Thud! Thud! Jack walked downstairs, staring at Arad and the rest, “You’re still here?” He yawned, “I thought you would have left without me,” He smiled, waving his hand.

“Lydia is waiting outside. We can set off immediately,” Aella stared back at him, and Arad nodded.

“She’s right. Let’s go and get this over with as quickly as possible.” He smiled, cracking his neck and walking toward the door.

“You seem excited.” Jack looked at Arad.

“I hate when unexpected things happen, and the dragon attack certainly was one.” He opened the door and saw Lydia standing beside a horse-drawn carriage.

“You’re finally out. Do you fear the sun? It’s not dawn yet.” She stared at Arad.

“Not really, but I do prefer the calmness of the night,” Arad replied with a smile. Void dragons are nocturnal hunters. Their bodies, color, and even behavior and skills contributed to giving them an advantage at night. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

Arad could hear a strange sound inside the carriage, so he stared at Lydia, “I can smell her,”

Lydia smiled, “She woke up earlier, so I bagged her with the rations.” She slightly lifted the curtain over the objects, and Arad saw Eris’s muffled face.

“Why do you bring her with us?” Arad sighed, holding his face.

“So she’s in the smiting distance.” Lydia swung her sword with a smile, “She moves, and bang, I blast her to hell.”

“HMMM!” Eris growled, seeing the innocent and happy smile on Lydia’s face.

“Please don’t do it now,” Arad approached Lydia, “We need information from her. We will interrogate her after we deal with the goblin threat.”

“I agree,” Isdis looked at Eris, “Those shackles should keep her power down, right?”

“Draconic, yes. But I doubt they will stop her vampire powers.” Arad looked at her, remembering how he escaped the shackles. Eris has the same solution.

He approached her, looking at her face. “Now that I thought about it, I never saw you in daylight. Do you burn under the sun?”

“HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!” Eris growled, writhing on the carriage like an angry bug, butting her head on the floor and kicking the walls with her tied legs.

“I can’t understand you, but that seems like a yes.” Arad smiled, covering her with the rugs, “Stay calm and obedient inside. I will check on you after the mission.”

Arad could still hear Eris growling beneath the rugs. Thud! He lightly punched her, “I told you to calm down. You won’t die if you remained hidden.”

“AH!” Jack gasped, “I think I know what she wants!” He approached the carriage with a happy smile.

“Your father escaped, don’t worry about him. He’s alive, for now.” Jack patted the rugs, and Eris calmed down for a second. And she soon got back to growling.

Arad looked at the carriage, “Let’s ignore her and move for now.” He smiled, “We didn’t expect her to wake right before the mission, so she needs to wait a bit,”

***

Everyone headed out of the city and into the forest, following the goblins’ trails.

It wasn’t easy at all. Arad saw multiple trails, and each one led in a different direction. Nothing is clear.

“What should we do?” Lydia looked at Arad, “Can you fly up and find them?”

Arad smiled, “I have something I wanted to test,” Arad started taking his shoes off.

“What are you doing?” Aella approached him, and he smiled, taking off his shirt. “Something Nina taught me, or should I say, showed me,” Arad remembered his brief exchange with Nina at the guild.

“Who’s Nina?” Isdis looked at Jack.

“The berserker,” Jack replied with a smile, and she froze.

“Are you serious?” Isdis gasped.

“In the flesh. You must be careful. She cares about him.” Jack stared at Isdis, making sure his words sounds a little bit like a threat. “You can’t handle her, can you?”

The current kingdom was powerful. But Nina was too much for them to deal with.

They can kill Nina with enough time and power spent, but the kingdom won’t exist afterward. Fighting Nina would cause enough damage to bring them to their knees.

With this threat, Jack managed to provide Arad with a small protection. He can be certain the kingdom won’t directly try harming Arad, since they don’t want a monster on the loose.

Thud! Thud! Arad cracked his neck, shirtless, as he stood barefoot on the dirt, smiling with his eyes closed.

^Feel it, the vibrations on the ground. The air movement on my skin, the faint crackles of bushes in the distance.^ He started focusing more on his senses.

^The image isn’t clear yet. Expand it more.^ Arad opened his mouth and took a deep breath from his mouth and nose.

His nose picked the smell, and his tongue tasted air like a snake.

Arad lastly opened his eyes, picking up visual and magical information and layering them on top of all of his senses.

Arad then pointed his finger in that direction. “This way we can find the goblins,” He smiled, “I can feel their footsteps rattling the ground. I can smell and taste their flesh in the air. They don’t leave many magic traces, but I can pick a faint aura of their shaman.”

Aella looked at Arad, “Is that so? Did Nina teach you all of this?”

“No, I saw her use this once.” Arad looked at his feet, “She called it tremor sense.”

^Monster!^ Isdis cried inside, seeing Arad brush what he did with a smile. ^Is this the power of dragons? An apex predator on the hunt,^ She took a step back.

“Let’s go,” Arad waved his hand to them, walking in the front with his hands in his pockets. He didn’t bother wearing his shoes or shirt so he could keep his senses active all the time.

Thud! With each step forward, the forest seemed calmer. Isdis started getting worried, it was strange that no monster showed up till this point, and it was still dark.

Thud! Arad stood, seeing a large viper glaring at him.

Everyone besides Arad got alerted, pulling their weapons. “Giant Cobra!” Jack growled.

Arad approached the cobra with a smile, and she didn’t move.

A lamb found herself facing a lion. Running away would make her look like prey, and fighting would make him see her as an enemy.

The cobra stood still, not moving a single muscle.