Rex and the assault team have been scouting non-stop inside the Chrono Hollow.
All of them were constrained inside this dominion—which made it so their stamina lessened quicker and their sanity plummeted faster. It was not good, and healthy for them to keep on going so they decided to rest for a bit before going back.
Furthermore, the place was still relatively unexplored.
It has different terrains or sections and is filled with dangerous mutated animals.
Rex and the assault team had only seen the tip of it.
Surely there were some parts of the Chrono Hollow that hosted more danger than this.
Even the mutated treants were numbering in thousands.
Gistella and the others were able to block their paths, using the terrain to their advantage, but it was not a permanent solution. It would only be a matter of time—before the mutated treant reached and swarmed them.
Other than Magnarock, the others don't seem to have a proper thinking conscience.
But all of them are at least the peak of the eighth-rank realm, so the numbers are a problem.
Fortunately, the mutated treants were naturally slow—they had time to leave.
Just like the others, Rex was surprisingly, exhausted.
His powers were severely weakened, and even his sanity stat was already dropping fast.
All of them wouldn't be able to scout the dominion if Rex was not in peak condition.
Maintaining his red force spread to the surroundings at all times—wrestling the mutated eels that were extremely strong, and now subduing the mutated eagle without force, Rex was too tired to go on.
A day's rest would return him to peak condition.
Due to that, it was best for them to retreat from the place for now.
At the very least, they now know that Chrono Hollow is an extremely dangerous dominion.
"Is it going back with us?"
Gistella—who was gently caressing Rex's hair—while he lay on her lap asked while looking at the mutated eagle. Just like Rex, it seemed to be tired from wrestling in the sky and is now in hibernation mode with its wings wrapped around its body.
Feeling no threat from the people around, it also seemed to be half-sleeping.
It would react to any sudden attack but was still trying to rest.
Rex shook his head, "Nope, it's too big to be brought to the castle. It would be a headache,"
Considering the size of the mutated eagle, which was the size of a small building—there was no chance, that Rex would bring it back to the city. He would leave it here free, and called for it when he needed its help.
Upon hearing this, Gistella nodded her head and looked around.
Just like Rex, the others were wounded and are now resting at the foot of a hill.
None of them seemed to be alert.
Because of that, Gistella decided to be the one to keep an eye on the surroundings.
"I know that you are also hurt—so you channel your inner energy too, to quicken the healing process. No need for you to keep a lookout—I've set up a perimeter, and also, a barrier," Rex said nonchalantly, while still having his eyes closed. "When we head back—tell me the thing, who hurt you. I'll kill it on the way back brutally if it leaves a scar on your body"
Gistella giggled lightly when she heard this, she was indeed wounded around her waist.
A ninth-rank ream mutated polar bear ambushed her earlier.
However, the wound shouldn't leave a scar.
"I already hurt it back. I doubt it would be still around," She replied assuringly.
<Notice: the user's fatigue is nearing its max, it's advised to rest and recover your stamina!>
<Notice: the user's sanity stat is dropping!>
Seeing the last notification, Rex sighed as his sanity stat had never been at a proper spot.
It was always low, so he needed to loosen up or else it would end badly.
Upon that light banter, Rex began to drowse, lulled by the chilly air, the soft cushion behind his head, and the gentle caress from Gistella's fingers. As always—Gistella did not forget to cast the anti-nightmare spell on Rex to make his rest better.
In one second, Rex was still fully awake, but in the next second, he fell asleep.
Out of nowhere, the wolf cub was suddenly impaled from the side by a purple dagger.
Upon seeing this—Rex went over to it quickly, and knelt down, seeing that the wolf cub was shedding a couple of tears as its blood began to dye the snow beneath it crimson. For some reason, he was angry at the sight of the wolf cub dying, he could feel his blood boiling.
Not to mention, the sight of the wolf cub bleeding pinched his heart.
It didn't feel like he was looking at wolf cub, but dearest blood instead.
Glancing to the side—his crimson eyes flashed, trying to find the one who attacked the cub.
Realizing that the fog was too thick, for him to find the perpetrator, Rex grabbed a blue gem, from the inventory—and threw it in that direction, clearing the fog. Even as the fog cleared— there was nobody there.
"Who the fuck did that?! Show yourself?!" Rex barked, his chest heaving fiercely.
He even turned into his Werewolf form to heighten his senses.
Seeing no glimpse of the perpetrator made him even angrier to the point he exploded.
"Raargghh!"
Kaboom!
Venting out his boiling anger—Rex slammed both of his fists to the ground, evaporating the shin-length snow under his intense, kingly energy. He bared his sharp fangs—feral-like and kept scouring his vicious eyes around.
But there was no point, nobody was around, there was only him.
"Rex...?"
Just then, a voice called out to him and he snapped his head to look at who called him.
It was Gistella, and she was approaching him carefully.
She could see Rex's extreme anger in the intense glow of his crimson eyes.
Nothing seemed to have happened ever since they were resting, at least Gistella felt nothing had so she was confused as to why Rex had become like this, 'Is he dreaming? No, that can't be, he shouldn't be having any nightmares with the spell I cast on him'
Regardless of what she thought, the fact that Rex was now angry was undeniable.
"Go wake up the others and search the fucking area!" He roared commandingly.
Upon hearing this, Gistella carefully asked, "Okay, but can you tell me what happened?"
"Someone was here and whoever it is killed that wolf cub over there!" Rex replied.
Gistella turned to look at the spot where Rex pointed before she frowned, she was confused as to what he was talking about—but she decided to do as he said lest Rex's anger escalate, and it would be hard to stop him then.
Especially with them being inside the Chrono Hollow right now.
"Okay..." She mused, nodding her head. "I'll go tell the others to search the area,"
Moments later.
Doing as Rex commanded—the entire assault team, searched the area to see, whether there was really anyone around them. Of course, they thought that it was another Werewolf as Rex briefed them earlier that there was a Werewolf infiltrator.
Considering that, there might be another one nearby.
All of them were rigorous in searching the area—capturing the infiltrator was extremely good.
But an hour in, and none of them managed to find a single clue.
No matter how thorough or how much they tried, they couldn't find anything.
"That infiltrator must be a very skilled one, it left no trace of energy whatsoever,"
"No, it's impossible, it must've left a trace somewhere..."
Frank and Liliya returned back to Gistella, deciding that they would try it again from the start.
However, as they were about to do that, Gistella suddenly intervened.
"You won't find anything, but keep pretending to search for clues," She suddenly said.
Upon hearing this Frank and Liliya were confused as to what Gistella meant by that. Rex was adamant, that someone was in the area—so they should be able to find a clue, if they search hard enough.
Ignoring their confused gazes, Gistella stayed silent in deep contemplation.
'Of course they won't find anything because there's nothing to find,' She thought, dancing at Rex on the side, who was also searching for clues, before she turned to look at the spot with her brows furrowed. 'There's not even a wolf cub...'