Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

Chapter 52. Cinderielle Arrives at the Grove.

Cinderielle and her group stood a distance away from the beast group and followed with silent steps. They wanted to check if more beasts would join in the way.

Based on her extensive research, Cinderielle was well aware that a beast tide was a phenomenon triggered by the primal instincts of the creatures. Sensing the impending doom of a natural disaster, they would all, without exception, move in a single, unified direction.

While fleeing, beasts usually become much more aggressive toward anything blocking their way, and because of the group's group mentality that was born, the ones in the front were pushed to go forward, making them look like unintelligent beasts that just threw themselves at city walls and other kinds of defensive structures built by creatures.

However, unlike that feeling of unity that beast tides gave, Cinderielle realized that these creatures were marching together, but their steps were not rushed at all.

It was orderly, and their groups were mixed but separated. Ariel whispered. "What do you think, Cinder?"

Cinderielle was about to speak when the group of <River Beavers> stopped and separated, turning right and going in a completely different direction.

This solidified Cinderielle's conjecture that this was not the signals of a tide but a group formed from different beasts for an unknown objective.

A young-looking man with a slim body called Doles, one of the three men accompanying them, asked. "Do we follow them?"

His brother, a very similar-looking man called Maley, asked with a weird expression. "Why would we follow them? Are you stupid?"

Doles snorted. "Hey, aren't we investigating? Knowing why that group separated might bring us unexpected results!"

Ariel looked at the brothers and commented. "Can you two be more silent? What would we do if those hundreds of beasts heard us?"

Cinderielle commented. "Let's follow."

Ariel was surprised. "Are we really going to?"

Cinderielle looked at her and nodded. "Why not? Moreover, from what I've seen, there is only one Level 10 in that group. They are strong, but nothing we can't deal with."

Robert, the third man walking with them, asked with a serious tone. "Are you sure you want to do this, missy?"

Looking at the man who looked well into his fifties but had a strong body, Cinderielle decided to ask. "What do you recommend, sir?"

Ariel complained. "Hey, why are you so respectful to him and not me?"

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she answered with a sigh. "He is probably double your and triple my age. He is an experienced person who is alive at this job even after so many years. So, listening to his advice is something we must do."

The man smirked and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, missy. I was just going to say that if we do go that way, we need to do so by their traces and not by keeping them in our visual range."

Cinderielle asked. "Why is that?"

The man explained while rubbing his bearded chin. "Well, if we can see them, that means that they can see us as well. While we will be hidden, all it takes is one misstep to create an unavoidable situation where we need to fight."

The other four found his reasoning logical, so they all chose to follow his words.

Without much trouble, they are able to follow the River Beaver's group's footprints.

It took around two or three hours before they suddenly heard battle sounds in the distance. Maley frowned. "Battle? The sounds don't feel human-like."

Cinderielle looked around with a strange expression. 'Why am I getting restless? I feel like I want to charge forward and rush to the center of this grove.' She focused on her surroundings, and a strangely enticing aura made her body restless.