Basil kept his head cool. He understood that there was no point in arguing with the Guide. A sentient being and an insentient being would never understand each other.
Basil felt a prick at the back of his head, however he couldn't care less. There were tons of hideous lemurs chasing over his butt!
He could hide from them just like the last night, however he didn't do that. He needed more of these lemurs to kill. The scent wasn't strong enough. He couldn't fool Yamata no Orochi with it.
Slash!
Stab!
Swish!
Basil used every skills he had in his repertoire to take the lives of every lemurs he encountered. The shrill bellow of the lemurs became even louder. If anyone were to be in his position, they would piss themselves to death.
However!
Basil was different! He didn't feel intimidated with the killing intent sent by those lemurs at him. He took it as a challenge, and he loved challenge.
He led all the lemurs — while constantly killing them on the way — to the place he had chosen beforehand. This place had the thickest scent of Long-Legged Lemur's blood.
The lemurs became even more enraged upon seeing their brethren's mutilated bodies on the ground. They charged at Basil even more frivolously than before.
Suddenly, Basil stopped in his way and turned his back. He held his short sword horizontally in front of his chest and muttered a word.
[Synchronization]
A part of Vagus'soul was quickly poured into the short sword. It trembled ceaselessly and glowed in an azure light. Basil merely made one motion with his hand, and that was swiping it forward.
There was only a little distance between him and the foremost lemur. However, at that moment, time seemed to stop before all of the lemurs chasing him were swept by a powerful wind.
Boom!
His short sword exploded, the Qi he had in his body was spent in one go. However, the result didn't disappoint him. All of the chasing lemurs were mutilated unrecognizably.
"Good job, Darling!"
"Thank you. If not for you, I wouldn't be able to do it."
"Fu-fu-fu. Helping her husband is the wife's job after all."
'Thank you for not being annoying while I am fighting.'
Surely, Basil was thanking Vagus in another thing. He knew Vagus would be useful in battle. However, he couldn't be sure Vagus wouldn't interrupt him in battle. Luckily, his worry was unfounded. Vagus wasn't stupid enough to interrupt his battle.
"Huuh... Is it about to begin?"
Basil looked at his surrounding. There were three pathways connecting to the place he was currently standing. All of those pathways had the same similarity. They had Long-Legged Lemur's blood smeared on the ground.
Basil also looked down on the ground he was currently standing. On the ground was carved a circular pattern with many unknown yet profound symbols. The blood colored the pattern red, giving a terrifying look to it.
It was a Magic Circle. No one had ever thought to carve a Magic Circle outside their heart, because they believed it would bear no result. However, Basil was different. He hadn't been called the best Mage for naught.
He had the drive that every Mage had. He tried carving a Magic Circle on the ground once, and the result was splendid.
He was going to use his knowledge to lure Yamata no Orochi out. He hadn't been running aimlessly for all this time. He had been leading those lemurs so he could gather their blood in this place.
It was all for the sake of fueling the Magic Circle he had made. A normal animal's blood wouldn't be able to do a thing, however it was different with a Magical Beast.
No matter how weak a Magical Beast was, it was still a Magical Beast. Mana ran through their blood. Therefore, he could use that to fuel the Magic Circle into activation.
Basil clasped his hands together and muttered an incantation.
[Elborítja a világot a sötétség!]
Engulf the world in darkness!
[Bloody Mist]!
The Magic Circle below his feet shone in crimson light. The light was as dark as blood, and the aura it exuded couldn't even be more terrifying. The aura gave any of the observer chill and sense of terror.
In the middle of this, Basil was calmly spreading his hands and injected all of the Mana he had into the Magic Circle.
The spilt blood started to rise from the ground into the air. It was amassed above Basil's head, making a floating dense ball of blood. It kept getting bigger and bigger before it finally stopped as Basil had exhausted his Mana.
The Magic Circle shone even brighter than before. Basil was quickly engulfed by the light, and the mass of blood floating above his head boiled before exploding in the whole direction.
Whoosh!
It didn't cause any air explosion. The only thing one could hear was a bone chilling hiss like sound. The previously boiling mass of blood was turned to gas like substance. It was then swept by the wind, covering the whole place in crimson mist.
The surrounding air turned even colder. The sense of dread was so thick it could bring anyone to their knees quivering. However, that wasn't the worst part. The thick stench of blood was strongly permeated through the air.
Basil was already close with the peak. With help of the wind, the red mist was brought to the peak, slowly but surely. Of course, the area below him would be swept by the red mist too.
Basil looked at his surrounding and sat himself on the ground. He had been running and killing ceaselessly since he could see the sunrise. He had exhausted his stamina, his Qi, and his Mana. He needed to recuperate.
Besides, he had to be careful of the sleeping tigers who had been awakened by his crazy stunt. Uncaring toward the people he might have harmed, Basil closed his eyes in meditation.
...
Jester and his party had an unexpected encounter with the other remaining party. They had had a rough night facing a bunch of Doppelgangers. They were exhausted, both mentally and physically.
However, their will remained strong. Although they had lost three of their comrades, they wouldn't back down. Doing so would only make their comrades' deaths in vain. At least, that was what everybody thought.
'Idiots. You all will be the perfect fodder for these weird-arse Beasts.'
Jester was planning on using them to distract the Beasts, so he could get whatever treasure was waiting ahead of him.
"It's fortunate that we come across the same path. Last night was really hard for us."
"It was the same for us too."
The leaders of each parties looked at each other's eyes and smiled rather incomprehensibly. Their eyes glinted in a weird manner as if signifying they were thinking of the same thing.
"I am Jester. Let's work together from now on!"
"I am Allan. Pleased to work together with you."
As both of the leaders had introduced themselves to each other, the party members also followed suit. They seemed relieved that they could work together, thus increasing their chance of survival.
The atmosphere were rather warm as they really tried to get closer to each other. They had experienced a traumatizing event. It was normal for them to look for a little bit of emotional support in the form of camaraderie.
"Alright! We can't stay idle. Let's..."
Jester couldn't help but stop his sentence. He smelled a very unpleasant stench from his surrounding. The stench was getting stronger each time, and he couldn't help but feel the dread it brought.
He looked at the direction where the stench came from, and the other did too.
Gulp.
"What the..."
"...hell..."
"...is that?"
Everyone could finally see the thick crimson smoke that originated from the mountain's higher place. It started to close on them as they couldn't see anything aside from crimson smoke in front of them.
"Ugghh..."
"Ueeek..."
"Kuhuk..."
"Ahh..."
Sounds of groaning could be heard from the parties. Jester and Allan were also close to puke on the spot, however they managed to hold themselves back. They looked back at their puking comrades and yelled.
"Get yourself together! We have to get away from it!"
They ran toward their party members and started to pick up the weakest one's among them. There was no hesitation in their face, however —
'Darn! I don't know what that red smoke is, but I can't just drop my mask here!'
— both of them were cursing inwardly.
It turned out people like Jester weren't that hard to be found.
The other party members finally got themselves together, and ran to the best they could. All of them were panicking and nothing in their minds except from running. They were extremely afraid of the crimson smoke.
[Bloody Mist] was generally used by Dark Mage. It was considered as a Black Magic due to the terror it brought. The effect of [Bloody Mist] wasn't merely covering a large space with a thick fog of blood, it also amplified the terror one was feeling.
Once you were caught up in the middle of it, dying out of fear was the norm. There was only one way to overcome it, and that was to not fear it. Once you had even a tiny bit of fear, you wouldn't get away from it.
The fear and terror you felt would be amplified, until you finally died of lunacy.
"What the heck is that thing?! I can feel the thick killing intent from it!"
"I don't know! It's freaking terrorizing!"
At this moment there were only two people who could somehow think clearly. They were none other than Jester and Allan. Both of them still had a little bit courage to look back, even though they regretted it in the next moment.
They were simply terrified of the smoke!
They were really conflicted. Should they run? After going this far? They had sacrificed their time, resources, and 'friends' to get this far. They were rather reluctant to pull back. They cursed loudly in their hearts.
'Screw it! I'll return here next time.'
With that conviction in mind they cleared their minds with nothing aside from running. Time passed as if in the blink of an eye.
"Hey... I think.. we could... Stop running."
Jester stopped running and put down the person he had carried all the way. He was gasping everytime he spoke to Allan. He looked back at the crimson smoke that was no longer chasing them, then at his party members.
Their faces were all pale. Cold sweat pouring down their heads. They were all gasping for breath, however they had a relieved expression on their faces.
We made it! The smoke is no longer chasing us!
They laughed humorlessly. They had never thought a prepared expedition would still end up this way. It seemed they had underestimated Lone Mountain too much. No, they had overestimated themselves!
"Huuh... We will wait here for a bit. Once the smoke disappeared we will-"
"Go back? Are you crazy?"
"Are you just going to retreat like that? What about our friends who had sacrificed themselves?"
"Screw all that! They would also do the same if I was the one who had died instead!"
"You are not talking right, Bradley."
"Yeah, I know. Because, currently I can't think of anyone aside from myself!"
The area became silent. No one refuted what he said. Even the other members who had remained silent, nodded their heads in agreement.
None of them could think of any other person aside from themselves. If they were to continue forward, an unexpected chaos might occur. They couldn't believe others and not even theirself at this point. Retreating was the best option.
"...I understand."
Finally, Jester sighed and agreed to Bradley's proposal. However, inside, he was burning with rage. He wanted to strangle Bradley to death badly.
"Alright, let's rest before-"
Screech!
Allan couldn't finish his words as he was suddenly interrupted by a loud shrill from the direction where the smoke stagnated. All of them froze in fright. They were extremely familiar with the shrill voice.
It belonged to the Long-Legged Lemur whose sounds they heard since they entered the mountain. All of them turned their head toward the smoke direction.
"Ahh...
"Ahh... Why...?"
"Why we have to pass through this...?"
All of them moaned in despair. In front of them weren't only Long-Legged Lemur, but also the other Beasts they couldn't even know their names. There was a horde of them, running toward their way.
They looked back to search for their each party leaders, however both of them were gone. They were left behind.