Chapter 49: Weird Beast Behaviour
Despite being the most experienced of his group, it was apparent that he wasn’t any different from the average Awakened. His equipment consisted of Genetic Armaments that could be bought quite easily after a couple years of hard work in the Origin Realm or gates, and his aura indicated he was only halfway to reaching the peak of F rank.
He likely saved most of his Origin Crystals instead of absorbing them to afford his Genetic Armaments, probably a gene too, only using the ambient Origin Energy in the air to cultivate
"Who are you?"
Not surprisingly, the leader spoke for the rest of his group.
"Uh... We’re just two passersby who happened to notice your battle on the path we were taking. All we wanted to do was wait it out and let you guys be on your way, but we felt obliged to take action once we noticed you guys would die if we let this Spike Beast catch you off guard."
Rohan took a second to choose his words, then blinked and answered carefully.
The last thing he wanted was a feud with a group of Awakened over a misunderstanding. Especially while Elane was injured.
The leader of the group narrowed his eyes.
"I see... well, thank you for saving us?"
Even he felt a bit awkward in this situation. How were you supposed to feel after finding out that you were just a pinch away from having a spike drilling into your back, but two strangers who suddenly showed up claimed to have saved you immediately afterwards?
He was right to be a little bit suspicious.
The others behind him looked to be of the same opinion — except for the two who were injured, who looked at the duo, especially Elane, with gratitude. Stumbling forwards, one of them approached their leader.
"Wait, Norm. Gerty and I had our attention elsewhere in the final moments and were able to witness the arrow piercing into the Spike Beast’s eyes. I think they’re telling the truth."
Norm, the leader, visibly relaxed his shoulders. He showed immense trust in his team by letting down his guard just from the hearsay of his comrade.
"In that case, let me thank you two properly. You truly did save our lives! Gerty and Liam might not be around if it weren’t for your quick action!"
’It’s not just those two who were in danger, but that’s none of my business now,’ Rohan thought.
Norm became much more enthusiastic now that some basic trust had been established. The others did so too, each expressing their gratitude in their own way.
"...I don’t know how we could have missed one so close; you really did save our asses back there."
Rohan gave a curt nod, trying not to play up their involvement.
"It worked out, and that’s all that matters."
He kept his tone even while his eyes moved past the group once more.
Now that the immediate danger had passed, the atmosphere seemed to be settling back into its usual rhythm. The same dead environment still greeted their eyes, but everyone seemed much more cheerful.
And yet...
Something still felt wrong in Rohan’s mind, and the leader of the other group, Norm, seemed to have sensed it too.
He was the only one of the six Awakened still with a frown on his face.
The Spike Beast lay dead a short distance away from him, both of their gazes lingering on it.
The thing acted way too smart for its species and rank. There was real thought and care behind every action it took, showing much more intelligence than instinct — the exact opposite of what should have been.
"Did you... notice anything off? With the beast, I mean."
Norm questioned Rohan with a somewhat expectant gaze.
’Bingo. Experience really does make a sharper mind.’
Rohan was happy that Norm had deduced it himself, as it saved him the trouble of having to awkwardly explain it to them.
"That’s right. It didn’t feel or act like a normal Spike Beast should."
That made the others pause and exchange looks between them. For the first time since the tension broke, their expressions shifted from gratitude back to unease.
"What do you mean?"
Norm’s frown deepened.
"I mean it acted like a human would, not like a beast would."
That simple sentence drained what little joy there was left in the group.
Everyone turned to look at the corpse at this point, with far less relief than before. However, they acted different than Rohan expected.
They looked... far more serious than either he or Elane.
"Do you guys know something we don’t?"
He took this chance to echo his concerns to them.
"This isn’t the first unusual thing we’ve encountered in here. You see, we’ve actually been stuck in this gate for nearly 7 days by now."
Rohan’s pupils narrowed to slits. He didn’t like where this conversation was heading. How could you get stuck inside a gate for so long? There was only one way that could happen...
"We found two waystones already, but both were piles of rubble. The first one we just went, ’Okay, that’s weird,’ but thought nothing more of it. After all, any number of things can cause a waystone to break. The most common reason is that they get caught in the crossfire of a battle. But as soon as we found the second one, we knew something was wrong with this gate."
Rohan looked grimly at the corpse beneath his feet.
It was hard to avoid it at this point.
One strange thing happening was just a funny story to tell others over a drink; two could be considered a coincidence.
But three? It could no longer be ignored.
"What did the destroyed waystones look like?" Rohan asked. A feeling in his gut told him that he wouldn’t like the answer.
He and Elane came across a pile of stones earlier on, darker than the other ones littered around the area. But at the time they just thought it was an interesting find and nothing more.
"We’re actually kind of lucky, because I once worked with a group in a gate and witnessed a waystone shatter in the aftershocks of a battle, so I could identify it at a glance. They looked like big piles of obsidian glass shards, matte black on their exterior and glossy on the inside."
’Fuck.’
That matched up with what he and Elane saw.
Which meant they had a problem.
Three destroyed waystones were a clear sign of deliberate sabotage. But who would go around and do such a thing? If they were ever caught, they’d be fined heavily by the government, as waystones were finite resources in gates. Once they were gone, that was it. There would forever be one less waystone inside, or in this case, three.
But everyone there knew the number had to be even higher than that. The gate averaged over 100 kilometres in diameter, and they just happened to discover three destroyed waystones in the small area they’d covered in their time inside? Yeah, you could bet your life savings on this being a recurring thing all over.
’And for this beast to be acting like this simultaneously... It’s odd for two things to go wrong at once, these two things have to be connected somehow.’