After twenty minutes of tailing the Hunters' the bear finally grew tired of the chase and branched off, much to the relief of the Hunters' who finally could slow down their pace and rest.
Jackson didn't make any real attempts to hide himself as he watched them from a distant behind some tall grass, he simply watched from a distance while he sat on the grass and started organising his backpack. His heart wept when he saw that in the fight the tear in his backpack had reopened and all but a single knife and a piece of wrapped up meat remained.
'Not like I have time to cook it anyway...' He grumbled to himself as he shook his head and glanced over at the group of Hunters who were busy going through their own backpacks and pulled out water bottles and food while they used bandages to wrap up the wounds of the Hunters in more serious conditions.
It was a miracle as to how none of them had spotted them, he couldn't help but shake his head as he thought about how much they were lacking any sense of caution or alertness especially after having almost died just a mere hour ago.
They didn't remain for long, packing up after a short five minutes before they picked up their stuff and started their trek again towards the north. Jackson didn't dawdle as he placed another knife at his belt and held the bag in his hands to prevent the meat falling out, it impacted his movement but fortunately on such a vast plains you would be able to see any beasts coming giving you plenty of time to prepare, this was probably a reason for the Hunters lack of caution to begin with.
He continued to tail them from a short distance as they walked at a slow pace that he matched so that he wouldn't fall behind but he also wouldn't inadvertently catch up as well.
At one point during the journey he could've sworn that one of the Hunters wielding a broadsword had made eye contact with him but she didn't say or do anything - her gaze had lingered for several seconds but it was as if she didn't register that he was there as she went back to chewing on a piece of meat.
"So she did spot me..." Jackson mumbled as he approached where the Hunters had been resting for the moment, on the ground where the female broadsword user had been resting was a wrapped up piece of meat. "Thank you." He mumbled as he picked it up and began to chew on it, his stomach growled in approval at the first food it'd in almost over twenty four hours.
The meat was chewy and stale but for someone who was starving it was as delicious as a full-coursed meal.
He didn't know why she hadn't told the rest of her group that someone was following them but he was thankful to be without the fuss, he wasn't sure whether there would be anyone able to breach the language barrier between them which could lead to.. misunderstandings.
He was more than happy to simply follow behind and then make his appearance at their base of operations later, 'The lack of communication might put me in danger as well..' He shuddered as he thought of the worst case scenario where they thought of him as an enemy, or worse.
He'd heard stories of Hunters who weren't particularly... friendly to others of the same profession.
Of course, they were only stories, they were simply rumours that the normal people of Mayson gossiped among themselves about to keep things interesting during the monotonous repetition of each day in the underground city.
Regardless however, he didn't want to risk it especially with how easily it would be for them to mislead him when the language barrier.
...
Forty minutes later their destination finally came into view on the horizon. A cavernous cave that had a metallic wall covering the entrance could be made out, he could faintly make out the movement of guards on the wall as they patrolled back and forth.
Like the group he was following he could see many lined up outside the gate as they were slowly herded into the city. 's.' Jackson thought as he grew closer, the walls had several mounted turrets that were manned at all times and all of the guards were equipped with assault rifles which although maybe not as effective on higher-ranked beasts they were more than enough to clear groups of weaker beasts with a single round of bullets.
As soon as they were in sight of the guards Jackson didn't bother to tail behind the group of Hunters anymore as he sped up to pass them, "¡Espere!" A voice called out from behind him soon after, he slowed to turn only to see the female Hunter who'd left him the food rushing to catch up with him.
She had brunette hair and leafy green eyes that were covered by a pair of glasses, now that he was closer to her he could see a scar running down the side of her cheek yet despite this it didn't do much to impact her appearance as she approached him with a grin.
"Hola, gracias por salvarnos!" Her words were spoken so quickly that it took Jackson a second to understand what she was saying, "Wait? Hola? Spanish?" He came to a sudden realisation as he realised what she had said, "Where the hell am I?"
"¿Tu hablas ingles?" She said in shock as she heard him speak, he had no idea what she was saying but he knew enough to know that 'ingles' meant English. "Yes!" He nodded his head with enthusiasm. "I know... a little." She said slowly as she thought of the right words to say.
"Where is this?" He asked hoping she could understand him, "Ciudad de la Cueva, the city." She pointed at the city just a short ways away and said, "No no, I mean country. What country is this?" He said slowly.
"España."
"Spain? I'm in Spain?" He said in amazement, just how far could rifts go?
"Ah! City, we go." She said as she tugged his arm and pulled him towards her group, "Enter together." Jackson absentmindedly nodded as he thought about if it would even be possible for him to return to Mayson City...
