As soon as Clovis climbed back up, he told them what they had found and warned them about the dangers.
"That was my fault. I should have figured it out in the beginning." Kanaria bit her lips.
"No. It wasn't your mistake alone. I was with you during the negotiation." Clovis shook his head.
"No. If I want to be a master of logistics, I should have been better at negotiation." Kanaria clenched her fists, realizing that her carelessness had actually endangered the group.
"Ivan looks like he wants to kill us. Those mysterious people are also aiming for our lives through the beasts. This is just another one, so who really cares to be honest?" Jay shrugged.
"…" Clovis was taken aback by Jay's words, but he soon chuckled and patted Jay's shoulder a few times. "Hahaha. Right? This is just another one."
Jay just wanted to play it down, but Clovis took advantage of it so that Kanaria didn't take all the blame.
"As Jay said, the one who made all this probably came from the same city. The highest explorer in our city is Tier 6, which Jay and Kanaria's families have. So, I don't think it's going to be that much of a problem."
"Mhmm… I'll probably tell my mother about it. She might be able to get some clues. Knowing her personality, she might even use it to blackmail the person behind this." Kanaria nodded, feeling a bit relieved.
"Anyway, let's not talk about this for now and just continue our exploration. Gather all the essence first and head straight to the top of the mountain. Let's get into the hot spring."
"But isn't it too early?" Melody put her hand on her chin. "It's best to dip in during the night."
"Is that so? I don't know if there is any difference." Clovis shook his head.
"I mean, the temperature will go down during the night. The breeze from the chilling wind makes your body cold, and that's a perfect time to dip in, feeling the warmth of the hot spring. Do you not know the bliss of being cold and hot at the same time?
Do you not sleep with a freezing air conditioner and cover yourself in a quilt with one of your legs outside the quilt instead of just getting the air conditioner to the right temperature?"
All of them were flabbergasted when Melody said all that with such a passionate face.
"What? You never did that? You guys are no fun." Melody rolled her eyes.
Clovis scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, we can climb to the top right now and check the surrounding area, especially the right hot spring to dip in. After that, we'll set up the tent and also clear up the surrounding area from all the beasts. This should at least use up several hours.
Taking into account the rest and lunch in between, I think by the time we're done, it should be close to dusk."
They agreed with the arrangement and started working on it. They first gathered all the essence in the tunnel and just let the ones outside stay there for the time being. They could still recover their essence later anyway.
Once they were done, Clovis climbed the mountain using the same method. Fortunately, there weren't any beasts on the surface.
However, he felt a bit overwhelmed once he reached the top.
"This is…" Clovis raised his eyebrows. The top of the mountain was extremely vast. The magma chamber seemed to have collapsed and filled up, forming a huge crater in the center.
There were some small plains that could be used to set up their tents.
He hurriedly screwed the bolts to the rock and tossed the ropes so that they could get up.
After setting up their tents, Clovis began the hunt with Kanaria alerting all the beasts in the area with her rifle. More than two hundred beasts were eliminated easily since they had the high ground.
After that, Clovis ordered Jay and Melody to take their essence while Kanaria supported them from the top. Meanwhile, he looked around for the hot springs, finding five such pools.
Unfortunately, after checking their temperature, only two of them were low enough to dip in. They didn't have the proper equipment to lower the temperature.
Hence, Clovis just picked one spot near the camp.
Jay and Melody finished their job two hours before dusk. Melody had assured them that there was no sign of life in the area aside from them, so they should be fine now.
After dinner, they discussed who would go first since there was no way they would go in together.
"We'll definitely take longer, so you guys use it first." Kanaria waved her hand, sending the two boys off. She and Melody were busy cleaning up the plates.
"Oh!" Clovis waved his hand while walking to the edge. They carefully walked on the narrow path and reached the small plain where the hot spring was located.
The hot spring produced more mist during the night, but Clovis and Jay weren't the ones who would care about it.
They just took off their clothes and immediately dipped into the hot spring.
"Ah… this is nice." Clovis muttered. The warm temperature relaxed his body. Even Jay, who didn't say a lot, had his expression melt.
"Something is nice once in a while," said Jay while leaning on the rock.
"Yeah. This feels relaxing. The view is amazing." Clovis absolutely agreed. Just as he leaned back, he heard a woman's voice echoing from the side.
"I'll also join you two."
"Oh!" Clovis agreed as though it wasn't a big deal, thinking it was Kanaria or Melody. But one second later, he realized that he didn't even feel her presence or recognize her voice.
"!!!" Clovis stood up with his hands on his waist as if trying to pull his sword even though they weren't there. He raised his head and saw a woman sitting not far from them. "Who?"