(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 477

Chapter 477: A slow, seeping poison

It was at the two day mark inside of the gate that Kellen found another sign outside of the markings. The others were still moving together as far as he could tell, and since he was traveling on his own, he could cover more ground then they could.

It wasn’t a good sign though that he was two days inside of the gate and he hadn’t gotten to the core of the gate yet. He had hoped that the gate, while being very dangerous without the suit he was wearing, would be on the smaller side.

He should have realised that wasn’t the case when he’d seen it in person and it was practically four storeys high.

Kellen had taken to doing most of his resting during the night, and traveling more during the daytime. He could feel a little more confident while sleeping during the night because the trees and plant life were less active.

That didn’t mean that they were completely docile. He’d nearly been dragged away by vines several times so far, but always managed to wake up in time. It was a rather grim realisation to face.

The fact that he wasn’t really using his own skills to survive, but instead a mythical gut feeling. He wasn’t sure if that was the case, but given that this was a very dangerous place, he hadn’t lost a limb yet nor had he been eaten yet while cat napping, it had to be partially true.

Either way, Kellen wasn’t happy with the discovery that he’d found.

It was another clearing, the glowing blue night slowly shifting into a brighter, more purple shade as dawn approached. Kellen was able to tell with all of the light that a scuffle had happened, and not only that...

Kellen bent, touching a stain before bringing it up closer to his face and stared as he rubbed his gloved fingers together. It was blood.

Kellen let out a deep sigh, looking before him as he saw that the group had split. There were now two paths, and Kellen’s job just got so much harder. Why had they fought? Why had they split up?

There were so many options that Kellen could see before him. The first was obvious.

Their suits weren’t as good as Kellen’s. The poison could have gotten, no, had to have gotten into their suits by now and had made them hallucinate. Had made them paranoid, delirious. They could have found something silly to argue over, tensions had gotten too high, and a scuffle had broken out.

It was a classic tale, and one that Kellen had wanted to avoid.

There was also the chance that two leaders had formed in the party, and they had wanted to go two different ways. They had argued about what that direction was, and ended up splitting the party that way.

Or...something more horrible had happened, like someone had been caught doing something they shouldn’t be to one of the other members of the group due to the poison in their system, and they had been forced to go out alone.

Whatever the reason, whatever had actually happened, Kellen had to keep moving, and unfortunately for whoever had diverged off of the path, Kellen had to keep going as straight as he could.

Towards the core.

Kellen stood up fully, letting out another sigh as he glanced around the clearing. It was a smaller one, not big enough for them to make camp, and there weren’t any signs that they had made a fire either. So clearly someone had taken the time to get mad here, split the party, and Kellen couldn’t let the fork in the road get to him.

He had two jobs. Touch the core, and save as many people as he could.

Glancing wistfully at the path that took a sharp turn northwards, Kellen sighed, shaking his head and turned towards the path that continued eastward. He kept his eyes out, scanning the area around him, and found a torn piece of suit, soaked with dried blood, and his heart sank.

It was as the dawn was actually creeping up above the trees that Kellen found a shallow grave. It was obvious, and Kellen’s heart ached. Whoever had made it had taken their time with it, and Kellen let out a heavy sigh.

So, whatever had happened back there in that clearing had taken a rather serious turn, and Kellen felt his gut twist. There might have been another reason, but from the clues that Kellen had, this was the only option he could circle back to.

Kellen didn’t want to, but he needed to know who it was. So, slowly, he unburied the top and the bottom of the mound, looking for the head. Kellen let out a shaky breath, his fingers trembling as he came face to face with another of his students. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

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