, no, perhaps even in Ergaldia to have been scouted by the Caelans and the Imperial Army and to become a Holy Knight.

She had been dispatched to Nerokan Valley in a joint mission with Imperial Forces because of the issue of increasing monsters, but she hadn't expected things would go like this.

Elyse took another quick glance backward at Auden who was following behind her.

He seemed to be wary of something, occasionally looking around with a hand on his sword. She hoped he wasn't thinking of backstabbing her or she would not hold back to bash him into the ground. Either way, she was going to keep a close eye on him until she was sure she could trust him.

He had moderately long brown-auburn hair which was rare to see. Most people in southern parts of Ergaldia had hair with dull colors. She also noticed that he did have a good-looking face. It couldn't exactly be described as handsome. More of an imposing trait. Not that it mattered, she didn't have much of an interest in guys anyway.

As for his personality, she couldn't make head or tails of it. One moment he could be annoying and be kind the next second.

He didn't seem to have a strong physique, though it was hard to determine since he was wearing a grey cloak. A bit strange for a swordsman but she had seen stranger things before. Most longsword wielders would normally have more armor.

She was so lost in thought that she got a bit startled when Auden's eyes met her gaze. "Something wrong?"

"No. Of course not." Elyse turned away hastily but not before catching sight of his startlingly green eyes. "Doesn't our surroundings seem a bit strange to you?"

"Yeah. It looks like something definitely passed through here." Auden nodded, looking around. "The trees are bent."

Now that he mentioned it, the few trees that scattered the valley did look as if they were slightly bent. She had changed the topic randomly and hadn't noticed it before. What did these bent trees mean?

However, she found the answer to her question soon. Auden abruptly stopped in his tracks and went pale. "What... happened here?"

Directly ahead was a scene of carnage. Small trees were uprooted, big trees were snapped in half, loose rocks on the valley walls were cracked, and Elyse could see gigantic claw marks like those of a lion but a lot bigger in size on the ground.

"I think we're on the correct path."

"Obviously. Claw marks don't grow in the ground." Despite the look of fear on Auden's face, his eyes seemed to shine with excitement. "I told you this was the right way." He said with a smug smile.

"Shut up." Elyse said irritatedly. This was way above the scope of what she had expected. To be able to cause destruction of this size could be the work of a mid-tier magic beast or even higher. "What sort of sinister monster could've done this?"

"From the looks of the trees and claw marks, it's probably something huge and most likely not a human. Maybe a big cat of some sort?"

Elyse nodded, that was the most logical hypothesis. If it was something immensely strong, she would have to subjugate it before it caused any trouble. That was one of her tasks here as well.

"Are you still coming? It could be dangerous for you. I can handle this on my own."

"Of course I am. I still have to find the child in this valley so if you get killed by some kind of demonic magic beast, it'd come for me next!"

"Hmph!" Elyse snorted in disdain and her mouth twitched. She would've been more cooperative if Auden had worded it differently but it was his choice to be a smart-ass. "Fine, just don't blame me if you get badly hurt!"

"As if I w-" He started to say but got cut off by a loud noise in the distance.

WRAOOOOOOAAR!!

A powerful roar reverberated through the valley, making both of them almost jump out of their skins in fright. Elyse covered her ears with her hand while Auden stumbled backward and caught the stump of a broken tree to stop himself from falling over. The noise died down after a few seconds with only an echo left. Auden was as pale as a sheet of parchment while Elyse had been shaken to the bone.

"That didn't sound too good," Auden said in a low voice, breathing deeply.

"Having thoughts of turning back now?" Elyse asked, trying to tease him but she herself wanted to run away.

"No, I've got to see what it is." He replied bravely, but not without a bit of hesitation.

They nodded at each other and continued on, the sudden scare had made them both lose the will to keep arguing. As they drew closer, the signs of destruction became more and more evident, sometimes, so much that even the terrain was unrecognizable. To Auden who had been here before, it was like they were walking through a totally different place.

They saw a few more boars running away probably because of the roar, but Elyse let them escape this time and instead hurried forward. Her worries were increasing by the minute and Auden looked just as tense.

In a short while, they arrived at the mouth of an enormous cave. The opening was eerily wide and uninvitingly dark, though sunlight streamed through small cracks in the roof of the cave, lighting it up in various places. Another small cave seemed to be at the far end of it.

The spots of light would've looked pretty in the cave, if it wasn't shining down on something monstrous. A 18 feet tall beast- no, a magic beast to be precise, lay in the center of the cavern! It was almost as big as a small house and a lot more menacing than any property ever built.

It had a head like an eagle with the huge golden-yellow body of a mountain lion. It had paws but the claws- no, the talons protruding from them were as sharp as knives and the size of a large sword. 4 feathered wings were folded on its back, with spots of brown here and there on the golden feathers. Each individual strand of fur and feather shone brilliantly in the patches of sunlight.

"A Quadalis Griffin..." Elyse whispered, almost forgetting to breathe. The very sight made her rooted to the ground, unable to move. She and Auden were just out of sight behind a fallen tree near the cave entrance.

"This is bad." Auden said, trying not to look afraid. Though he had never seen a Griffin before, he knew a powerful monster when he saw one. "If it sees us, we're done for."

"What is a Griffin doing here? They aren't supposed to live in caves."

The two watched on quietly, amazed and frightened at this sight. Though it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see such a monster as powerful as a Griffin, one has to know that a single adult Griffin has the power to destroy a large village. Plus, this one was a Quadalis Griffin with four wings and twice the power of a normal one. It could destroy a town if it wanted.

"What exactly is it doing?" Elyse asked curiously. The Griffin seemed to be absorbed in playing with something in the corner of the cave.

It poked an object with its talon and pushed it around a bit before tossing it in the air and catching it again in his paws. The 'object', as both Auden and Elyse caught sight of it in the air, was a young boy that was looking very scared and terrified. The Griffin however gave no heed to this and only looked amused by his reaction.

"The kid!" Auden gasped in shock. "He's somehow stumbled into the Griffin before us!"

"By all damned Fates!" Elyse almost yelled. Of all the possible situations, why was it like this? Perhaps it was good since the child was still alive, but this complicated things. She had been debating whether to go back and report the magic beast to her Captain and come back with a squad of Caelan Knights, but it seems she wouldn't be able to do that anymore.

"We've got to save him."

"Way ahead of you," Elyse answered, getting up but Auden looked at her with a horrified expression and pulled her back. "What the f*ck are you doing?!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Auden asked, not letting her go.

"Don't stop me! I'm going to save him."

"Have you gone insane? You'll get yourself killed too!"

"If I don't, the boy will die!"

"You think your death's going to help him in any way? The beast will just kill him after he kills you!"

This made sense to Elyse, if she were killed, the beast would go after the boy. And quite possibly the nearby town too, she realized with a start. That would be disastrous. "Fine, you have a better plan?" Elyse asked scowling.

Auden thought for a moment before speaking. "We should wait until we get a chance to get the child away from the Griffin."

"And wait until he dies first?" Elyse asked heatedly, losing her temper at Auden and all adventurers. "I shouldn't even have bothered asking!"

"Elyse, there's no benefit in all-"

"Benefit." She snarled and gritted her teeth. Her blue eyes seethed with anger. "Benefit. That's all you adventurers only think about, isn't it? Well then, you can go on and run away just like the others did! I'll do this myself if I have to."

She should've known better than to trust an Adventurer. She should've known this was going to be his answer from the start. They were all the same after all, why had she even bothered to ask his opinion? He probably only jumped to save her, thinking he could use her.

Jerking her hand free from his grip, she lifted her shield and sword and stepped into the open before Auden could utter another word.