149 It really is unusual. (1/2)

Only when it was night again did Clive allow the group to rest. By now, the convoy was already at the area's boundaries, which was previously covered with fog.

There were many encounters with wild Beasts during the journey, but fortunately, they weren't a threat to the group.

Although Clive wanted the group to keep moving until they were finally out of danger, he also knew that it wouldn't be worth the risk to move at night. The stealth abilities of the nocturnal Beasts made even the Rank-7 Mages to remain on their toes!

This time, they had found a small stream flowing through the jungle. The space around it was mostly devoid of the thick trees, so the group decided to camp here. It was a perfect place to rest after continuously walking all day.

Clive also did not want the group to make camps here since the stream was a dangerous place to rest. The Beasts in a jungle always knew where the freshwater source was. And this meant that they would have to deal with more Beasts than usual if they stayed here for the night.

But he couldn't say no when Clara insisted on setting up the tents in this place.

The mercenaries all had varied reactions. Some did not care about where they rested and just wanted to drop on the ground, while some were anxious to stay the night near a running body of water.

Meanwhile, the trio was as uncaring as ever. Raven and Blaze were all smiles all day because of their recent improvements. They were finally strong enough to be of some help to Ozul. Nothing better could happen at this time.

On the other hand, Ozul was fine with whatever. He could feel more presence than usual in the surroundings, but it was only because of the stream flowing through here.

With five pitch-black small spheres moving right before his eyes, he found a spot against a tree nearby and sat with his back against the trunk.

”Should I set up the tent?” Raven asked while Blaze looked around the spot to find anything unusual.

”Let it be,” Ozul said with a low voice while looking at the sky. After so many days, he could finally see the sky clearly. He wanted to enjoy it for a while.

Raven also looked at the sky, but she just couldn't enjoy what Ozul did. The Moon reflected off of the almost-still stream, creating a captivating scene that would seduce just about any grandmaster painter on the continent.

However, she also knew that Ozul did not care about any of this scene. All he wanted to look at was the empty void behind the Moon and all those stars.

Though sometimes, even Raven had to admit that when she gazed at the vast nothingness for too long, something inside her pushed her towards it. What was it exactly? She wasn't sure. She could only hold Ozul responsible for this to influence her subconscious.

When Blaze came back after checking the surroundings, he saw Ozul looking deeply at the sky while Raven at Ozul.

The more subconscious control he had on the Ball of Purity, the better it was for him. It would take too much time to protect himself against any hidden attacks if he first thought to create a shield. But if it were all instinctive, it would take even a hundredth part of the second before he would be wrapped in the black cocoon.

Slowly, the mercenaries set up the camps and secured the area around them. However, they had to kill some Beasts who were lurking around in the process.

Clara had opened the window of her wooden cabin as she sat on the chair, gazing at the big Moon in the sky while occasionally looking towards Ozul's direction. After a while, she could only sigh in defeat and closed the window to rest for the day.

———————

Just like that, the night passed, and the day arrived.

As usual, the Beasts were always the first to wake up as the group could already hear the war cries.

”Pack up!” Clive's shout made everyone jump to their feet. A few minutes later, the convoy was again ready to move out.

Their routine repeated every day, and time started to pass like the wind.

In the blink of an eye, two whole weeks passed!

During this time, the group did not have any exciting encounters that could be mentioned.

Raven and Blaze tried to familiarize themselves with their newfound abilities, while Ozul did his usual thing of not caring about anything.

There were many times where he wanted to take off on his own again, but he stopped only because he realized that it wasn't certain that he would find something interesting.

These days, the group was quick on their feet since their whole month had passed continuously looking at the trees. They just wanted to get out of this jungle now and look at different scenery.