A Land of Giants
It was their second day in the Upper Tier. Before Chester and Monia, a river split into two distinct branches.
"Which way do we go?" Monia asked.
To the right, the river flowed smoothly over flat ground, while to the left, a torrent of water rushed violently down a steep, mountainous path.
"Ant."
"Bark!"
Chester gave the command he had trained Ant to recognize, and the pup began sniffing the water. Whatever substance was mixed into the river, there would surely be a difference in scent between the stream that carried a heavy concentration of it and the one that didn't. A human nose could never detect it, but Ant could.
After pacing back and forth between the two streams and sniffing intently for a long moment, Ant barked sharply toward the right branch.
"Good boy. Right it is."
Having found their direction with Ant's help, Chester instructed the pup to keep tracking the scent and lead the way. From then on, the two of them followed closely behind Ant.
"There's a lizard."
"What? Eek!"
Monia turned her head reflexively at Chester's words, only to gasp in horror. The lizards she knew were the tiny, finger-sized creatures they had seen in the lower tier. But the lizard drinking water on the opposite bank was entirely different. It was huge. Terrifyingly huge. Leisurely flicking its tongue as it drank, the creature was a monster easily the size of Chester's forearm.
"How can a lizard be that..."
Perhaps because it was focused on drinking, the lizard paid little attention to the three travelers passing by on the other side of the river.
"Unlike the lower tier, it seems the creatures up here are generally massive," Chester remarked, glancing around.
The plants were no exception. Everything was oversized. Unlike the lower tier, which was mostly tangled with thin vines, the vines here were thick and long. The surrounding undergrowth easily reached chest height, making travel incredibly difficult. He had to constantly swing his machete to hack a path through the brush.
Ant, being relatively small, actually found this terrain easier to navigate. Unlike the lower tier, where the low weeds would drape over him or tangle around his paws, the tall grass here formed natural canopies, allowing him to slip easily through the gaps beneath them.
"I'm just glad the weather is cool. If we had to hike through this in the heat, we would've died."
"Tell me about it. I never want to go through that again."
The two shared a laugh, reminiscing about the grueling trek they had made through the stiff, suffocating brush across the river on that sweltering day.
"It was brutal without a machete."
"It really was. I was just lucky I could just follow behind you."
"Come to think of it, we saw a strange lizard back then too."
"Ah, that winged one?"
"Yeah. I don't know if those could really be called wings... but yes, they did look like bat wings."
"Bats? I know what bats are!"
"You do? Ah, right. There was a noble family that used a bat on their coat of arms."
"Yes! You know them too, Chester?"
"I received a proper education, both at the academy and within your family's estate. I always thought it was unusual for a family with territory near the sea to choose a bat."
"True. Usually, coastal lords choose marine creatures for their crests."
Some families used sharks, or even snails, as their emblems. In truth, it wasn't a snail but a clam. However, because Chester had never seen a clam before, he had firmly believed it was a snail from the moment he first learned about it. It didn't help that the clam on the crest had a spiraled, curled shell. (Incidentally, the clams on the beaches of the Floating Island were still only being used as fish bait.)
"Phew. Let's take a short break."
Quite a bit of time had slipped by as they chatted and walked. Chester cleared a small patch of grass with his machete and sat down, while Monia walked over to the river to scoop up some drinking water. After drinking the water Monia brought him, Chester touched the wound on his thigh, which was radiating a feverish heat. It was burning. Forcing himself to hike through such rough terrain had clearly taken a toll on his body.
"I'll lead the way from now on."
"Yeah. I'd appreciate that. I need to cool this wound down."
With those words, Chester began stripping off his clothes.
"Ah!"
Paying no mind to Monia's squeal, Chester stripped completely naked and headed toward the riverbank. He soaked the bandages—made from his torn trousers—in the river, then wrapped the cold, wet cloth around the various wounds on his body.
"Phew."
To prevent river water from seeping directly into his cuts, he wrapped them two or three layers thick. Then, careful not to submerge the wound on his chest, he stepped into the river. Using a flat rock jutting out near the water as a seat and crushing a patch of riverside grass to serve as a pillow, he lay back in the cool stream.
"Ah..."
As he lay there, the burning heat in his wounds began to subside under the icy water. Chester gently splashed water over his chest to cool the upper wound, letting himself relax into the pleasant, numbing chill of the river.
Monia walked over and sat beside him, dipping her feet—flushed red from the long hike—into the water to cool them down.
"Ahhh... that feels amazing."
Her feet, which had been throbbing from the hellish mountain paths, felt as if they had stepped straight into heaven.
"If you get tired while leading, let me know. I'll take over."
"..."
"Don't overexert yourself and collapse."
"I won't."
Monia looked down at Chester's thigh. Perhaps the strain of walking had reopened the wound, as a faint trail of blood was drifting away in the current.
After resting for a while and letting their bodies dry, they set off once more.
"Hup! Yah!"
Monia swung the machete with determination, carving out a path. Chester quietly watched her back as she walked ahead of him.
Her clothes are getting more and more precarious.
They hiked through the forest every single day. It was only natural for her flowing skirt to snag and tear on the sharp brush and low-hanging branches. As a result, Monia's hemline grew shorter by the day. When she first arrived on the island, her dress had dragged on the ground; now, it was torn so high that half of her thighs were exposed.
"Hmm."
Since he had always been the one leading the way, he hadn't had a chance to really look at her. But watching her from behind like this...
Hrmmm...
Her thighs, now toned and firm from constant exertion yet retaining their natural softness, moved with healthy, athletic grace. The swaying of her tattered black skirt created a stark, captivating contrast against her pale skin, drawing his eyes. Looking slightly higher, her rounded hips pulled the fabric taut, swaying with an unintentionally alluring rhythm.
...Right.
Chester stared, momentarily spellbound, before pressing his lips together and forcing his gaze away.
What am I doing?
Was it because he had been injured for so long and hadn't had a chance to quietly take care of "a man's needs" out of Monia's sight?
I need to take care of that soon. Getting distracted makes it hard to keep an eye on our surroundings, and that's dangerous.
They were in a treacherous wilderness. Danger could strike from anywhere at any moment, so he couldn't afford to let his mind wander. And as if to prove his point, a strange noise suddenly echoed from deep within the forest.
CRACK! SNAP!
"Huh?"
"What was that?"
It was the sound of something splintering wood. Soon after, a succession of snapping branches rained down. It was a familiar sound—the very noise Chester and Monia made whenever they chopped down trees for firewood.
"Monia, let me take the lead. We need to move, fast."
"...Alright."
Tense and alert, the two of them hurried their pace, keeping a wary eye on the dark forest.
CRASH!
Then came the sound of another tree falling.
"Ah!"
Startled, Monia nearly shrieked but quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Another tree had just fallen, right after the first. Just how powerful did a creature have to be to do that so effortlessly?
What on earth is in there?
The first thing that came to Monia's mind was the horrifying sight they had seen earlier—the area where every single tree had been completely flattened. Could the monster responsible for that devastation be lurking just ahead?
CRASH!
Yet another tree went down. This one fell directly toward the river, its crown slamming into the water with a massive splash.
"..."
Beads of sweat rolled down Chester's tense face. Yet, without a moment's hesitation, he swung his machete, tearing through the brush as he marched forward. He moved with such incredible speed that it made their previous slow pace look like a lie.
But pushing himself like this couldn't be good. The only reason they had been traveling slowly was because of Chester's injured leg and the need to tread carefully in uncharted territory.
"Chester, your leg!"
"No time to worry about that."
"What?"
"Don't you get it? The sound of those trees falling is getting closer."
"Oh..."
CRACK!
The sound echoed again. CRACK! A sharp, grating noise pierced their ears as wood splintered violently. Moments later, a tree near the riverbank gave way, crashing heavily into the water.
SPLASH!
A massive wave of spray erupted. And then, a moment later...
"Ah."
"Oh..."
A bizarre creature, unlike anything they had ever seen, emerged. It was covered in long, shaggy hair that swayed with its movements, draping low enough to obscure its legs. Its body was far larger than a fully grown bull. But its most striking feature was the massive, razor-sharp horn protruding from the bridge of its snout.
Is it a bull?
Its massive, heavy build immediately brought a bull to mind, but the shape of its head was entirely different. Instead of the broad, flat face of cattle, its snout was narrow and elongated, bearing a closer resemblance to a horse. Of course, given its colossal size and build, it was hard to truly call it horse-like.
Chester quickly assessed the beast. Realizing that any further movement might draw its attention, he clicked his tongue and grabbed Monia.
"Ah?!"
Pulling the startled Monia down with him, he pressed flat against the ground beneath the thick brush to hide. Ant also crouched low beside them, holding his breath.
From their hiding spot, they watched the strange beast closely.
Snort.
Letting out a low, relaxed snort, the creature ambled over to the tree it had just knocked down and quietly began stripping the leaves.
"..."
"..."
...
It chewed lazily on entire branches, using the horn on its snout to roll the fallen trunk back and forth so it wouldn't miss a single leaf. Once it had stripped the tree bare, the beast moved to the other tree it had knocked down earlier, devouring its foliage as well. Only after it had eaten its fill did it finally vanish back into the shadows of the forest.
"Phew... oh my gosh."
"It's finally gone."
"What on earth was that?"
"I have no idea. It looked like a mix of a bull and a horse..."
"What? You think that thing looks like a horse?"
"The head shape was horse-like, but the body was definitely built like a bull."
They knew absolutely nothing about the creature other than its appearance and the fact that it was a herbivore. But one thing was absolutely certain: if they angered it, they would die.
"Let's move quietly."
Monia and Ant silently agreed with Chester's words, and the three of them slipped away from the area as if fleeing for their lives.