Chapter 110: Take It Slow

"We’re going after the horde."

"Right now?"

The village chief echoed, momentarily taken aback.

"Yes." Adam nodded.

"Wouldn’t that be too much?" The older man who stood with them stated, looking at Adam and Aurelius successively. "You boys should wait till morning. It will be difficult navigating the forest beyond the mountains. And the recovery will be good for you."

The village chief and her people had tried investigating the beast raid themselves, but they could find nothing substantial. Moreover, going beyond the mountain range was a no-no for them. They were farmers; not fighters or explorers.

And although investigating was a part of the mission they had commissioned, the village chief still worried for their safety. She would not lie; their combat skills were top-notch. But they were still kids.

"We would lose their trail otherwise, Chief." Adam reasoned calmly. "Going after them now is the best option."

"My friend is right." Aurelius chipped in, stepping closer to Adam. "It’s our best bet at finding what is causing this behavioural change in the beasts. This raid feels odd. Beasts don’t attack like this for no reason. If it’s food they want, they hunt or scavenge themselves. But this... this feels different."

While he wasn’t disputing that beasts could invade farms and kill some of the livestock, they didn’t move like a horde. Something like this could only mean one thing.

"We believe something or another beast is directing them to act the way they are," Adam added. "The only way to solve this problem is to tackle it at the root. We can’t afford to delay too much."

"Ha... I get what you mean." The village chief sighed, closing her eyes and massaging her forehead. "But as you just said, something or another beast could be influencing them. And we both know only a higher realm beast could do that."

It was really late in the night.

And on the other side of that mountain range was beast territory. They would not have it easy navigating the forest during the night.

"We’ll be fine, Village Chief," Aurelius assured with a gentle smile. "And if we can’t push further, we’ll return."

"Fine." The woman gave in. It wasn’t as though she could stop them.

Looking at the two boys, she advised. "Make sure to watch your backs, alright? And if you find anything beyond your capabilities, you run like hell, got it?"

"Rest assured, Village Chief. We’ll be careful." Aurelius assured once more.

He turned to Adam, the two exchanging a nod before taking off into the distance, their destination the mountains.

"Will they really be alright?" The older man asked, his gaze on the path the two boys had just taken.

"They have to be." The village chief replied, letting out a sigh. She looked around and clicked her tongue, feeling the sting of the losses they had suffered. "And we have a lot to do ourselves."

"Right."

Blurring through the farms and equipment lying around, Adam and Aurelius chased after the retreating horde. They swiftly crossed into the open fields, stepping into the darkness of the night.

Adam glanced at Aurelius and wondered if the boy could see in the dark. Rather than waste time pondering, he directly asked. "Can you see in the dark?"

Hearing his question, the beast master looked over and smirked. "Who do you think you’re talking to?" He pulled out a pair of sophisticated glasses and put them on.

"And of course, you have a storage artefact."

"Wasn’t that obvious already? And you seem to have one yourself." Aurelius chuckled and pulled out another pair and waved it at Adam. "Do you need one?"

"Nah, I’m good."

Adan shook his head and activated his specially created Thermal Vision, the world taking on a gradient temperature map. Focusing his gaze ahead, he spotted some of the fleeing beasts.

They were rushing towards the mountain pass and disappearing behind the mountain range. The mountains were hundreds of meters high, requiring quite a bit of scaling to reach the pass.

"You think a Third Realm beast or higher is directing them, don’t you?" Aurelius asked at some point, glancing at Adam.

"Yeah. Everything we’ve seen so far points in that direction." Adam replied with a nod. "But it’s still best to keep an open mind."

"Agreed," Aurelius said, his expression turning serious.

Starting at the Third Realm, most beasts could command those at the lower realms. But not all beasts had that ability; just like not all powerful awakeners could lead.

From what Adam recalled learning about beast behaviour, the creatures mostly did that during a territorial conflict or when they went into a frenzy for one reason or the other. In that state, they only caused wanton destruction, not targeting livestock.

Neither Adam nor Aurelius cared about the warning they received from the academy about not engaging Third Realm beasts. If anything, they were looking forward to it.

A couple of minutes passed before they reached the foot of the mountain range. The two maintained their speed while scaling and skillfully manoeuvring the surrounding vegetation.

The mountain pass wasn’t really a pass, as there was no human activity within the vicinity. There was only vegetation wherever they passed. The two came to a momentary stop, as everything before them was nothing but dense vegetation.

"Let’s climb up for a better view." Aurelius proposed.

Leaping onto the surrounding trees, they jumped from one branch to the next, gradually scaling the mountainside. Before long, they covered enough height to give a better view.

"Well, I’ll be..."

Adam muttered softly, his eyes widening at the sight before him. The valley beyond the mountain pass spread out in all directions, tall trees and vegetation covering the vast terrain.

The forest expanded far into the distance, connecting to another mountain range. Just below the tall trees and above the vegetation was a thin film of mist covering everything. Switching between his Thermal Vision and normal vision, Adam took in the wondrous sight.

"Adam..."

"I see them." Adam replied.

The massive forest was crawling with beasts of various kinds. Some of these animals moved in groups, while others lived alone in their territory. But the majority of these beasts were moving farther into the valley, seemingly approaching the base of the mountains in the distance.

"Getting through this valley won’t be easy." Aurelius acknowledged in a heavy tone. "The Village Chief was right; it was a bad idea."

He lowered his thermal glasses and looked back, spotting the settlement in the distance. The lights from the buildings and farms looked like a small blip within the vast valley and plains.

"Maybe. But we wouldn’t have known which direction the beasts might have been heading had we waited for daybreak." Adam followed Aurelius’ gaze, staring at the settlement. He then glanced at the beast master and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

"You’ve made me the decision maker, huh."

"Well, you are the lead mission taker, aren’t you?" Adam shot back with a smirk.

"Haha. True."

Aurelius chuckled for a moment, turning to look back at the dark forest. He went silent for a moment, turning to look back at the dark valley with a pondering expression on his face.

They could go after the beasts now, but manoeuvring through the forest without encountering any attacks would be wishful thinking. They couldn’t simply make a run for it either.

Although they were fast, so were the various beasts. The only reason they had it easy during the raid was that the beasts were mostly focused on the crops and livestock rather than the resistance they faced.

After a minute or so, he turned to Adam and said, "We have a week on this mission. There’s no reason to put ourselves at risk when we can take our time."

He put the glasses on for a moment, committing the direction the beasts were headed to memory. "We at least know which direction to go once we go after them." He added, glancing at Adam.

"Yeah."

Adam nodded, turning to look at the forest and valley himself. He might have made a move had he been alone, given the kind of abilities he possessed. But Aurelius was right.

There was no reason to rush.

Just because he was confident in his abilities and skills did not mean he could shrug off any attack the beasts might throw at him. His father’s words also echoed in his mind at that moment.

’You have nothing to prove to the academy anymore. Your achievements are more than they could have ever imagined. Take it slow.’

"Let’s move."

Aurelius was the first to move, jumping from the branch he perched on. Adam followed soon after, the duo taking to sprinting as soon as they reached the base of the mountain pass.