Chapter 349 Volume V - Chapter 67: Fear and Respect of Wolves
The green radiance of the sky fell on my face, the gentle breezes of the plain caressed my clothes gently. Everything was normal, there were hardly any creatures around... as usual.
But there was another problem. And that was... it had already been quite a while since daytime had started.
I stopped walking for a moment, checked my watch.
As I had guessed... it is almost nightfall.
"Lucia, we've been walking for almost two hours. It's almost nightfall, let's rest."
I turned around with those words, but I didn't look at the face of the person I was talking to. Instead, I looked at the person next to her, Sue. The reason for that was simple... Lucia didn't have any masks left, so she no longer hid her face.
Lucia and Sue paused at my words. Then Lucia checked her watch, then turned back to her front, and looked away. Finally, she sighed lightly.
"We are very close to leaving the plain. After resting... we will probably enter a new area."
She was right. We were very close to our destination, the mountain range, and even the vegetation around us was beginning to change slightly. We would eventually leave this huge plain that seemed to stretch on forever.
But not today.
*******
We didn't do anything extra to rest. We simply crouched where we were, waiting for the sky to go dark, and after about half an hour, it did. The sky, shimmering with a lush green glow, slowly gave way to darkness, and the glow of the river, which seemed to wind its way through almost the entire dungeon, rose into the sky.
I stretched where I was, stood up, and waited for the wolves as I relaxed and contracted my muscles slightly.
It had been almost weeks since I entered this dungeon, and the wolves were still the same. Every night, they would come, present me with an opponent, and then disappear. Lately, though, their previous stubbornness had begun to fade... not every wolf I encountered was the strongest of them all. Nor were they eager. It was like... they were getting tired of dealing with us.
And it was scary as much as it seemed like a good thing. Because the only reason we were still alive was because of their 'tradition' or 'culture' or whatever it was. It was a miracle that they had been doing this for so long, and it was not a small possibility that they would suddenly throw away this 'duel' and pounce on us.
That's why we had to get out of this dungeon as fast as we could. But... we were not strong enough to do that, so we had to move slowly. It was a gamble. We had won so far, but there was no guarantee that we would win again.
Nevertheless, hope was not yet lost, and we did not stand idle during the days of steady progress. Lucia and I had both recovered, for example. Thanks to ordea, I felt even better than before. Even if mastering it was much more difficult than I thought it would be... at least I had managed to heal my body to a degree.
Lucia, on the other hand... had gotten stronger as well as better. Every night, she would get into a meditative posture and draw in the mana around her.
I didn't understand exactly what she was doing, but every time she felt... stronger. She had found a way to empower herself and she was using it to the fullest.
It wasn't something we complained about. But... it wasn't something that ever gave us any problems. More specifically... to me.
Lucia was not only getting stronger, she was getting prettier. The change may have been subtle, not so easy on the eyes... but it was there. It was impossible for me not to notice when we were together for so long. Especially when she could no longer wear a mask.
I paused for a moment, sighed deeply, and shook my head from side to side.
Look at what I'm thinking... Dammit, I don't like this at all. We need to get out of here really fast.
I took my spear out of my bracelet and held it in my hand, leaning on it I looked away, and then... suddenly... I realized something.
My brow furrowed, my eyes squinted slightly. I was leaning comfortably on my spear when suddenly I straightened up and looked up at the sky.
Night had fallen, the sleeping mana had awakened. The dungeon was illuminated by the glow of the river, reminiscent of the auroras. But... the wolves still hadn't appeared. They hadn't even howled, let alone appeared.
"Hey, can you see wolves anywhere?"
Lucia and Sue turned to me at once, and then their expressions took a similar shape. Both of them approached me as they stood up and looked around. Lucia spoke first, then Sue.
"No."
"No..."
I gripped my spear tightly, running through my mind the thoughts I had just seconds before.
Did we... Did we lose the gamble in the end? Will they attack without caring about the duel? Or is there something else involved?
I narrowed my eyes even more, transferred my mana to my eyes, and looked around, focusing only on my surroundings with all my senses. And... I saw.
"Ah..."
Lucia and Sue suddenly turned to me, but I ignored them. I just... looked at the darkness. And... the darkness that was not illuminated by the glow of the river rising into the sky... slowly moved.
The wolves slowly emerged, moving from the shadows where they had been hiding into the light. Dozens, even hundreds... But this was different from the previous ones. There was no howling, no show of strength, no excitement of the hunt... just... walking.
"W- what's going on?"
I heard Sue's voice, followed by a swallow. But I couldn't take my eyes off the wolves. I couldn't open my mouth.
Not all the wolves used to come out. There were always some hiding in the dark, always some out of sight.
This time it was different. There was no end to the wolves coming out of the darkness. Each one approached us in absolute silence, like the calm before a storm.
Finally... the foremost wolf suddenly stopped. And the ones behind him did too. And also those behind them. It was as if... they were right in front of an invisible wall. And they just sat there.
Hundreds of wolves, in a line, all on the ground at the same time. Their red eyes focused on us, silent. But... they didn't look like they were going to attack.
"Adrian...?"
Lucia's sweet, almost soothing voice echoed in my ears. Gritting my teeth, I gripped my spear even tighter.
"I... I don't know. They're just looking at us, but they're so different from the previous times. It's like-"
I paused for a moment, everything became quieter. I looked into the red eyes of the wolves, the eyes that just stared at us. And then...
"Ah..."
No. These wolves... they're not looking at us. Not a single one of them is looking at us.
My eyes widened slightly, my fingers loosened their grip on my spear, and I turned around. Right... toward the mountain range.
The wolves were looking at the mountains. Not with a single howl, as they always did, but in complete silence, often most of them hiding, now all of them out in the open, always frightening, but now... strangely docile and calm.
"They are looking at the mountains. Are they... afraid of it? No, not just afraid... respectful?"
Lucia sighed lightly, finally letting go a little of her surprise.
"That means the mountains will be much more dangerous than this plain. And we won't have the protection of the wolves anymore..."
I clicked my tongue and looked back toward the wolves. They were in the same place, still looking toward the mountains. Indeed, they didn't move a millimeter, as if there was an invisible wall in front of them. They had no intention of moving further into the mountains.
I paused for a moment, something occurred to me.
These wolves... why are they here? I mean... if they fear the mountains, or respect whatever is there, why are they still standing here? There are more wolves in front of us than I've ever seen before, so they must all be here... Why aren't they hunting and just waiting here?
Are they waiting for us... to leave? Then why are their eyes on the mountains and not on us?
Even though I left my fighting stance, I didn't put my spear back into my inventory. On the contrary, I turned around again, toward the mountains.
It was extremely dark because of the night. The glow of the river was a source of light, but not enough to illuminate the entire dungeon. The mountains were no exception. It was hard to make out any details except the silhouette between us and the sky.
I frowned, supplemented my vision with mana as I had just done, and looked toward the mountains. The awakened mana was much more active in the mountains, perhaps the easiest thing to understand. But... other than that, there was no other difference. No matter how much I looked, no matter how much I studied it, it was just... a simple mountain.
"Haaah..."
Finally, I withdrew my mana and let myself fall back to the ground.
"The wolves have no intention of attacking. They would have done it already if they wanted to. I'll take the first watch, let's go back to rest. When the night is over... we will finally enter the mountains. We should rest well."
They didn't seem too satisfied, and I was just like them. There was no guarantee that the wolves wouldn't attack us. Still... we had no choice. Just like before, it was a gamble.
So, Lucia and Sue fell asleep after a few minutes on my watch. I... simply waited. The wolves continued to wait in the same way.
The mountains were... silent, there was no movement.
*(A/N: No chapter tomorrow, probably. Maybe if by some miracle...)*
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