Vampire Nightlife

"Wait for rescue?" Philip paused and then glanced towards Matthew still in Anthony's arms.

"You'll be the one carrying this guy if he doesn't wake up yet." Anthony said.

"Fine, fine, let's just stay here and rest for now, but nothing crazy." Philip agreed. "I think it'll make sense for us to stay put. We have this bead necklace so the others will know where to get us."

"Precisely." Anthony nodded, then looked around at their surroundings. "But maybe we should actually move a little."

"How come?"

"Who's to say that nothing will come out of the forest to chase us." Anthony said.

"So we go up the mountain where there's more danger than not?" Philip said.

"We don't know that. Besides, maybe there's a cave or something like that? We can hide there. Right, Lukas?"

"Yeah, a cave sounds good." Lukas said.

Lukas was all for the idea of people coming to rescue them, but if they were not prepared for what they were to encounter then it was all the more reason to find the possible ally in Ilstad Mountain.

"There we go, we've reached a conclusion." Anthony sighed in relief and shifted Matthew slightly in his arm. "For a young man, he does have a certain weight to it. Can we switch now, Philip? This guy did kinda save your life when I used the crossbow earlier."

"Alright, hand him over." Philip reluctantly grabbed Matthew. He didn't exactly stagger, but he did look like he'd rather do anything else.

"Okay up we go."

The three of them steadily went up Ilstad Mountain, and it was not all rocky and bare when they started to reach a far more elevated place. There were also tree along the sides of the terrain that provided quite a cool temperature.

Lukas double checked the trees and ensured that they were safe and uncorrupted.

'Somehow, the Dark Forest itself is teeming with corruption but for what reason whatsoever, the entire Ilstad Mountain is untouched by even a single percent. It could mean that whatever unknown entity is in the Dark Forest, they haven't been able to expand their reach outside, or the one residing in the Ilstad Mountain is capable of shielding themselves from its entire influence.' Lukas thought silently.

It was a good thing to think about.

Something for them to hope for, because that was all they could really wish at the moment.

"Oh, this isn't so bad is it?" Anthony said with a soft sigh as he held up his crossbow. "I like this place more than the Dark Forest. The critters are far more normal."

There were a small family of rabbits frolicking around and eating the grass.

"Yeah, but like—" Philip didn't finish his statement before the crossbolt went flying and killed one of the larger bunnies. The rest went fleeing in the instant. "What the heck, Anthony?"

"We don't know how long we'll be here so it's best to get some food you know?" Anthony said.

"That… that makes sense, but you could have killed it normally!" Philip protested. "All the other rabbits are gone and we can hardly share one enough for all of us."

"We'll encounter some more for sure." Anthony said.

"Yeah, right." Philip scowled but then glanced over at Lukas. It was his fault that Matthew was knocked out after drinking his blood, but Lukas was the one who saved them when the giant spiders attacked so he couldn't say much.

But it didn't mean that it wiped a clean slate entirely for Lukas.

"If you go around glaring at other people, you might end up offending them." Anthony said.

"It's kinda his fault why we're here in the first place." Philip said, not exactly afraid for Lukas to hear it.

"Are you listening to yourself? We're the ones who decided it was a good idea to take the Hunter Workshop seminar and he just happened to go along with us. Actually, can you imagine what might have happened if we didn't stall and get lost in the forest? Do you know where Miss Durand and the others are?" Anthony asked then saw the look on Philip's face. "Yeah, I don't think so either."

"Just go grab that rabbit, its blood might attract the attention of far more dangerous creatures." Philip said.

Anthony blinked, but then looked at the rabbit uneasily. There were animals that were dangerous yes, but surely not every creature was blood thirsty like Vampires.

"Alright, give me a sec." Anthony went forward and plucked the creature by the ears.

Lukas heard Philip's words, but didn't really had the care or concern to argue against it. He was surprised that Anthony saw reason, but when things went sour—it wasn't hard to get into a negative state of mind.

'For all we know, the Ilstad Mountain isn't of any help either, and there's Rhea still prowling about and killing other people too—but worrying about these things won't really help me survive won't it?'

As they walked, a thick flapping in the air echoed above the mountain forest. Lukas halted in his tracks and looked up, hand on the dagger.

"Hey, hey, let's stop and hide for a moment." Anthony suddenly whispered.

"No need to give me a word." Philip was already pressed in between the trees with Matthew over his shoulder.

Lukas followed suit right after and they waited.

There was something in the sky and it was almost hard to see what, until one of the fleeing rabbits went to an open clearing far from the safety of the forest.

Out of nowhere, something rapid and huge plunged down and tore the rabbit out from the sky.

Lukas noticed the beautiful underbelly of the wyvern, its colors was something that matched the sky above them, even copying the beautiful clouds for some reason. Only its wings as it propelled down showed its actual silver thick and wiry color.

[Sky Changing Wyvern]

"What in actual gods is that?" Philip hissed out like a curse and then bit his tongue.