Chapter 4 - Part 39 (Book 1 - Fantasy World)

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Raising the visor to his helmet, Klaus stared at something he didn't know what to think and something which made him break out into a cold sweat, understanding the implications of his discovery. His mind screaming at him for why he wasn't running immediately back to the group.

His horse snorted as if to tell him how he needed to follow protocol, especially after encountering something significant.

"I know," Klaus looked back at the horse before turning his head to observe what his lamp's light was illuminating and would likely haunt him for a long while. In front of him could only be described as a lake of blood, an amount so tremendous that it wasn't able to be absorbed by the ground. With a simple glance, he imagined the width to be several horses wide but not very deep. It wouldn't even leak into his footwear if he were to step into it -- though ridding the blood from them would be another matter.

If it hadn't been for his horse reacting to the smell of the blood in the air, he thought it would be unlikely that he would've stumbled upon the horrifying sight. His eyes slowly examined the red blood as he directed his lamp to provide better illumination. Though he wanted to increase the light by opening the shade more, a whisper in his mind warned against such action. The blood still glistened under the light, indicating that it wasn't a significant amount of time since the massacre had occurred.

There was a glimmer that captured his attention. Despite knowing that he should immediately retreat back to the group, he also knew it would be vital for the Lady Knight to have as much information as possible. As his body trembled like a leaf in the wind, he carefully moved closer and crouched to see what the light had discovered. His stomach immediately dropped upon finding out what it was. Jerking back, his feet were swift at helping him regain his balance so he didn't fall back onto the dirt or the blood.

It was a long deadly claw attached to the leg of what could only be a chowon gwemul. The long brown fur of the monster was drenched entirely in its own blood. Making sure not to step in the blood, Klaus attempted to get a better view. If compared to an individual, the place where it was cut off was just below the knee joint. Moving his lamp closer, the area of the leg where it was removed wasn't clean like it would be from a sword. His eyes widened upon realizing what the pattern reminded him of. The wound was jagged and messy, as though something had feasted on the chowon gwemul. Dined on something that made even trained soldiers nervous about encountering.

Raising his head to look at the immense pool of viscous red blood, a thought gradually came into focus. He remembered how the chowon gwemul was a type of monster traveling in packs when hunting prey, with their bodies longer than a horse.

Klaus felt his throat become dry. As the wind blew and made the grass around him sway, he jumped -- pulled out of his thoughts.

"What in the world could gorge on chowon gwemuls in their natural environment, and how could we not hear them?" His hands trembled as he stood.

Despite how being out in the grasslands and taking on a scouting task wasn't his first and something he was relatively familiar with, there was never a time when he felt so alone in the dark. Instead of the light being a solace to him, it made his surroundings darker, as though it was delaying and observing when would be an adequate time to devour him.

As the grass swayed in the wind, he couldn't help but imagine that it sounded closer to the rustling of insect wings. He couldn't help but shiver as his eyes tried to penetrate the dark. For a moment, Klaus thought about enhancing his senses to see if he could spot any additional clues but standing next to an enormous amount of relatively fresh blood removed the bravery he felt any other time. Backing away slowly while looking at the grass, he cautiously maneuvered closer to his horse.

"I think you're right about us getting back with the others," Klaus looked back to his horse which was digging into the ground with one of its front hooves. Even more, than him, it wanted to get away -- discipline being the only thing keeping it stationary and waiting for its rider.

Securing the lamp on one of the straps, he quickly jumped onto the back of it. Grabbing the reins, his eyes darted to the sky to check the position of the stars and figure out where the road would be located. The last thing he wanted to do was flee in the opposite direction of safety.

Off to his side, Klaus heard the sound of clicking noises and a deep low buzzing that seemed to reverberate in his chest. Not wasting even a second more, he adjusted his weight and signaled the horse to go into a full gallop, wanting to flee from whatever was making the unusual yet familiar sounds.

Despite the refreshing wind on his skin, he didn't pay any attention as he desperately moved towards the road leading to the Lady Knight and the others. He didn't even bother to check behind him to see if any monster was chasing after him. Still, there was no doubt in his mind that if he hadn't fled as quickly as possible, it was a real likelihood that he'd be consumed just like the pack of chowon gwemuls. As his horse galloped towards the road, he tried to ignore the stray thoughts in his mind, such as where the bodies were.

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Valessandria tried not to think about their horses as they quickly moved through the grassland, the dread in her chest not having faded. She couldn't help but feel the sense that they were being hunted was related to her instincts. It urged her that they needed to get out of the area as soon as possible.

Though the moon and stars above were the same as any other night, there was nothing ordinary about their current circumstances.

Despite feeling fatigued, she was only able to push herself further thanks to the thoughts racing through there mind.

"A horse!"

She turned her head to look back at one of the students tasked with using sensory magic to detect anything out of the norm.

"I hear it as well!" The second student chimed in on the same side as the first.

Hearing that two of the students on the same side had detected the sound of a horse, she couldn't help feeling relieved to know it could be one of the scouts sent out ahead of them. The fact that the scouts hadn't returned was one of the factors that made their surroundings feel far more dangerous than usual. So to hear that one of the scouts could be returning and with potential information that could shed light on what they could expect made her smile with relief.