Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 148: A Smooth Harvest

“Spread out, men. Be on all sides before anyone makes a move. And no one should go near the lilies. We need that merchandise...”

Lakd quietly gave his orders. His remaining men spread themselves thin as they dispersed into formation. Soon, only Gamun and the other remaining group leader were in sight. Those three were preparing to come up the middle and take on the herculean young man in a 3-v-1.

“On my order, those on the valley edges jump in...” With the sun out, Lakd brandished a small mirror. He intricately teetered it from side to side in order to signal his men. But there was no response.

“What’s going on?” Lakd whispered, trying again. When those on the valley’s east side failed to respond, Lakd tried to contact those on the west to no avail. “What... Gamun, what’s wrong with your men? They know how to use a mirror, right? Gamun... Gamun, where are you?”

No longer distracted with those failing to respond, Lakd turned his attention back to those standing with him. Well, Lakd tried to but ultimately failed. He was unable to find either Gamun or the other group leader no matter where he looked.

“Where are you two? This isn’t...”

Suddenly, Lakd found himself unable to speak. Try as he might, Lakd’s open mouth failed to produce anymore sound. But that didn’t matter. Lakd’s head was already tumbling to the ground. The last few seconds of his life were spent looking up at a massive quadruped that appeared to be made of shadows despite being in direct sunlight.

.....

Vloz then stored his newest trophy without a shred of pride. Mere adepts were useless to him. However, he had an idea that could benefit Oli and his small team.

Oli was calm and cool while Shadur completed his job. Leon and Johan were both feeling a little jumpy but their first-time jitters didn’t show too much. Apart from a few small lizards or woodland creatures traversing the valley walls as usual, they found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Oliver...”

“Calm down, Leon. What’s up?”

“Isn’t this... too easy?”

Oli chuckled but kept his gaze forward. “Maybe, but what’s wrong with that? We’re doing everything we can right now, so why worry too much about the things we’re currently unable to do? If those bandits want to attack, then so be it. But if they’re too busy recovering or restrategizing and aren’t making a move now, then perhaps they’re after the lilies too. Interrupting us now would only harm the merchandise so it makes sense to attack afterward too.”

“True...” Leon mumbled, releasing some of the tension in his body.

Johan did the same, feeling slightly at ease thanks to Oli’s logic.

“Still, keep an eye out. Even beasts could show up and ruin this,” added Shadur. “It may not be as difficult, but it’s still necessary.”

While Leon and Johan kept a great watch over the valley walls, Oli stole glances at Shadur and the harvesting process. It was quite simple. Shadur would cover himself in nature essence that felt similar to the flower field itself, allowing him to mask his presence. Then, Shadur would extract the flower but leave the entire stem intact, effectively cutting off the entire bulb in one go. Finally, those flowers were placed in an open chest exuding chilled air.

This continued for more than an hour as Shadur went from patch to patch in search of the lilies that matured perfectly.

“There...” Shadur sighed as he stood up and slowly stepped back out of the flower field. Once Shadur was out of range of the lilies, he gladly dropped the nature essence surrounding him.

Seeing Shadur sweat, Oli smiled and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry... It’s more tiring than it looks...” replied Shadur, happily taking deep breaths now that he was able. “You need to emit just enough nature essence to blend in and no more. Too much nature essence and there’s a chance that the flowers would be affected and begin to mature rapidly.”

“Oh... So you need to be fast enough to harvest the flowers before you accidentally mature them by accident, while still locating those that haven’t overly matured. That’ means those on the cusp of over-maturing shouldn’t be picked either or you might accidentally over mature them yourself...”

“That’s right. Good thing it’s over now...”

“Leon, Johan, let’s get moving,” Oli called out for them. “It’s almost midday and it’s the end of the sun cycle tonight. Since there’s no night we should just keep traveling at a calm pace.”

‘Oli, take them forward a couple of hundred krin.’

Hearing Vloz’s voice, Oli smiled. “How about we head into the woods a bit for lunch. After that, we’ll head out for the long journey back.”

The others followed Oli, who had started walking away immediately. They quickly caught up and felt some relief that the harvesting was over. However, their nerves weren’t entirely gone as they were anticipating another ambush at any moment.

“Should we really rest?” Johan asked, rubbing his good hand along the splint on his left forearm. “We don’t know when... What... is this?”

“Oliver... what...”

“Shhh...” Oli put a finger to his lips as he too took in the scene laid out before them.

Everyone was startled by the massacre that took place in what seemed to be a hidden campsite with bedrolls hidden among the leaves. Within those bedrolls were bloodied corpses with half-eaten faces and chests. None of the party could recognize anyone, not until they noticed a disembodied head wearing a broken mask and a face filled with absolute terror. Other corpses laid on the ground, also half-eaten and starting to swell in the sun.

“What happened here? Oliver... can you assess this?”

Nodding to Shadur and the others, Oli replied, “These are those bandits... I’m not sure what they ran into but they all died painlessly before they realized anything had happened... But it should’ve been wild beasts because their void equipment is still here.”

Shaking away any acted-out nerves, Oli stepped up and pulled the lone ring from the headless corpse’s uneaten hand. “Just survival of the fittest, as usual...”