Chapter 56: A chilling voice

Talos rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things.  

A Child of the Forest secretly eating something in such a remote place?  

His mind raced with wild thoughts—perhaps she was sneaking a fresh fruit or something else entirely. 

Talos tilted his head, puzzled, for quite a while.  

But upon closer inspection, he realized she was chewing on a long strip of something. 

When he recognized it as jerky, his eyes spun in disbelief.  

Jerky was made of meat.  

The Children of the Forest did not eat meat.  

That was the common knowledge Talos held.  

As a flustered Talos repeatedly muttered “Why?” to himself, the sound of chewing abruptly stopped.  

“Sob…”  

A faint whimper followed.  

But it was brief. Floria, stifling her tears, resumed devouring the jerky with fervor.  

Talos, chilled by the sight, froze, barely daring to breathe.  

A Child of the Forest, of all people, secretly eating meat?  

For a moment, she seemed almost like a beast herself. Cold sweat trickled down Talos’s back as he waited silently.  

Then, footsteps echoed from the opposite direction.  

“Floria?”  

At the sound of a woman’s voice, Floria flinched and stood up. Talos’s face paled in tandem.  

Neither could flee; they were stuck, rooted to the spot.  

***

“Come here.”  

Eileen, who had been watching Floria intently, beckoned gently.  

Floria hesitated, but Eileen, growing impatient, stepped forward and grabbed her wrist.  

Tears welled up in Floria’s eyes, spilling over as she began to sob quietly. Eileen sighed and pulled Floria into her embrace.  

“It’s alright, it’s okay.”  

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… sob… It’s because of the mana stone… I couldn’t help it…!”  

“You came all the way out here because of me. It’s okay now. Let’s head back to the camp.”  

Right after Baal’s defeat, Eileen had noticed something off about Floria and had finally uncovered the truth.  

Floria’s mood had been poor all day, but after a short walk at night, she’d return in better spirits.  

Eileen, sharing the same tent, initially thought Floria was just refreshed by the night air. 

But recently, she’d caught the faint smell of food on Floria and decided to follow her secretly.  

Eileen hurriedly led Floria away.  

She sensed someone nearby but couldn’t act with Floria in this state. 

Having broken Nashapur’s beliefs, would Floria leave a witness to her shame alive?  

Even Eileen, who had taken on the role of Floria’s protector, was contemplating silencing the witness.  

If Floria, exposed to a human, resorted to murder…  

Eileen quickly supported Floria and left the area. As they departed, she lightly touched a tree, channeling a faint trace of mana.  

“Unknown one, it would be wise to keep silent about what you saw and heard today.”  

***

A chilling voice reached Talos, who was hiding and holding his breath. 

The warning, transmitted through his skin, made him shudder, his teeth chattering.  

Eileen, a supreme-rank Nashapur and a member of another race.  

Talos’s mind raced, and he instinctively clamped his mouth shut. What he had witnessed was shocking, but for now, he wouldn’t dare speak of it.  

***

“Past midnight.”  

In the tent where all the supreme-rank members who hadn’t slept gathered, Valery quietly announced the time.  

“Since that attack, not even an ant has been spotted around here. It’s strange,” he added.  

“Could they be focusing on breeding?”  

Mikael, his face pale from overusing holy power recently, suggested a possibility.  

Rita, listening quietly, nodded in partial agreement.  

‘Well, that beast did lose a lot of its offspring that day.’  

The basic instinct of Fragments was to reproduce. If their numbers were growing, this was no time for complacency.  

“Anyway, we’ll set out after sunrise as planned,” Valery continued.  

The main camp’s situation hadn’t improved, but they couldn’t stay put forever.  

Only supreme-rank mages could handle Fragments.  

To prevent further sacrifices among the weaker members, they had to hunt down and eliminate the Fragments.  

“Those below first-rank, be careful not to get caught by it. This time, with him here, things might be different…”  

Valery’s gaze shifted to Yan, standing behind Rita.  

Despite two days of socialization training under Eimen, Yan remained indifferent, showing no response. 

Rita sighed softly at the lack of progress.  

“Youngsters these days…!”  

Valery, visibly annoyed, clicked his tongue, glancing between Eugene and Yan. 

While the narrow-minded veteran grumbled, Sercia took charge of the discussion.  

In truth, there wasn’t much of a strategy.  

Mikael, Felix, and the Children of the Forest would stay in the rear to protect the mages, while the rest would charge forward. 

Rita would also remain in the rear to keep the enemy in check.  

The logic was that a strong rear defense would deter Satan from approaching easily.  

This plan put Bailey, a first-rank warrior, at risk.  

Fortunately, he was as well-trained as Sercia. The real concern was Yan.  

‘But for some reason, I feel like Yan won’t be in danger.’  

Unlike the other supreme-ranks’ worries, Rita had an odd confidence about Yan.  

“But what if it transforms into a lizard?”  

Eileen, who had witnessed Satan fleeing with Baal, asked with concern.  

Groans of frustration echoed around the tent.  

“We’d have to target its wings to bring it down,” Eugene said, adding, “Though it won’t be easy.”  

“When it grows larger, its field of vision narrows, giving us more chances to strike from behind,” Sercia muttered, and Rita quietly agreed.  

“It thinks and speaks like us, so it’ll move strategically,” someone noted.  

“But to face that massive size, we’d need more people than we think. It might actually be better if it stays in human form,” Blena said cautiously, raising her hand.  

“At least it won’t breathe fire.”  

“Blena’s right,” Sercia said gravely, suggesting they might need to retreat if Satan took its lizard form.  

As they discussed strategies for facing Satan, the clock ticked past 3 a.m.  

Thankfully, there were no signs of an attack that night.  

Sercia called for a brief rest before departure and ended the meeting.  

“By the way, Floria, you look much better than before. Are you alright now?”  

As they left the tent, Sercia cheerfully asked Floria, who was passing by. Floria nodded curtly.  

“I’m much better.”  

“Good to hear. Everyone else seems in better spirits too.”  

Sercia’s gaze lingered briefly on Rita before settling on the three mages ahead. 

Blena, Seth, and Alois’s atmosphere had grown noticeably warmer compared to before.  

Even Alois, who once seemed distant, now laughed and stayed close to the other two.  

“Not bad,” Rita replied with a faint smile, and Sercia grinned in satisfaction.  

“Your expression’s looking up too, Rita.”  

With a chuckle, Sercia left first.  

Rita let out a wry laugh, while Yan, standing beside her, tilted his head in confusion, clueless about the exchange.  

His innocent demeanor piqued Eileen’s interest.  

“The Kuyan boy who fought like a beast that day follows the great mage like a parent,” Eileen said with a kind smile.  

Yan’s eyes darted around, suddenly shy, and Rita looked at him in disbelief.  

Not even Mikael, the Saint, could tame him, yet he became as docile as a lamb before the Children of the Forest.  

How peculiar.  

“I heard about Floria,” Eileen said softly to Rita, her tone heavy with regret.  

Floria hung her head like a sinner, and Rita bowed her head, feeling the weight of guilt.  

“I’m so sorry, Eileen, Floria. I never imagined such side effects would happen.”  

“I see it as Floria’s fate,” Eileen replied. “I pray she overcomes this trial and grows stronger.”  

With a gentle smile, Eileen stroked Floria’s hair like a daughter. 

Rita looked at Eileen with admiration, moved by her acceptance and support despite the difficult change for a Nashapur leader.  

She was truly remarkable.  

“I’ll do everything I can to help,” Rita said, her apology directed at Floria with a nod.  

Choosing Floria as the one to absorb Baal’s mana stone had been her clear mistake.  

‘I judged too hastily, based only on my own circumstances and conditions. I’ll spend my life repaying that debt to Floria.’  

But Floria, as if reading her thoughts, shook her head.  

“Rita, it’s alright. Breaking the beliefs I’ve upheld for so long is painful… but I gained greater power, and I’m paying the price for it. Don’t feel guilty. I craved that immense mana in that moment, and ultimately, it was my choice.”  

With a prim huff, Floria turned and left.  

Eileen gave Rita an awkward smile before following her.  

***

“Take care, then. I’ll handle things here.”  

As dawn broke, Rita’s group departed the main camp, seen off by Count Loia and the soldiers.  

“I heard Talos and Karina’s groups are setting out this morning too. Shame, I wanted to see their lineups…” Loen grumbled, glancing back.  

Rita also wished she could follow them, but it was only the first day, so it wasn’t critical.  

Besides, her group would return to the main camp in three days, so there was no rush.  

If anything, things would likely get more interesting in three days.  

***

Thanks to their early start, Rita’s group quickly entered the lizard beasts’ territory.  

As they ventured into the colder forest, they began spotting shed skins. Soon, juvenile beasts appeared one by one.  

The dark-scaled lizards, roughly the same size, let out eerie screeches and charged as soon as they sensed prey.  

It was a grotesque sight, but the seasoned supreme-ranks swung their weapons without flinching.  

“Yan, you need to fight too.”  

Yan, who had been standing idly by Rita’s side, finally moved at her command-like request.  

His expression was one of annoyance, his movements sluggish and half-hearted, yet devastatingly effective.  

Like a child kicking a ball, Yan casually struck an approaching beast.  

When it scrambled back, he grabbed its tail and flung it away.  

Once, twice, three times. With each repetition, the beast lost its form.  

Soon, the rocks around Yan were smeared with the lizard’s blood and flesh.  

He wiped the blood off his hands on a tree, looking somewhat dazed.  

The group couldn’t bring themselves to laugh.  

“I’m starting to wonder who’s stronger, that guy or the princess?” Eugene quipped thoughtlessly.  

Bailey shot him a glare for the blasphemy, but Sercia burst into hearty laughter, saying she’d love to test her strength against Yan.  

Valery, sweating, spent a while trying to dissuade her.  

“They’re all just sheds, right?”  

The deeper they went into the forest, the more shed skins littered the ground.  

Some were from lizards that had failed to molt and rotted away.  

The number of such corpses increased along the path, stretching up the narrow mountain trail.  

The group walked in silence, exchanging glances and nods at the entrance.  

At the signal, Bailey crouched and began climbing the mountain first, followed by Valery, Sercia, and Mikael. The mages, Loen, Felix, Eugene, and Yan trailed behind.  

The mages, unaccustomed to the uneven path, struggled to keep up.  

Sercia, who had reached the top first, pressed a finger to her lips, signaling caution.  

Startled, Blena held her breath and carefully followed Sercia’s gaze.  

Below a collapsed boulder, a sloped path led to a rocky area teeming with lizards.  

There were countless juveniles, at least six sub-adults, and five visible adults.  

The beasts slithered forward, their tongues flicking.