CHAPTER 96: COHORTS AT ARMS (3).

Over the past day, the party of five made their way through the forest.

The air within Malady’s Garden was humid and wretched, and even though the scourge of the afternoon sun was filtered through the leaves, the heat still clung to their skin stubbornly, making it rather uncomfortable.

Nero bore the incessant chatter of Aisha as they walked. Although the girl was rather talkative, he found that quality of her rather cute and refreshing. It had been a while since he had any human conversation, so talking with her was not so bad.

And then, there was also the other matter.

He kept an eye on her. If he could get the root cause, maybe he would be able to stop a terrible situation.

That was the best and only thing he could do.

He huffed deeply.

Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around his. A soft fragrance wafted into his nose. It was calming and sent tingling sensations through his body.

"What’s the matter? What are you thinking about?"

Her whispers were like the soft ambience of dusk, lightly caressing the edges of his mind.

He swallowed hard.

Aisha was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her skin was fair and luscious compared to the girls in the town. Her hair was like like onyx threads. Her lips were full and pink, and her proportions were enough to give even the strongest willed men pause.

A strange light appeared in Nero’s eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

’No. Now is not the time to be thinking about that crap.’

While he didn’t want to die, he also didn’t want Aisha to suffer the fate of turning into an Abomination.

He could tell she had gone through quite a number of difficult situations, some just as terrible as what he had been through.

In a way, that sense of kinship made him see her as a sister figure. A rather pretty, but strange one too.

His protective instincts were kicking into overdrive.

He cleared his throat,

"I-It’s nothing."

Aisha pouted her lips and poked at his cheek,

"Don’t lie. You are hiding something again."

Nero shrugged, "No, I’m not."

Suddenly, Garrick at the front of the group came to a halt.

He raised his arm and slowly gestured forward.

Everyone froze in place.

Then slowly, weapons were drawn.

The world fell silent...

Garrick’s eyes narrowed.

There was movement as the shrubbery before them shook.

And then...

The bramble was cut through and a few figures revealed themselves.

Garrick’s eyes widened,

"Fallow?"

A man welding a large Cutlass appeared from the cut out path,

"Ain’t no damn way. Garrick?!"

There was more motion behind him as more figures appeared through the shrubbery— two women and one man.

Nero raised a brow, "What is going on?"

Garrick frowned and walked forward,

"This is definitely more than an unpleasant surprise."

The man Garrick had addressed as Fallow snorted a chuckle,

"I could say the same thing." He said as their hands clasped together in a friendly manner.

Nero felt the tension around him fade away. He quickly relaxed as well.

Then he turned to Obed and whispered,

"Who is that?" He couldn’t help asking.

Obed hesitated for a moment. Then he answered,

"That is Fallow. Another Hunter from Liedenstorm alongside the other members of his party. He and Garrick are former acquaintances from the looks of it. I heard they used to be in the same party. However, their party disbanded after the rest of their party was wiped out on a hunt."

Nero’s eyes widened, "I see..."

’So they know each other...’

Garrick turned around and gestured to them,

"It’s alright. They are friendly."

There was some hesitation in Obed’s step as he walked forward. The rest followed behind him.

Nero took the time to carefully observe each and every one on the other party.

Fallow had a rather large build. Not muscular like Garrick and Geor, but rather rotund and bulky with a wider stomach than most.

His face was covered in scars that made him look rather ugly and terrifying.

Even worse, Nero could practically sense that he had dripping with all forms of evil intentions as his gaze fell onto the fair-skinned Aisha beside him.

He frowned, ’This guy is bad news.’

The others behind him were strange as well.

The two women looked strikingly similar to one another, leading him to conclude they were twins.

Both of them had dark highlighted eyelids and lips, making them look rather frightening. The first one wore leather and steel armor with two swords attached to her hips, while the other one had two small, strange looking crossbows strapped to both thighs.

Of the two men, one carried a wide steel spiked mace, while the other carried a sword strapped to his back.

Their eyes were dark and untrusting as they stared them down.

One of the ladies with the dark make-up raised a brow and snorted as she glanced behind Garrick,

"What’s it with all the kids? Are you running a daycare now, Garrick?"

Garrick chuckled wryly,

"Well, you know how it is. The young must take over the old eventually."

"Indeed, indeed... We must train up the younglings properly." Fallow said with a strange laugh.

Then he turned to Garrick,

"With you taking this oath, I’m guessing you must have run into the same problem we did."

Nero frowned.

Garrick raised a brow,

"Did you..."

Fallow grunted, "A Defiled Cherub. We encountered another party just a while back. They also saw one. However, they also came from a different direction."

Garrick sighed, "So you mean..."

"We aren’t just dealing with one of them." The lady that had spoken earlier said with a sigh.

Obed grimaced as he cursed out loud,

"Fucking hell!"

Fallow nodded, "Fucking hell is right. Every other path but one it seems, has one of those fuckers standing in the way."

Garrick muttered a curse as well.

Then he turned around,

"The route forward is no longer possible."

Nero frowned,

"What does that mean?"

Garrick sighed, "It means we’ll need to look for another way to get back to the city, Nero."

The other lady suddenly spoke up,

"Since there is some familiarity between our parties, why don’t we team up? Moving in a larger group means it will be safer for all of us."

Garrick readily agreed with a nod. Then he turned around.

Nero’s eyes narrowed. Something about the entire situation struck him as odd.

He desperately wanted to disagree. However, he didn’t have much of a say here as he was not even a part of the original party.

He could tell the others also weren’t comfortable with the idea.

But when considering the greater dangers, it wasn’t a bad idea to create an alliance for the time being.