Chapter 200: Exploring the West
"Remember, scout and retreat. Go in a straight line and back." Asher said—emphasizing the plan. "If you find the Noble Star Beast, do not engage. Just mentally mark the location—and return here in about an hour. We’ll attack it together."
"What about us?" Kai asked. "Our task is to gather the precious minerals in this Sky Gate."
"Do you really want to mine instead of watching us take down the last Noble Star Beast?"
"It’s not a matter of want. It’s a matter of responsibility."
"..."
For a good second, Asher looked at Kai with an unreadable gaze, and then he laughed.
"Of course. Responsibility." Asher nodded. "You can mine the Osmaz Ore along the way. It’s the ore mainly used to make corruption radars and the main component to make corruption-resistant weapons. It’s characterized by the smoke it emanates, making it easy to spot."
Kai nodded, as that’s what he wanted to know.
He came here mainly to help them gather precious materials, not to sightsee.
It would look bad for him and the others to return without mining anything at all.
Asher then approached Grines.
"Just a second, everyone." He said while guiding Grines to the side. "I need to talk with him."
Kai and Bree watched as the two went further away to talk.
"Well, that pause was rather odd," Bree said, crossing her arms under her chest.
"Yes—It’s like he forgot what the porters are even here for. Didn’t he say he needed a helping hand to gather all the precious materials?"
"He did say that, but maybe because the academy required him to bring along porters—since there are multiple summoning-type Star Beasts. Either way, what do you think? Do you think he’s going to do something?"
"I have a feeling he would. I don’t know for what reason, but we should watch our backs."
"I fully agree with that."
Moments later, the groups separated into three smaller groups that spread to find the Noble Star Beast. The portal was located on the southern part of this valley—so the path behind them would only lead to the edge.
"Stick close to me, okay?" Grines said without looking. "I’ll handle everything."
Kai and Bree looked down at his dagger-wielding hand and saw it shaking.
"Are you sure you’re going to be fine, senior?" Bree caught up to him—and asked. "Have you even traversed a Sky Gate alone like this? If you’re not confident enough, we really don’t mind giving you a hand."
"It’s okay," Grines assured Bree with a faint smile. "Like your friend said, responsibility. This is my responsibility, not yours. Besides, I’m from a stronger group than Asher’s. I’ve handled exploration of a Sky Gate alone."
"That’s great. Oh, senior, what did you talk about with Asher?"
"..."
"If it’s about your situation, then we know, so there’s no need to hide it."
"Panas told you, huh... That kid. Asher told me that he’ll let me be the one to land the killing blow to the last Noble Star Beast. But he also said many things could go wrong in a battle, so he couldn’t guarantee it."
Asher is encouraging Grines to take a risk. Is he targeting Grines?
Kai’s brows dropped in a frown.
He couldn’t trust Asher despite the kind air that felt more like a fabricated mask.
It was his gut feeling, and he was certain that Asher and his squad were hiding something.
Now, there’s a chance that it might be Grines.
But why...? No, that’s not important. What’s important is that we’re right beside Grines.
Assuming that Asher was really aiming for Grines—then Kai and Bree were in trouble. Being near someone who was targeted is not a good idea, especially when this involves seniors who are stronger than they are.
"Are you going to risk fighting the Noble Star Beast alone, then?" Bree asked.
"I... I don’t know." Grines exhaled through his nose. "Maybe."
"Isn’t that too dangerous?"
"I made a mistake. I’m the one to blame for the situation I’m in. Panas... I can’t let him suffer because of my mistake. Even if it’s really dangerous, I need to do my best to make sure he’s unharmed. That kid, he never said it aloud, but I know he believed that the future had no room for him. He thought he’d always needed me to help him. Be a parasite to me. But he didn’t know that I was the one who needed him."
Kai and Bree feel the melancholy from behind the tusked mask.
Both of them could tell that Panas is the only reason Grines kept going until now.
"I believe you can do it," Kai said encouragingly. "As long as you have something to protect— then you most certainly will succeed."
Grines nodded, but then his senses caught something.
Swoosh—!
From behind a massive slab of grey-streaked stone, shadows emerged.
Oversized animals, predators and prey alike, were coming straight at Grines, Kai, and Bree as if they were drunk with madness. Bigger than their surface counterparts. A tiger led the charge— muscles coiled beneath striped fur as it launched forward with claws flared and fangs bared.
Kai and Bree shifted into defensive stances out of instinct, but Grines already moved first.
He met the tiger mid-leap, plunging his dagger up through the soft underside of its jaw before the claws could find his throat. The beast’s momentum carried it over him, and he seamlessly ducked beneath its flailing limbs and ripped the blade free with a pull.
By the time the tiger hit the ground, Grines had already unsheathed his second dagger.
It’s a grade-1 enchanted weapon but has no origin.
Not that he needed it.
"Legacy Imprint: Tusks of Wrath!"
Swish—!
Golden mana erupted along the daggers, sheathing the steel in radiant energy that elongated their reach and sharpened their bite. Grines did not wait for these wild, feral animals to come to him.
He charged into them first.
And what followed was not a duel. It was butchered by raw strength.
A boar lowered its tusks to block, and Grines cut through the ivory like dried wood before he sliced the dagger to its eyes, blinding it before he kicked it away. A mountain lion swiped its claws with paws the size of dinner plates.
Grines caught the limb mid-swing with his daggers and brute-forced it to open the cat’s neck.
He was a meat grinder in human form.
Precision gave way to overwhelming force, and agility yielded to sheer power, which made it obvious that his divine bloodline is that of a Divine Beast. None of the oversized wild animals could touch him.
But one slipped through.
A goat with spiky, curving horns lowered its head and charged straight at Kai.
Its hooves pounded the grey grass.
Kai tensed, ready to meet it, but he assumed too quickly.
Grines crossed the distance in three thunderous steps and planted himself between them. He crossed his arms and caught the goat’s blind charge against his braced forearms. The impact was strong enough to push him back a step, but not enough to hurt him too much.
Just numbness that he could ignore.
Showing no mercy, he uncrossed his arms in a violent outward swing.
Both golden-edged daggers bisected the goat cleanly through the chest, and the halves hit the dirt with a dull thud. Silence enveloped the area again. A dozen oversized animals lay dead— in the grey moss; their carcasses mangled and their blood pooled underneath.
Grines straightened, flicked the gore from his blades, and glanced back.
"All good?" He asked.
"Yes," Kai answered after a stunned pause.
"All good." Bree raised a thumb-up. "Not even the blood reached us."
Grines nodded and focused his attention back on the carcasses again, "These wild animals are summoned minions, that’s for certain. That means the Noble Star Beast is somewhere nearby or in the north."
It’s likely that the Noble Star Beast was nearby.
But there’s a chance these wild animals are separated from it, so the direction from which it came should be where the Noble Star Beast was. Either way—the group continued onward to find more clues.
Not forgetting to harvest the null fragments, of course.
"Distract him," Kai whispered to Bree.
Bree nodded and struck up a conversation with Grines again, talking about Panas.
Behind, Kai channeled his mana from his Primordial Locks and cast the Black Starfall.
A black star manifested on his hand, and he threw it upward.
Once it hung directly above them, a pulse of translucent black energy rippled outward.
Kai cast his senses wide—tracking the presences in the area. He sensed five wild animals. He summoned four more black stars to extend the scan, sweeping deeper into the terrain, only to find a few more wild animals.
Nothing else.
His mastery over the Black Starfall Imprint had grown.
Now, he could sense where the presences were.
All of them were on their right side, which meant they were coming from the north.
Just as Grines said, the Noble Star Beast might be in the north or northwest.
A few more minutes of walking, the group saw the greenery edge of the forest to their right, which further confirmed that the Noble Star Beast was northwest or north. Either way, despite wanting to fight the Noble Star Beast, Grines paused the search.
He allowed Kai and Bree to harvest a few Osmaz Ores—glassy black stones lodged inside the slab of rock. Unlike mana ores, the surrounding stone had not hardened from mana exposure, so they could simply shatter the rock around each ore and pluck it free.
Not much Osmaz Ores in the area.
Only about a dozen of them.
Kai plucked and stored the last one before rising to his feet again.
He looked to the other side and found Bree was still harvesting the last one on her side.
Since this was the end of the western edge of the territory—which was a steep horseshoe-shaped slope that curved inward like a natural amphitheater that funnelled all movement through a single wide gap—there was nothing left to explore.
It was time for Kai and the others to head back and report their findings.
Just as Kai headed to inform Grines that he was done, his senses picked up something.
A faint trace of mana.
He turned to the rubble of rock to check.
Noticing that it was coming from under one oddly placed rock, Kai lifted it with both hands and shoved it aside. It was heavier than he anticipated, but when the rock was out of the way, he found something underneath it.
He found a small bowl-shaped crater that was filled with golden liquid.
Kai dropped into a crouch and studied the dark smear with a deepening frown.
He pressed a finger into it, raised it to his nose, and inhaled. His frown sharpened. "Wine...?"
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