Chapter 91 – Where Are You Going? You’re Supposed to Play With Me

A familiar unease, long forgotten, suddenly welled up inside Evelyn, making her swallow hard. While she stood there, caught between uncertainty and suspicion, Dahlia suddenly spoke up in a bright, cheerful voice.

“This is the place. I’m sure it’s here.”

“Then… let’s search just a little longer before we head back.”

Forcing away the doubts clouding her mind, Evelyn once again began searching for the tanzanite necklace. She swept the area with her magic lantern, illuminating every shadow, but no matter how carefully she looked, there was no sign of it.

“Dahlia, are you certain you lost it here?”

Her nerves were starting to show, her voice trembling with anxiety. Still, Dahlia gave no reply.

“Dahlia…?”

Worried, Evelyn swung her lantern’s light all around, but Dahlia was nowhere to be seen. The sense that something was very wrong gripped her. She quickly decided to return to the edge of the forest. She had just begun to take a step when—

Thud—

All of a sudden, with a thunderous crash, a creature like nothing she had ever seen appeared before her.

‘What… is that?’

Its entire body was covered in serpent-like scales, and a long tail swept menacingly behind it. The beast was so grotesque, so chilling in appearance, that it made her skin crawl.

A Lizardman.

This was no ordinary animal of the woods, but a high-ranked monster, one of the dreaded beings classified as magical beasts. 

The scene unfolding before her was so unimaginable that her heart pounded wildly in her chest. How could such a creature have found its way into an imperial forest? Fear threatened to seize every part of her. It was impossible yet, somehow, she understood instinctively that if she didn’t escape now, her life would be in grave danger.

She quickly switched off the light of her magic lantern and pressed herself into the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust. She watched the monster warily.

At that moment, the Lizardman lashed its powerful tail against the ground, sending a tremor through the earth.

Crash—

With trembling legs, Evelyn managed to slip behind a massive tree, hiding herself from view. She planned to wait for an opening and run, but it was far too soon to relax. There was no telling when the Lizardman might discover her. She could only hope it was all her imagination, but the monster’s restless movements made it seem as if it was searching for someone.

‘Surely it isn’t looking for me…?’

Clutching her racing heart, she forced herself to keep still, watching the Lizardman’s every movement. But then, as if some trick had taken place, the monster that had been there just moments ago vanished without a trace.

Where did it go?

She scanned the darkness, searching for the Lizardman that had disappeared so suddenly. That was when she heard it—

Rustle, rustle—

—The dense leaves nearby shook, the sound unnervingly close.

‘No way…’

A chill shot through her as an ominous sense of dread welled up inside her chest. Evelyn steadied her ragged breathing, drawing a deep breath as she tilted her stiff neck upward.

“….!”

There, perched atop a tree, the Lizardman’s milky, lidless eyes were fixed squarely on her.

W-What should I do…?

Her skin prickled with terror as her gaze locked with the monster’s. The Lizardman, staring down at her, narrowed its eyes into a strange, rounded arc.

[ Fo■■d you. ]

The monster’s voice vibrated through the air, its presence overwhelming.

‘Did… did it just speak?’

Evelyn’s lips trembled at the sound, unnatural and chilling. She’d heard stories of high-ranked magical beasts, some so intelligent they could even speak the language of humans.

Still, she’d never come face to face with an intelligent monster before, and a chill ran down her spine. What unsettled her most was the suspicion that the Lizardman had been looking for her all along. But how could it possibly know? Nothing made sense, but for now, survival was all that mattered. She had to find a way to escape the forest.

‘Think, Evelyn. Think.’

Biting her lip anxiously, she suddenly remembered the teleportation scroll Viaton had given her that morning. She’d tucked it into her inner pocket, assuming she’d have no need for it during the hunting festival.