"Our speed is getting quite slow," Artemis muttered as she and Aiden were once again running through a forest.
"This is probably because we now have to check for formations and traps instead of just being wary of patrols." He replied the obvious answer as the two of them were only traveling during the night.
They would sleep in shifts during the day and eat while they would continue to run the entire night. However, they knew that there was no way they could reach the Shadowstone city without being caught.
Unless they increased their speed.
"Artemis, I think we need to create a commotion to distract them." Aiden suddenly spoke up as the silver-haired woman raised an eyebrow.
"And what kind of commotion can we create?"
"Let's go to a nearby guarded village and create a commotion there. We can also collect some maps from there and after doing that, we are moving the hell away from that place. However, we will take a completely different route where there would be fewer guards and continue going forward from there."
"What is your age again?"
"Fifteen."
"That was sarcasm."
"And I was being polite.
Artemis sighed at the boy's reply as she started wondering how did he know things so well. Perhaps he was a spy sent from Shadowstone city but Aiden was too inexperienced and amateurish for that.
'But maybe that's the reason they sent him so people won't feel that he is a spy.' Artemis remembered how Aiden had told her that he was from a village and she had told him some story.
She knew that both she and him had been lying yet they had gone ahead it just for the sake of not having arguments.
'At least he respects privacy.' She thought with a small smile as Aiden started directing them towards the nearest village with the help of Sera.
Artemis of course didn't know about Sera and instead thought that the black-haired boy was really good at remembering maps and locations.
She had found out about this in the days they had traveled together and Aiden had always seemed to know where the villages were and how they could avoid them.
But the reason behind this was that Sera had noted all the villages in the area. So with the help of the system, she could guide Aiden through almost any place and all she needed was a map or a representation of the place.
This was indeed a handy skill but when you didn't have a map, you just needed to depend on instinct.
And that is why Aiden wanted to go to a nearby village and gather some maps since his data was running out.
< I guess I have officially broken the no spoon-feeding rule. >
'I think you broke many rules and that is still more of the milder ones.'
< You are correct there Aiden. Now stop talking to me and focus. >
'But you were the one who started the talk...' Aiden replied with a mental sigh as he suddenly felt his shadow sense tingling around his body.
< You are the man of spiders and I don't want us to get copyrighted. >
'Then why did you even mention that?' Aiden asked back as he turned towards Artemis.
"I think something is about to happen."
The silver-haired woman instantly went alert since she had recognized that Aiden's senses were on a whole other level.
She quietly summoned her deadly golden lightning across her arm as she heard a shape whistle going through the air.
'Could it be?' The woman looked as though she had just been told that her house had been sold for a penny to her son.
Though she had neither of those, it was a good metaphor to show her reaction.
"Aiden, have you ever fought wolf-type beasts?" She asked as the prince nodded.
"The wolves and I are good friends." He replied with a smile as he remembered how many times he had fought the beasts in the forest of night and in the open.
Artemis seemed satisfied with his answer as she turned her gaze towards the north.
"Then be prepared to fight some more of these guys right now." She replied and raised both of her arms in a fighting position.
Aiden made a shadow bow and arrows as he looked in the direction Artemis was staring at.
And a few seconds later, howls rose from the same direction.
< Aiden, hundreds of Tempest Wolves are coming this way and I think one of them is an A rank beast. > Sera suddenly explained as Aiden took a deep breath.
A ranked beasts were high above his level but he knew that he could win against one if he and the golden lightning user did everything they could.
But before that, they had to deal with the small fries.
"Wanna make a bet to see who can defeat the most wolves?" Artemis suddenly asked as she wanted to raise the black-haired boy's spirit up by a little.
Little did she know that his spirit was already very high because of all the exp he was about to gain.
Aiden was very tempted to laugh like a third-rated villain from a pathetically written cliche comedy novel but he managed to resist the urge.
He instead notched ten arrows in his bow and aimed at the nearest wolves.
He pulled out the string and immediately released it as ten arrows zipped through the air and hot ten wolves one by one.
Exp notifications resounded in Aiden's ears as he looked at Artemis with a small smile.
"You little..." She muttered and immediately moved towards the nearest wolf and punched it.
Her punch roasted the wolf down to shreds as she continued to do it.
Both Artemis and Aiden knew that the whistle has belonged to a beast summoner who had called the beasts to waste their time.
But they knew that they couldn't run away anyways, especially when an A rank beast was amongst the crowd.
< Aiden, the beast is slowly coming your way. >