Pick a flying beast built for endurance, one that can slog through sky like a river that never dries.

With that, Lucimia quickly settled on a bird-type magical beast—the Thousand-Chase Eagle, its name an arrow that never falls.

It could chase prey for a thousand li, like wind over grass; stamina was a given.

Lucimia knew little of beasts, so she chose it, a drumbeat on open plain.

Lucimia guided the Thousand-Chase Eagle, a thread tugging a kite.

Wings beat like banners in wind, climbing steady; the world below shrank, the horizon opened like a folding fan.

Nach Valley sprawled like a stone sea; no height could net its whole basin into her sight.

It was enough; she would compare region by region, combing fields with a fine-toothed rake.

She kept the prior order, starting with the deep-forest zone, gloom pooling like ink.

Before that, she sent the eagle circling wide around the valley, a brushstroke around a bowl, hoping to spot smoke traces from above.

No luck; distance cramped the view, details blurred like mist.

"Forget it, stick to the original method." Lucimia drew the other beasts into her control, her will tugging them like threads on a loom.

Splitting focus was rough at first; familiarity smoothed it, like water finding a channel.

With the eagle’s view and plant-beast eyes, she confirmed distributions and circled small zones on the map, seeds laid in rows.

"Hmm... in the forest, these circles barely have gaps, scales packed tight; no clear empty zone. So the forest’s clean."

Done with the forest, Lucimia turned to the hilly terrain, ridges rolling like sleeping dragons.

Same approach: she drew circles large and small, rings rippling across the map like pond waves.

After most of the hills showed no gap, dread rose again in her chest, a cold tide licking the shore.

If this failed too, she’d have no idea how to find that Cross, a needle lost in snow.

Good news: a gap appeared at the northern edge where it met the river zone, a big empty swath, no beasts at all—a silent well.

From above, still no smoke; she’d need ground probes by other beasts, or spend energy and send the Fuzzy Orb, a mole through earth.

Lucimia marked the spot and shifted to the river zone, its veins glinting like silver threads.

She guarded against a decoy, a mirage over sand.

Cross-checking, she found another gap upstream, a hollow like a missing tile.

Two gaps now; next steps were obvious, clear as footprints in fresh snow.

Her head swam, a hive buzzing; she forced focus and steered nearby beasts to scout, kites tugged on thin strings.

She started with the hills, guiding a bear-type beast in; the scene looked ordinary, stones and scrubs like dozing lambs.

She had the bear clamber and roll, combing end to end, yet no hint of smoke.

"A blindfold trick? A painted door on a wall?"

She took a fish-beast in the river, one that wielded Water magic, and swam upstream like a blue arrow.

Still no smoke—only waterweed and gravel, the bed bare as a washed bone.

"Strange. Is it underground, a buried ember?"

Dizziness thickened into pain, a drum in her skull; she dropped the fish-beast, stopped all control, and slumped into the seat.

She kneaded her temples and sighed, breath drifting like smoke.

"So tired... dizzy to death. I’ll have Fuzzy Orb burrow and check. Did Ment hide that Cross this well, like a needle in ice?"

After a short rest, she stepped from the carriage; Desty approached, breath pale in the cold air, and asked, "How is it?"

"Mm. Two suspicious zones. I sent beasts in, found nothing. Might be underground; let’s go check and use Fuzzy Orb, a lantern in a tunnel."

"Okay." Desty nodded, a crisp motion like a reed in wind.

They packed up. Desty unfastened the tether and some cart parts; Lucimia used her Disguise Power, shadows draping like cloth.

As they moved to enter the valley a third time, a tremor rolled from behind, thunder under snow.

"Lu—Lucimia... what is that?" Desty stared, panic fluttering like a trapped bird.

"The rat swarm..." Lucimia turned to the distance, gaze narrowed like knife-slits.

Sheets of crimson rats surged from afar; their rush loosened slope-snow into avalanches.

Yet the swarm rolled like a breaking sea, more shocking than the white.

"Tsk. Run. Inside, now." Lucimia seized Desty’s hand and used Instant Movement, the world flipping past like a scroll.

"Should we use Reversion? Back to when we first reached the valley, then go straight to those spots," Desty suggested, words like oars in water.

"Reversion..." Lucimia hesitated, doubt circling like a slow moth.

"What is it?"

"No, it’s nothing. Let’s hold off on Reversion for now," she said, staying the oar in rapids.

"Why?"

Lucimia didn’t answer; she kept hold of Desty and instant-moved again, skipping spaces like stones across a river.

They reached the hilly suspect spot quickly, ground rising like folded blankets.

Landing, Lucimia let go and jogged ahead.

She formed the Fuzzy Orb, pressed it into earth; orange rings bloomed in her eyes as they shared vision.

Desty kept quiet, her silence a held breath, not daring to disturb Lucimia.

She glanced around; it looked like anywhere else, except the cold bit deeper, knives under the skin.

"Nothing," Lucimia said, words dropping like stones.

"Huh?"

"No smoke underground either. We’ll switch spots," Lucimia recalled the orb and stood fast, movement sharp as a snapped twig.

As she rose, the whole valley shuddered.

Beasts flooded from their hides, bolting the same way; enemy lines dissolved, fleeing side by side like rain-streaks.

The magical beasts felt the swarm approaching and moved as one, a field of grass blown flat.

Bang!

A surge of crimson rats burst from the side slope; they hit ground and raced for Lucimia, bodies pouring like red rain.

"That’s way too fast!" Desty exclaimed, shock sparking like flint.

"Duh. They’ve been on our tail."

In Wasan Village we stayed just a day and a half, and the swarm caught up.

Now the path’s clear, they’re pacing us; this timing tracks, like a shadow on water.

Lucimia spoke while grabbing Desty’s hand, using Instant Movement again, their figures flicking like sparrows.

"Use Invisibility Magic? Then they might lose you, like fog swallowing the moon."

"We could, but they might scatter. In the village they were absorbing energy, so they stayed put for a while."

"Now? Hard to say, like bees without a hive."