Red had seen carnage in the past, but nothing quite like this. There were body parts scattered all over the place - limbs, organs, and pieces of flesh. Not one of the corpses was completely intact, and the duo couldn't tell what some of those body parts even were.

"God, this smell..." Narcha complained, but she didn't look bothered by the horrible sight.

"It's the bandits..." Red commented from behind her.

The woman looked surprised at the boy's approach.

"Aren't you bothered by this?" She looked at him with a dismayed expression..

Red shrugged.

"...How do you know it's the bandits?" Narcha shifted the topic.

"It's their armor." The boy pointed out. "It looks similar to the bandits that attacked Rog and me."

Leather armor, fallen in disrepair - all sure tell signs that this was bandit equipment. Apparently, it offered the men no protection against whatever had attacked them.

"You're right..." The woman came to the same conclusion. "Uh, how many corpses are here anyway?"

The fact this wasn't obvious was a testament to how grim the scene looked. Red looked around, counting as many heads, limbs, or torsos he could find.

"Four... I think." The boy came to this conclusion.

"The same four from those earlier tracks?" Narcha suggested.

"Impossible to know." The youth shook his head.

The warrior nodded and approached the scene, carefully avoiding any blood puddles.

"We need to examine the bodies, but..." Narcha frowned as she examined the gore. "Ugh, Rog is the one who generally looks into these things."

"I think it's safe to say this was done by a monster, right?" Red commented.

"Certainly don't think any human did this..." She agreed with his statement. Crouching down, she studied a disembodied torso, where a large gash had split it apart from the rest of the body. "I have never seen a monster this brutal, though. The corpses are not very old either."

While the woman was occupied examining a corpse, the boy searched the rest of the scene for clues. Soon, however, he noticed something peculiar.

"Their corpses are whole." Red commented.

"Whole?" Narcha laughed. "Are you sure we're seeing the same thing?"

"I meant that no parts are missing." The boy explained. "They are all split apart, sure, but everything is here. Limbs, heads, torsos..."

The warrior was surprised at his words. She double-checked the carnage, and sure enough, she found out the youth was telling the truth.

"That's strange..." She frowned. "This is not how a normal monster behaves."

"You are referring to how it hasn't eaten anything, right?" Red could figure it out from her words.

Monsters were voracious creatures and weren't known for wasting food. Even in the underground, monsters only attacked to defend their territory or to hunt for food. Whatever did this, though, left the corpses untouched.

"Not only that, but this whole scene is weird." Narcha pointed out. "I doubt these bandits would have survived even one of these wounds, but the monster went through the trouble of splitting their whole bodies apart... And in the end, it didn't even eat them?"

The situation got weirder by the second.

"Maybe it was not a monster?" Red proposed.

"No way." The woman shook her head. "These wounds were caused by claws."

"Can you tell what kind of monster could have done it, then?"

"Tree-bark bears have strong claws." Narcha replied after some thought. "But there are no bite marks, and they are fond of biting. Not to mention they aren't this brutal with their prey... No, whatever did this is not native to this forest."

Red trusted Narcha's knowledge on this. She had spent years hunting monsters in this forest, after all.

"Do you see any tracks?" She asked.

"Not anywhere nearby." The boy shook his head. This was the first thing he had checked. "I only see the bandit's footprints."

"How could that be?" Narcha looked unconvinced. "Something this strong should be big enough to leave tracks. Not to mention, the claw marks are fairly large too."

"I can check again." Red suggested. "But either it is incredibly light on its feet, or it knows how to hide its tracks."

"A monster that knows how to hide its tracks?" The warrior seemed skeptical. "If it's that intelligent, it can't even be considered a monster anymore!"

The boy thought back to the insectoids, who were very smart in their own right. By Narcha's account, did that mean they weren't monsters? Red didn't think much on the topic, though, since it was a classification purely for human use as far as he understood.

"Maybe it doesn't move by foot." The youth suggested another possibility.

"What, did it fly around?" Narcha frowned. "Or maybe..."

The woman looked up at the trees.

"Maybe it moved through the branches." Red was immediately able to follow her line of thought.

The boy went around to check the tree trunks. At first, he saw no signs, but after climbing one of the trees, he discovered something.

"Claws marks." The youth called to Narcha from afar. "Pretty deep ones."

"Really?" Narcha looked excited. "Do you see where they're headed?"

"How am I supposed to tell?" Red frowned.

These weren't like footprints where you could tell the direction one was walking.

"Bah, this is why we needed Rog!" The woman complained. "Check the other trees. See if you can find other claw marks."

Red did as he was told. The forest was dense, though, and it took the better part of an hour until the youth found two consistent trails of them. He pointed the directions to Narcha.

"So, it either came from the north and is headed southeast, or it came from the southeast and is headed north." She concluded. "The first one seems more likely."

"Why is that?" The boy was confused.

"Well, for one, heading southeast would just bring you deeper into the forest." Narcha explained. "And we already confirmed that there are no monsters there. To the north, though, there are still plenty of monsters."

Red understood her rationale. However, upon further thought, he frowned.

"Aren't we headed southeast?" The boy asked.

"Not directly." The woman shook her head.

"But we might still end up in the same region, right?"

"Definitely." Narcha smiled.

"Aren't you worried we might meet it?" Red frowned.

"No, I'm excited." She laughed. "Been a long time since I fought a beast."

"Do you even know what kind of monster this is?"

"No idea."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Probably." She still looked excited. "But aren't you curious to find out what is behind this kind of carnage?"

'Not if it comes at the cost of my own life.'

The youth could only sigh in resignation. Earlier, Narcha was worried about having to protect Red from Rickard and his band. Yet, now that she had a mystery to explore, she didn't look nearly as concerned.

"But you're right, kid." Narcha tried to put on a solemn expression. "My task is still protecting you, isn't it? But if we happened to find a monster in our way, then I would have no choice but to kill it, right?"

Red ignored her and turned around to approach the corpses.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The woman called.

"Searching the bodies." Red replied. "They might have something useful on them."

"Is there even anything left in there?" Narcha asked skeptically, looking at the carnage. Not even the bandits' equipment was left whole.

"We'll find out."

The youth searched for the legs and waists of the bandits. The blood didn't bother Red, even as the warrior watched him curiously from the side. There were a few pouches that carried coins and other miscellaneous items. Their weapons, however, were curiously still sheathed into their straps.

"They didn't take out their weapons." Red spoke. "They were taken by surprise."

"So, extremely sharp claws, climbs on trees, and also stealthy." Narcha laughed. "Quite a challenge, isn't it?"

The youth continued to ignore her and search through the bandits' belongings. In the end, he was able to find a blood-soaked map. He couldn't discern many details, but what he did see brought him to a conclusion.

"It's the same map like that of the other bandits."

"Makes sense." Narcha commented while leaning on a tree. "They were probably from the same group."

"Are you just gonna stand there and do nothing?" Red frowned.

"What?" The woman looked offended. "You're already messing with the dead bodies. Why should I do it too?"

The youth refrained from commenting further. After a few minutes, the boy finished his search, finding nothing more of interest.

"They weren't carrying any supplies?" Narcha asked.

Red shook his head.

"Guess they must really have a camp here..." She frowned. "Well, we should get out of here before their companions find out they are missing."

The boy promptly agreed with her decision. After confirming they hadn't missed anything, the two of them started traveling east again. This time, though, Red carried his short bow in hand as he carefully watched his surroundings.

"You're weirder than I thought, kid." Narcha spoke from behind him.

The boy didn't respond and continued walking.

"I mean, we just saw a bloodbath." She continued. "Even some warriors would puke after seeing that, but you didn't even blink!"

"Why do you feel the need to say that out loud? You know I won't tell you anything anyways." Red shook his head.

Although his voice was still as impassive as ever, the boy was frustrated with the direction of the talk.

"I wasn't trying to probe into your background, you little brat!" Narcha barked back. "It was just a compliment."

"How so?" The boy frowned.

"I mean, it was a compliment on how you are more collected than many cultivators I've met before." She explained.

"Is that supposed to be good for a child?" Red asked.

"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that?!" Narcha complained. "I'm just making conversation, you know!"

"I understand." Red fell into thought. "...You're not as dumb as you look."

Narcha froze.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked in an icy tone.

"It's a compliment." the boy explained. "I'm just making conversation."

"Do you want to die?!"

...

The two continued their travel for the rest of the night. A few hours later, Red heard the unmistakable noise of moving water from afar.

"We're at the Crystal River." Narcha announced.

'That's halfway there.'

"We should find somewhere to sleep." the woman continued. "Probably away from the river. Its noise can drown out other sounds, and we don't want to be caught by surprise."

Red obviously agreed with her. As they moved through the treelines, though, the warrior suddenly called their march to a stop.

"Wait." Narcha held him back.

"What is it?" The boy asked.

"I hear something." the woman frowned.

This immediately put the boy on alert.

"It's coming from that direction." Narcha pointed to the east.

"From the river?" Red asked.

"Yes." she nodded. "We should see what it is before we decide to camp in this area."

The boy would have preferred to just avoid the area altogether. However, he felt a dire need for sleep after a night under the lunar gaze, and the sun was close to rising.

"Do the same thing you did before." Narcha instructed him. "The flanking thing, I mean.”

Red nodded and walked off, with bow and arrow in hand. As he got closer to the river, he began hearing the same noises too. He paused and looked back at the warrior. She was frowning in confusion but signaled for him to continue walking.

The youth wondered about the reason for her odd expression, but eventually, he figured it out for himself.

'That's... Crying?'

It wasn't just crying. It was a cry of pain.

"Fucking shit..." Narcha cursed from twenty meters away.

As they walked further on, the trees cleared up, and the river was revealed to them. However, what Red saw made him freeze in his tracks.

Another scene of carnage.

One of the victims, though, was still alive.