Desecration Chapter109: A Path Of Twists, A Path Of Turns

We abandoned the road long ago in search of our quarry.

It led north east in the hopes of bypassing the greater dangers that hid here. The north was filled with winding paths, as well as certain parts of the empire proper. Travelers had the monsters to thank for that.

There were dozens of roads that served the sa purpose, as well as scouting jobs to gauge the monster activity surrounding each.

Sotis none of them were considered safe and a new one had to be paved so that the rchants could circulate their goods. That hadn't happened in a few years from what I'd been told, the sheer magnitude of paths ant that it was getting harder to find one that wasn't safe.

We were hunters so we didn't give much of a damn for safety.

Loklan had us take the road that would lead us to the Orakra quickest, damned be the dangers. It was good practice at least. and Xae saw plenty of combat when a monster we could handle on our own decided that suicide was the way to go.

I got a few scrapes but those were simple to heal at this point.

Then, when we no longer had a use for the simple creation of society, we stepped into the wilds.

One step at a ti, slogging through the mud of spring and making ourselves known to animals and monsters both. Attention wasn't a thing Loklan seed to care for, which clashed with his usually cautious deanor. I found that a bit strange but the rest took it in stride. I finally got to fight a Rondu Boar! One that was attached to the elent of mud. Didn't manage to kill it, but my blade did whole lot more than Xae's because of its weight combined with the force I could generate.

Still just scratches. The ever-flowing muck was very effective as a defensive layer. Loklan cutting it down with just a handful of swings peeved a little.

Carving it up was a pain in the ass because of the aforentioned mud. New gunk stopped forming, but the old excretions still had to be cleared.

We took its organs and so at for the road. It was descent enough to munch on when we camped for the first night, though I wasn't a fan of the taste. Kinda reminded of dark chocolate, except it was also spicy.

Weird.

Didn't get the night watch unfortunately. Nor did I get to stay up and train.

Loklan decided to take Aira's side more proactively it seed.

"This is not a ga," the elk-man grunted. "We're in a land populated with bloodthirsty monsters, we can't afford to be at anything but our best. I thought you of all people would at least understand that much."

"It's just magic training, my tolerance will be fine," I grumbled.

He shook his head. "It isn't just that. You were careless when fighting today. When was the last ti you slept?"

"Does it matter?"

"That is an answer all on it's own. No, you will rest tonight and the night after to be sure, then we can go with the original plan."

The smug grin Aira gave earned her a scowl. I did as I was told and went to sleep like a good little apprentice. It wasn't like there a reason I was forcing myself to stay awake. It was a test to see if the Word would progress faster the longer I avoided sleep. It was working, for both awake

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and nd, but only if I looked at it from their progress since fully realizing the Words.

Progress was still incredibly slow compared to when they were partial Words. Still, I'd take whatever I could get.

It was just my luck that Loklan's declaration to the guild that we'd be hunting one of the greater monsters ca only five days after. The normally reserved man made a whole show of it, covering the entire day's tab and boasting of our future kill.

I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole city learned of this venture from how hardcore he advertised.

I thought he was better than that but I guess even he couldn't overco the need for social glory.

The second day, ironically enough, involved more monsters but less fighting.

Oni's, Berks, Dolln (more tolerance!), Atrus Arenias, Tetragim, and a whole host of others whose nas had slipped my mind.

I studied most of them, so even I knew that and Xae would've only been a hindrance to the proper monster hunters. Sa with the Orakra, but apparently Loklan wanted us to see what a greater monster looked like?

Went like that for a few days as we kept trying to find the damn thing. As we were approaching a week, Kerro decided to voice what we were all thinking.

"Sure your info's right, ya ungulate bastard?" the man grumbled. "Them many-legs ain't the type to hide their tracks. If one 'o the bastards was prowling about then we would've at least caught wind by now."

Loklan looked over his shoulder and shrugged. "My sources are reliable, and you know how big the forest is. We've only just begun scouring."

"I'd like to et these 'sources' 'o yours," Kerro scowled.

"You already have, rember Garland?"

"Garland?! You're taking directions from that booze addled cunt?" Kerro yelled.

"That seems...unwise," Gren added.

Loklan scoffed but returned his gaze forward. "I know how to deal with the worm. He's got a reliable network of informants in the scouts. Better than the guild's even."

"If we ignore that he's a gangster," Aira said. "Then sure, I could see you getting so honesty out of him. But he's got actual backers to protect him from the blowback of one of his pranks."

"I know what I'm doing and don't appreciate the inquiry into my competence."

"Just don't want to be wasting our ti is all," Kerro said.

"We are not."

With that the conversation was over and we kept searching high and low. I was fine with it, as the essence I'd been earning actually managed to make my chest burn at points.

Aira said that was a very good sign.

Itched though.

We ended up travelling pretty far into the wilds before we got sothing of a hint that the orakra was around.

The corpses of a bunch of scale wolves, slaughtered around the field and left untouched, oozing from their bodies was so kind of grey puss. Poison. Strange poison that manifested in strange ways.

Loklan pointed to the slaughter with a smug smile on his face, though I did get a whisper of...shock?

Huh. Strange.

"Alright, alright," Kerro said. "I'm sorry for doubtin' ya, big beefcake that you are."

"Apology accepted," Loklan chuckled.

Gren huffed. "This was still much deeper than we were led to believe. Any further and we might have co across sothing...unpleasant."

"I'm sure we'd've been fine, aight that right Aira?"

Aira shrugged and turned to Loklan. "So is there an actual plan to keep the kids alive when we find the thing?"

"Hey!" Xae protested. "We can take care of ourselves."

"They'll watch from a distance," Loklan grunted.

Xae looked scandalized at the betrayal from her ntor. That earned her a chuckle from little old .

"Did you actually think we'd be helping with the monster?"

Xae whirled on with a scowl. "Of course! What's the point of bringing us otherwise? To kill a bunch of lesser monsters?"

"It's so that you can see how greater monsters are handled," Loklan grunted.

"That's pointless! 'Greater monster' is such a broad term that sohow Diods and wendigo's are considered a part of the sa bracket."

I humd. "She's not wrong."

"Experience will still be valuable." Gren shrugged. "Best to take what you can get and grow from it, or would the two of you prefer to have been left in the city?"

That shut Xae up with a grumbled. I shrugged.

I was happy with what I'd already gotten out of this, so in my opinion it was a win.

Aira chuckled. "Kids, always so eager to rush into—"

Glass.

The length of my forearm and just as wide interrupted my ntor by punching through her skull. We all shut our mouths in surprise and stared in silence, watching Aira stumble forward and mumble out sothing incomprehensible.

She blinked.

She fell.

The silence was broken by a rry laugh from behind us.