Chương 233: Following The Tracks

Everyone rushed over to Ronald to check to see if he was right. What they found was a large footprint, easily twice the size of Damion's. Sure, the footprint looked human, but it was enormous. The footprint, along with several dozen others, could be found on the slope of the hill heading away from the area. The area was still quite wet because of Yuri's water spells. Yet they were far enough away from where Damion used Frost Over that the prints had not been frozen.

"There is no way that these are human footprints," Geoffrey said as he looked from one print to the next.

"Either you made these in the mud while we weren't looking, or there is a giant on the loose."

"There is no such thing as giants," Thomas told Geoffrey.

"Then he made the prints himself, to mess with us."

"I did not," Ronald denied Geoffrey's accusation.

"Look where the tracks hit the dry ground," Damion pointed out what the others had yet to notice. A short distance away, the ground became hard and dry, leading around the basin walls and for a few paces along the direction the footprints were headed, were tracks of mud. Giant or some unknown creature, whatever it was, had tracked mud from the hillside into the area that Yuri's spells had not hit. The muddy tracks continued for a few paces before slowly dying out.

Clearly, this indicated a creature of some sort had walked through the mud and tracked the mud for a short way before it died off.

"Should we follow the tracks?" Yuri asked.

"Whatever made those tracks, could very well be the same thing that made that hole," Damion said, pointing to the sinkhole that had swallowed most of their spoils. He doubted that was the case, since he had spotted the second hole in the sinkhole wall, but it was good to be cautious.

"I vote for no," Ronald said.

"I say yes," Thomas said, followed by Yuri and Geoffrey.

"I don't think we should follow something we have no idea about," Inara said.

"The problem with that, is that we have no guarantee that we won't encounter whatever it is somewhere else," Damion reasoned.

"Whatever it is, it didn't seem interested in us. That either means it doesn't view us as a threat, or it doesn't like to fight. But it is better to discover what it is on our terms, than risk running into it when we least expect."

"Fine," Inara relented. The group set off in the direction the tracks went until they disappeared. Though the group was not aware, it would not have mattered which way Damion voted, as the only direction they really had to travel in, was the directions the tracks led. Every other direction was either back towards the exit to the Breach or towards mountains that they were unlikely able to cross.

While everyone was following the tracks, Damion opened the notifications the Magic System had sent him after the fighting was over. Ding [Spell Summon Ice mastery increased to D Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Ding [Spell Frost Over mastery increased to E Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] The increase in mastery of those two spells brought Damion up to 7, 000 experience points for the Magic System. Each step closer to his increasing the level of the Magic System reminded him how far he still had to go.

If he was not with a group right now he would undoubtedly be using spells from his new affinities to increase their mastery so he could earn even more credits, sadly, he had to wait to work on those other spells. The recon drones following the students had not followed them into the Breach, which told Damion he had a good chance to level up his various spells. Unfortunately, with the company he was keeping at the moment, he did not want to risk exposing his secret.

After close to an hour of walking, everyone was getting tired. The desire to find out what had left those tracks was still there, but they had long lost any sign of the footprints and were now just wandering.

"Are all Breaches like this?" Yuri complained.

"Searching for an hour and no sign of a single beast. I thought Breaches were packed full of Demonic Beasts."

"We fought a thousand or so Slash Rats, and you think this place is empty?" Geoffrey responded.

"Yeah, but this is supposedly a B Rank Breach. Sure, there were a lot of Slash Rats, but they were all low Rank. Where are the D and C Rank Demonic Beasts."

"Be careful what you wish for," Inara said darkly.

"I think we should go back," Ronald chimed in. As the weakest of their group, he had been opposed to heading into the Breach and against their advance through it.

"Taking out that horde probably means the Breach won't spit out a ton of Demonic Beasts in the testing area. We should call it a win and leave."

"Not until we get some decent kills," Thomas told him.

"I want a few C Rank Demonic Beasts to turn in for the points."

"And how are you going to kill a C Rank Demonic Beast?" Damion asked. Thomas looked a bit sheepish at the question. It was obvious that Damion was the only one in their group that could kill a C Rank Demonic Beast. Asking him to share kill credit with Thomas and the others was a bit of an overstep.

"Well, obviously you would do most of the work, and get most of the credit."

"Good. And make sure you remember our arrangement. I get a quarter of what you, Geoffrey and Yuri kill. Each. Plus, any Ice, Light and Holy affinity materials."

"I haven't forgotten," Thomas said through gritted teeth. Being reminded that he would lose a quarter of the loot to Damion was not pleasant. Especially not when most of the kills the group already made where done by him.

"I'll tell you what. Since the Slash Rats was a group effort, we'll split the recovered carcasses evenly among the six of us." For a brief moment Thomas felt a bit of relief, but then Damion went on.

"But I still get a quarter of your three's spoils."

"Whatever," Thomas said, trying to hide his anger. Over the past few months, since his failed attempt at Damion's life and his grandfather's lecture, Thomas had been trying to make amends with Damion. Unfortunately, the Ice mage kept to himself. Holed up in his room for the last half of the first term creating his tier 2 spell. When Thomas found out about that achievement, he seethed in anger so much that he hardly accomplished anything during the midyear break.

When classes resumed and Thomas found himself in the same Wilderness Survival class as Damion, he thought maybe now he would be able to close the gap between them. However, Damion seemed content to isolate himself and it did not help that news of his feats in the labyrinth were spreading like wildfire through the student body. Nobles distanced themselves further. Commoners were too worried about upsetting the nobles to approach him still, even if they now considered him some sort of folk hero.

Damion's rising status in the eyes of everyone, irked Thomas even more. He had foolishly believed Elicia would be able to rope the boy into the Sorin family and that if he did join it would jeopardize his own chances of being patriarch one day. Thomas' early foolishness now made the gap between them insurmountable. The only thing he could hope for now, was that Damion would take a position in a faraway guild or Order and would no longer be a thorn in his side.

"Everyone stop," Damion suddenly said. Damion's unexpected command caught everyone off guard. The group looked to him to see why he called for a halt, but said nothing, waiting for him to explain.

"There is a D Rank Demonic Beast up ahead."

"Where?" Thomas asked.

"I don't see one." Thomas had hardly spoken when the ground beneath the group started shaking. If you are reading this novel anywhere except Royal Road you are reading a pirated copy. Support authors and their mediums by reading on the original hosting site.