Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 419 - 281: Hunter and Prey (3)

Chapter 419: Chapter 281: Hunter and Prey (3)

After walking a great distance southward, the young man discovered a row of footprints emerging from the river, and their owner seemed to completely disregard them—boldly striding onto the riverbank, the hillocks, and eventually disappearing into the woods to the south.

He grinned, the spheres of his eyes instantly transforming into Soul Fires as he lifted his hand and pointed southward.

The skeletal crossbowmen turned and formed up, advancing toward the top of the hillocks while spreading out.

Just like hunters closing in on their prey.

As the riverbank returned to tranquility, a stag leapt down from a nearby hillock; it sized up the footprints on the riverbank and hesitated before kneeling to drink.

After quenching its thirst and raising its head, the deer immediately bolted deeper into the woods.

In front of it, a skeletal crossbowman materialized out of thin air, surveyed its surroundings, and eventually followed the squad.

Once again, the riverbank settled into silence, with the wind sweeping snowflakes across the valley, and as the sun was obscured by dark clouds and the snow resumed falling, Malin finally cast off the camouflage that covered him. Fio maneuvered their boots up another hillock, and then they made their way to the other side of the river, narrowly avoiding pursuit.

He turned and picked up the shivering Faye, who felt cold to the touch. The Mechanical Life Technique could hide one’s heat signature from the undead’s infrared vision. However, lying atop the ice and snow was not a pleasant experience, especially for Faye, who was sensitive to the cold. It wasn’t until Malin applied a cold resistance spell that she began to feel somewhat better.

After drying and putting their boots back on, Malin marched northward with the two girls—they could be sure that the undead lay to the north, and he needed to find a place, to find his help.

Ails would have been a good assistant, but Malin felt that always turning to him might produce some undue thoughts in the lich—maybe he would start to think he was indispensable to Malin, leading to an increase in his price. That would not be a pleasant situation.

Perhaps it would be better to look for someone else.

But whom?

Malin couldn’t think of anyone at the moment.

Lady Anna... No, turning to Lady Anna would signify Malin’s defeat. Although Malin didn’t mind admitting defeat, their situation had not yet reached rock bottom.

Hoffman was even less likely; he had only half a year left to live. What Malin wanted to do most was to ensure the old man passed without regrets. Therefore, he couldn’t approach him, he couldn’t let the old man know his apprentice was being forced.

Who else could he turn to?

Malin questioned himself.

As he pondered this, he halted his steps because he saw Jessica, walking ahead on his left side, stop.

Approaching her, Malin observed her tearing a small piece of brown fabric from the bushes.

"It’s my brother’s scent, from the cloth on his padded armor. I recognize the color," she turned to Malin, "Judging by the angle it’s hung up here, we must head southeast."

"Then let’s proceed with caution. You keep an eye on Faye. I’ll take the lead, Fio will clear the way, and Melo will watch our back." After speaking, Malin glanced at Faye, "You good?"

"I’m okay," Faye nodded, "I’m not so useless that I can’t even walk."

Don’t strain yourself.

Malin nodded, then gestured for Fio to take the lead, and he climbed to the top of the hill to keep watch to the east.

Jessica joined Faye’s right side, supporting her as they moved forward.

As they walked, Jessica noticed marks of a slip on the moss, and then at the lowest part of the moss, she confirmed the presence of a pool of blood.

Malin sent Milani up a tree to watch, and when she descended, he confirmed the bloodstains—it was dried and turned dark, clearly not fresh: "This could be your brother’s blood. We haven’t encountered any other blood along the way, so it’s likely covered by snow."

"Right." Jessica brushed aside the snow, eventually exposing the climbing marks towards the top of the hill.

"It’s my brother... one hell of a kid who never bows down to fate." A smile finally crept onto Jessica’s face, "I’ll climb up."

"No, I’ll go." Malin stated, climbing to the peak before pointing in the direction of the footsteps, "This way."

Milani signaled from above that there was an unidentified target, prompting Malin to lead the girls in a wide circle to ascertain that the unknown targets were the bodies of two Mountain Patrol men.

Touching their bodies, they were ice-cold, obviously dead for some time.

Having found more footprints belonging to Jessica’s brother, Malin advanced to a small pit, verifying it was unoccupied: "No one’s here."

"No other footprints. Where could he be?" Jessica surveyed the surroundings.

Meanwhile, Malin walked behind a dry tree, peeking around to meet the gaze of the young wolf cub hiding in a tree hollow.

"He’s here," Malin declared, patting the cub’s head, "With all the talking your sister and I did, you didn’t react at all?"

Then he realized the cub was pointing to his ear.

After a moment’s thought, Malin had Bippo establish a link and immediately heard Link’s excited voice: "I can hear you talking!"

"Yeah, you little wolf cub, can’t hear with your ears?"

"Right, I banged my head, can’t hear. I sensed some pursuit footsteps half a day ago and just hid here for a while." Assisted by Malin, the cub crawled out of the hollow tree, covered in mud but seemingly not yet at his last gasp.