Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 46 - Not Alone?!

After a nearly half an hour break, the group got up again and continued further into the forest.

’’We need to go to the river to the north,’’ Emma said, holding a map in her hands. ’’Around that area were the most sightings.’’

The others nodded, quietly following after her.

Not even three minutes later, Owen suddenly slowed down as his eyes shot wide open.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, pointing to the left of them.

Everyone turned one by one, their expressions darkening immediately.

Several corpses were piled together, all of them goblins. They had been killed recently, but not eaten or touched, aside from some surface-level wounds.

"That’s not normal," Emma said, stepping closer. "It’s clearly recent, yet no creature has eaten them."

Theo narrowed his eyes slightly, scanning the surroundings.

But nothing moved.

’’Could it be that a mindlessly aggressive creature did this?’’ he asked, turning back to the group.

Emma crouched down beside the corpses, shaking her head.

’’No, they wouldn’t stack them up in a pile like this,’’ she said, drawing a dose of blood from a goblin corpse.

’’Fair enough,’’ Theo nodded, his expression remaining serious.

Neither Iris nor Owen had any other ideas about what could’ve killed them and left them like that.

With nothing except a bad feeling, the group had no other choice but to continue.

But after only fifteen minutes... another pile of corpses appeared right in front of them.

’’A pile of Blue Mane Wolves now?’’ Iris muttered, narrowing her eyes.

Emma’s expression also darkened, but she took out a vial regardless.

Theo stepped forward, moving closer to the pile.

He crouched down beside one of the wolves, his gaze sharpening as he examined the wounds carefully.

A few deep punctures covered its body, gathered around the chest and neck.

At first glance, they looked like claw marks... or maybe bites.

But the more he looked, the more something felt off.

’Each creature seems to have died to the same wounds,’ he thought, his brows furrowing. ’It’s almost as if one creature did all of this alone.’

Theo glanced back at the others, but no one was in the mood to speak anymore.

They continued walking, following the map Emma held toward the place they would be setting up their base.

As they moved deeper, the piles of corpses they encountered slowly decreased, but the uneasy feeling remained.

No one said much anymore.

Even Owen, who usually filled the silence with anything and everything, kept glancing around silently.

Before long, that silence was broken.

A rustling noise came from one of the bushes, immediately putting everyone on guard.

That’s when a lone goblin rushed out, its movements erratic as it charged straight for Owen.

Owen kept his composure and reacted quickly, sending a single rock spike straight through its heart.

But even as the creature collapsed, it continued dragging its body forward, clawing at the ground as it tried to reach them in its final moments.

"So that’s the mindless aggressiveness you guys were talking about..." Owen muttered, a shiver running down his spine.

’’Yes,’’ Iris nodded, cutting open the goblin’s chest.

She quickly ripped out its core and tossed it to Emma.

’’We’re getting to the northern part now,’’ she continued. ’’There’ll be far more creatures just like this one from here on.’’

Hearing that, Owen’s brows furrowed for a moment.

’’Do these creatures also come in large groups? Or are all of them alone like this one?’’

Iris wiped her spear clean before answering.

"They do," she said calmly. "Both goblins and wolves can move in larger groups."

Owen’s expression stiffened slightly.

’’Just great,’’ he muttered.

They continued forward, moving more carefully than before.

Not long after, a small pack of three wolves dashed out from behind the trees in front of them.

Their eyes were bloodshot as they lunged towards them without hesitation.

Theo stepped forward this time, lightning already crackling on his spear.

He took them down one after another, slicing through them with ease.

As they continued, more and more creatures appeared, more often affected by the aggressiveness than not.

’’We’re almost at the river,’’ Emma said, her hand radiating a pure green light as an F-rank Ironboar was pulled into the ground ahead of them.

’’Good,’’ Theo muttered, his eyes scanning the area.

What was supposed to only be a two-hour walk had turned into nearly three and a half hours because of the constant interruptions.

’’That’s it up ahead,’’ Emma finally said, pointing at a small hill. ’’We need to set up camp there.’’

Relieved expressions appeared on all of their faces, the exhaustion of walking and fighting all this time finally setting in.

The moment they reached the top of the small hill, Owen dropped his bag to the ground and let out a long breath.

"...Finally."

Iris didn’t sit immediately, her gaze sweeping across the surroundings before she gave a small nod.

"This will do."

The others nodded, collapsing onto the blue grass immediately.

Owen and Theo took out some snacks they’d taken along and started eating, while Iris unpacked her sleeping bag.

’’I suggest we take turns sleeping,’’ she said. ’’Just so we can recover now that we’re at the problem area.’’

Theo nodded, swallowing his snack.

’’Sounds good,’’ he said, glancing at Owen. ’’We’ve been through a lot already, who knows what else we’ll encounter while investigating.’’

’’I’ll stay up first then,’’ Emma said, tapping on the device on her arm with a vial in her hand.

Owen turned to her, tilting his head.

’’You’re eager to get to work,’’ he said, letting out a yawn.

"Of course," Emma replied, focused. "There are large rewards on the line."

Owen paused mid-yawn. "Rewards?"

He turned to Theo, his gaze narrowing. ’’How come I haven’t heard about that?’’

Theo raised his shoulders, not aware of any rewards either.

Emma didn’t look up from her device.

"It’s turning into a pretty big bounty," she said. "The Hunters Association is already paying great amounts for any useful info."

Owen’s eyes widened immediately, his mouth wide open.

"...You’re serious?"

Emma gave a small nod. "Depending on how much you contribute... it’s easily in the hundreds of thousands."

"There’s also something from the military," Iris added as she laid out her sleeping bag. "We don’t know what yet, but it’ll be worth it."

Even Theo couldn’t help but look shocked.

Owen let out a low whistle, still staring at Emma.

"...Alright, I’m not sleeping anytime soon," he said, sitting up a bit straighter.

Emma didn’t react, her attention still locked on the device strapped to her arm.

"That works," Iris said, settling into her sleeping bag. "Wake us if anything happens."

Theo nodded while also unpacking his sleeping bag.

Before he laid down, he glanced at Owen and Emma.

"Don’t miss anything important around you," he said.

She gave a short nod. "I won’t."

With that, Theo crawled into his sleeping bag as well, feeling physically exhausted.

It only took a second before he fell asleep just like Iris.

At the same time, Owen moved slightly, resting his hammer beside him as he looked out over the hill.

"...So," he muttered quietly, glancing at Emma. "What are you even looking for exactly?"

’’Differences,’’ Emma replied without hesitation, turning to Owen.

As she started explaining, Owen listened with interest despite having trouble following along.

Like that, Time slowly passed by.

Eventually, Emma stood up, stretching out.

’’We should wake them up,’’ she said quietly.

Owen nodded, already pushing himself up.

After waking both Theo and Iris up and explaining that nothing had happened, both quickly settled into their own sleeping bags.

’’Ugh,’’ Theo muttered, stretching out. ’’That was some good sleep.’’

He glanced over the hill while Iris grabbed her spear and started cleaning it.

For a while, nothing happened.

Then—

A faint rustling sound echoed out from the trees in front of Theo.

He glanced back at Iris, who’d also heard the rustling, and raised his hand, gesturing for her to stay at the camp.

Theo turned back without a word and slowly moved down the hill, careful not to make a single sound.

His grip tightened around his spear as he pushed through some bushes, heading for where he’d heard the rustling.

But...

Nothing.

Just as Theo was about to turn back, his gaze dropped to the ground.

’’Wait,’’ he muttered, tilting his head. ’’What are those?’’

He crouched down, taking a closer look at the marks in the dirt.

For a brief moment, he went completely silent.

That’s when a chill ran down his spine.

They weren’t wolf tracks... or goblins.

’’These are... human?’’

He paused for a moment.

’’But... weren’t we supposed to be alone here?’’