In the end they decided to let Will live for now. Currently they were all seated around the campfire.
Sera caused a small disturbance when she came out of the water, but when Bea nearly started growling at everyone, they quickly looked away and pretended she was wearing regular clothing.
They quickly dried themselves near the fire, then ate some meat that James acquired while exterminating. And now that everyone was full and well, it was time to hear what the scouts found.
"...Nothing." Said Lucy with some displeasure. She was jealous because while she went scouting everyone else had fun in one way or another.
"Okay, and what about you two? Any sign of the creature?" Asked Sera while purposefully ignoring Lucy.
Sarah and Will looked at each other, then they both shook their heads.
"We found a lot of monsters down there, some of them very scary, but we found nothing about the Colossal Sea Devourer." Explained Will without much interest, but he was naturally like that.
"Those previous scouts reported a gigantic corrupted, possibly more than a hundred meter long. How can a beast like that hide?"
Bea's question was valid, how could a monster that size just disappear?
"There is a few explanations for that. First things first, this part of the sea is deep and I mean very deep. As far as I know, in the old world they deepened this part of the waters by a few kilometers. This means that the monster can just be hiding in those depths."
The whole group listened attentively as James continued with his second theory.
"The second and worse possibility is that the monster simply left this area. The reports are a few years old, so this is actually very likely. It would be really bad since that would mess with our scheduling by a lot."
They collectively sighed, that was one big problem... The timing. It was currently near the end of october, which meant they only had about a month to reach a human outpost named Flensburg. By that time Will and Sarah have to be an ascended or they had to change their whole plan.
"So? What do we do?... We either try to find it which is basically impossible or move onto the next hunt and figure this out later." Said Hellfire, then they turned towards their leader to make a decision.
Sera thought about every possibility and scenario, but something kept eating away at the back of her mind. The whole picture seemed incomplete, and this sea devourer was too mysterious for a creature that big.
'I think there is more to this... What if we couldn't find it for some specific reason? These monsters never just disappear, they stay put near an area if there is enough food to hunt... And the sea had loads of it.'
The idea became clear and slowly a smile appeared on her face. She looked at each member of their group and with a light chuckle declared.
"Good news everyone, we got some free time on our hand. You can do whatever you want until nightfall! Dismissed!" She said it as a command which further confused them, especially because of her persisting smile. The first one to recover was Faith, but as always she never questioned her lady's orders.
"Come now, stand up and let's get this over with. You know as well as I do the need for this training, so stop acting angry or I will drop you in the water!"
"You are mean!" Still offended she pulled her feet up and very gradually rose to a standing position. She held it for a second before falling down towards the boundless sea.
Before actually reaching it, Kastral caught her and she tried again. It took her a long while and fell down dozens of times, but after about an hour she could stay standing comfortably.
Kastral looked back at Sera, then in her head said, "Now that you got familiar with this speed, let's increase it shall we?"
There was no time for rejection since his speed steadily grew and her ability to stay on became more precarious. It took her a minute to finally fall, but sadly this time they were too close to the water for him to catch her.
"You Asshole! Why weren't you higher in the air?!" The only answer she had gotten was laughter through the bond, it didn't really help her mood.
Slowly she swam out and plopped down next to the fire. Will and Sarah looked at her curiously and with small sly smiles, but through gritted teeth she shut them off.
"Don't you dare say a word."
For her dismay though neither stayed silent as they began snickering between themselves.
'Just when did they became so talkative? And why are they so despicable!'
The Sun was finishing its arc towards the west, it was still an hour or two until nightfall, but everyone was already back and getting ready for the battle.
Sera still haven't said a word to Bea after that move she pulled. She wasn't actually angry, but it was nice to pretend. And it gave her an excuse for the two of them to be alone.
They went further inland then stopped near some ruined building where Bea quickly made a bed from grass and leaves. But Sera didn't let her off the hook that easily, when she was about to kiss her, Sera just put one finger on her lips and leaned in to whisper into her ear.
"I don't think so... We have fun after I punished you thoroughly..."
As she finished the sentence her hand began exploring her body, touching every erogenous zone. Sera wouldn't stop until Bea started begging her.
She was moaning by the slightest touch when suddenly a dark shape moved above them and Lucy landed near the building. They both turned towards her with piercing eyes already knowing what was going on.
'I can't fucking believe it! These monsters have horrible sense of time!'
They both just looked at each other and sighed dejectedly before moving back towards the others.