Surviving As An Extra In Fantasy World Isn't Easy

Chapter 96 96:Night Search

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It was already dawn when they finished off the things. They moved the children to Heilford Orphanage first and decided to check them on the missing list.

"Oh, my God!"

Heilford burst into tears seeing them. Running at the group of familiar figures, he pulled them into his embrace and cried for a long time after which he immediately started to make arrangements for them.

This was really a heart-touching moment. The tension that had been prevailing in the orphanage due to the missing children had dwindled greatly.

However, this subtle change in the atmosphere for some reason irked Lucas as he watched their interaction with great curiosity.

"You don't look well."Frederick stood beside Lucas and handed him a cup of coffee.

Lucas, taking the cup, muttered softly"Something is not right Frederick."

"On checking the missing list, I found that 8 of them belong to Heilford orphanage, while the remaining are picked up beggars or anonymous kids."

"So, what's the problem with that?"Frederick asked with a confused expression.

Lucas stared at Frederick for a moment and spoke in a grim voice" Did you notice that all the kids we found are below 10? What happened to the children above 10? Jay told us he was going to be transported somewhere but what about others?"

Frederick's brows creased hearing this.

"Maybe he sold them off as slaves in the market or there might be many people who came to pick out suitable slaves."

"I don't think so."Lucas refuted and started to explain.

"That man is greedy, so he would not sell them directly. It's better to auction them to fetch a great price and naturally, he has to send a batch."

"Now, think about this. If you are sold to someone or taken up as a slave to a new family. The children of 6-8 are naive, and they are easier to trick, unlike kids of Jay's age who are harder to handle. Naturally, that man would not be a dimwit so he would have sold the younger ones at the same time."

Frederick's eyes flashed with sudden realization.

"But if that's the case, what is he doing with the other kids?"Frederick rubbed his chin.

"That's what we need to find out."

"Lucas is correct. Something is wrong. Even if he sold them, there ought to be someone left," Roan spoke with a solemn expression.

"And there is another thing here."

Roan spoke and took out a holy cross attached to beads.

"Parth found this on the upper floor."

A hushed stillness lingered for a moment.

"Why didn't he speak about this before? And where is he now?"Frederick asked.

"Parth is having fresh air. He felt something was wrong with this. So, he asked me to examine this before going out."Roan answered.

"Exa…Examine…what's there to examine in a locket?"Lucas asked confusedly.

"There is, "Roan gave a faint smile.

Pressing the middle of the cross sign, he pulled it down towards the lower end of the long cross.

On doing so, a small, narrow tube emerged over the top of the cross.

Taken surprised, Lucas asked, "What's in there?"

"At first, I searched if it contained anything weird. Finding nothing, when I checked it carefully, I found that this was a small whistle."

"Whistle!"Frederick tilted his head, thoroughly confused.

"A holy locket…whistle…" Lucas pinched his brows, trying to search in his memory for anything useful.

"Whistle...whistle..No, it can't be."

"What is it?'' Frederick and Roan exclaimed in shock.

"Whistles can be used to train a pet, so what if...."

A deathly chill flashed in his eyes.

"It might be a monster tamer who gave him this," Frederick concluded, but paused, seeing Lucas's cold expression.

"Frederick, do you remember what that bastard muttered before dying? He was staying somewhere whi..then changed to white."

"Is he referring to this whistle?"Roan asked.

"It's weird. I don't think monster tamers used whistles to control them "Lucas spoke unperturbed.

"Maybe he wanted to inform us about the party related to this. He said white. And this belongs to those men in white."Frederick assessed.

Lucas nodded and, pondering for a moment, relayed his thoughts"Frederick, do one thing."

"Take Parth and investigate the Church for any anomaly."

"Meanwhile, Roan and I will search the forest behind an orphanage."

"We have already searched that place. I think it's fruitless."Frederick expresses his thoughts.

"I don't think so, "Lucas muttered while peeking at the whistle.

"We have never searched at night and I feel things are gonna be different now."Lucas's eyes flashed with a strange glint.

Seeing this, Frederick and Roan wondered what he was thinking.

"Also, ask Jay if he encountered that monster when he escaped."

...

The forest shrouded in darkness was quite silent.

It was a place surrounding the isolated city, covered by forest from all sides. Herbalists from the surrounding villages occasionally come to visit, and some woodcutters visit the outer edge of the forest to cut some trees. There had been no occurrence of monster activities here.

But what if they were wrong?What if monsters were there but they couldn't find them?

Taking a good rest, Lucas accompanied by Roan searched around for any anomaly.

"Lucas, why are we searching this place at this time? Can't we do this in the morning?"Roan cried inwardly feeling a chill down the spine.

"Monsters are more active at night, as the whisper of the evil spirits is stronger than during the day."

Roan blinked his eyes, hearing such an absurd reason.

The monster that Lucas killed was good at hiding in the shadows. If it did not come out to attack, Lucas couldn't have noticed it.

Lucas wondered if this monster came out only at nighttime. Previously, they searched for them during the day so maybe they had missed it.

Who knows, this might be the reason they did not encounter them.

"Lucas.."

"Hmm!''

"I don't know if this is my imagination but you seem to be quite tense since yesterday. You also look strangely irked."

Lucas's steps halted for a moment. Turning back, he noticed concerns etched over Roan's face.

Fiddling his sword with his finger, Lucas's expression became solemn.

"Roan, do you know about experimented monsters?"

Roan was taken by surprise due to Lucas's question. Propping up his chin, he asked confusedly"Monsters are experimented every day so that we can grasp their weakness. What's the problem with that?

"Tsk."Lucas clicked his tongue.

"I am not talking about that. Have you ever heard about the monster created artificially by experiments?''Lucas asked.

Roan raising his brows shook his head for a moment.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I brought you here along with me so that you can take a look at the monsters and identify if they are born naturally. You have memorized most of the monsters so I think you can tell whether this monster exists or not."

"Lucas, this is absurd..."

Roan continued the conversation and was refuting it firmly, but soon lost his words.

Roan's eyes sank and his body froze.

BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!

A sound akin to an alarm came out from Roan.

Lucas held the handle of the sword tightly. He scanned around but he was not able to find anything.

"Roan...."

Cold sweat trickled down from Lucas's forehead.

The situation became tense.

"Lucas, I think we are being watched."

Lucas pulled out his sword. His heartbeat became faster.

Finding himself in a messy situation, Lucas cursed and wondered why can't he sense anything. His sixth senses also seem to be dormant for a reason.

For a moment, he began to doubt if the sixth sense that played a vital role in his survival may be fake.

"Roan, how did you know we are being watched?"

"Echo marks. I have planted a few pins that resonate with one another letting out sonic waves. My smartwatch just picked up the signal."

"Wait, isn't that mine?"Lucas exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Yeah, the one you have given me, I threw them as we walked. It was activated now."

"So, how many are there?"

"8" Roan muttered looking at his bracelet.

Lucas sucked in cold air.

'Maybe they are just watching that's why I am not able to feel anything and since they don't have mana, I can't feel their mana signature.'

Unawakened have some mana within them but it's so faint that one needs ample experience and a high level of mana control to sense this.

Even Frederick lacks in this aspect currently.

"We don't know their location. I will attack to draw them out."Lucas drew out his sword.

"Wait! I have an idea. Let's try this."

Roan took out the locket and whistled.

WHISTLE!WHISTLE!

A shrilling melody resounding in the air pierced the darkness of the night that was followed by loud bellows.

SCREECH!SCREECH!SCREECH!

Lucas then closed his eyes and focused his senses.

Even if he can't feel their mana, he can still hear their movements which generally went unnoticed unless you are focused or have a sharp hearing.

Now not only were they making noises, but they also seemed to be disturbed.

One by one, the shadows started to climb trees hurriedly.

Before Lucas knew it, the branches of the tree around them started to shake, and glimmering pupils appeared one after another.

"They are out."

The monsters seemed like baboons, monkeys, and gorillas.

Surrounding them, they stared at Lucas and Roan. Originally, monsters could not hide their savagery the moment they saw a human so this was a rare moment where they seemed to handle their bloodlust.

Seeing their bloody eyes, Lucas was lost in thought. Nevertheless, he took a step forward.

Immediately after that, two images flickered launching themselves like a beam.

It was a monkey-type monster hiding around the trees that attacked Lucas, sensing him as a greater threat than Roan who looked harmless.

"Come! This time it will be different."Lucas reacted immediately with a battle cry.