Atticus and Aurora moved deftly and swiftly from branch to branch. Despite more than 10 minutes having passed since they had fought and killed the bone race warriors, neither of them had uttered a single word to each other, an unusual silence enveloping the scene.
Aurora's expression appeared impassive, as though she was normal, but her gaze couldn't lie. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was completely lost in thought.
Atticus, of course, noticed all these things, but he still decided not to say anything. Aurora had killed someone, and considering the current situation of the planet, she would do it again.
'I can't be there every time to hold her hand; she has to get through this by herself,' he thought. It was the best situation to train her. Better here than in the battlefield when her life would be at stake.
Atticus clicked on his device, a holographic image of a map appearing in front of him. He glanced at the map without slowing his steps.
'The target's pretty far,' Atticus noted as he looked at the map leading them towards their next target.
Atticus navigated out of the map section and checked his points:
Summit points: 3860 SP
"Just a little more," he thought.
Atticus was very close to having enough summit points to unlock his mana core, which was priced at 4000 SP.
Today was the fourth day since the summit began, and Atticus had hunted a total of three teams and, considering Aurora was with him, three people. He had also noted that killing the bone race warriors only gave him about 50 summit points, which was incredibly low considering the risk.
'They want us to be more focused on hunting each other,' he concluded.
Atticus had wanted to continue his hunt on the bone race warriors, but he had noticed from the map that their next hunt target had abruptly started moving at fast speed towards a certain direction.
He had immediately decided to follow. Atticus had many assumptions about what had happened, and he hoped to the heavens that he was wrong, but that wasn't his priority now. His priority was getting to his target and killing him/her as fast as possible; he had no intention of losing any of his abilities as a penalty.
They both moved fast and quietly, and after a few long moments of silence, Atticus abruptly stopped on one tree branch, his gaze scanning the area.
A bubble of water had immediately enveloped Aurora as he stopped. Atticus had considered the fact that she was too unfocused and wouldn't be able to stop in time and as quietly.
And as it turned out, it had been the right choice.
Scanning the area, Atticus couldn't help but frown. The number of bone race warriors patrolling had tripled, and with his keen perception, Atticus could sight the forms of what was undoubtedly watchtowers far ahead.
Now each of the warriors was mixed between warriors holding guns with helmets and ones with traditional weapons without helmets.
'I really hope I'm wrong,' Atticus thought worriedly.
Atticus turned back and fixed his gaze on Aurora inside the bubble of water. He gave her an intense stare.
Aurora, who saw it, shook her head slightly, her gaze becoming focused. She knew that look; Atticus didn't have to say anything.
Seeing that he had gotten Aurora's attention, Atticus brought her close to him and released her from the bubble of water, gesturing to the area around them.
As she saw the number of patrolling warriors, Aurora became even more serious, taking in a deep exhale to bring herself together. Now wasn't the time to brood.
Atticus moved his hand akin to sign language, mouthing "follow my every move," causing Aurora to nod in response.
Atticus checked his map again to make sure, then turned his gaze back towards the direction of their target.
They were currently at the foot of a hill, and according to the map, they had to climb and get to the top, through a swarm of patrolling troops.
Atticus took in a deep breath, his mind spinning. There were simply too many eyes in the area. If it had only been him, it would have been hard, but he wouldn't have been so worried. But he wasn't the only one.
Atticus pointed his hand downwards, the air around it becoming humid until a stream of water formed.
He made sure it was very close to the tree they were on and slowly sent it downwards towards the earth.
Reaching the earth, Atticus manipulated it and gathered as much earth as possible inside the water, dyeing the water brown.
After a few seconds, and seeing that it was more or less the same color as the brown trees, Atticus controlled the water back up.
Atticus bent and told Aurora to get on his back, giving her another intense stare to silence her inevitable complaints. As she got on, Atticus immediately enveloped both himself and Aurora in the brownish water.
It wasn't perfect, but it acted somewhat like camouflage.
Silent as a phantom, Atticus's figure, covered in water, streamed from one branch to another. His perception was operating at full throttle, his senses completely focused on each of the patrollers, making sure to avoid their eyes.
This makeshift camouflage had simply been an additional security measure, just in case his senses failed to detect any one of the warriors.
After a few moments of careful and calculated maneuvering, Atticus finally reached about 100 meters from the watchtowers.
There were three in number, positioned on the right, middle, and left side at the top of the hill.
Reaching here, Atticus became even more careful and alert. The watchtowers were different from the one he had seen earlier at their makeshift camp.
They were completely white, and with one look, Atticus could tell that they were made with smoothed bones. They weren't open at the top like the last one, and Atticus couldn't see what was inside.
But he instinctively knew that they were advanced, just like the one they had brought back at their division camp.
'I should change tactics just in case,' he thought. He had no idea about their scope and preferred to be more careful.
Inside the bubble of water, Atticus channeled his mana and brought out two sets of purple armor that he had taken from the first bone race soldiers he had killed.
Dropping Aurora, Atticus gave her a set. She nodded and instantly wore it.
After a few moments, the duo was fully clad in sleek purple suits.