Lost Fantasy-The Flowers of Stelis (Arc 2) [Hiatus]

Chapter 11

"It is," Tetuya answered with a sad light shining within him. "Made me feel like I could never catch up with him."

"You're exaggerating things," Loganel said.

"I'm sure Tetsuya you could do the same!" Sheriel added in.

"Hopefully," Tetsuya laughed.

The conversation finally steered towards an end, and the others returned to their brief moment of respite and rest. Marilin sat with Kaz by the fire as she added in fire wood into the small campfire, and Sheriel still remained by Tetsuya's side, trying her best to cheer him up. All of their interactions reflected in Loganel's eyes, drawing forth a small frown on his face. Without Azura, everything is just so different.

"Kaz," Tetsuya said to him after recovering his bitter mood, "wouldn't a crossbow fit more with your fighting style?"

"Crossbow?" Kaz glanced over at the bow that he hung on his back. "It has a slow rate of fire," he said, frowning. "Like it takes way longer to reload a crossbow than a normal bow. If there's just a way to fire multiple bolts before having to reload..."

"I might know someone who can do that," Loganel suddenly added in after recalling a specific elf that ran a shop with his sister.

"You do?" Kaz and Tetsuya looked over at Loganel with a surprise on their faces.

"I'm not sure though..." Loganel's voice decreased in volume as he realized the line of sights that gradually concentrated on him.

"That's great!" Kaz exclaimed.

"You can finally get that crossbow of your dreams now," Marilin smiled as she said that to Kaz.

"That should make our hunts and battles easier," Tetsuya nodded.

The conversation then progressed into something else of trivial value, mostly just casual chatters. Loganel remained quiet, only occasionally speaking when talked to, and just sat there trying to conserve energy and warmth. He felt that something was, once again, amiss with the situation.

Even though she's not the most talkative, Loganel thought, it is when she's gone that I realize how vital she is...

***

Their moment of brief respite soon ended and the hunt continued on. Because they didn't accepted any quests for the day, their goals for the day was to hunt monsters and collect the dropped items. Therefore, they continued on their search for suitable targets in the deep forest, with Kaz being the main scout in the search for his field of study at the Academy consisted of the Hunter School and the Assassin School.

Once again, Kaz was sent out first to spot and track any suitable targets. As he made his way through the winter forest, he looked up at the barren winter canopy of the trees above and at the cloudy sky. He could see small white particles slowly drifting down towards the earth from the ethereal heavens. Kaz huffed out a cloud of white mist and rubbed his hands together to prevent them from getting stiff from the frost. He then moved his fingers so as to keep the muscles warm, and continued on with his task.

The fallen snow soon piled up on the ground, creating a thin layer of the soft white particle on the ground. Kaz was indifferent by the snow due to how thin the snow layer and how recent the snowfall was. It did provide him with a benefit in the form that any creature that moved across the snow layers would leave behind an easy to track trail. However, this also applied to him as well. Therefore, it called for more caution on his part as well, but being a Felinoran, he's able to tread lightly on the snow so as to leave minimal footprints. In addition to that small benefit, it also harmed him as well since the snow would cover up any already existing tracks, forcing him to wait for new ones to be created.

After roaming the winter forest for a few moments, Kaz came across something that made him shiver from fear. This footprint that was imprinted in the snow was large, its width almost half his height. Kaz crouched down and placed his palm in the center of the print, feeling the faint sliver of warmth that emitted from it. From this, Kaz concluded that the creature that had left it had just recently passed by.

Immediately, Kaz became cautious of his surroundings. He erected to his full height and proceeded to carefully follow the trails. He continued on slowly, observing the surroundings for any hints of what the creature was and what it was capable of.

As Kaz followed the trail, he discovered numerous trees that were snapped in half with what appears to be sharp claws. Nearby, on the white snow covered ground, was a large pool of blood with a half eaten carcass of a large Horned Bull.

Kaz rubbed his hands together and huffed a breath of warm air into them. He nervously continued on, trying his best to keep his rapid breathing contained and silent. He knows that he was in dangerous territory, and that any mistakes on his part could result in his total annihilation by the monster.

He continued on following the trail, heart pounding rapidly in his chest as he walked. He carefully stepped on the ground so that his footsteps were inaudible and left no prints.

Soon, Kaz could smell the scent of the creature. It was a wild, bloody scent that was unmistakable. This is the scent belonging to an apex predator, a creature that belongs at the top of the food chain.

With the smell of the creature so close now, Kaz knew that he was close to finding the creature. Therefore, he became even more cautious in his approach by crouching as he walked so as to make himself less noticeable and more stealthy.

The trails of the beast soon led Kaz to a cave, and inside the cave, Kaz could hear the loud snoring noise belonging to the apex predator. It made no attempts to conceal its locations to others since it knew that no creature in this forest can pose a threat to it.

Slowly, Kaz backed up from the mouth of the cave. He was careful to not wake the beast, and when he got far enough, he began sprinting back to his party mates while maintaining a low profile and preventing any tracks to be left behind by him.

His breathing was heavy and his heart pounded heavily as he emerged from into the temporary camp of his party. He panted heavily as his party mates gathered around him with curious looks on their faces.

"What's the matter?" Marilin asked.

"We got something big," Kaz said in between breaths. "B-behemoth.

"Behemoth"?" Tetsuya repeated.

"Yeah," Kaz nodded. "A live Behemoth."