In the morning.

Theo and the others geared up. Climbing onto a log near the campfire, he looked over the group.

"We will move with the plan now. Is everyone ready?" he asked.

Most nodded while a few checked their gear one last time.

"Clara, Sir Kaelor, Brother Lucien, and I will act as bait. Sir Garrick will send the falcons with us. And the rest of you will fight in your own way as you see fit," Theo spoke, sweeping his gaze across them.

In one corner of the group stood a long figure. Theo glanced at him and offered a casual smile. Merek returned the look just as casually.

There didn’t seem to be any hostility on his face, only the same quiet arrogance.

Theo didn’t have a problem with the arrogance; most nobles were like that. But all he wanted was for the man to show basic respect to the others.

"Young master, I can count on you to protect everyone with your beast, right?" Theo asked.

Merek met his gaze, his expression flat. "Obviously."

Theo stepped forward, and the bait team gathered together in one place. For now, none of them summoned their beasts; there simply was no need to do so.

Except for Garrick’s two falcons, which emerged from his forehead and took flight into the air.

One of the birds shot ahead way too fast for them to see anything, while the other glided around lazily before perching on a tree branch, waiting for the group.

Theo gave a nod, and they began moving.

There was no rush. They advanced at a steady pace, following the falcon closely while talking along the way.

Theo got to know a lot about Kaelor and how he was the up-and-coming knight of House Varrick.

It was a small family, on the verge of rising to baron status thanks to the strength of the knights it governed.

Rather than focusing on warfare, the family had built its reputation on logistics, earning recognition. Their name was quite famous in most of the nearby towns.

And from early on, they had invested heavily in their knights, and that was when Kaelor had shone brighter than the others.

According to him, only a few more successful missions stood between House Varrick and a barony. When that happened, he would finally be able to marry the woman he loved, the heir of House Varrick.

The more Theo heard his story, the more depth he saw in the man, making him feel like he was more than just a skilled knight. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

After a while, Theo closed his eyes, trying to gauge how far they were from the gate since they had been walking for a long time.

He had marked much of the land they passed by, just to be safe, but the journey was dragging on a little too longer than he had expected.

They rested every four hours, calling the two falcons back to them each time.

Theo fed them a few pieces of dried meat, who ate at a leisurely pace, something that drew the mantis out as well.

Theo had to give it a few pieces of meat too before he deemed it satisfied. The mantis was a never-ending void, capable of devouring an entire forest and still feeling unsatisfied.

By the 15-hour mark, the surroundings had grown noticeably darker, but they pressed on.

The further they traveled, the more it felt inevitable; they might have to deal with the creature where it was rather than luring it to the gate.

After running through multiple calculations, it was concluded that if they used repeated hyper-jumps at their full potential, the journey could go down to mere hours. Still, no one dared to do that and waste energy. They were conserving it for when it would truly matter.

When only a few hours were left and they could still see nothing because of the dense forest blocking their view, Theo leapt up onto one of the trees, and that was when he finally saw the creature up close.

It was entirely crimson in colour, and from his vantage point, Theo could only make out the rise and fall of its scaled body, as if the massive beast were still asleep.

The longer Theo looked at it, the more nervous chill crept down his spine. He gripped the hilt of his sword to steady himself and calm his mind.

They moved closer.

Soon, the two falcons finally stopped, circling twice before perching on a tree branch. Theo glanced at the others and saw the same grim understanding on their faces.

"We are very close to the beast now. Let’s get above the trees and assess what we can do," Theo said.

With that, he launched himself upward with a hyper jump, and this time, he saw the creature from a lot closer and more clearly.

It was the first creature he had ever truly considered ’gigantic’. All the beasts he had seen before with the name gigantic couldn’t hold a candle against this one.

From above the canopy, all Theo could see was the creature’s vast, mountain-like body, rising and falling with each breath.

And that was all he could see.

As others joined him and saw the creature too, their expression shifted into something between awe and unease.

"That is one giant beast," Kaelor muttered, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Theo... look beyond the beast," Lucien said.

Theo nodded. He had already noticed.

The beast had come from the deep south... and everything in its path was devastated. The forest itself was torn apart, as if the creature simply didn’t belong to this world at all.

"It’s been sleeping for almost two days... which is weird," Clara chimed in.

But Theo’s attention lingered on the destruction it had caused by simply moving.

"Well... one of my first goals was to look at this beast up close," Theo spoke with a hollow chuckle.

"Even if we are able to kill this thing in front of the gate, there’s no way we can extract and carry its parts with us. It’s just not possible," Lucien muttered while looking at Theo.

Theo stared at the sleeping giant and bit his lips.

He wanted to fight this thing. He wished to challenge it.

But would it really be the right decision?

"...Now that we have come this far, let’s at least extract some beasts nearby."

Taking this beast right now was going to be wasteful in all aspects. Theo could already feel it.

This beast was a trove of treasures.

And leaving even a fraction behind would be unacceptable.