The Hunt for Blood Ores (3)

"Ize, I'm hungry."

"They're so noisy… When can I eat them?"

At her companion's careless ramblings, Riize nearly fell from her steed.

"Shushh!" She hissed at the slime in a low voice. Fortunately, no one heard the short exchange between them.

As she unrolled the parchment in her hand, Riize glanced at the red lines, crosses, and circles she had marked on the map, before raising her head to study the surrounding area.

Noticing her movement, Ethan rode beside her.

"Ms Riize, is it still far away? As you can see, the squad is getting weary. We can't afford to stay like this for any longer…"

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Riize said as she jumped off her steed. With slow and steady steps, she moved to a higher ground to get a better view of the area they're now in.

"Come with me," she beckoned for Ethan to follow behind her.

After spending some time with the squad, Riize soon came to a realization that it was only the friendly Ethan who was willing to talk to her, the others forever maintaining a certain distance away as if she were some kind of a deadly disease.

Thus, she had no choice but to rely on the young man in times like this. For example, when she needed to inform the team of their current position.

Standing at the mountain's summit, Riize passed over the map to Ethan, who had gawked at it with foolish eyes.

"We're here," she circled a region on the map with her finger, "near the mouth of the Sage's Great Canyon."

"From here on, to the right, there will be a mid-sized abyssal crack with an approximate length of 12-feet-long." She said, sliding her finger across the yellow parchment, "and here, these areas will be covered in rocky grounds with man-sized boulders scattered around, therefore ideal for camouflaging traps and ambushes."

"Now this spot, the land we're currently standing on, can serve as a scouting point. You can now start making arrangements, Sir Ethan."

Ethan processed her words for a moment, before furiously nodding as if he had been enlightened. "I'll talk to the others," he said as he pulled her arm despite her reluctance.

Relaying her exact words and suggestions to the squad, Ethan spoke out his own views.

"I suggest we target the Vernons. Among all the types of abyssal spawns – Vernons (earth), Verals (fire), Viloids (wind), and Vernirs (water) – the Vernons are the mildest and slowest, making them the most suitable target for our purpose, which was to subdue and extract with minimal resistance."

"Moreover, these earth-type creatures usually travel in small groups," he added, leading the others to the summit before continuing.

"Look there!" Ethan pointed to the far distance, where a group of bulky, rock-made monsters with four thick limbs huddled together, probably chewing grass or something.

"We can start with that group of five. With the twelve of us, we can form groups of two. One subdues and restrains the spawn while the other extracts the ores. The remaining pair will scout for incoming spawns and work on diverting them away. One person will stay at the summit to report any live changes to the situation below."

The group of men nodded, finding sense in his arrangement, though one man with a long scar across his right eye raised his hand to pose a question.

"What about our path of retreat? The disturbance that we'll cause might end up attracting the whole surrounding spawns to our location. When that happens, how are we going to retreat safely?"

By the time the man ended his inquiry, all eyes gathered on their guide, who had maintained her silence this whole time. "Ms Guide, you heard us didn't you?"

Riize cleared her throat, feeling no less pressured as she found herself abruptly shoved into the center of the group's attention.

"Yes. There are two paths of retreat. First, the one we'll use to enter the canyon, which was the most convenient way. And the other, a narrower pathway on the sidewalls to the right that will lead us on a detour to the opposite end of the canyon. It's trickier to navigate but harder for the larger and less intelligent spawns to track behind."

"Great. And the estimated time to reach the nearest fortified settlement?"

Ethan and the others looked uneasy as they waited for her response. They'd already spent a quarter of their 8 Hunting Hours to reach their current spot, leaving them with just six hours left.

In those six hours, they not only had to set up the traps and carry out the operation, but also calculate the time needed to get out of the canyon and reach the nearest magical barrier before the Hiding Hour began.

Riize took the map from Ethan and unrolled it on a stone slab. Soon after, the hunters were quick to catch up and positioned themselves surrounding her.

"Here."

Riize pointed at the red signs littered across the parchment. "From the border's gate to here, we've passed 4 checkpoints so far, which are scattered all over the place and therefore cost us this much time. Not to mention the large number of abyssal spawns we hadn't bothered to avoid."

"If we were to retrace our footsteps, we can head to the third checkpoint – the Dragon Breath's Settlement. If nothing hinders our way, we should be able to arrive in half an hour," she said, adding solemnly, "That is, if we can retreat through the direct main path."

Riize's pessimism poured a bucket of cold water on them.

"What about the other path?" Another hunter asked her.

"If we take the narrow sidewall path, which heads in the opposite direction, there are supposedly two other settlements about a 20-minute ride from the canyon. But the time spent navigating the way out might be longer. And as for the two settlements... it'll be a bit costly."

"The cost doesn't matter," Ethan cut in with a reassuring smile. "What matters are our lives and the success of the expedition. Don't worry, we still have two days before the submission deadline."

"That…" Riize hesitated. "The topography of the Red Sea changes drastically with each sandstorm, which happens regularly at the eleventh hour of Hiding Hour, right before the reset."

"Which means…" Her eyes swept over the look of realization on their faces, inwardly pitying them while at the same time, gloating at their misfortune.

"We'll have to start over with the blind exploration and study the new topography."

For a moment, she seemed to have seen the despair in their eyes, before they were all blown away by the thunder-like claps of Ethan.

"Alright, everyone! You heard her. 200 blood ores, let's gather as many as we can and hope the merchants can cover the rest. If not… we'll just have to return to this hellish realm and suffer a bit more."

"Come on, let's start working!"

"Yes!"

His words seemed to have lit a fire in them as the hunters shouted in unison.

With nothing else to do, Riize leaned against a nearby boulder, lifting Pookie into her arms and feeding the hungry slime the snacks she had prepared beforehand.

Feeling the scorching wind of the Demon Realm against her skin, she finally gave in to the heat, removing her cloak and exposing her long ginger hair to the air, letting it gently sway with the wind.

This was exactly the scene Ethan saw when he turned her way. And for a moment, he seemed to have forgotten to breathe, too lost in the breathtaking view.

"Hey, look at you." A passing fellow hunter, upon noticing his enthralled figure, chuckled as he patted Ethan's shoulders. "Whatever you're thinking, you'd best forget it unless you want to die without knowing why."

At the hunter's kind advice, Ethan merely laughed it off with a shake of his head.

After setting up the traps, the group soon entered another round of discussion.

"The preparations are ready. Now, we just have to lure them to the designated spots. Once they're bound, we can immediately start the extraction."

"As for how we're going to lure them…" The hunters exchanged looks, as if considering which of them would be the most suitable.

"The reason why Vernons are considered the mildest is due to their disinterest in picking fights. They only go after easy prey and ignore anything too difficult."

"To get them moving, we will have to either threaten them and provoke their attacks, or act like an easy prey and let them come by their own initiative."

"Obviously, the second method is better as it lowers their guard. But before that, we'll need an easy prey first."

"Come on, don't be shy. Who looks 'easy' here?" One hunter playfully whistled, throwing a teasing gaze at the few scrawnier and feminine-looking hunters in the squad.

"Fuck you. Why don't you go? So round and bouncy, those savages would literally drool the moment they lay their eyes on you, the literal living pound of meat!" The feminine-looking hunter snapped back, earning a hateful glare from the well-fed hunter.

"Why you bastard–"

"Enough."

A fist was just about to fly when Ethan raised his voice, putting all kinds of arguments into a halt. "Why fight when we have the most natural food of all monsters by our side?"

"You mean…"

Ethan grinned, pointing at the harmonious pair chilling by the side with his chin or to be exact, at the plump-looking slime nestled in the demon guide's arms.

'Me?' Pookie innocently expressed its surprise.

Hah.

And here she was, wondering how to sabotage their plan. Riize slowly raised her cold eyes to meet Ethan's playful ones.

Just in time.