[You have slain a feral fiend, Valley Demon's seedling.]
Vlad nearly fell, his legs giving out again as he tried to take a step, but he quickly balanced himself, pushing down on the sword still buried in the fiend's skull. He breathed heavily, a raw, tearing sound, then coughed a few times, hitting his chest as if something was stuck.
Seedling!? Vlad coughed again, the word tasting like ash in his mouth. Then there's bound to be some out there that's more powerful...
With a grimace, Vlad stood straight, planting a foot on the fiend's limp head and pulling the sword out with a wet, sucking sound. The blade came free, slick with dark blood. He quickly wiped it on the fiend's fur.
Just then, the man behind him gasped, "Unfortunately, we don't have time to catch our breaths, we need to move." He pushed off the wall, standing with the broken sword in one hand and the torch in his other, now flickering less brightly, its flame barely a glow in the deepening gloom.
Vlad turned towards him and then upwards where the girls...should've been...
"Can you get the cloaks? And I'll go get the swords over there."
"Where are they?" Vlad asked in a serious tone, his eyes still fixed on the empty space.
The man followed Vlad's gaze, then turned, frowning as he scanned the fog.
Through the thick fog, a faint flicker appeared. Small, steady, and too far to make out clearly. It glowed just enough to prove someone was there… but not enough to put Vlad at ease.
"They must have gotten scared and hidden somewhere after hearing the commotion. Come on let's get moving," The man walked away.
Vlad narrowed his eyes then looked around the trench, Yeah... let's get out of here. Feels like I'm standing in a grave with all these corpses.
***
The man sheathed the final sword, gave Vlad a nod and started climbing up the trench.
Vlad was about to do the same but something shined at the edge of his periphery. He brought his leg down and turned towards it.
Seeing him, the man stopped and asked, bringing the torch forward, "What's wrong?"
"One second," Vlad responded, walking towards it. Is it another sword?
He followed the flickering shine to the waist of one of the dead soldiers.
Vlad squinted his eyes.
It was a small glass bottle covered in mud filled with some strange liquid.
"Come on, we need to get away from here, don't waste time!" The man shouted from behind, not caring about the sound since they had already made much more prior.
"Coming, coming."
***
Vlad reached the top of the trench, his fingers gripping the muddy edge. A hand appeared–slender and familiar.
He looked up to see the brown-haired woman crouched over him, offering her help.
"Come on," she said with a slight grin, "What took you so long?"
She pulled him up with surprising strength. As he stood and dusted himself off, the green-haired man climbed up behind him, panting lightly.
The two men glanced at each other, sharing a look of confusion.
The green-haired man turned to the woman, "You… didn't hear all that noise?"
All three girls blinked.
The girl wearing glasses tilted her head, "What noise? We didn't hear anything."
Vlad froze.
What the hell is she on about?His jaw clenched. There had been growls, steel clashing, blood sprayed across the trench walls and they hadn't heard any of it?
The green-haired man stepped forward, his tone level but firm, "Okay… let's figure things out as we move. We can't stay here anymore."
Vlad didn't push further. He and the green-haired man quickly distributed all the things they salvaged.
The girl with glasses and the brown haired girl were given the two intact swords and Tori the half-broken one since she already had a small knife prior and as for the two cloaks Tori and the brown-haired girl took them since the girl with glasses had a shawl and refused.
A very dumb decision, Vlad insulted her in his mind watching her from the back.
They moved quickly, boots crunching over dry roots and soft patches of moss.
The green-haired man glanced over his shoulder, "How far did you go to not hear all that noise?"
Vlad raised a brow and smiled, Great question, Mr. Broccoli.
The brown-haired girl replied, her voice casual, "Tori had to, uh… relieve herself. So we went behind a tree. All three of us. It wasn't more than ten or fifteen meters."
Vlad's eyes narrowed, he glanced at the petite girl.
So she is Tori… and Miss Glasses is Jasmine. Vlad deduced.
That close, and you didn't hear a thing? From that distance, you people should've come running! He frowned, watching the women walking just ahead. Something's not right here…
"Wait… what happened?" Jasmine asked, frowning.
They told them.
Broccoli led most of the explanation, walking them through the ambush in the trench, the creature's speed, the desperate fight.
Vlad filled in the gaps, like the thing that landed near his leg and made the fiend attack was a rock.
Jasmine's expression slowly shifted, eyes widening in disbelief. Her voice was a murmur, barely audible, "…How did we not see that thing if it was that close…"
Vlad didn't respond.
"That thing must have been lurking in the dark," Broccoli added, wiping off some leaves.
Vlad turned, eyes narrowing slightly. "Did you guys see anything? Something clearly threw it near me from the top."
He was looking directly at the brown-haired girl.
The girls exchanged glances, brief but telling. Then Jasmine shook her head, "No. There was nothing."
Well… there was something. Vlad's gaze lingered on their faces. Are they lying?
Broccoli slowed down slightly and whispered a warning, "Don't speak anymore."
Thud!
A sudden, loud noise echoed from behind them–from the direction of the trench.
Everyone's head snapped back.
The sound rolled through the trees like a drumbeat from something vast and deliberate.
Vlad's heart dropped.
It's here already?
They started moving even faster, following the path from before, careful not to make any noise.
While escaping from the scene and the source of the noise was eating away at Vlad's mind, just like everyone's, he also had other important thoughts.
Feral fiend, "feral" seems to be the rank or class of that thing. But I don't know if that's the absolute lowest rank or something in the middle, I hope it's somewhere up the ladder. And the boss…it has valley in its name…
Just then as if to help him connect his thoughts Jasmine whispered, "It was our mistake from the beginning to go up the black mountain. There are so many mountains in the Valley of the Gods…"
Vlad's breath hitched.
Valley of the Gods?