Paige Summers didn't know what explanation Jayden Yeats had given, but it was clearly effective. After just a few words, they were back in the vehicle. Not only did Sylvester Marshall refrain from asking her any more questions, but he even offered her a friendly smile before signaling the driver to move.
'How terrifying.'
Sylvester Marshall reminded her more and more of an uncle from her past life. To him, people fell into two simple categories: useful and useless. And he never hesitated to show his friendliness to the useful ones...
The SUV sped down the road, heading for home.
The Lucky Hunters' objective for this trip had clearly been the Mutant Beast eggs. Now that their goal was accomplished, a swift return was only natural.
A subtle excitement filled the air. Most of them were no longer interested in probing how Paige Summers had escaped or what might have transpired between her and Jayden Yeats. The eggs had been specifically requested by a client, and completing the mission promised a substantial reward. It was more than enough to cover food and drink; in fact, it would be plenty for a short period of lavish spending.
Opportunities like this didn't come around often.
Of course, Paige Summers would also get a share of the reward. It wasn't much, but it was her first pot—oh, no, her first *spoonful*—of gold in this new world.
Unfortunately, she couldn't muster any excitement. She wasn't even dwelling on the matter of Sylvester Marshall anymore. Her mind was stuck replaying the process of killing the Mutant Beast, and a nagging feeling that she had overlooked something important made her grow even more uneasy.
She wasn't the only one who was distracted.
Just as she was growing agitated, a wave of malice from Quentin Carter snapped her back to reality.
She realized he had been staring at her the whole time.
It was the kind of look that screamed, "You were supposed to die, so how are you still alive?"
'Ugh, I'd love to put an arrow right in that stupid face!'
'But what's his problem with me, anyway?!'
Unable to stand it any longer, Paige Summers was about to shoot him a vicious glare when a glance out the window made her freeze.
In the distance, Mutant Animals were running, but their movements were entirely different from what she'd seen on their way in. It looked less like they were chasing one another and more like they were being herded, fleeing in a desperate panic.
It wasn't just them. Her gaze shifted to the plants.
'Something's wrong with them, too!'
Their sprawling branches were drawn in, their leaves and stems contracted, as if they were trying to burrow deep into the earth.
'What's happening?'
She wasn't the only one to notice something was wrong. The expressions on Jayden Yeats and a few other sharp-eyed team members had turned grim. Up front, Sylvester Marshall was already urging the driver to go faster.
They all sensed the danger.
Immense danger!
A long, heavy roar, filled with grief and rage, tore through the air. It struck everyone in the vehicle like the beat of a heavy drum, and even the trees to their left seemed to tremble in response. It was then that Paige finally understood.
'It's a Mutant Beast!'
'There wasn't just the one female in that cave!'
'She suddenly recalled that when Sylvester Marshall mentioned the Mutant Beasts in the cave earlier, he had, in fact, used the plural "they"!'
Amid the tense atmosphere, she suddenly felt a strange sense of relief.
'If the male had returned with the female back then, my fate would have been...'
Just then, a quavering voice spoke up from the back of the vehicle. "Weren't the males supposed to be out hunting during the day?"
After a moment of silence, Blue mumbled, "That's how it was last time..."
"Hey! You're the scout, aren't you? How could you not even get this right? What the hell do you even do around here?!"
Blue's face flushed red. He opened his mouth to speak but said nothing, lowering his head in shame.
'He doesn't seem to have much standing here.' Paige dismissed the thought and stopped paying attention. Instead, she quieted her mind and strained to distinguish the sounds from outside over the roar of the vehicle's engine.
The situation was growing more serious.
The ground began to tremble slightly, and it clearly wasn't due to the vehicle or the road conditions. The sensation was like the precursor to an earthquake, or maybe... the vibrations created by many massive beasts running at once.
Paige swallowed hard.
'One of those Mutant Beasts is terrifying enough. A whole pack of them...'
To handle the unstable ground, the SUV, which had already been pushed to its top speed, was forced to slow down slightly. As time wore on, the tremors grew more violent, and several rapidly moving black dots appeared behind them!
The black dots grew closer and closer, until they could see them clearly.
They were four enormous Mutant Beasts!
Paige had thought the female beast was massive, but the four behind them, while perhaps not much longer, were at least a full size larger in bulk. And from the way they ran, it was clear they were far more powerful!