Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?-Chapter 88 – Nighttime Search

Chapter 88 – Nighttime Search

With additional sticks added to the fire, everything seemed calm as the night progressed ever so slowly.

It was the end of day two of the investigation, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, which in a way was bad considering this was an investigation.

The far eastern plains of the unowned region curved around the mountain range and intersected the Brillet Woods, this was where group four was tasked to search. Now they didn’t have to search the whole area. The area where the vague border to the Demon territory was a bit further, and any trouble there wasn’t likely to head towards the city. They also weren’t going into the mountain range. The mountains could hide a lot of things, but they were marked as off-limits for the groups as it was considered dangerous. Though Eva did some asking, and apparently another specialised group was going to do a bi-yearly check.

No chaos happened between the group either; they were professional, and Callum learned his lesson. That was helped by the fact that Syrus offered to carry him when he got tired on the second day. He couldn’t muster a comeback after that.

“You moving?” Maca stood up as Syrus finished preparing her gear and torch. Callum and Lavender were asleep, the latter just finished guard duty.

“Yeah, we found nothing during the day, so we might as well give a peek during the night.”

“I’ll come with you.” He began to stand up, ready to wake up the other two.

Syrus said, “Don’t. You are on guard duty for a reason. I am fine at working longer hours, and during this time of night, I prefer to go alone.” Usually, going with multiple people this late was the smart thing to do, which it still was, but Syrus wanted to complete a large amount of coverage very quickly, and that was easier to do solo.

Maca grumbled and sat back down. He wasn’t happy with the decision but also recognised what Syrus was suggesting. His option now was either choosing to believe in her abilities or wake up everyone to split into two teams of two–one keeping camp guarded for an hour while the other moved around.

He was going to spend the moments he had debating his options before Syrus walked away, but then Syrus said, "Also, Maca, thanks for looking out for my cousin.”

Maca looked back up from the fire at Syrus, then nodded in confirmation. “So are you–”

Syrus lied, “Different roots, I only met her after I started travelling, and we found out there was a family connection.”

This was a story that Anlesa had decided on. Keeping everything under wraps had its usages, but a false story was also viable, and in this situation, a lightly detailed story was going to be best.

“Later on, when we met up, she told me about you, and damn man, you need to get better at talking, she was afraid you were going to attack her.”

Maca sighed. “I know. My looks can be–”

Syrus quickly interrupted, “No, no, no, talking. Staying silent isn’t something to toss over to your looks; you could do a lot about being more detailed when you are talking. Even from my short interactions with you in the last two days, if you just said a few more words, that removed a lot of guesswork from other people's parts. Another tip that honestly might not work is don't be afraid to be a little chipper in your voice. You are naturally very dry, and it sounds like everything is a bore to you, but from what I have heard and your actions around town, that is very much not the case. You care a lot, so don’t be afraid to show it.”

Syrus’ long rant was something she had done many times. New recruits often had trouble fitting in, but she never expected to say something like this to a person who was older than their current body.

“Hmmm… thanks for the advice.” Maca smiled.

“Sure.” Syrus threw her smaller bag around her back, she kept it in her bigger backpack and had items in it anyway. It was better to use this for a quick scout than lumbering around with her massive one.

“I’m off then. I should be back within two hours.”

“Okay… I will wake everyone up if you aren't back in two and a half.”

“Fine by me.”

Syrus waved behind her head as her torch lit up the darkness, and she walked into the empty fields.

The quiet darkness of night was lonely. Luna knew that quite a large percentage of animals were nocturnal. However, the area around Arisea Station was a bit outlier in that regard. Many were still active during the early portions of the night but slept through the rest of it. Luna found this fascinating, but it was never something she was able to learn about further.

The half-moon was bright enough that Syrus chose to extinguish the torch. With the light and a little bit of enchantment to her eyes with her Blood attribute, she had no trouble seeing.

[What do you think happened out here..?] Eva asked. With Luna’s knowledge and Syrus’ experiences, she figured they would have a better idea.

[Good questions.] Syrus examined a large section of dirt that had been tossed up. [I’d say monsters are off the table. If one was around there would be a lot more disturbance in the natural wildlife.]

[I believe an earthquake is still on the table, but leaning towards that being unlikely. I would expect more rocks to have fallen from the mountains.] Luna added. This wasn’t for no reason, a few boulders on the mountains by their side appeared to be loose, so she expected that if an earthquake did happen, they would’ve fallen.

The actual report they got for the purpose of this investigation was that there was a recent disturbance in the natural ecosystem. Multiple groups of animals move out of their natural roaming areas. Still may not sound like much but when danger could just be over the hill, it was important to find and investigate early signs. Now the reaction of sending a sixteen-man team might’ve been much, but Syrus believed a small group of scouts would’ve done the same job just as well.

[I see… Well at least you deduced that it is not a monster.] Eva sighed in relief. The only monster she had ever seen was the dead one in the river and that on its own was enough for her. There was something about the unnatural creature that made her skin crawl.

[Eh, one monster would be fine. Better than dealing with some creatures.] (Syrus)

[Most people wouldn’t agree with your statement.] (Luna)

[Their funeral.] (Syrus)

[Yes, if they faced a monster.] (Luna)

[You faced them before, they aren’t that bad.] (Syrus)

[I died from a monster before. If I encountered only one, I could survive by running, but I never had the capability to fight them individually.] Luna countered. She never understood Syrus’ attitude towards monsters. There were instances when Syrus was the most serious out of the three, other times she was too lax, and that irritated Luna.

Later, after they were done talking, Syrus froze to refocus and adjusted her gaze as she noticed the slight movement of a trunk in the far distance.

[I think we found our target.] Syrus focused on the massive creature hiding within the trees. When it stood still, its limbs nearly blended in with the surrounding trees.

Its four legs were the length of the trunks up to the leaf line.

[Looks like a mutated beast.] (Syrus)

[It is so much bigger than the others…] Eva was a little frightful. The other ones she had seen before were only a bit larger than normal wolves, but this creature was massive.

Syrus focused her eyes on the creature, it appeared to be a deer, a gigantic deer with long, thick legs, each leg more closely resembling elephant legs than a deer’s. It was hard to tell but it had a large, twisting crown of antlers that blended with the branches of the trees.

[How has no one noticed it…] Eva understood that in the dark it was nearly impossible to see and that Syrus' finding it had more to do with her searching ability than the deer’s hiding, but what about during the day?

[Questions for another day, for the time being, going back to regroup will be for the best.] (Syrus)

When it came to the chance of winning, Syrus felt that if she tried solo killing the beast now, it would likely be a success, but she was here on a job, so going back to report it was the correct decision to make.

“My my, what do we do, have we here.” A voice that was solemn but cheeky spoke out from above.