It didn’t take long for Dallion to dash past the protective line of soldiers. All the awakened training he had done had improved his body and behavior to the point he could almost see the guide-markers without them being there. His body strafed and swirled almost on its own, passing by people and obstacles alike. Of course, it was a plus that no one actively tried to stop him—the skilled soldiers had the goal of keeping the chainling from reaching the heart of the group, they weren’t concerned with people getting out.

“To the left,” Dallion shouted as he turned. Behind him, Veil followed.

While not as nimble as Dallion, the blond’s physical development allowed him to keep up with ease. If anything in more cases than not Dallion was slowing him down.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Veil asked as a burning yak splattered on the ground no more than fifty feet away.

“Game theory.” Dallion grinned running on. In truth, it was more a case of “gaming theory” but the logic held true. “The hunting party and the chainling must be evenly matched. So just as we’re afraid of it, it’s afraid of us. The entire reason it’s bombarding us with chunks of burning wagons is to cause enough chaos so it could then run in for the kill. The soldiers know that so they’re standing their ground.”

“Bombarding?” Veil asked, confused.

“Throwing.” Dallion made a mental note to stick to local terms when talking.

An entire wagon roof appeared in the sky, flying directly towards Dame Vesuvia. The woman didn’t budge. Remaining on her horse, like a statue, she drew her sword and waited. When the mass of flaming wood came near, she performed a single strike, slicing the threat out of existence.

Woah! Dallion thought. Would he ever be able to reach her level? Even from this distance he could tell the strike wasn’t one, but a multitude of attacks, moving faster than his senses could perceive. He had only been able to catch the slight unnatural blur, but not the actions themselves.

“There’s no way I can do that,” Veil said. He too was impressed, though clearly had a much higher opinion of himself. “What if the chainling throws that at us?”

“It won’t. It won’t even notice us. If anything, that only ensured it’ll pay even more attention to the Dame from now on.”

“Chainlings are monsters. There’s no way they’re that smart.”

“Oh, it’s smart.” Dallion knew just as much about chainlings as Veil, which was to say only what he’d been told since joining the hunting party. Even so, the way the beast behaved made him come to certain conclusions. “It saved a few of the caravan wagons to use against us. Also, it let us track it down so it could ambush us.”

“How are you even getting all that?”

“Think about it. It’s been hunted for a week at least, and suddenly now it starts leaving tracks? The Cleric said that it had regained strength by killing the caravan, so how come it’s easier to track now?”

“It’s overconfident?”

“Only something smart can be overconfident.” Dallion grinned to himself. “And if it was, wouldn’t it take us head on, instead of making it seem it’s running? It’s been waiting for us. I’d say that Gloria forced it to tip its hand. Seeing her, it knew the rest of the group was nearby, so it started throwing things at us sooner than it thought. That’s why now’s our chance to go find her and get her safely away before the beast and Dame Vesuvia start getting serious.”

All that was speculation on Dallion’s part, but he felt it to be true. The last time he’d been so convinced was when facing a MMO dungeon boss with a guild. The guild master hadn’t listened to him, despite being his best friend, resulting in a total wipe of the party. A few weeks later, Dallion had come across a YouTube video using his exact strategy.

Still… he’d come to the conclusion almost too easily. Getting rid of the echo was one thing—Dallion had felt like he’d broken free from a full body plaster cast—but the way the ideas had popped in his head at a moment’s notice was next to surreal.

So this is the benefit of mind, Dallion thought. The ability to think on my feet and come up with ideas faster than the average person. Good to know.

“Just trust me, okay?”

Dallion expected some sort of verbal confrontation from Veil, or at the very least an attempt at sarcasm. Instead, all he got was an approving grunt; Veil had accepted him as a leader.

Based on the trajectory of flying objects, Dallion had a pretty good idea where the chainling was located. The precision in which it managed to target the Dame specifically suggested that it had a unimpeded line of sight, or some other way to scope the area. In turn, that suggested that Gloria couldn’t have gone too far ahead.

“We need a good vantage point,” Dallion said, heading up the nearest hill. Since the caravan, Dame Vesuvian had opted to focus on speed rather than anything else, choosing the flat space between hills to catch up faster. The chainling had taken advantage of that to prepare its ambush. What about Gloria, though?

Dallion felt a lump in his throat. Relying on her perception, the girl had probably come to a similar conclusion and gone in search of a high vantage point. If so, why wasn’t he seeing her yet?

The further up Dallion got, the more his concern grew. The game logic he had spouted a moment ago seemed all but hollow now. What if the chainling hadn’t attacked the main group directly, but eliminated the scout first? Or even worse, what if the Dame had no intention of using Gloria as a scout, but as a lure?

A few hundred feet away, Dallion’s heart sank. Upon nearing the top of the hill, a patch of charred grass became visible. The chainling had targeted this first…

“Why are you here?” a dry voice asked.