Chapter 154: These aren’t the marks of a beast

Even at night, the guards were on high alert, especially after what had just happened not too long ago. They patrolled in groups, with one facing a direction, and communicated with each other through their spirit beasts.

Nyalok, used to the patrol patterns, led Kanan through the village until they reached the dock. It was easy to avoid the guards, even the ones holding torches, but the spirit beasts were the real issue.

They could sense the slightest movement of spirit energy, so Kanan and Nyalok had to travel without using their energy, perfectly evading the eyes of the beasts so they wouldn’t be spotted.

Upon reaching the docks, there were even more guards present. It only made sense since this was the only way into the village, at least the only formal way, and it had the most action recently.

But Nyalok pointed at the water, telling Kanan to jump in.

’In that nasty swamp water? You must be out of your mind!’ Kanan motioned

’You didn’t have a problem being in the water when you were fighting against the gator beasts!’ Nyalok responded

’That’s different! It was a life-or-death battle. Let’s fly instead.’ Kanan pointed at the sky

’No, we swim!’ Nyalok pointed at the water.

’Fly!’

’Swim!’

’Fly!’

’Swim!’

’Fine!’ Kanan relented and dove into the water.

Of course, they both had no idea what the other was saying, but based on their body language, they were pretty much able to grasp each other’s intentions.

Since Kanan was in front of Nyalok, she grabbed his leg and pulled him behind her, as she was the one who needed to lead. The net was already back operational, so she used her tortoise spirit beast to dig a trench underneath it, allowing them to pass underneath the net.

Once on the other side, the trench was patched, and Nyalok zoomed through the water, Kanan using his spirit energy to swim extremely fast as well.

He had never thought about using his spirit energy to enhance his swimming capabilities since the most water he had ever seen in this life was a river.

Granted, the river was large enough to drown in for experienced swimmers, and it was extremely wide, but it wasn’t open water like a swamp.

According to Kanan’s observation, the swamp was around the size of a lake, so the water was pretty deep. And as he could see, infested with animals native to the swamp.

’How can Nyalok swim so fast?’ Kanan wasn’t just using his spirit energy to make him swim faster; he was using it to propel himself, as if he were flying underwater. Still, he wasn’t faster than those gator beasts, and apparently, Nyalok herself.

Swimming for a good distance, using spirit energy to preserve air, Nyalok finally resurfaced and walked onto one of the places where land was visible, Kanan resurfacing moments later.

"You’re slow."

"You’re just too fast. I’ve never had to swim like that before."

"Haha, don’t worry, Kanan." She leaned into his ear. "I’m not this fast when mating."

’Ah, yes, the life of a Stone Age woman, attracted only to the strong.’

"This is where the scouts set up their camp usually. I believe that it would be best to start here."

Kanan looked around, trying to see if he could spot anything out of the ordinary. Maybe tracks, flattened plants, man-made changes to the terrain, and so on. But there was nothing he could find.

"Tell me, Nyalok, do the scouts stay on land?"

"No. Scouts are trained to work in the treetops. Look up; you should see carvings on the trees. Those indicate how far they are from the village. Currently, there is only one notch on the tree, meaning that the village is one hour away."

"I see. Are there other spots around here like that? In the trees, I mean?"

Nyalok nodded. "Yeah, follow me." She leapt onto the large, thick tree branches of the swamp and began racing through the treetops.

Kanan followed closely behind, not missing a single detail of his surroundings. They would pass carvings onto the tree barks, a message of some kind for scouts.

Nyalok informed Kanan of some places meant for resting, places to hunt, how long it took to reach certain spots in the swamp, and more. It was a very impressive system, one that Kanan decided on adopting when returning home.

As they continued to hop from branch to branch, Nyalok noticed something weird in the trees.

"Hold on, what is that?" She rubbed her hand against the bark.

"Claw marks?" Kanan wondered

"No, not claw marks. Gator beasts are the only predators in these parts that have claws, but they aren’t able to climb this high. You might see their claw marks toward the base of the trees, but never up here. These...These are marks made from a weapon."

This could only mean one thing.

"There was a fight here," Kanan concluded.

"It would appear so." Now Nyalok was starting to worry. If a fight had broken out, then that would mean that someone attacked them. As for why, she had no idea and wanted to know as well.

"Could it be the Uprooter Plant?" She wondered

"Could be, but we don’t know for sure. But we need to be wary. I’m immune to the plant’s influence; you’re not, so if we encounter it, I’ll engage, and you support me."

"Oh? Protecting me already? You’d think we’re mates."

Kanan sighed. "Let’s just see if there are any more markings like this. If a fight truly broke out, I doubt that it would be contained to this small space of a tree, especially with no blood."

They continued searching the trees, finding more and more battle marks, each of them getting lower and lower to the ground until they happened to find footprints.

With how circular and sporadic the footprints were, Kanan and Nyalok concluded that the fight definitely moved to this spot. And if that wasn’t enough evidence to go off of, then the trail of blood would have proven their case.