252 Chapter 252: Inside the Spiritual Road (2/2)
He was obviously referring to the other students participating in the Spiritual Road camp. They might wait to see if we exhaust ourselves fighting against the Fiery Ape, and then swoop in to take advantage of our momentary vulnerability. Sort of the hunter waiting for two tigers to battle it out and wound each other severely before he dives in and takes both of them out in one fell swoop. Even if we didn't expend all that much mana, we would still be revealing our hand by showing our future opponents what sort of magic or techniques we could use.
”I could kill the Fiery Ape in just one hit before it can call its comrades,” Craig said confidently as he twirled his spear almost leisurely.
”But what's the point?” I asked.
”Huh?” Everyone turned toward me. I shrugged.
”What's the point of randomly killing a single monster when it hasn't noticed us? We might as well just avoid it instead of wasting energy. You guys speak of killing so easily, taking away a life as if it's nothing more than a flip of your hand. It's not attacking us at the moment, so what exactly is the point of killing it other than…I don't know? It's not as if we'll be getting any blood token from its corpse?”
Even if the Fiery Ape was a monster, it was still a living, breathing thing. There was no reason to casually take its life just because we could. If it was no threat to us and wasn't bothering us, why should we kill it? Because it was a monster? There was no benefit to killing it other than exposing our position and leaving clues that we had been here.
”Because it's a monster?” Craig replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ”All monsters are innately hostile toward humans.”
”I don't doubt that, but I'm just pointing out that we can just currently leave it alone instead of exposing our position and leaving behind a trail. If the Fiery Ape's swarm finds its corpse, don't you think they will come after us for revenge? That will put us at a disadvantage, especially if we happen to be engaging one of the other student groups.”
Monsters, despite being seemingly not sentient, were extremely cunning. They were known to display an extraordinary amount of intelligence, setting up ambushes, recognizing two different groups of humans and exploiting rivalries to their advantage. Humans were not the only ones who knew of the hunter and two tigers' principle.
”You're saying that they'll figure out who killed their comrade?” Craig asked incredulously.
”Yeah. Monsters are pretty sensitive to mana signatures. They'll detect your mana on the Fiery Ape you killed…especially since it emanates pretty visibly from your spear.”
”Richard has a point,” Lily agreed. ”I've heard of monsters being able to detect specific human mana signatures from up to a mile away and identify particular human targets.”
”If they come after us, let them,” Craig sneered, tightening his grip on the spear. ”I'll slay all of them. They're just rank C monsters.”
”That's still a fairly high rank,” Harrison pointed out. ”Richard has a valid point. We don't want to earn the grudge of the Fiery Apes…not unless we can lure all of them in and wipe out the entire swam in one fell swoop.”
”But should we engage in such a large-scale battle so soon?” Theodore asked. ”We've to be careful. We don't want to attract the attention of the other student this early in the game and give our magic away.”
In any case, the decision was made for us. The Fiery Ape grunted, and glanced to the side before leaving. I sighed in relief, but that feeling was short-lived when someone screamed.
The Fiery Ape bellowed and beat its chest, flames blazing across its crimson fur, before it bounded in the direction of the scream. From that direction, I could hear more roars from other Fiery Apes in the distant. Then the unmistakable sensation of spells being cast in the distance, mana bursts from elemental projectiles launched at the Fiery Apes.
Someone else had run into the Fiery Apes' comrades, and they had called for the entire pack to descend upon the poor dudes.
”What should we do?” I asked.
”I vote we follow them.” Craig was grinning. ”If we can watch how the other students fight, we'll be able to find out more about their techniques and magic.”
”Yeah, that sounds like the best plan. Let's go!” Harrison, taking charge, issued an order, and we all immediately broke into a run, following him.
”Aren't you glad you listened to Richard?” Lily asked Craig as we followed the Fiery Ape while keeping a respectable distance. The black-haired spearman scoffed.
”Well, yeah.” He shifted his spear from one hand to another. ”I don't like just watching, though.”
”If the other students really can't fight the Fiery Apes off, we should help them,” I suggested. Harrison and Lily looked at me as if I was mad, but Craig laughed.
”I'm with you on that!”
”Me too.” Theodore was smiling, probably knowing what sort of person I was by now.
”…well, it makes sense to have somebody in our debt,” Harrison reckoned somewhat reluctantly. ”And you're right. I probably won't feel comfortable leaving someone to die right in front of me.”
With that matter decided, we continued to pursue the grunting Fiery Ape as it lumbered deeper into the forest.