Seeing that Nalira still didn’t seem okay, Shaan decided to try something grandma Isabel had used to calm him down when he was a kid: mumbling. It sounded a bit strange, but it had worked for him back then, and he could only hope it would work for Nalira too.
"...What are you doing?" Nalira slowly lifted her head and looked at Shaan with a confused expression.
"Mumbling, of course." Shaan smiled. "My grandmother used to do this kind of thing when I was scared. Just try it, it might help you get rid of your fear."
Nalira stayed quiet for a moment after hearing that. At first, Shaan assumed the idea sounded silly and that Nalira didn’t agree with him. But a few minutes later, she began humming softly along with him.
"So? How do you feel now?"
"Much better... thank you, Shaan." Nalira slowly stood up. "Good night, Shaan."
"Good night, Nalira."
Without saying anything, Nalira walked back to the campfire and rested. The atmosphere instantly fell silent, leaving only Shaan and the rumble of the rain, which was no longer as loud as before. Good—at least the thunder wouldn’t catch him off guard again tonight.
’I should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.’
Shaan still wanted to talk to Nalira about what exactly made her so afraid of thunder. But she didn’t seem willing to say anything. So, he lay down and soon drifted off into a deep sleep.
"Uhmm... the rain has stopped." Chelsie stepped out of the cave and looked around. "But I don’t see any sign of the Twilight Sanctum nearby."
Shaan stroked his chin slowly. "Maybe we still need to move farther away from this cave. We might spot the Twilight Sanctum from a better distance."
"You’re right, Shaan," Chelsie replied as she walked away from the cave. "Let’s move quickly before the dark creatures notice us."
The three of them decided to follow the long path stretching out in front of the cave, hoping they could find the Twilight Sanctum along the way. But after only a few minutes of walking, they already spotted a group of strange creatures just a few meters ahead.
’What... what is that?’
At a glance, Shaan thought it looked like a savage wolf. Its glowing red eyes and pitch-black skin gave it a terrifying presence. The creature used its sharp fangs to tear apart the carcass of a dark, worm-like beast lying in the mine. It also used the arrowhead-shaped tip of its tail to rip out the worm’s internal organs.
"Oh my god... that’s—"
Nalira quickly covered Chelsie’s mouth. "Dark creatures."
"Yeah, and it looks like they’re enjoying their breakfast," Shaan whispered as he swallowed hard.
"So-so, what should we do now?"
"We attack them. I’ll try to sneak closer to those creatures and launch a surprise attack." Nalira slowly drew her sword, ready to strike. "I believe this tactic will work, and we’ll wipe them out."
"Nalira, wait a second." Shaan quickly stepped in front of her. "We can’t act recklessly. There are too many of them, and your strength alone won’t be enough to defeat them. Even if we work together, that doesn’t guarantee that other dark creatures won’t show up."
Nalira sheathed her sword again. "So... what’s your idea?"
"We need to find another way. There must be a different path that helps us avoid that group of dark creatures."
"Uhmm... yeah, and I think I know where we should go, Shaan." Chelsie pointed to the side. "We might be able to pass through that forest. If we move inside the forest, those creatures will have a harder time finding us."
"Brilliant idea. Let’s head into the forest before those dark creatures notice us," Shaan said as he began walking toward the trees. "Hurry. We don’t have much time."
While walking through the forest, the three of them did not see any signs of dark creatures around this place. Although the road was quite muddy, at least it was much better than having to deal with a bunch of bloodthirsty, dark creatures.
"Uhmm...Lira, wait a moment."
Nalira, who led the group, stopped at once. "What’s wrong, Chelsie? Do you sense any dark creatures around here?"
Chelsie shook her head. "Uhmm... no, not that." She slowly pointed her index finger at Nalira’s hand. "It’s just that... your Insanmeter is already orange, Lira."
"Wait, B-bur how? How is it possible for your insanmeter to turn orange so quickly? You’ve only summoned Satan a few times?"
"...I don’t know at all, Chelsie. But it seems that it’s all because Satan is a powerful daemon, so it might have affected my insanity meter rising quickly."
’No... that’s not the real reason. This has to be because of the negative emotions that have already taken root inside her.’ Shaan shook his head. ’Damn it! I want to tell Chelsie the truth, but... but I can’t just break my promise with Nalira.
"Uhmm... Lira, maybe you shouldn’t summon your Daemon for now—at least not until your Insanmeter drops below the orange level," Chelsie suggested gently. "I just don’t want you to get hurt, Lira."
"...I understand. Thank you, Chelsie."
The three of them continued their journey through the forest, still hoping to find the Twilight Sanctum. However, after walking for a while, for some reason, Shaan felt something strange in the forest and decided to stop for a while.
"Shaan? What’s wrong?" Chelsie walked closer to Shaan. "Is something wrong?"
"No... But, I just feel quite strange about this forest." Shaan cast his eyes around. "This forest feels so quiet, and I don’t see anything here at all."
"Huh? Isn’t that great? It means we’re safe from the dark creatures, right?"
"No," Nalira shook her head. "This silence feels unnatural. We need to stay alert. Something might be watching us."
"I feel the same way," Shaan added.
"Uhmm... in that case, I’ll try using Carmen’s ability again and confirm it."
Chelsie immediately activated Carmen’s ability, but Carmen didn’t detect any strange energy within the forest.
"Shaan, I think it’s just your imagination," she said calmly.
Shaan nodded after hearing her words. Maybe it was just a feeling, and there was no way Carmen could be wrong.
But still... why did he feel like something kept watching him? Was it truly just his imagination? Or was there something else, something hidden silently tracking their move?