55 Chapter 21: The Forests of Sharoo (2/2)

Ragnee struggled to get Maria of her, as she wanted us to continue along the way. But when she tried to get up a creature similar to a monkey was hanging upside-down and blocked her path.

Surprised by the monkeys' sudden appearance she thoughtlessly let a high pitched squeal escape from her mouth.

”Kyaaaaa!”

The monkey then proceeded to climb up to relax in the tree. Laying down on its back, it grabbed a banana-like fruit to enjoy. As he began eating its fur too began having a faint glow making it blend with the environment. Moments later it faced Ragnee and started laughing.

Annoyed by the beasts' behavior Ragnee snapped and started arguing with the monkey.

”Kuuuuhhh!!! How dare you laugh after scaring a fair maiden!! Come down here this instant so I can give you a beating!!”

But the monkey didn't have a care in the world, much less he didn't care about a complete stranger ranting at him. After he finished his similar-looking banana, he threw down the shell and turned his back to us. As it proceeded to scratch its butt in the open the little guy soon fell asleep after.

Ragnee couldn't let it go and began shouting at the monkey.

”Damn you! Ignoring me.... a Ragnee?!”

I quickly jumped on Ragnee as I desperately tried to calm her down.

”Ragnee... come on, we have to stay quiet before other beasts begin to approach us.”

But when I closed in on her I had completely forgotten the shell of the fruit. As my sole hit the top, it became extremely difficult to stand as the surface was even more slippery as that of a normal banana.

Slipping past the point of recovery I crashed headfirst into Ragnee. As we both got into a really awkward position, even if it wasn't my intention we were now both laying on the ground with my face buried in her chest.

The monkey laughed his ass off for a moment, embarrassed and not knowing what to do Ragnee became overloaded with thoughts as she turned into a bright red tomato.

Finally, I surfaced as I couldn't breathe during this time.I looked at Ragnee wanting to apologize.

Everyone was holding their breath as they knew what had happened with men in the same situation as I was in right now.

Unaware why Ragnee had turned bright red I began to worry, gently putting my forehead against hers I asked if she was okay.

”Hmm... she is quite warm. Say, Sheila... do you have a fever?”

As the realization of what had happened soon followed, I quickly jumped up all startled.

Everyone who had known Ragnee for a longer period knew what was about to happen, as most men got slammed headfirst into the ground having to accept her fury.

Having heard the stories about her I quickly fell down on my knees and began apologizing over and over.

”I'm so sorry... I tried to help you, did not mean for the situation to escalate like this!”

Ragnee came closer as everyone expected her to pound me into the ground,instead... something no one had expected to come from her happened.

Ragnee held out her hand offering me to help me back up to my feet. Everyone could see she tried to act professionally while she was flustered beyond belief.

”I-it's o-okay... we have to start moving if we want to stay on schedule...”

As Ragnee raised me I thanked her and left for the others of the group she silently whispered something to herself.

”H-he called me by my first name! KYAAAA! Oh, I couldn't be happier hehehe!”

Ragnee quickly joined the team and made sure to navigate us in the right direction.After a while, we came standing in front of a fork in the road.

Three different paths leading to the unknown...

As Ragnee looked at the map to find out where we needed to go, others found something laying on the ground with a heavy stench towards the left path.

While Meiko and Kasim went to check it out, others were sent to scout the middle and right path. What they stumbled upon... was quite disturbing find, as it was a fresh corpse,completely devoid of blood... The victims' skin had been dried up like paper.

Almost like a mummy. Not knowing if what had done this was still close by,they quickly rushed back to the fork.

When the two returned they had to report their findings to Ragnee. But before they could give their report, Ragnee could see something was wrong.

Quickly she called everyone together as their faces had turned white from horror.

”What... what did you find?”

Ragnee asked worried about what they could encounter.

The two looked at each other, staying silent for a moment as they could not find the words to describe the horrific sight they had stumbled upon.

”Well... out with it already!”

Ragnee became worried as Karim finally stepped forward.

”I... don't know how today this... but on the road to the left we had encountered something horrific...

It appeared to be a human body completely drained of blood, when we closed in to observe we couldn't hold back as we didn't have the stomach for it...

The body was not only devoid of blood but a closer inspection we found that it was almost like it had shed its skin...”

”Why is that?”

”Because as we looked at it closely there were no bones or muscles or tissue other than its skin...”Wanting to know exactly what they were dealing with Ragnee throughout asked about the body, showing she was a true leader. Her worry began to become unbearable as she confirmed what she had suspected.

”Tell me, what did the body look like?”

”On closer inspection it wasn't like your normal shedding of the skin, in fact... the body was completely intact. As if the bones and muscle tissue had never existed...”

”And what about bruises of marks on the body?”

The girls had to think for a minute.

After a while Meiko took a step forward and joined the conversation.

”I'm not sure about what we saw back there, but the place where the eyes should have been, the sockets were completely empty. The victim still had all his clothes and equipment on him. Looking at what was left and taking the state of the carcass, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary...”

Everyone could see Ragnee's face turn white as she slowly realized her worst fears had become real.

”When was it that you found this?! Tell me, this is important!!”

The girls looked at each other as they hesitated to answer.

”Around an hour walk away, give or take?”

Shocked Ragnee warned everyone to move quickly as there was little time to explain the situation.

At that moment the other parties she had sent out to scout the area returned and quickly gave their reports. As the other routes had led to a dead end. Sooner rather than later, It became clear they had to take that route if they wanted to get to the caverns, The pathway towards the ruins…