Chapter 372: I knew it. |
Haru stopped at the main gate to see that Hong Xia was just a few steps behind him. 'Good, at least she can keep up when we're walking. I swear if she wants me to carry her on my back or something then she has another thing coming.' Haru thought with a sigh as he wasn't used to bringing people along with him when he had the thought to do something dangerous. And tracking down the assassin that had just killed two people before he could even realise was something even more dangerous than anything he had faced before.
The was a good chance that the one responsible wouldn't be friendly and they would have to run for their lives in order to escape a crazed serial killing lunatic. But Haru had an inkling of a thought that there was something else at play and the assassin that had killed the two attempted assassins had good reason for doing so.
'What am I doing? There is nothing for me to gain by looking for the one who owns that claw but I feel like whatever I saw back there wasn't the result of a human.
Human's aren't the best at hiding their presence. It would take someone incredibly strong for me to not even notice them while looking in their direction. But as for animals, it's different. Some of them have adapted to hide in plain sight.
But if I am right then I have a feeling that what I'm about to find isn't just any old animal.' Haru thought once more as they both continued to walk back out towards the forest before Haru suddenly stopped and held out his hand for a moment at the edge of the treeline.
"Is this where you wanted to go to? What's so special about this place?" Hong Xia asked as she hadn't been filled in on his plan and was trying to piece together what he was trying to do in her head but it was to no avail.
"No, we probably still have a long journey ahead of us. The place I'm trying to go to is somewhere where I haven't been before so it could be anywhere." Haru said with uncertainty as the small black claw dropped out of his storage ring and fell down to the floor before suddenly floating back up to chest level with a green glow around it.
"What are you doing with that?" Hong Xia asked as she felt nervous at just the sight of the claw. She had seen the damage that it had done to Haru and the assassin that he was interrogating and she knew at a glance that it was as dangerous an object as they came.
"Well, I'm trying to find the owner of this thing. I'm sure they wouldn't want a weapon like this falling into the wrong hands. And if I can track them through one of their disposable weapons then they are at risk of being found by anyone. I'm sure they would like to know if they are easily trackable." Haru said as he twisted his intentions a little.
'I wonder where this will lead me.' Haru thought as he activated one of the tracking spells that he knew.
[Hunters Sense]
Haru's eyes glowed a dim red colour as his vision became dark and all-natural light seemed to filter out of his eyes to the point where it left the luscious green forest looking dead and lifeless as it became monochrome apart from a few spots on the ground that was red in colour just like the new colour of the claw that he was holding in his hand.
"I knew it." Haru thought aloud as he knelt down to the ground to see a small footprint no bigger than the width of three of his fingers and it was exactly like he had thought.
They weren't human footprints as the imprint left behind by whatever creature the claw belonged to, had four toe pads along with a larger one to the rear much like a cats foot.
It was beginning to look more and more like the culprit behind the double assassination was a common housecat but there was no room to assume what it was by the limited evidence although he had the thought in the back of his head as he the sounds of the forest around him only amplified in volume as the spell not only made him able to track through sight but also scent and sound.
He turned around as he heard Hong Xia's foot slide against a few of the pebbles embedded in the ground and looked up at her face as her scent drifted towards him. It was pleasant like the air around a field of flowers on a sunny day.
"You knew what? Did you find something?" She asked before crouching down beside him to look at the floor where his hand was.
"An animal track? But I thought you were looking for the person that killed those two assassins why are you examining this?" Hong Xia asked with a look of confusion quite clearly showing on her face as she didn't know anything about what Haru was thinking.
She had assumed that it was a person who was responsible and the guard under Annabeth's control probably thought the same given the fact that the assassin had entered through a closed door. But that wouldn't be hard for a beast that is capable of thinking like a human.
"I never said it was a human did I? And as you can tell here. The owner of this claw is quite clearly an animal and given that the fact that the tracks are fresh enough for us to still be able to see them on a day where carts and carriages have been coming into the town all morning it means that they probably didn't have time to kill an animal for its claw just so they could assassinate a couple of people.
The only thing that I managed to make out was a dark flash which could have quite easily have been the fur of a monster beast." Haru stated but that only made Hong Xia more curious as to what they were looking for.
"A monster beast? I don't know what they look like but they don't sound too friendly." She said since she wasn't there for the whole talk about monster beasts Haru had had with the woman at the inn when Hong Xia was still bedridden.
"From what I just understand they are like regular animals you find back on earth. The only difference is the fact that they have a crystal within their body that allows them to use Qi. And as you can probably guess a beast with fangs and sharp claws with Qi would make a quite difficult foe as their bodies have evolved to use whatever means they have to kill." Haru said as he stood back up and began to walk further into the forest, following red marks left behind on the floor that wasn't visible to the naked eye.
"Come on follow me. I will show you what I mean." He announced as the footprints took a sudden turn past the tree line and off the road.
The trees soon blocked out most of the sunlight around them leaving only rays of light to shine through the branches and leaves as they continued to weave between trees while following the tracks that were now only visible to Haru.
"Stop," Haru whispered as he suddenly came to a halt and waved his hand in the air.
Hong Xia stopped dead in her tracks as she followed his order and then looked past him to see what looked like a grizzly bear in the distance with large spikes down its spine.
"That's a monster beast," Haru said in a hushed tone as he turned his head to the left to see that the tracks went off in a different direction to where the bear was strolling back and forth.
'That's good. We don't have to get too close to that thing.' He thought as couldn't remember if he had heard anything about monster bears living nearby. He remembered how tedious it was to catch the small rabbits and given the fact that bears back on earth would often hunt rabbits if they were fast enough to catch them. He figured that it was probably for the best that they didn't approach it.
A howl called out through the forest as Haru quickly recognised it as a wolf calling out to the rest of its pack.
"Fuck." Haru said as he turned and grabbed Hong Xia by the waist and pulled her against his body as he activated another spell.
[Ghost Aura]
The limited light beneath the trees suddenly began to bend around Haru and Hong Xia as he held her close to him, making them both completely invisible.
"Hey what are you-" Hong Xia asked with her cheeks beet red as she felt Haru's hand against her lower back. She struggled for a moment until he hugged her tighter and then put his hand over her mouth as the sounds of branches snapping from behind them became louder until it eventually turned into thuds against the damp ground while a pack of wolves with horns that looked like ice on their snouts shot past the two of them as they sprinted towards the lone bear that was pacing back on forth.
It looked as though the bear was waiting for them as it turned to face them all with a vicious roar that stopped them from approaching any further.
The wolves then arched their backs and lowered their heads down to the ground as they slowly began to circle the bear while showing their teeth and growling.
Haru was hesitant to use Qi to fly away as they would have sensed his presence since the beasts were also capable of using it. And his flight magic depended on disrupting the wind. It would be too loud to use.
'There's only one thing to do then.' Haru thought as he held out his hand and opened a spatial rift below them, causing them both to fall into an empty void before reappearing at the entrance to the forest where they previously started.
"Well, it looks like we can't go that way. I think I have a general idea where the tracks lead but you need to stay close behind me okay?" Haru asked as he looked down at Hong Xia who looked both bewildered at the strange teleportation skill that he had just demonstrated and embarrassed by his hand that had moved down lower upon moving to activate the spell.
She raised her hand up to Haru's chest and pushed him away slightly before he let his grip loose and she managed to wiggle free and then looked down at the ground in shame that she was useless in the situation they just found themselves in.
"Okay." She replied as Haru nodded and then ventured back into the forest while she followed close behind once again.