When he heard Marin, Rocky turned around and asked, "Anything else?"
"Well... Th-thank you!" Marin stammered, an awkward expression on his face.
"Since I just finished the operation, it's too early to tell whether Verdanim is out of danger. Take care of it for the next few days. Don't thank me yet. What if Verdanim relapses? You'd definitely kill me then." Rocky chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come on! I'm not that unreasonable." Knowing that Rocky said that on purpose, Marin felt wronged and frowned.
With a faint smile, Rocky turned to leave. Though he said nothing, Marin understood what he think of her.
"That annoying guy..." Marin murmured angrily, staring at Rocky's back. But she was glad Rocky had saved Verdanim, even if she didn't know a way to express it with the other emotions at war within her, chief among them being worry.
As Rocky was walking back to his place, he felt that a pair of eyes were staring at him. He turned around abruptly, but there was no one there.
Frowning, he studied the area but saw nothing out of the ordinary. As he turned away, a pair of deer-like eyes flashed in the darkness.
After returning to his room, Rocky shoveled bags of soil to feed the three Dark Heaven Insects. When the Dark Heaven Insects were full, he checked them by the Stroking Evaluation Skill. The examination revealed they were in good health. When he was done, he put them back into the nest. Rocky turned to Uriah and Little Rubygon. "We're all set here. I think it's time for us to go for a little hunt."
They left and headed into the nearby forest. They'd gone a good way when Uriah stopped, spun to the left, and roared.
"What's wrong, Uriah?" Rocky crouched beside Uriah and stroked the beast's head. Ready to send Uriah after whatever bothered the beast, Rocky followed Uriah's gaze, but he saw only shadows within the deeper darkness of the trees.
"All right now! Let's go!" Thinking Uriah was simply in a bad mood, Rocky stood and directed the two beasts to continue on.
As they walked, Uriah still shot looks over its shoulder. Or it would stop and turn to peer
ttle. But the bottle spun away from Uriah's outstretched paw and darted away toward the trees on the left.
Rocky could only stare as the bottle flew seemingly of its own accord.
But he knew there was another reason. A reason he wished was not true.
Seeing the bottle fly away, Uriah shot up flames. The two fire balls roared past the bottle toward the darkness.
As the fire grew, it silhouetted a giant spiritual beast. It had long slender limbs that glinted with rainbow colors.
"The Rainbow Glow Unicorn!" Rocky yelled even as he dodged the flames.
But before Rocky could react the beast had disappeared. The bottle of saliva, however, still zipped through the air, trailing the beast. Uriah gave chase. "Stop, Uriah! Let it go!" Rocky yelled.
Uriah let out a frustrated roar but stopped. With a groan, it followed Rocky. Uriah looked at Rocky with a concerned expression, one of doubt, one that said it wondered why Rocky had stopped it.
The bottle drew to a halt in the midair. Then it, too, was gone from sight.
The encounter brought Rocky to a conclusion. It wasn't the magical saliva that had drawn the Rainbow Glow Unicorn. Its attack had been too precise, too measured. Too planned.
"It seems that the Rainbow Glow Unicorn has been following us along the way," he murmured to himself. Stunned, he thought back to the day's events, staring at the space that once held the Unicorn.