Carter crouched down and stayed on his toes. Once the bottom of the shield behind his back touched the ground, Carter unstrapped the shield and let it stand on its own. The dirt surface of the cavern avoided any loud noise being made.
Carter then placed the spear in his hand carefully on the ground as well, leaving everything that was too encumbering behind. He then tiptoed to Seven's position and tapped its head lightly. As the oldest wolf in the group, Seven was wise and could execute Carter's order much better.
He whispered a long line of commands, combining multiple words to form a complicated order. Seven seemed to understand it as it lowered its body even further and touched its belly on the ground.
Carter tapped its head again and pointed to the fire pit. The wolf slowly crawled toward it, making as little sound as possible.
Whoever made that fire pit, Carter didn't know if they were friendly or not. Considering the fact that all runs of Darkness and Bloodlust always had randomized encounters, he could only do what he thought was best at the time.
And what was best was making sure he always had the upper hand.
The other wolves became agitated, and they all wanted to rush at the place, killing everyone in the process. Carter couldn't let that happen and kept repeating command lines to calm down the wolves.
"Da'ka Ma… Da'ka Ma…" He whispered under his breath to not attract any attention.
Seven successfully reached the fire pit. The area around was dark, and only the fire pit was dimly lit. Its grey fur contrasted with the darkness so Carter could know its current location. The surroundings, however, made it impossible to spot any ambush. A man in black clothing could have easily blended into the environment.
Seven crawled around the fire pit for a few laps. It seemed not to find anyone, and no one went out to attack it. Carter raised his fist up in the air and whistled lightly to catch Seven's attention. The wolf lay down, staying still to wait for further command.
One human and four dogs sat still for a few minutes. The wolves all looked at Carter, waiting for his signal. They didn't understand why the current master was so careful, but they didn't dare to think. It was not their job to think, only to do what the master commanded.
"Da'la Meur."
Carter finally spoke another word, and all the wolves bolted immediately. They ran around to look for anything or any potential enemy.
Fifty-two found a little tiny frog that was trying its best to jump away. The young wolf caught the little frog with its mouth while going past it. It crushed the frog with its jaw, having a tiny snack while on the job.
While the wolves secured the premise, Carter approached the fire pit. Seven already confirmed it was safe. He observed the makeshift fire. The fire pit was made in a hurry. It was crude, and the cover was poorly set up. Any spark that went out of control could easily burn things that were close by. However, it was a resilient fire. The fire pit maintained its shimmering fire until Carter arrived.
He first thought that it was a newly extinguished fire, but looking at the cold charcoal at the outer layer, he knew it was a while ago.
Whoever made this knew how to create a good fire in a short amount of time. Out of all the characters, Carter could only think of the hunter. He seemed to leave in a hurry, as the hunter would've never left a fire smoldering like this. Too many trails to be exploited. He would not make this rookie mistake.
Carter spotted an old oil lantern next to the fire.
"Jackpot!"
Carter grabbed it. It was a steel lantern with a hook to strap on your waistband, a very useful trait. Now he was even more sure that it was the hunter. He had a lantern like this in his starting inventory. Ordinary lanterns did not have the hook.
Seven came back with a hand in his mouth and dropped it at Carter's feet. He hooked the lantern to the front of his waistband and then grabbed the hand to examine it. The alchemist's gloves made sure he wouldn't be infected by any toxin on the hand.
"No way… Don't tell me this is the herbalist. Am I too late?"
The hand was cut off a while ago and had begun decomposing. It was cold as ice and lost all its flexibility. However, upon taking a closer look, Carter let out a relieved breath.
The hand was big and rough with tan-colored skin. Taira had pale, bright skin, and her hands should be soft due to the handling of herbs. This wasn't her. He threw the hand to the back, and Fifty-two jumped up, catching the hand with his mouth. The half-eaten frog was still visible inside.
Carter walked over and commanded the wolf to spit them all out.
"Stupid dog. Everything is venomous in this place. Don't just eat anything."
Fifty-two did not listen to his command and growled back at Carter.
Seven reacted immediately and put Fifty-two down, its growl was lower and more intimidating. The young wolf whimpered and gave up, spitting the hand and the frog out.
Carter let the wolves solve it between themselves. Fifty-two was young and probably hadn't had much training from the Alchemists. But he paired it with Seven for a reason. It could make sure Fifty-two stayed in line.
Nineteen was the fiercest of the four, and it was on Seven's side. So if anything happened, Nineteen would always be there to back up Seven.
Thirty-four wouldn't be a problem, as it should have enough experience at being a guard dog.
Carter's hypothesis was proved to be true as Nineteen looked at Fifty-two intensely when Seven was scolding it. Thirty-four kept its mind on the task and didn't even care about Fifty-two.
Carter took the torch from before and carved out the wax on its tip. The wax was sticky but malleable, Carter stuck a handful of the wax into the heart of the lantern. He had to be careful not to make the wax too big, as it would block the airway for the oxygen to go through. No oxygen, no fire.
The last component was fire. He had extinguished the torch so that fire source was gone. But he had a lot of shimmering charcoal in the fire pit.
Carter unsheathed a knife from the back of his waist and used it to pick out a small charcoal in the fire pit. Then he used a piece of cloth to pick it up. He already had the gloves, but he did not want to ruin them. He only brought one pair.
The rest was easy. Carter aimed the charcoal at the heart of the lantern and used the knife to scrape its surface quickly. A few fire sparks flew out from the coal.
The lantern lit up after the second scrape.