As the first light of dawn crept through the trees, the forest began to stir.
Kain who had only managed a couple hours of sleep due to his anxious thoughts, was up before the sun, shaking off the remnants of exhaustion.
He glanced around at the makeshift camp, where his team members were slowly rousing themselves from sleep. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The group gathered their things and made their way back to the southern part of the lake. The sun had risen fully, casting a warm glow that made the search easier compared to the previous night. The shimmering nest would now be easier to spot in the daylight.
The group made their way back to where Aria said she had seen the glimmer among the trees.
They moved methodically, checking every likely spot in the dense undergrowth and the low branches of the trees.
After about an hour of searching, Fiona called out, “I think I see something over here!”
The group hurried over to where Fiona was pointing. There, nestled among the lower branches of a tree, was the Mirror Hummingbird nest at around the height of Kain’s chest. It was adorned with an assortment of shimmering feathers, glowing spiritual plants, and a mixture of twinkling materials that caught the morning light.
“Looks like we found it,” Addison said, stepping closer to inspect the nest. “Let’s see if the badge is inside.”
Kain had no problem with Addison collecting the badge since he trusted her, however he noticed Dwayne, who had been relatively quiet, eyeing the nest intently and approaching from behind her.
As Addison carefully pulled the badge from the nest, Dwayne’s behavior took an unexpected turn. He shifted closer to the nest, his movements deliberate but seemingly casual.
Kain’s heart raced as he realized what was happening.
“Dwayne, what are you doing?” Kain called out sharply, stepping forward and grabbing the badge from a shocked Addison. “We agreed that I’d be holding onto the badge.”
Dwayne froze, his hand inches away from Addison. He looked up, caught off guard, and forced a smile. “I was just… checking to see if everything was alright. That it truly matched the description of the badge we’re looking for.”
Addison turned, her face a mix of confusion and concern. “Dwayne, why are you trying to grab the badge?”
Dwayne’s face reddened. “I—I wasn’t trying to take it. I thought—”
“Thought what?” Kain interjected, his tone firm. “That you can just back out of our deal once you’ve got everything you need.” Kain put the badge away in his space ring to make sure no further attempts at it could be made.
Dwayne’s attempt to worm his way out of the situation fell flat. He stepped back, visibly flustered. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
Addison, looking visibly irritated at her leader almost double-crossing her friend turned to him. “Dwayne, we agreed to work together. I hate people that go back on their word.”
At that, Dwayne’s face visibly turned pale. After all, he had had his eye on Addison pretty much since the semester started and was ecstatic when he found out she was in his group. The last thing he wanted was to leave her with a negative impression. He really didn’t think that she and this Kain were so close.
With the situation under control, Kain refocused the group. “Alright, let’s put this behind us and concentrate on finding our flag. We still have time, but we need to stay sharp.”
Kain’s group no longer could see the Astral Stag group from yesterday. However, they were able to spot their tracks leading away from the lake and followed them.
They followed the tracks a short distance away from the lake to a clearing of spiritual plants. They didn’t find the group of Astral Stags from yesterday. Even better they saw a large Astral Stag with a black flag bearing the college’s crest dangling from one of its antlers.
“There it is,” Kain whispered to Addison and the others. “That’s the flag we need.”
The members of his own group practically started to vibrate from the excitement of being able to complete a task that had started to feel hopeless.
Addison nodded. “Let’s approach carefully. We need to retrieve the flag without startling the Stags.”
With practiced precision, the team moved closer to the Astral Stags. Kain led the approach, ensuring that he maintained a respectful distance from the majestic creatures. The Stags were grazing peacefully, oblivious to the approaching humans.
However once they were closer to the leader, Kain made a disheartening discovery. His gaze narrowed as he saw that the flag was not simply wrapped around the antler. Its side was practically fused with it.
Kain couldn’t help but curse their professor under his breath. They needed to retrieve the flag intact, but it was clear that removing it would be no simple task. The obscure phrase about the flag needing to be “intact” had seemed trivial at first, but now it was a significant obstacle
If it wasn’t required to be in tact, he could’ve cut it off the antler, even if it ended up in tatters.
“We’ve got a problem,” Kain said, turning to Addison and the others. “The flag is fused to the antler. We’ll either need to chop off the antler, which’ll piss off the stag, or kill it and then cut it off. Regardless we are in for a fight.”
Everyone’s eyes widened and many members of Addison’s group looked reluctant. Among yellow-grade spiritual creatures the Astral Stag was quite powerful, and they could see that this herd had over 20 orange-grade Stags, and dozens of red-grade ones. It was a daunting task, especially since it wasn’t their own task.
Aria, her face pale, spoke up. “There are so many of them. Is there really no other way?”
Kain shook his head. “The flag is fused with the antler. Unless someone has a better idea, fighting might be our only option.”
Liam’s expression hardened, before taking the initiative to speak. One of the few times that he did so. “We need to be smart about this. If we provoke the herd, we might not just have to fight one Stag but the whole group. It’s better to focus on the leader and keep the rest of the herd at bay.”
Kain nodded. “Agreed. We can create a distraction to draw the leader away from the herd and then deal with it. Let’s set up a plan.”