“Here it is.” Eris pointed a finger to a solid snow-covered cliff-side. The moment she did so the wall in front of us morphed. A cave entrance shimmered into existence as Eris destroyed the concealment magic.

“Whoa, this might explain where all the beasts went. Good job, Eris!” I patted her head and went in first, Mia following with Eris in the rear.

The sound of plastic crinkling became louder and I turned to see Mia opening an MRE package. The thought of food made me hungry even though it hadn’t been too long since our pit-stop at home.

“Do you have any extra you can spare?” Thinking about it, instant meals such as those provided by the military were an ideal source of food whenever out monster hunting. If possible, I’d like to bring those along to save space and time for long trips out.

“I have a few different types. Which one would you like?” Mia pulled out a smaller portable version of the cube we observed back in the camp. The cube held in one hand released five packets of MRE’s into the other hand. She balanced them against her body as she secured the cube on her waist.

“Beef stew, cheese tortellini, chicken n’ rice, chicken noodle or pasta marinara.” She spread them out like a deck of cards with both her hands.

“Eris, which one do you want?” Mia turned to show Eris and she grabbed the chicken noodle.

Mia swung back around to show me the remaining four.

“I’ll take the cheese tortellini, and are you able to get more of these for us later?”

“Sure thing, I’ve got boxes of these at home that I can spare a few. Only, I thought you didn’t trust me so where would we meet up?”

I thought about a place as I stored both of the packets in our bag. The only location that came to mind was the pizza place Eris and I ate at when we first arrived in Avalon. Is food the only thing I can think about right now? Yep, that’s the best place I can think of since nothing much else came to mind. I should really go sightseeing soon with everyone.

“We can meet up at Pizzahunt in three days on Saturday at 1pm. The one near Sage Kingdom.”

“Okay, I’ll be there. I should leave now though. My suit’s GPS has lost signal ever since we entered the cave, and to cover our tracks I’ll head to the outpost.”

I nodded my head and didn’t even consider the cave causing issues for the GPS tracking. It seems she’s thinking more about everything than I am. Eris waved goodbye and mentioned how nice she seemed.

“Eris, we should hurry.” I did my best to avoid the matter and knelt down.

After running for about twenty minutes and passing through several branching paths, I finally noticed something odd. The sounds of commotion ahead of us. I kept up the pace while doing my best to be as stealthy as possible. It occurred to me that I was seeing through the darkness, as clear as a dimly lit room back home. The Feral ape’s power continuously ceased to amaze.

We came upon the first large opening in the mountain. Boulders covered in ice scattered the area with large stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

We spotted a large group of people and beasts towards the center. At closer inspection, the group numbered roughly forty members. A mix of hunter corps and hired hunters split evenly with flares tossed about lighting up the area.

Eris and I hid to cover as we understood the situation better. No way, are you kidding me. Is that Dorian over there? Looks like he was one of the hired hunters to assist the military. Doesn’t he have people to annoy somewhere else?

They were able to defend against the beasts so far. The military used the hired help to secure the front line while providing ranged support from behind. They held assault rifles that shot out condensed magic projectiles. It looked like the rifle operated by absorbing a very minuscule amount of mana from the user in conjunction with advanced tech. Electricity surged across the barrel of the weapons, generating quick bursts of fire as if pulsating with life.

It didn’t look good for the beasts. I thought about all the occasions we got screwed by aiding the wrong side. Plus, why would I want to help Dorian!

“Let’s help the beasts.” I whispered and retrieved my spare shirt from the bag. I tore it in half and wrapped one half around my head and cut holes where my eyes would be to create a bandanna mask. It covered my hair and eyes down to my nose. I handed the other half to Eris for her to do the same.

I waited for her to take the other half, only to have her shift away using her hand to cover her mouth. Her upper body was bobbing up and down, was something wrong? She took a quick peek and I suddenly realized she was doing her best to hold back laughter.

“You look ridiculous.” She couldn’t maintain a straight face and also the first time I’d seen her laugh or find anything hilarious.

“Yeah…, you done? Now give me that cloak and put this on. We can’t have them figuring out who we are too easily.” I had a deadpan expression as we exchanged the two, storing her cloak into the bag to be left behind.

I looked over to see her finished with the disguise. She instead used it as a bandanna mask to cover her mouth and nose. It made sense since she wouldn’t be moving as fast as me, and could get away with wearing it that way. 

'Wait, why am I defending myself!'

Volatis

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