20 Chapter 19: First Blood (1/2)
With nothing else to do but get to, they set off down the beaten bath leading through the trees. Luca took his position next to Mother in the formation and Steel took her place next to him. 2Face went to the back, his face hard and unreadable as Tatiana set the pace and made sure the group moved faster than she had initially intended. She was already irritated that it had taken so long. She looked back just once to make sure her team was following her.
Luca had to change his original thoughts regarding the maul he was carrying. It was large and cumbersome, and at the first chance he got, Luca planned on ditching the weapon for something better. He wasn't going to be some brute or some beater smashing things with a hammer. If his dad had taught him anything, it was that you can't brute force your way out of all of your problems, sometimes you have to finesse, and sometimes you have to just endure.
The five of them walked along in silence, setting down that winding path towards the ability shop. Though the road doubled as a game trail, not once did Luca see a single animal that was using it. That's a bad sign. I'm pretty sure, Luca thought to himself with a sigh of boredom as he scanned the horizon.
The path they were on led them down a steep incline. Deeper into a dark forest that seemed to extend far off into infinity. It did not take long for the dungeon gateway suspended on the island behind them to completely disappear, hidden by the trees, and eventually lost beyond the horizon.
Everything looked the same, and that made Luca extremely anxious. As far as he could tell, there was no way for him to figure out the cardinal direction, and he couldn't see any sort of discernable landmarks by which to navigate. Helpless, that's what he was. Luca had no idea where they were headed, and was glad for the moment to have somebody else guiding the group.
The facts though, didn't sit well with him. Luca knew if the group left him behind, or if he was separated from them somehow, he would never find his way back to the gate. Luca knew he would wander aimlessly out here until dying. The thought was sobering. Once again, Luca was in a position where he depended on other people for his survival, and he hated every second of it.
Regardless of his tumultuous feelings, they all walked along in silence, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention on themselves. Each of the members of their group keeping their heads on a swivel, looking for hidden enemies, traps, and the occasional opportunity for loot that presented itself. When Luca saw Tatiana start to ease up, he knew they were making good progress to their destination. She had been strongly driven to get them there quickly.
It took a while for Luca to catch on that Mother was the one keeping the pace count. Luca watched as Mother kept shifting rocks from one hand to another in the center of the formation, holding up a finger every time they had walked another mile. It was one of the many things Luca was steadily starting to notice. Above their heads, a grating noise could be heard. The loud shuffling of tree limbs and the falling of leaves made Luca wince each time he heard it, but whatever it was causing the sound never appeared, and the others didn't seem too worried about it, and in this, Luca knew he was the rookie, if they weren't worried, he wouldn't be either.
At least that's what he told himself, but even then, Luca couldn't get his heart to stop frantically beating in fear every time he heard the noise. A noise that followed them and never stopped. The first time that Luca tried to mention it, Mother politely but firmed rebuked him, ”It's just first-time jitters Luca. We all get those. Plenty of things crawl around here, but nothing we need to worry about yet not until we're a lot deeper into these woods.”
The second time he tried to bring it up, Luca dropped back a little, trying to catch 2Faces attention. ”Hey, I think I hear something above us. Its been following us since we got here and started walking through the woods. I think you should tell Tatiana and find out what she should do.”
2Face glared at him, dismissing Luca's warning outright. ”This is what? Your first time here and suddenly you think you know the sounds of monsters better than the rest of us? We've all made this trip hundreds of times. If you start freaking out, it won't matter how much potential they think you have. You'll get left behind if you become a problem, so shut your mouth, get back in formation, and just hope they have some good abilities when we get to the shop to make this whole trip worth it.”
Sullenly, Luca got back into formation, but not once did he avert his eyes, and not once did he stop hearing the sounds from above.
After they had been walking for a few miles, the group finally encountered their first monster. Tatiana raised her hand, making a fist telling the group to stop. Pointing outwards with her index finger at the rustling of underbrush up ahead of them, just a bit off the path. Luca could see a cloven paw reach through the underbrush as a pig snout followed behind it. Sniffing on the ground as it used its razor-like tusks to shift through the dirt looking for roots and grubs. After it had found what it was looking for, the pig-like thing grasped the roots in its mouth, tearing the roots upwards out of the ground and shoved them down into its gullet, making loud disgusting sounds of contentment after.