"How did you end up like that?" Cyril asked, his blue eyes glancing at the mountain.
"The wyvern and the griffin had been fighting each other for a while already when I found them. The aftermath of their attacks threatened a group of people hiding nearby, and I decided to lead them away somewhere more quiet."
"One thing led to another, and here I am." She spread her hands to the side with a helpless expression.
"Damn it! It should've been us!"
Cyril ignored the sound of Rhamn's teeth grinding and gave Myra an understanding nod.
"I see."
Myra went silent and observed the composition of the current party with a careful gaze.
"Have you... How come you guys are together?"
She looked at them with the eyes of an abandoned puppy.
"Dog-like Myra."
Before he could reply, Rose came forward with a smile.
"We met each other by chance and decided it's better to stay together since most other visitors had been rescued already."
"...Makes sense." Myra nodded, convinced.
Rose breathed a sigh of relief, turned towards Cyril, and was about to say something.
Suddenly a loud screech echoed through the whole zoo as a muffled voice began warning in a solemn voice.
"Everyone must evacuate the zoo at once. Those who are still hiding, come out and head towards the nearest shelter as shown on the maps."
The message was repeated a few times in the same voice.
Eventually it grew quiet, and a loud animal roar rang out immediately after.
It came from somewhere near the lake, a ferocious beast seemingly annoyed by the loud announcement.
Cyril held onto his head, letting his ears recover.
Enhanced hearing doesn't seem that good lately...
"I guess that's that. We should head to safety as well," Rose said, finally putting away her notebook.
Her face carried a resigned but peaceful expression. It was already satisfying enough to have done this much.
Myra got back on her feet, dusted herself off, and sent an expectant glance to Cyril.
He was looking in the direction of the lake, a certain desire in his blue eyes.
"You go, I'll stay for a short while. There is something I want to see."
Rose followed his gaze with a thoughtful expression, remembering the roar from before. They've heard it already before, during the show.
"You can't be thinking of finding Tyrant?!" she exclaimed with widened eyes.
He nodded, the butterfly on his shoulder raising her wings in determination.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."
"Not a challenge for us! And besides, Cosmas will not let any real harm come to us. That overgrown baby is clearly interested in our safety."
We'll see to what extent.
He grabbed the clueless Tigris from his shoulder and presented him to Anna.
"Take him with you."
After a second of confusion, the white tiger cub began struggling, but a sharp glare from Cyril made him freeze.
Surprisingly, Anna didn't take the soft white kitten, instead staring him in the eyes with a certain pleading expression.
"Can I go with you?" she said, her voice gaining courage. "It's not for me! I know Cedric went in the lake's direction, but I still haven't heard anything from him."
Perhaps due to nervousness, her hand briefly touched her bracelet near the wound that still didn't fully heal.
Cyril glanced at the scar and slowly nodded.
"Fine."
He turned around and began walking towards the lake. Tigris returned to his shoulder, nodding towards Anna with gratitude.
Anna smiled slightly and followed after them.
Myra didn't even say anything, walking by Cyril's side as if it's a natural thing to do.
Only Rose was left alone.
She observed their departing backs with a mix of helplessness and frustration.
Finally she sighed and followed after them, her face a little bit more tired.
...
"How did Anna know where Cedric went?" Rhamn glared with suspicion at the brown-haired woman, who kept walking at a certain but small distance behind him.
"Didn't we all separate where the show took place? She should've stayed there until Tigris made her go out."
We all have our means.
Cyril side-eyed the meek girl. She would occasionally tilt her head, as if listening to something amid the forest.
He wanted to suggest using Morpho's tracking abilities to find Cedric, but now he felt it was no longer necessary.
She didn't seem like she walked without a purpose, trying to find a person lost in the woods.
Unless she lied about wanting to find Cedric, I think she knows how to find him.
"She gives me a bad feeling. I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to have lied..."
Everyone gives you a bad feeling.
Just as he was talking with the voices in his head, Anna stepped forward, attracting the group's attention.
"Can we check over there?" she asked, pointing towards a clearing nearby.
They were quite close to the lake already, and a portion of it was visible through the trees.
The giant tiger was nowhere to be seen so far.
The group walked towards the place Anna pointed out.
"Strange... He disappeared somewhere here."
Anna worriedly looked around, finding nothing but grass.
Rose and Myra scanned the perimeter, trying to find anything out of place.
Cyril and Morpho did too, while Tigris cheered them on from the back.
Eventually Myra raised her hand in the air.
"Come look at this!"
She stood in front of a little hole she dug up.
There within the dirt was a tiny bit of metal sticking out.
"Nice find," Rose said, observing the hole.
"It's nothing. Hidden trapdoors are surprisingly popular, is all."
Myra aimed her hand towards the hole and cast a spell.
Soon a small explosion hit the ground, blowing the dirt away.
It revealed the metal trapdoor in full.
Cyril dismissed the barrier he conjured to shield himself from the dirt and walked closer.
"Oops."
Myra sheepishly scratched her hair as she found the others affected by her blast.
As she apologized in the background, Cyril pulled on the trapdoor's handle.
It was easily flung open, revealing a dark passage underground.
It wasn't locked.
Cyril peered down below, the others soon joining him.
It was a mostly empty room, with deep slash marks on the walls, cracked floor and other signs of battle.
In the very middle of the room, lying on the ground with hands and feet spread out, was Cedric.
He looked at the ceiling with a dumbfounded expression that soon turned to relief.
"Anna? And everyone? Good to see you..."
"Can you help me get up?"
He slowly got up on his feet and sent them a weak but optimistic gaze.
Anna immediately cast a spell, and a vine grew from the grass near her.
It reached through the trapdoor all the way down to Cedric.
"Thanks!"
Cedric gave a thumbs-up and climbed up.
He reached the surface, took a deep breath, and fell on the grass face down.
Now that he was up close, the group noticed that his body was in a terrible shape.
Torn clothes, dried-up blood, bruises everywhere. He clearly took a good beating.
"What happened to you?" asked Anna while applying a healing spell.
Her voice didn't sound as concerned or surprised as it did tired. On her face was the look that seemed to spell 'not again.'
Cedric rolled to his back, now staring at the sky, and replied with a helpless smile. "I saw some sketchy-looking people going underground and followed them in."
"I tried to be quiet and followed them in, but one of them suddenly transformed into a dark cloud and ambushed me!"
"Dark cloud?" Anna interrupted with curiosity. "Like the vampire we saw at the show?"
"Exactly! They also had these ominous red eyes! They were definitely vampires!"
"Red eyes are nice..."
"They were really strong too. I couldn't do anything to resist their attacks. They toyed with me until, suddenly..."
Cedric paused to make sure everyone was paying attention, then continued in a more mysterious tone.
"They all froze and one of them said, 'Her Royal Highness has escaped,' all ominously."
"Their moods obviously improved after that, and they quickly left, leaving me bleeding on the floor. I got lucky, ha ha."
He let out a helpless chuckle, as if laughing at himself.
At first, Cyril listened to Cedric's words with detached interest, but soon a certain thought crept into his head.
Vampire... Escaped... Her Royal Highness...?
Coincidentally he did meet a female vampire trying to escape not too long ago.
"She was a vampire princess?!" Rose exclaimed, having come to the same conclusion.
"Wasn't she a bit too weak to be one? I thought she was some random vampire. How did the zoo even capture her?!"
The vampire's disheveled, embarrassed, and angry face flashed in his mind, together with her words swearing revenge.
Maybe those words have more weight to them than I thought...
"She is royalty! She should be more forgiving to people!"