Red Deer Rhos was capable of remembering and recognizing specific scents of individuals, even from afar. It did not matter if they changed clothes, rolled around in mud or bathed in scented oils. Beneath everything, every person possessed their own unique scent. It was subtle enough that ordinary humans would never notice it, but to Rhos it was as distinct as recognizing someone’s face.
The same applied to sound. A person’s footsteps, breathing. Even the way their equipment rattled while walking became signatures unique to them.
Rhos had unknowingly memorized hundreds of these. So the instant he stepped beneath the first trees of the forest with normal size trees, he picked up the silhouette of someone built like a boulder.
Another human.
In any other situation, meeting another Ranger in the wilderness would have been good news, he would have welcomed the chance to link up with them.
However, this one was different. This particular scent and sound made his expression sour immediately.
’You’ve got to be kidding me’
Beside him, Leopard Cat Nimra stopped as well. Her ears twitched beneath the strands of orange hair that framed her face. A second later, realisation dawned on her.
"No way..."
Unlike Rhos who felt nothing but irritation, relief immediately spread across her face.
"The Keeper survived!"
She looked toward the left side of the forest where the sound originated as her tone became even more excited. Her shoulders visibly relaxed too.
"Red Deer, this is good news. With Keeper Taru here our chances of getting back safely have gone up tremendously!"
Rhos wasn’t surprised she recognized him. After all, her senses were comparable to his own, if not better in some areas.
With his eyes closed, his perception continued spreading through the forest. Approximately two kilometers away, that’s where the Keeper was, however...he was moving very quickly.
He was approaching from the higher slopes to their left. At the pace he was moving at, his route would intersect with theirs in only a few minutes.
As for why he was moving so quickly, that answer entered Rhos’s perception as well.
His eyes twitched.
Something was chasing behind Taru. The trees shook violently wherever it passed. It bulldozed straight through the forest without bothering to avoid obstacles.
It was also fast enough that the distance between it and Taru continued shrinking with every passing second. If things continued like this, it might catch and kill him.
Since the Keeper himself was running away meant it was very dangerous.
Rhos clicked his tongue.
’No matter how I look at it, this could spell trouble for us’
Nimra looked at him with a stiffened expression.
"There’s something chasing him. Can you tell what it is?"
"No"
His smell and hearing reaches farther than his sight. Whatever pursued Taru remained hidden behind too many trees for him to identify properly.
One thing was certain though. The creature was large and very wide.
"What should we do?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Rhos calmly adjusted the direction he was walking and said.
"We’re changing routes. If we continue this way, we’ll get dragged into whatever’s happening over there"
He pointed toward a narrower trail leading southeast.
"We’ll go around it. We should also suppress our presence as much as possible while we’re at it. The fewer things notice us from here on–"
The way he spoke so casually it left Nimra stunned for a moment. After she had caught on was when she interrupted his words.
"Are you serious? Or are you trying to be funny right now?"
The sharpness in her tone suggested she did not agree with him. So he ignored her and kept walking toward the alternate path.
Nimra stared at his back for several seconds before hurrying after him, realising he had no intention of answering her question.
She grabbed his sleeve, forcing him to stop.
"I know you sensed it too. Someone from our Division survived besides us, and it isn’t just anyone, it’s Keeper Taru himself. He’s alive!"
She pointed toward the distant sounds.
"If we help him escape whatever is chasing him, then the three of us can return to the Biome together. Keeper Taru is strong. He’ll protect us. Isn’t that obviously the better option than abandoning him?"
Rhos stared at her determined expression, then down at the hand gripping his sleeve. He sighed.
"I almost forgot you were scared shitless during the fight so you didn’t get to see everything"
Confusion appeared across her face.
"What are you talking about?"
He lifted his amber eyes to her emerald, looking directly at them.
"When that monster was massacring everyone, your precious Keeper...left all of us to die"
Nimra’s eyes widened, her pupils trembling at his words. Seeing this, Rhos was about to explain how the Keeper dragged every single Ranger who trusted him into a suicide mission and abandoned them all when it all came crashing down.
However, he stopped when he saw how Nimra’s face unexpectedly hardened.
"So what?"
Rhos blinked, he did not expect that. While still holding his sleeve, she stepped closer toward him.
"What’s wrong with wanting to live? Tell me, if he had died, would that have helped anyone? People die every single day, Red Deer. Rangers know that better than anyone else. Every expedition ends with someone never coming home. Every month another Division loses members..."
Her voice began to rise.
"Survival isn’t something you should feel ashamed of chasing! If Keeper Taru realized the battle couldn’t be won, then retreating wasn’t cowardice. It was survival!"
She looked at him.
"It isn’t fair but that’s the world we live in. I can’t hate him for choosing to live"
Rhos chose to remain quiet. Her words told him no amount of talking would convince her otherwise. Nimra let go of his sleeve and narrowed her eyes.
"Don’t look at me like that. You did the exact same thing. While everyone was fighting for their lives you ran away. The only difference is... you happened to save me along the way"
Once she was finished, he opened his mouth to defend himself. But nothing came out.
She wasn’t entirely wrong. He had been thinking about only one thing in that ordeal, and that was surviving.
When he didn’t say anything, Nimra stepped back. Green spirit energy began flowing around her body, forming into the same feline features.
"Beast Totem Art: Cat Hunt"
The air around her changed immediately. She looked at him one last time.
"I know you don’t trust Keeper Taru anymore, and maybe you’re right not to. I don’t even know if I completely disagree with you. But I can’t walk away without at least trying. If someone from our Division is still alive, then I can’t leave them to die"
She extended her clawed hand to him.
"If you come with me, our chances of surviving become so much higher. Three people are stronger than two, and Keeper Taru is stronger than either of us. If you help me this one last time, then I promise I’ll never ask anything of you again"
She drew in a slow breath and smiled.
"When we make it back to Elderwood, we can go our separate ways. You can keep searching for your sister, and I’ll return to my own life. We don’t have to meet ever again if that’s what you want"
The smile on her face became gentler.
"I’ll be satisfied just knowing you’re safe because I...I..."
Her face suddenly became red while struggling to find the right words.
"I care about you, Red Deer...no...Rhos"