Chapter 251: good friends

3 hours later, the Spartan and Daland soldiers were still being led across the snow-filled region. None of them made any sound, they just kept following silently.

Though dozens of thoughts were in Diana’s mind, she also kept her mouth tightly shut. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Major Clark also restrained by the chains.

She felt funny all of a sudden. “Before, it was humans who did this to animals. Is this retribution?”

Among all the soldiers present, Clark was the one under the most pressure. Thinking of the fact that he made a decision that may possibly doom his soldiers made him feel stressed out.

Though none of the soldiers openly lashed out at him, he knew that they had doubts. This only made him feel more guilty, he just kept praying for the best.

He inclined his head to glance at Dickson but quickly regretted his decision. Dickson had a nonchalant expression on his face like none of this happening concerned him, he really already put all the responsibility on Clark’s shoulders.

As all these happened, they finally arrived at the territory of the beasts after traveling for another 20 minutes.

The animal kingdom territory had the same layout and design as the previous ones that they’ve seen, the only difference was that this one was countless times bigger and more boisterous.

At first glance, the soldiers thought that they just entered a roughly developed city. It was far more coordinated than the previous animal kingdoms.

“Have animals become so intelligent?” They felt mixed feelings.

The next thing that happened shocked them even more. As soon as the battalion of soldiers stopped, the ape alpha finally came down from the carriage that it was carried on.

The carriage was just something like a wooden bed that they made, and 4 exobeasts would carry it around with the alpha in it. This was 5-star treatment already.

After the ape came down, a few dozen apes suddenly came from the animal kingdom to welcome it. From their movements, the soldiers deduced that they were probably all female.

The next moment, the alpha ape made a weird sound before happily grabbing a few of the female apes, groping them in various weird places as they cheerfully escorted him away.

“What???” The soldiers almost puked blood.

They all felt dazed, even Dickson that feigned nonchalance was completely floored. Their perception of exobeasts was once again challenged, this looked more like a fictional movie to them.

As soon as the alpha disappeared with its harem, the other animals finally led them to a corner of the kingdom.

They were led through a tunnel underground before arriving at a damp cave that was made there. To their surprise, dozens of humans like them were kept here, shocking them again.

After dropping them inside, the animals made some weird sounds at them before turning to leave.

They slammed the entrance of the cave shut after leaving, bringing unnerving darkness and silence into the cave.

Flick!

A light suddenly flickered and came to life, it was Josh who made this move. Unknowing to the animals, he sneaked some gadgets in here, and fortunately, a torchlight was one.

As soon as the light came to life, the dozens of humans that were here before them shuddered in fear before cowering tightly together at a corner.

This was when the soldiers finally saw these people clearly, they all sucked in a cold breath of air.

Instead of calling them humans, it was more apt to call them bones. The group of people before them were so emaciated and dirty, it was hard to associate them with humans.

They were about 30+ people before them, but none of them looked healthy. The treatment that these people went through at the hands of the animals could only be imagined.

“We are not staying here!” Dickon suddenly said as he sharply turned to glance at Clark.

“Yes, you, Diana, Benny, Anna, come. We have to discuss”. Clark nodded without much emotion showing on his face.

As soon as they convened, Dickson spoke first. “Why did you make the decision? Perhaps, we had a chance then, but now we’re in enemy territory”.

“It’s because of this”. Clark calmly brought out the letter.

The 4 of them quickly went through it. “I can’t believe you made such a decision because of this, what if he lied? If he really cared for us, why did he run?”

Dickson was clearly angry, but Clark tried to ignore him.

“What do you guys think?” He directed the question at all of them.

“Even if he lied, from your reaction when the ape appeared before us, it was evident that we had no chance at all. I think this decision is best”. Diana thought carefully before answering.

The others gave their opinions as a short debate started. 15 minutes later, they finally came to a verdict.

“We’re escaping this night then”. Clark concluded.

During this time that they discussed, one of the soldiers came to report to them that they saw signs of dried blood.

From this, they deduced that the animals either tortured these people daily or killed some of them at various intervals. None of the assumptions was nice, so leaving this same night was agreed on by all 5 of them.

They already tried to communicate with the poor fellows but none of them opened their mouths.

It was either because they were traumatized, or they already lost all hopes of living. This made them wonder why they haven’t committed suicide yet, that was much better than living such an agonizing life.

“Then our weapons, how would we get them? We have zero chances of escaping without our weapons”. Dickson bluntly said.

“Don’t worry, I have my means”. Clark smiled mysteriously.

During his time stranded in the Mediterranean Sea, he learned a lot of survival skills and some of them would come to play today.

Learn something about everything and learn everything about something, this saying was undoubtedly true to him.

After bidding farewell to his soldiers, Clark entered stealth and left, startling Dickson and the others. They finally understood, just like Josh, he also sneaked some gadgets inside.

During the time that Clark left, Dickson led the other soldiers as they scoured the whole cave for any clue that could help them.

During this process, they deduced something terrifying. From the bloodstains around, they deduced that from the humans that they met here, 2 people were always killed by the animals daily.

This was a completely horrifying deduction, this caused them to be more resolute about their decision to leave tonight.

Even if they could not plan everything properly like against the Wild Yak alpha, it was better than staying and waiting for the inevitable death.

An hour later, Clark finally returned and he did not disappoint. He already found out where their weapons were kept. They just had to get there and grab them when the time of escape came.

After this, under Clark’s orders, all the soldiers went to sleep to recover their strength before night came.

The night was surely going to be chaotic.

…

5 minutes later, when most of the soldiers already fell asleep, Clark stood up and went closer to meet his friend. It was a long time ago since they discussed friend to friend, Clark just felt the impulse today.

As soon as he lied down close to him, Benny felt the heat and opened his eyes. Though he could not see through the darkness, he knew that it was Clark who slept beside him.

“Are you nervous?” He asked in a whisper.

“Yeah, I guess so”. Clark sighed.

“I sincerely don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, I feel like I’m leading you guys into a bottomless abyss. Do you think that perhaps I was never fit to be a leader, how can I believe a stranger so easily?”

As he rambled on, Benny finally interrupted him. “Clark!”

“Yes”.

“I don’t think there is any leader that is right all the time, the only thing is that they always follow their hearts. You believed that it was good for us, that’s why you did it”.

“To be sincere, I sometimes feel inferior around you. You’re probably the greatest leader that I’ve ever served under, I think you should give yourself some credit”.

“I’ve experienced a lot during this mission, I think with all these new things, I can pat myself and say that I’m a fairly experienced soldier. Don’t you think so?”

“Yeah, we’ve experienced a lot”. Clark replied nostalgically.

“From the Himalayan black bears to our first shelter, then to the strange forest, then the animal kingdom, and all the weird people that we met on the way”.

“You’re right, we are experienced soldiers. I bet most soldiers don’t even know that exobeasts can speak human language, that alone makes us experienced. Even if we die in the end, this is enough for us”.

“At least, the whole Spartan republic will remember us that we tried. I don’t know of the other squads, but we are just a day away from the Aragan ruin according to King. That’s a great achievement in itself”.

Silence reigned a bit as both friends contemplated the words that they just explained.

“Thank you, Clark”. Benny finally broke the silence.

“For what?” Clark was startled.

“For everything, I know that you’ve been secretly protecting me from the shadows. I really appreciate everything”.

“And I’m also grateful for this conversation, it cleared my tense nerves a lot. It’s not every day you see an ape that speaks English, it’s horrifying really? It almost caught up to me already, this conversation helped a lot”.

“I’m glad I was able to help”. Clark smiled.

“I wish Leo was here, then we’ll be complete. Remembering the day that we first met still leaves a smile on my face, I think that’s the best day of my life”. Benny smiled also.

“I think so too. I have the best friends in the world, I’ll miss you guys a lot”.

“Why are you saying it like we’ll all die soon”. Benny joked, making Clark laugh a bit.

Both friends kept discussing and reminiscing like that until sleep eventually came. As soon as both friends slept, Josh finally looked at them a bit, complicated emotions flitted across his eyes.

“Having good friends is the best thing ever”. He smiled ruefully.

…

“Getting to Grey Fur’s kingdom is going to take more time than I expected. Why did I forget to ask for a new boot from master? I’m so forgetful”.

King lamented as smoke billowed out of his damaged exotic boots. After overloading them for an excessive period, they finally gave way.

He already traveled to a location where going back to ask for help from his master was not viable, so he could only grit his teeth and decide to continue the normal way.

“Well, the chosen one can completely take care of himself, so no rushing”.

Convincing himself with that, he changed into a lower grade boot before continuing the journey normally.

One thing that was notable to him as he traveled was that the weather was very gloomy. It seemed that a great rain was about to drench the Himalayan peaks, this made him increase his steps a bit.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it.]