Chapter 38: When darkness fall…

The new campsite was much better than their previous one. It sat on slightly elevated ground beside the stream, with enough trees around it to provide cover without making the area difficult to defend. The flowing water was close enough for convenience, but the campsite itself was far enough from the bank that they would not have to worry about sudden changes in the water level.

Darius inspected the surrounding trees while Elias searched for suitable branches to use as firewood. Mira organized their supplies beneath a large tree, carefully checking the food and medical equipment. Quinn moved through the branches above them, scouting the area. Kael stood near the edge of the campsite organizing his thoughts.

Even without a map, he could tell they were still within the area assigned to first-year students. Kael’s experience of the game made him memorise information about the Emerald Forest. He knew the general territories of its magical beasts, the resources found in different regions, and several hidden events that could occur during the wilderness examination.

Of course his mean goal was the Moonlit Catacombs that were hidden in the middle region of the forest.

Kael then realized something.

"Could the Moonlit Catacombs be why those monsters in the deepest region were acting so strangely?"

But the Moonlit Catacombs was located in the middle region and those beasts came from the deepest region, the Blackwood Forest.

Kael frowned.

He remembered the more important detail. Many of the events in the game didn’t appear consistent to how they appear in the game. So, there was a huge possibility that the Moonlit Catacombs would also appear somewhere else.

He had already seen enough changes to know that much.

The events from the original story could happen differently in reality. If he kept assuming everything would happen exactly as he remembered, he was practically asking to get blindsided.

"Kael?"

Mira’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

He turned toward her.

"You’ve been staring into the forest for a while," Mira said.

"I was thinking about the strange occurrence regarding the unnatural appearance of those beasts from the deepest part of the forest," Kael replied.

"Ah, I see. Well... do you think we’ll encounter more?" Mira asked.

"Probably. After what happened earlier, I think we should assume there’s a decent chance of it," Kael answered.

Darius returned from inspecting the perimeter and rested a hand on his great sword.

"If we do, we should be ready," he said.

Kael nodded.

"Yeah, we should."

Elias dropped a bundle of firewood beside the campsite and wiped his hands against his clothes.

"You still look like you’re trying to solve some impossible problem."

Kael glanced at him.

"Do I?"

"You have the exact expression people make when they’re trying to remember where they left something important."

"That is surprisingly accurate," Kael chuckled a bit.

Elias looked pleased.

"I knew it."

"But I’m not going to tell you what I’m thinking," Kael said.

Elias’s smile disappeared.

"That part was unnecessary."

Darius chuckled as he began arranging the firewood.

A sudden rustle came from above.

Quinn dropped from a branch and landed on Kael’s shoulder.

"Qiu."

Kael turned his head toward the spider.

"What did you find?"

Quinn pointed toward the south.

"Tracks?"

"Qiu."

The spider nodded.

Darius immediately became attentive.

"How many?"

Quinn raised several legs.

Kael looked at Darius.

"Let’s check it out."

They left Mira at the campsite with Elias while Kael and Darius followed Quinn’s direction. They did not go far before Quinn stopped beside a patch of disturbed soil. Kael crouched down and examined the tracks. They were considerably larger than those left by the creature they had encountered earlier.

Darius studied them carefully.

"This is something big."

"Very big," Kael agreed.

"Do you recognize the tracks?" Darius asked.

"Not really."

Although Kael had a lot of knowledge about the monsters in this forest, he didn’t remember each one of their tracks.

Kael followed the trail with his eyes. The tracks continued south, toward the deeper part of the forest. He considered following them, but quickly dismissed the idea.

"Let’s leave them alone."

Darius looked surprised.

"I thought you wanted to investigate."

"I wanted to know what made them. Now we know it’s something large, and that’s enough for me. We don’t need to find out what it can do firsthand."

Darius nodded.

"Fair enough."

They returned to the campsite. By then, Elias was sitting beside the fire while Mira prepared a simple meal.

"You two found something?" Elias asked.

"Some large tracks," Darius answered.

"How large?"

"Large enough that you don’t want to meet whatever made them."

Elias glanced toward the forest.

"That’s a very encouraging description."

Kael sat down beside the fire.

"We’re staying here tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll continue south along the stream."

Mira nodded.

"That should keep us close to water."

"And give us a clear route."

Elias looked at Kael.

"You’re not thinking about following those tracks, are you?"

"No. We’re here to survive the examination, not collect every dangerous monster we happen to find."

Elias smiled.

"Good. I was worried you had suddenly developed a death wish."

"I have no plans to die during a school examination."

Darius laughed.

"That would be a pretty embarrassing way to go."

"Exactly."

There was a very specific reason Kael wanted to head in that direction.

The tracks they had discovered also led that way, but Kael knew better than to assume that it was much safer to stay here. The forest was too unpredictable for that. A seemingly quiet area could become dangerous within minutes, especially that there were already tracks showing some beast from the deepest part of the forest wandering around the outer region.

However, there was one particular location ahead that Kael knew they needed to reach. If they could make it there, they could spend the rest of their examination without worrying about any monsters’ attacks.

That was why Kael wanted to keep moving.

Unfortunately, the fight against the Bloodfang Direwolves had already drained most of his teammates’ strength. If they had been in better condition, Kael would have tried to convince them to continue advancing without stopping. Pushing forward now, however, would only risk exhausting them further and leaving everyone vulnerable to another attack.

He needed to consider everyone’s condition as well.

Kael himself had also spent a considerable amount of energy during the battle, especially while dealing with the direwolves at close range. Even so, he still had plenty left compared to the others.

The countless hours he had spent training were finally proving useful.

Kael glanced at his teammates before looking toward the southern part. They needed to keep moving, but there was no point pretending they could ignore their limits.

For now, recovering their energy came first.

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident.

After eating, Darius reinforced the campsite while Mira organized their supplies. Elias took the opportunity to scout the nearby area, and Quinn continued moving between the branches.

Kael used the quiet time to study the map. His finger stopped at the middle region. That was where the Moonlit Catacombs were supposed to appear. He had known about it long before the examination began. In the original game, it was easy to miss unless the player knew when and where to look.

Kael had no intention of missing it. The Lunar Sigil inside the catacombs was far too important. However, the strange behavior of the magical beasts had raised a possibility he did not like.

What if the dungeon had not appeared where it was supposed to? Kael reconsidered the thought.

He folded the map and put it away.

A few hours later, the sun had begun to descend.

As darkness gradually blanketed the Emerald Forest, the atmosphere among the students changed.

The forest that had seemed manageable during the day became an entirely different place after sunset. The fading sunlight disappeared beneath the enormous canopy, leaving only scattered patches of moonlight to illuminate the ground. Strange sounds echoed between the trees. Some came from insects and nocturnal birds, while others were far less familiar.

Across the forest, the teams settled into their chosen areas. Some immediately began preparing their camps. Others focused on gathering firewood, finding water, or establishing defensive measures before the darkness became complete.

Team 37 also continued preparing for the evening.

After inspecting the area, Kael helped Darius arrange the camping supplies.

"We should keep the fire small," Kael said. "We don’t want to make ourselves too noticeable."

Darius nodded as he placed another piece of wood beside the fire pit.

"Agreed. A larger fire would make things easier for us, but it could also attract something."

Mira sat nearby, preparing their food. Elias returned from scouting the surrounding area.

"I found nothing unusual," Elias reported. "At least, nothing that wanted to eat us."

Kael glanced at him.

"That’s encouraging."

Elias dropped onto a fallen log.

"I was hoping you’d say something more reassuring."

Kael responded with a quiet shrug of his shoulders.

At that moment, Quinn crawled onto Kael’s shoulder and let out a quiet chirp.

"Qiu."

Kael glanced at the white spider.

"You’re hungry already?"

"Qiu."

Quinn nodded eagerly.

Kael couldn’t help but smile.

He used to complain whenever Quinn ate too much, especially after the spider had started gaining weight from eating too much. But after watching Quinn’s hard work in keeping the team’s safety, Kael couldn’t bring himself to complain this time.

"Fine. You earned it."

Kael reached into his backpack and pulled out a small package of Beastfeed, a specially prepared food commonly given to familiars and magical beasts.

Quinn’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Qiu!"

"Don’t get too excited."

Quinn stared at the food, then at Kael.

Then back to the food.

"Qiu..."

Quinn eagerly accepted the food when Kael handed it over. The spider immediately began devouring it.

Kael watched for a moment before shaking his head.

"You’d think I would never feed you."

Quinn continued eating without showing the slightest interest in Kael’s words.

Kael smiled wryly.

The next moment, the one pack of Beastfeed disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Qiu!"

"What? You want more? No. We still have several days left," Kael felt like he was going to age very quickly.