Last Gun Alchemist

In a silent part of the Black Zone, snow fell gently from the pale sky.

The flakes drifted between the branches of the Silver Birches before settling across their thin trunks and the few leaves that still remained attached to them. Most of the leaves had already disappeared beneath the snow, leaving the trees looking almost bare.

Farther ahead, more trees stretched across the white landscape, their shapes becoming less clear with distance. Behind them stood the dark outlines of mountains, partially covered by snow and fading into the cold mist.

There was no sign of the Academy.

No buildings.

No paved roads.

No sound of Steam-Carriages.

Only the quiet movement of nature remained.

The sound of flowing water came from somewhere deeper within the forest, its movement faint but steady beneath the cold air. Birds chirped occasionally from the branches, their voices carrying farther than they probably should have in such a quiet place.

For a few moments, everything seemed peaceful.

Then...

Cr...

A faint sound came from the stone platform.

Crac...

The sound of something splitting followed.

Crack!

The space above the platform suddenly distorted.

An Alchemy Circle engraved into the stone began glowing violet, and the air around it twisted as though an invisible hand had grabbed the world and pulled it apart.

The violet light spread through the lines of the Spatial Alchemy Circle.

The surrounding snow trembled.

Then the distortion stopped.

"..."

A group of figures stood upon the stone platform.

Ezra was the first to look around.

He didn’t immediately speak.

His black plain eyes moved across the snowy forest, taking in the trees, the mountains, the flowing water, and the strange quietness surrounding them.

"We are here."

Jeremy finally said.

He rubbed his gloved hands together while looking around.

Even though he was trying to maintain the calm attitude expected from the leader of the group, there was still some nervousness in his expression.

They had finally entered the Black Zone.

There was a difference between reading about the place inside a research document and actually standing inside it.

The cold air touching his face was real.

The forest around them was real.

And somewhere inside that forest was the creature they had spent weeks researching.

The Ghost Crawler.

"Urgh!"

Emily suddenly dropped to her knees.

Her body bent forward as she vomited onto the snow.

Samuel immediately moved toward her.

"Take it easy, Emily."

He placed one hand against her back and rubbed it slowly.

Emily tried to breathe, but the nausea caused by the teleportation hadn’t completely disappeared.

"I..."

She wiped her mouth with one hand.

"I hate Spatial Transportation."

She barely managed to say the words.

But she wasn’t the only one suffering from the effects.

"Ahhh..."

Hugh sat down on the stone platform.

He crossed his legs and placed both hands against his knees while taking slow breaths.

His face had lost some of its usual color.

"Still can’t get used to this form of transportation."

Agnes looked toward him.

She shook her head slightly.

"You’re an Alchemist."

Her tone carried a faint disappointment.

"You should have gotten used to it by now."

Hugh gave her a tired look.

"Knowing that doesn’t make my stomach agree with you."

Agnes didn’t answer.

Diane had already stepped away from the platform.

She looked around the forest with her usual tired expression, her eyes moving slowly across the snow-covered landscape.

"So, this is what part of the Black Zone looks like."

Her voice was soft.

Almost sleepy.

She looked down.

Then she placed one foot onto the snow.

Crunch.

The sound was surprisingly clear.

Diane stared at the snow beneath her boot.

"This snow isn’t as strong as I expected it to be."

There was a faint trace of disappointment in her voice.

She pressed her foot down slightly harder.

The snow sank beneath her boot.

Diane looked at the shallow mark she had made.

Jeremy finally appeared more relaxed.

He reached into his Space Bag and took out a compass.

"The Ghost Crawler’s main habitat is still a bit far from this place."

He checked the compass, then compared the direction with the surrounding forest.

His eyes moved toward the trees ahead.

"Let’s start making our advancement."

He put the compass away.

"We only have two weeks at maximum to spend in this area, so let’s get moving now."

His expression became more serious.

"Especially because this isn’t the only habitat of the Ghost Crawler we’re hunting."

The words made the others quiet down.

Two weeks.

That was the maximum time they had.

They couldn’t waste several days simply walking around.

Ezra calmly stepped down from the stone platform.

The moment his boot touched the snow...

Step.

His expression didn’t change.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

Then Cognis moved from his feet.

It spread through the ground and surrounding area like ripples moving across the surface of water.

The world around him changed.

His hearing sharpened.

The information his senses gathered began flowing into his mind.

The chirping of birds.

The movement of leaves from other types of trees farther away.

The sound of flowing water.

The soft movement of snow against the branches.

Then something else.

A faint, heavy breathing sound.

Ezra’s attention shifted.

He could hear the sleeping sounds of a group of Blizzard Warthogs somewhere within the habitat.

Other sounds followed.

Small movements.

Distant creatures.

The subtle disturbance of snow beneath the feet of something moving far away.

His mind began forming a white sketch in a black board of the area around him.

The landscape gradually appeared inside his sensory perception.

Trees.

Snow.

Water.

Mountains.

Monsters.

Everything his senses could detect was slowly being added to the picture.

We still have a long way to go.

Ezra noted silently.

He hadn’t detected any obvious signs of the Ghost Crawler’s main habitat yet.

That meant they still had to continue deeper.

Emily finally stood with Samuel’s help.

Hugh also pushed himself up from the stone platform.

The seven members of the group gathered together, then they started advancing into the forest.

But they didn’t run.

They walked.

Their footsteps were kept as quiet as possible.

The reason was simple.

They didn’t want to alert the other monsters living around them.

Their research had also given them another reason to be careful.

The Ghost Crawler was capable of sensing its surroundings from a considerable distance.

If they made too much noise, there was a chance the monster could notice them before they ever reached its habitat.

And none of them wanted that.

Not here.

Not when they were still trying to locate it.

Emily walked near the center of the group.

Her eyes continued moving around the forest.

The snow-covered Silver Birches stood on both sides of them, their thin branches swaying whenever the cold wind passed through.

She reached out and placed one hand against the trunk of a Silver Birch as she continued walking.

"I’m just saying this so I can be sure."

She spoke carefully.

"But is the possibility of meeting multiple Ghost Crawlers not highly possible?"

Her eyes moved toward Jeremy.

"Since this is their habitat."

Hugh thought about the question.

"Well..."

He scratched the side of his head.

"I guess that would be better."

Emily looked at him.

Hugh continued before she could ask why.

"I mean, if there are multiple Ghost Crawlers in one place, then it would mean they’re just in their Mature stage."

He said it as though he had found a reasonable solution.

Samuel immediately frowned.

"Ehn..."

He looked toward Hugh.

"How is facing multiple Ghost Crawlers a good thing?"

Agnes turned her head toward him.

"Are you an idiot?"

Her tone was dry and annoyed.

Samuel’s expression froze.

Agnes continued walking without slowing down.

"We all did our research on this monster, and you’re already forgetting some important details."

She raised one hand slightly as she explained.

"Mature Ghost Crawlers aren’t the ones with the Arcanist-equivalent threat level. Those Crawlers are only at the Adept level of threat."

Her hand lowered.

"So, facing a bunch of them won’t be much of a problem as long as we don’t fall under their combined illusion ability or get hit by their venom."

Samuel’s eyes widened slightly.

"Oh..."

He finally understood.

"That’s true."

Agnes looked ahead.

However, there was one important detail that Samuel had left out.

The Ghost Crawler Jeremy was actually afraid of when he first saw the name on the document Professor Nine had given them wasn’t a Mature Ghost Crawler.

It was an Elder Ghost Crawler.

And there was one major factor that could be used to identify when a Ghost Crawler had reached the Elder stage.

They lived alone.

A single Elder Ghost Crawler.

No group.

No colony.

No others nearby.

Just one.

The fact that they hadn’t encountered another Ghost Crawler yet should have been reassuring.

But somehow, it wasn’t.

The forest remained quiet.

Almost too quiet, if not for the...

Snow, which continued falling.

The Silver Birches swaying in the cold wind.

Although no birds flew overhead, and no monster appeared from between the trees.

The group continued forward.

Then...

"Guys."

Jeremy suddenly raised his hand.

Everyone stopped.

"..."

The forest became silent around them.

Samuel immediately placed one hand inside his Space Bag.

Hugh reached behind his back and held his spear.

His fingers tightened around the weapon.

Agnes’s eyes moved toward the right.

Then the left.

Then forward.

Her expression changed as she tried to understand what had caused Jeremy to stop them.

Emily immediately moved closer to Diane.

Diane stood with her eyes closed.

She looked almost completely relaxed despite the sudden change in the atmosphere.

Ezra simply looked forward.

He didn’t reach for a gun in his space bag.

He didn’t change his stance.

He didn’t need to.

His senses were already spread across the surrounding area.

Nothing moved.

The wind passed through the Silver Birches.

Rustle...

Snow slipped from one of the branches.

Whump.

It landed softly on the ground.

Emily swallowed.

Nobody spoke.

For a few seconds, the only things they could hear were the cold wind moving through the leaves and the gentle fall of snow.

Jeremy’s raised hand remained in the air.

Then, slowly, he lowered it.

"Let’s continue moving."

His voice was calm.

Samuel relaxed his hand.

Hugh lowered his spear slightly.

Emily released the breath she had been holding.

Agnes didn’t relax.

Her eyes continued moving around the forest.

She looked toward the trees.

Then the snow.

Then the distant mountains.

Something about the situation bothered her.

But there was nothing.

At least, nothing she could see.

The group began walking again.

Ezra followed.

He took several steps before suddenly leaning back slightly.

His black eyes shifted.

Something had moved.

It was fast.

Very fast.

A stretched-out branch-like shape had passed through the forest in front of him.

It looked almost like a vein.

It moved between the trees for only a moment before disappearing from his direct line of sight.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He didn’t stop the group.

He simply watched the place where it had disappeared.

His expression remained plain.

But his attention had become much sharper.

"We are in a Dry Ents territory."

Ezra muttered quietly to himself.

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