CH 82

Hipopo steps forward, leaving a hole in the ground. That single step pushes Hipopo and I forward.

The path behind us is filled with dust in the air and holes big enough to be mistaken for craters.

It’s been two days since Seilook was taken by a feathered snake.

Halhammer, Taula, Roa, and I made plans very quickly, and I chased after it with Hipopo before we lost sight of it.

I didn’t want to leave them behind, but I had to prioritize speed.

Roa can see very far away, Taula knows a lot about the shaman and the familiars, and Halhammer is one of the most knowledgeable alchemists out there. Before I left, everyone said we should combine our skills, and that they should come along, but in the end, this is faster.

Halhammer said he was going to use his own transmuted beast when he was ready, and come after us with Roa and Taula.

Thankfully, it doesn’t usually rain in this remote region around this time, so it should be easy for them to follow Hipopo’s footsteps. I’m sure they’ll find us.

My job is to not let that feathered snake out of my sight until then. Thankfully it’s going east, and not west towards the sea.

While holding on to Hipopo with one hand and trying not to fall off while it runs at full speed and shakes violently, I reach over to my backpack and take out a portable ration. The usual grass brick.

I chew it while sensing a moderate smell of grass, and drink a stamina potion instead of water.

I’ve been periodically splashing stamina potions on Hipopo too, since it’s been running for two days straight.

“Hipopo.”

I say while reaching over to Hipopo’s mouth with a crushed magic stone in my hand.

Hipopo turns my way and opens its mouth, and I throw the crushed magic stone into it.

I hear a hearty crunching sound.

We keep going without stopping.

I still see the feathered snake up there, and sometimes I see a languid looking Seilook below it.

If my suspicions are correct, it should still be alive. I’m thinking that maybe the cat-fish with tentacles we encountered before was also a familiar of the shaman. Both the cat-fish and this feathered snake sprayed purple liquid after their tentacles were cut, and both have poison that works instantaneously on Seilook alone.

If I’m right, that shaman wants to take Seilook alive, although I have no idea why.

Still, it hurts to see Seilook at the mercy of that familiar.

But as I think about this, the feathered snake finally starts descending.