Survive in the parallel world, please!

214 Pick up the scent, please! part We don’t have a choice, all we can do Is follow Bardun’s previous location blindly. We don’t have any water or food and Mia keeps complaining she’s hungry. I could feed her, but that would deplete a great deal of my energy and having spent so much mana recently I can’t afford to do it.

Instead of kissing, as we used to do, I simply let her to stay close to me and feed on the energy my body expels naturally.

The fairy seems tired, but it doesn’t look like she’s in any danger. Maybe they kept fairies from eating to prevent them from escaping, or maybe they simply forgot to tell me what did fairies eat. I really don’t get goblins at all.

At times they seem like this nature oriented race that can live in balance with other creatures, but other times they seem completely cruel and immune to other’s feelings.

The road ahead is really easy to follow, especially while riding on Famine. I felt bad for making him work so hard, but after abandoning me in the middle of the fight I don’t think he deserves any reward at all. i really thought pets couldn’t defy their master’s orders, but I guess it doesn’t apply if they’re really hungry.

Mia hangs tight on my back, but the feeling is warm and pleasant. This could be a nice trip if it wasn’t for the task I have at hand. How am I supposed to stop the heroes from going to the sacred empire and, at the same time, getting Bardun to go back to the village?

I can’t be in two places at the same time, and even if I could, I don’t know where they are now.

An Idea pops into my head.

“Hey buddy, do you think you can track any familiar scent?”

.....

The amarok, still a bit regretful after abandoning his conscience and falling into a feeding frenzy, wagged his tail furiously. I love it when he does that, his tail is so expressive even though he looks like a fierce giant wolf now, his tail behaves like that of a small pup.

Without further instructions, Famine darted down the road following an invisible trail of scent. I don’t know where is he headed, but I’m certain he’s got something.

The saddle we made for him is a bit uncomfortable, it also doesn’t help that Mia is clinging to me as if her life depended on it, but it’s still a pleasurable experience and we can’t move this fast without a mount.

Not even five minutes after we set off, Famine came to a stop and pointed towards a bush. Thinking that maybe he found Bardun, I was getting ready to dismount, but this silly dog didn’t give me a chance as he pounced on top of a distracted trapjaw boar.

A battle started between the two beasts, after the initial bite the amarok let go of its prey and retreated just enough for the boar to be able to dash towards us. Famine took a small jump to the side and tackled the boar.

After falling on its side, it was completely defenseless against Famine’s numerous bites. With a paw over his prey, Famine howled in joy and started eating bite after bite.

It was a quick and efficient battle, he dispatched the enemy so quickly I was tempted to compliment him, if it weren’t for two issues. First, he was supposed to take us to a familiar scent, of coourse he’s familiar with the smell of trapjaw boars but that’s beyond the point. And also, we were still on top of him and we got dizzy from all the shaking.

“Hey Famine! you were supposed to take us to our companions or Bardun, we’re not on a hunting trip”

I patted his head from behind with just enough strength to catch his attention, completely forgetting that Mochi usually rests on top of the amarok’s head.

Instead of patting the hard skull of Famine, my hand sunk deep into Mochi’s soft fur. Startled, the moon cat’s tail stiffened up and ran away.

“Don’t let him escape!”

Famine seemed to understand what I was saying, but he was too busy eating, leaving me no choice but to dismount and run after Mochi.

“Don’t worry master, once he finishes eating I’ll get him to follow you!”

Mia yelled behind my back as I rushed through the bushes.

I’m fast, faster than Mochi at least, but this damned cat can crawl in the tiny spots in between bushes forcing me to go through thorny bushes and hard branches.

This is why I love my stone skin skill. It’s helpful against all types of damage, except for blunt damage, but it makes me almost immune to small sources of damage like this.

After running for a while I start losing my breath.

Is it my idea or Mochi became a lot faster?

There’s no way I became weaker, I got rid of the cursed sword and I’m supposed to be a lot stronger in every sense ever since my stats increased. I took a small rest to check on my stats, skills and any piece of information I might get from my soulbound card, but everything seems to be normal. I don’t even have too many passive skills active, but I deactivate some of them just to be sure.

I remember last time I chased after Mochi I was, in fact, faster than him.

Of course i can’t deactivate sense presence, or else I won’t be able to follow Mochi through this forest or even detect any possible menaces towards me.

After sprinting for about fifteen minutes Mochi finally slows down in what seems to be a clearing in the woods.

As I get closer and unsettling feeling rushes through my spine and it didn’t take me long to realize the source of this feeling.

Three people stand in front of Mochi, I can only sense their presence since they’re still to far to be in sight, especially with so much vegetation in between, but the presence of one of them seems familiar to me.