The faint trail

At the edge of Mystic Forest.

"What on nerevar is this?" An irritated, emerald-haired male descended to the ground and halted at the forest's edge. To no one's surprise, the edge of the Mystic Forest was now littered with the dispersed carcasses of creatures of all shapes and sizes. As feral as this continent can be, it was still shocking to see so many beast bodies encircling one spot. From the sheer number of them, it appeared as though a massacre had broken out.

He scrunched up his nose and ducked his foot to escape the blood and gore that surrounded the dismembered bodies. The scent alone should be enough evidence that these beasts were slaughtered several days ago.

The sight of monstrous carcasses was about what he had expected from such a savage land as Elsmein. It was even more hilarious that his friend had dragged him to such an idiotic place.

His attention was captured by the enveloping fog. Just from a quick glimpse, he could tell that this fog barrier exuded a hauntingly murderous vibe. There's no mistaking that this was Arelis's forest.

Still excellent nonetheless. Arel's mastery of Aeriaus manipulation remained unrivaled, despite the length passage of time. Just how long has it been since he last saw his friends? Well, nevermind. Anyway, dragons don't care about their age. It's unfortunate, Indeed, that the fog appeared to have been assaulted to the point of being shattered in significant parts. Perhaps the ghoulish corpses over there must have been responsible for this.

He made his way through the fog, passing the damaged barrier, until he emerged into a massive forest filled with incredible flora and foliage that appeared to have been well-nourished and well-maintained. It was nothing like his realm, which was perpetually covered in blizzards and devoid of life.

Rune broke his envious gaze off the forest and quickly advanced. "Bluebird, where is your master?" Rune cast an eye toward the bluebird that was soaring close by. Its face always looked so disturbed that he couldn't tell if it was actually troubled or if that was just its default setting.

The unexpected query jolted the bluebird. In which flew off-balance and nearly crashed to the ground, It almost embarrassed its bird kin to crash while flying.

After it righted itself back in the air, it declared, "The vital sign was weak. My guess is that some sort of issue happened with m-master Arellis" A nervousness and fear in its speech were palpable.

"I have eyes, Bluebird. It's not like I can't see those monster corpses, it's clear something happened here." An annoyed look crossed Rune's face as he spoke. This communicator guardian was a pain to deal with. During the long, exhausting flight across the ocean, Rune had to put up with the unpleasant sight of this blue bird that looked like it was traumatized the entire time.

"I haven't asked if the vital sign is weak or not." He halted his pace and stared at the bird. "Where is he?" Rune's intense emphasis caused the bird to hiccup.

At least dozens of times a day, Bluebird wished it could just leave its job. Why is it so distraught to be a communicating bird?

"I s..sense he's not here," replied the bluebird.

"So why did you bring me here, then?"

"M..master Arellis instructed me to bring you here."

Rune clutched his temples in utter frustration. "I'm really disappointed in you." It became clear to him that he couldn't depend on this bird.

There wasn't much else to scent here besides blood and decaying corpses. Until he reached a stream and paused, at which point he noticed a treehouse in the center.Obviously, a residence.

In a flash, he dashed up the vine walkway and hastily threw the door open. There was a sense of calm and orderliness throughout the room, much like someone once lived here. He's detected a slight scent of Arel and a sweet fragrance of blossoms... or female? How come this fragrance is so undiluted and potent? Perhaps it's a new species of flourish sprouted in this world while he was in a deep nap.

He looked around the room for any hints that might explain what had occurred here. Why would monsters target Arel who's normally calm? This's very unusual.

Then Rune took a big inhalation and sniffed again to double-check that he had picked up the scent leading to Arel's track. He detected a smidgen of Arel's scent and the Aeriaus power, neither of which would have been particularly useful but were better than nothing. Because Rune and Arel both have high beast levels, it's difficult to follow the trail of scent between the two. In this case, not even his acute sense of smell could be of much help when the beast's ability to disguise its smell improves with its level.

After a while, Rune emerged out of Mystic forest. This time he set off toward the east, following the faint trail that could lead to his friend. Despite the fact that he had never set foot on this continent and had no desire to explore its wilds, he did his best to keep his eyes alert in case there was another assault in the area.

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