Chapter 295 Surrounding Forests

The Great Eliezer was a large monument to an ancient warrior of the Melki Empire, named Eliezer. This monument was located north of Stahurt, more precisely in some very wild mountains, whose woods were so dense and the terrain so treacherous that few ventured to visit the monument.

Since Luke and his present companions had not crossed the Acronym Plains in the direction of Stahurt, they had not had the opportunity to pass near these mountains, so this was a totally new area for them. Nevertheless, Luke had no regrets about not going straight to Stahurt as Scales had asked him to do before they could have a chance to talk further. If he had gone on to Stahurt at that time, he might have missed the chance to get the information he obtained in New Yukiat.

When Wanney was asked by Luke what the Great Eliezer was, he answered expertly. As a child Wanney was a boy fascinated by stories and tales, so he certainly knew the warrior Eliezer.

However, what Wanney didn't realize while talking about the monument was that Luke actually knew the answer to his own question before he even asked it. The truth was that Scales told him the moment he left the tavern.

Although Scales had lost virtually all the powers she had once had, she was still an extremely powerful divine being. Just as it was already natural for the half-wolf to manipulate the lines in Horus' Dimension, it was natural for Scales to read the lines of fate and reality.

Luke only asked Wanney what the Great Eliezer was because he wanted to confirm if what Scales had deduced was correct. When he finished listening, Luke nodded, uncrossed his arms and spoke:

"All right, I will check out to the vicinity of that monument. If that dojo is there, it won't be hard to find it."

"You?" Meredith looked at Luke and asked. "Are you really thinking of going alone? Luke, we are not in New Yukiat anymore."

"You are right and that is why I want to entrust the most important work to you. We know very little about Stahurt and what is going on here, it will be risky without knowing much more about. There is an inn around the corner, stay there and try to find out something from the staff." Luke said as he held out a bag of coins to her.

The half-fox nodded and held out her right hand forward1.

Luke placed the bag of coins in her palm, making her hand feel a little heavy, "I believe this will be enough."

As Wanney and Meredith watched Luke walk away on that long street they were on, they had a bad feeling.

Everything had been working out well for them for some time now and they were managing to achieve all the goals they set, but there was something different about Stahurt, something strange. They had been feeling a strange sensation since the day they arrived in this giant city, a feeling of uneasiness. It was at this moment that a questioning rose in Wanney's mind, and he could not help but express it.

"How will he know which rooms we will be staying in?" He asked Meredith.

The half-fox looked at Wanney and then pointed to her delicate nose. "Haven't you noticed? We have powerful sense of smell and Luke's is far more trained than mine. I bet he would know if one day we grassed even though we were a mile apart."

Indeed, the half-wolf's sense of smell was very powerful and his focus exponentially increased the smells he could distinguish, and thanks to that Luke was able to smell blood as soon as he entered the forest in the mountains that Wanney pointed out. It was after five o'clock in the afternoon, so there shouldn't be anyone in the forest, but the smell was still worrisome.

"Is that something worth my attention?" Luke asked Scales about that blood odor.

[I don't know. The variables for a smell of blood in a dark forest are endless... Maybe it's worth going to check, maybe not].

"Okay, I better go check, maybe it's some-" Luke couldn't finish speaking, because at that moment a shrill, wailing scream echoed in the forest.

The furry ears of the half-wolf picked up the sound easily, and at the same instant Luke began to run in the direction of the scream. His steps in the woods were very agile, so that he always seemed to know exactly where he was stepping and also where his next foot would step.

'Shit, shit, shit... That was a female scream.' Luke concluded. It didn't matter what Luke's goal was, if someone innocent was being attacked, it was his duty to help as he was probably the only other human in that forest.

It would be hard for Luke to be sneaky in a forest as steep and closed as the one he was in, so he just ran as fast as he could. A minute later, he finally managed to catch up with the person who had shouted.

The woman was stuck in the tree and had a gag over her mouth. The left side of her face was marked with the palm of a hand, coming from a strong slap. She had a simple appearance, brown hair and dark eyes with a few freckles on her face that accentuated her modest beauty.

"Why did you let her scream so loudly?"

"I was just arranging the cloth in her mouth, I didn't imagine she was pretending to sleep."

Two Caucasian men were talking in front of the woman. Both were wearing simple black leather armor, a kind of leather that could only be obtained from dungeon boars, low level monsters of Dungeons.

As the two men argued about whose fault it was that the woman had managed to scream, Luke noticed that the woman was looking directly at where he was standing, indicating that she noticed his approach. So it wouldn't take long for the two men to notice her gaze as well and eventually investigate the area she was looking at.

Luke took a second to think, activating <Eye of Horus>. Over the past few months, he had managed to avoid almost every conflict to avoid drawing attention, so why should he risk that safety to save a single unknown woman? Not to mention the fact that she was probably just an ordinary citizen of the nation that was at war with his, there was no reason to risk it.

Nevertheless, Luke had changed a lot in these last two years. When Thief, he would not hesitate to stay out of other people's problems so as not to draw attention to himself, but now it was different, Luke had self-awareness of life and a name to look after.

"Hey, brother. She's looking up, she doesn't even have the courage to look into our eyes, how did you let her scream so easily?"

"I told you, it wasn't my mistake. You should have tied a stronger knot, then I wouldn't have bothered to fix the gag you made! Wait a second, is she looking up?"

They were in a partially low area, so upwards there were only more trees and branches. So one of the men decided to look up.

At that moment, a shadow jumped out of a bush and the glint of some sunbeams, which were piercing through the leaves of the trees, reflected on the blade that was strapped to his right wrist.

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