Chapter 128: Going to the south (4)

“Gazlow, what’s going on?”

Gazlow shook his head at Joonbum’s question.

“I’m not sure. If it wasn’t for the smell, I would’ve been dead.”

Gazlow wiped off the sweat from his forehead. He was still tense from the ordeal.

‘Did they follow us?’ Joonbum thought, but discarded it.

‘It doesn’t matter why right now.’

It already happened. What was important now was to protect themselves from the Coulders.

“Let’s clean up.”

Joonbum picked up a long spear and stood up. All three began thrusting their spears to end the Coulders’ misery. When they were done, they began picking up things that were lying around, disorganized within the camp.

“Ugh, we can’t eat any of this now.”

Doral ranted as he felt hunger coming back to him. The Kokun meat and potatoes were lying on the ground. They managed to eat some of it as they picked it up and cut out the dirtied part of the meat carefully.

“Oh! Kokun!”

“It’s good.”

Joonbum and Gazlow gorged down the meat. It was just enough to take care of the hunger. There was no time to waste anymore. As they gathered things up and prepared to leave, Gazlow went to a dead Coulder and brought back a leg.

“Are we eating that?”

Gazlow nodded at Joonbum.

“It’s not as good as Kokun, but it’s still meat. It would be good if we had time to skin it, but we should get out of here as fast as possible.”

It was not time to do that. The protection offered by the Guardians was no more. This was a dangerous place. They were lucky that most of the dangerous animals were now in the southern plains, trying to hunt the herbivores there.

‘It’s still dangerous.’

“We should move.”

Gazlow began moving out and Joonbum and Doral followed. It was middle of the night but the bright moonlight made the road visible. A wind blew through the forest, creating a large swooshing sound. The cold air was refreshing. It swept away the smell of gunpowder and Coulder stench.

The Galim neighed and walked quickly as the horses with the other belongings followed. They seemed to return to normal as they could no longer smell the Coulders. The sound of animals who gathered to feast on the dead meat began to rise, but there soon was a distinctive screeching sound.

‘They’re not that far.’

Coulders did not hesitate to eat one of their own. Packs were always hungry due to the lack of food and ate anything they had. This was the reason why carnivores needed to roam about large areas. It was the same reason why Guardians needed to travel down to the south in the winter.

“They’re still there.”

“They won’t go away.”

Doral nodded as Gazlow commented at the sound.

“They’re persistent. If they are trying to hunt us, they will follow us.”

Doral thought for a moment, and Gazlow spoke.

“We should move quickly. Two or more days and we will shake them off the trail. They won’t follow us for too long because of hunger.”

Gazlow and Joonbum nodded. It was a good idea. They still had about a month and a half to arrive back at town. They needed to avoid any fights if possible to return safely.

‘This is the weakness of a gun.’

Guns were very powerful weapons, but they were useless once the ammo ran out. When they were out here without any way to resupply the ammo, they needed to save up. Some animals showed up along the trail, but they did not dare to attack. Most were too small to fight against the huge Galim and humans.

‘It’s good enough to find a way.’

It was dark, but the moonlight and stars shone down, lighting the path. The large tracks left by the pack of Boduas was like a huge paved road. It was made by long, countless days of Boduas traveling through.

‘I probably can drive the Marauder through this road.’

Joonbum began to glance around at the thought. The ground was strong and leveled. Some places were rough, but it was easy to avoid. The Boduas chewed all the dense grass and tree leaves while they were moving through.

‘If I arm it with a heavy machine gun…’

“Let’s rest for a while here.”

Joonbum came back from his thoughts as Gazlow spoke at the sight of a pond. Joonbum took up his infrared vision and scanned the area. There were no dangerous animals around.

The Galim and horses began drinking as the three men chewed on jerky with water.

“Will the Coulders become a huge problem?” Joonbum asked. Doral and Gazlow looked at each other and opened their mouth.

“There are enough Guardians, so WE won’t have any problems with the Coulders.”

‘We?’

Joonbum realized what he was saying. They were talking about the potential threat to the human kingdoms.

“Those countries you mentioned before?”

Gazlow rubbed his beard and nodded.

“Benzen will be in danger. It’s the best place for Coulders to thrive.”

Joonbum nodded. Doral explained the country to be a warm and humid country. Summers were extremely hot there and it always rained. It was full of jungles and swamps, so the country was filled with reptiles and Krakuls.

‘Land of dinosaurs!’

Like his thought, the country was full of such animals. It was common to see people of that country riding on an Ostard, an herbivore Krakul that had a calm temperament. It looked very similar to a Coulder, but its head was bigger and it had no wings. It was also good at attacking by headbutting. Benzen knights used the animal’s abilities when they were on a battlefield.

There were also other Krakuls being used for other parts of human living. It was surely a land of dinosaurs.

‘I want to go there!’

The dinosaur was an animal of the past on Earth. But hearing that these existed and that people utilized them was fascinating.

“Let’s move.”

Gazlow spoke as he rose up. Their journey was effortless. The Galim ran through the forest without much trouble and there were no more Coulder attacks. Some Odringos tried to attack, but they ran away after a few of them died to arrows. The weather grew cold as they moved further north. Some monsters tried to attack because they were hungry, but it wasn’t much of a threat. There was a Kawiqunin that attacked, but it fell to an arrow from Doral. It seemed to be weak and old, abandoned by the pack.

“The town!” Gazlow shouted. They were back home. The town was now visible in the distance. It took them a month and eleven days. It was four days before the new year.

Galfus appeared, running toward Joonbum. She walked up to him and rubbed her head against Joonbum.

“Galfus!”

A bell began to ring as a scout looking out from the watchpost began signaling. People began to look out through the wall and the town gate opened up.

The three men hastened their pace toward the town.