Chapter 62: Head-Out
"...What is that in your hand?" Orion asked with narrowed eyes, gesturing towards the red cloth Na-Ri carried. Kyle’s gaze shifted to the ground as he realised the liquid dripping from it was blood, and unmistakably human.
Had she truly killed a human, and more specifically one of the zealots?
He blinked twice, forcing himself to regain composure. This was precisely one of the reasons he could never allow himself to lust after her. If not for that manual intervention, the incident from many days ago would never have taken place.
The beautiful stranger stood before him as a cold-blooded killer. The evidence remained in her hand, held with casual detachment, without the faintest flicker of regret or emotion.
From the very first time they had met, when she had declared she could kill him without hesitation yet chose not to because he was unworthy of her blade, that memory had lingered like a wound that never healed.
And it confirmed she might indeed have done it, for she was more than capable.
For a fleeting moment, Kyle once again gave silent thanks for not being deemed worthy of her blade.
He branded himself a fool, an admission born of self-loathing rather than disdain for humanity, but arrogance and ignorance without strength would have ended his life long ago.
Now that he had forged a connection with true power, he no longer regarded her as a figure to fear. Yet the question remained.
How could she kill a human with such ease, with no trace of remorse, regardless of circumstance?
Na-Ri cast a glance at the bloodied cloth in her hand, which held the boys’ fixed attention. Without hesitation, she froze it into brittle shards and let it crumble away, then inspected her palms before speaking:
"One of the zealots was slain brutally by a mutated creature. That is my speculation, at least. I then encountered a Cursed-ranked beast, Swift-type, on the verge of evolving into a Brutal-ranked, Stage Three." She paused, letting her eyes travel from Kyle to Orion, and finally to Adela, who remained asleep and oblivious.
With a flat tone, she concluded:
"You can infer the rest. I hunted three Enraged-ranked creatures and spared the other one in the middle of evolution, since it moved southward. If the zealots are indeed there, we shall see what unfolds next."
With that, the beautiful stranger walked past the two boys, leaving their mouths agape in bewilderment. She had permitted a Stage Four mutated creature, a Swift-type no less, to migrate towards the zealots’ location. If no one there possessed the strength to counter such a threat, it would result in a massacre.
Kyle felt a flicker of relief that she had not actually killed a human. But what she had done instead struck him as even more merciless.
’No way... Lee just sent a blade racing towards the zealots, one that could butcher them all without pause. Should I admire her cunning, or should I fear her?’ Kyle thought with a shiver of unease.
His eyes settled on the beautiful stranger as she moved casually towards a rock and lowered herself to sit.
Orion shook his head, snapped his fingers, and stepped in front of Na-Ri, blocking her from going further.
"What is it?" Na-Ri asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Huh? What do... No, wrong question. So you just let them all die? What if they actually know how to get out of the Trial Zone? It would be a waste to kill them, then."
Kyle quickly joined in, scratching the back of his head.
"...He is right, though. That means we will be stuck here. Besides, I thought you were not planning to exterminate all of them at once."
She tilted her head past the handsome youth, fixing her gaze on Adela, and said in a detached tone:
"If they knew how to leave, they would not have remained here long enough to establish ancient beliefs around false gods or to manipulate others’ minds. In one instance they had even summoned a demon, and they had performed rituals recently. With all that, I doubt they are of any use. Besides, they obviously want us dead the moment we had set foot on this island. So?"
Orion found himself nodding unconsciously.
Na-Ri then walked past him, sat on a rock, and began fastening the straps on her armour’s gauntlet.
Kyle recognised the strength of her reasoning almost immediately. All signs suggested the zealots were aware of their presence and desired to kill them, though they lacked the certainty to strike directly, being unsure of the group’s strength.
That, combined with their overwhelming numbers, was precisely what the four of them feared.
Moreover, the four had managed to slay a demon, and that alone would have made the zealots even more reluctant to attack. Even if it appeared a stroke of luck or something scarcely possible, it had still happened, and it served as a reminder that these four were not ordinary.
Logic dictated that the zealots would restrain themselves from drawing their blades against them directly, unless through deception akin to a Trojan horse.
***
Adela woke to find the three staring off in different directions, each lost in thought. Relief touched her when she saw Na-Ri back with them, yet she could not understand why they all sat together in such silence.
With a yawn, she asked:
"...Is something wrong?"
Kyle was the first to glance at her before the others, replying with an ease that seemed almost casual:
"You’re up? Nothing’s wrong in particular. We were only thinking about our next move."
The grey-haired beauty lifted her head and her eyes glinted as she rose and took her place at the centre.
"Why don’t we prepare to leave this place, then?"
Na-Ri gave a small nod without looking at her, raising her hand instead to point eastward.
"That was my intention. We’ll head east. In case you’re unaware, the creatures that once kept deep within the island are beginning to wander. Most are pushing from the east towards us or westward, while those from the north are driving south."
Na-Ri’s eyes remained fastened on the dark stretch of trees to the east as she offered no further explanation.
The others kept silent, staring at her in bewilderment. Adela had not known of beasts gathering in the east, nor should Na-Ri have known, for the shadow scout had revealed that only to Orion, who in turn had told Kyle... so how had she discovered that creatures were migrating as well?
It was possible that, because of the Demon that had dwelt on the island until recently, the beasts had restrained themselves from moving freely, scattered in fear of the higher creature.
After its death, however, they had begun reclaiming their grounds, spreading in every direction. That meant the zealots might already have withdrawn, if they had not been slain by the Stage Four creature approaching their path.
Orion explained the island’s situation to Adela, who appeared perplexed. She cast him a sharp look, unsettled that he knew what she did not, despite her having stayed awake through the night... then she recalled the shadow scout in his service.
With that, she was even more perplexed as to why Na-Ri chose to move towards the very direction from which the creatures were spilling.
East meant heading straight into the path of the surge, which at first struck Kyle as reckless.
’Why would she run towards the beasts? Is she getting... Oh.’ Kyle slowly pieced together the reasoning as his gaze followed the line of trees eastward.
The handsome youth had mentioned that a creature was coming from that direction and had retreated after being driven back by something. Perhaps the red flare... or something else.
After careful thought, Orion also began to recognise the tactical advantage the beautiful stranger had just carved out.
If beasts were drifting west and south, then the east would thin out in the aftermath of the surge, leaving cleared ground behind.
Adela realised it a heartbeat later, understanding that by trailing the flow instead of fleeing from it, they would avoid the thickest concentrations of predators. None of them spoke agreement, but the quiet recognition in their expressions was enough.
It was not the safer road, but it was the smarter one, and in this place that was the only option.
Besides, it offered them a new direction to pursue, for there had been a spark of light along that path.
Na-Ri had not only travelled north. Her route had bent eastward as well, where she had seen the signs of migration and, beyond that, something else that shaped her conclusion.
By now, they had strayed too deep into the island to retrace their steps to the shore. It was even possible that a group of zealots shadowed them already, watching like predators.
That made it all the more certain that the former plan had to be abandoned, and progression was their only course.