While still working on the slain creatures, Effie stopped for a moment, a look of slight confusion on her face. After a few moments, this confusion turned into a deep frown.
"Hey, after I'm done here, we should haste back to the settlement. There is something weird going on here. Something that shouldn't happen in these parts, and I hope it's just my paranoia talking, but better be safe than sorry," spoke Effie while turning back to her current prey.
Ray didn't question her judgment. Effie had far more experience in the city, and if she was concerned, there had to be a good reason. He tightened his grip on his halberd and scanned the streets around them, an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. The city was always dangerous, but this felt different - like the air itself was holding its breath.
Effie worked quickly, carving through the last of the raptor carcasses with precision before storing the meat and the soul shards away. Once finished, she nodded at Ray, and both immediately picked up the pace, moving through the ruins in the direction of the settlement. The eerie silence around them was only broken by the occasional gust of wind and the distant creaking of old structures.
They were making good time - until Ray heard it. A guttural, piercing screech echoed through the streets behind them, followed by the rapid, clicking footsteps of something giving chase. Without looking back, he already knew.
"More raptors," he muttered, already breaking into a sprint.
Effie cursed under her breath. "Too many. If we lead them back to the settlement, it's going to be a mess."
Ray quickly assessed their surroundings. If they kept running in a straight line, they would be overtaken before reaching safety. But to their left, he spotted a partially collapsed bridge leading into an open field of ruins - a potential escape route, though not without risk.
"There! If we cut through, we might lose them!" he called.
Effie glanced at the path, hesitated for just a moment, then made a split-second decision. "Fine! Move it!"
The two veered left, dashing over cracked stone and through overgrown streets. Behind them, the raptors shrieked, their pack adjusting course in perfect synchronization. Effie and Ray pushed forward, vaulting over debris and sprinting across the abandoned field, but the raptors weren't slowing down.
Then, Ray noticed something.
The statues.
They stood in scattered formations, towering figures of weathered stone, positioned like silent sentinels watching over the ruins. He had read about them. He knew what they were.
Effie saw his realization and hissed through clenched teeth. "Keep running. Whatever you do, don't make any loud-"
A shrill, piercing cry erupted behind them. The pack leader of the raptors had let out a full-bodied screech, the sound bouncing off the stone walls and into the open field.
The air turned cold.
The statues stirred.
A slow, groaning shift ran through the field as the Forgotten Sentinels awoke. Their massive forms, previously motionless, cracked and creaked as they turned toward the source of the disturbance. One by one, their featureless faces tilted, locking onto the intruders in their territory.
Effie cursed. "Damn it! Just run! We can't fight them!"
Ray didn't need convincing. The Sentinels moved with eerie, fluid motion, their towering forms far faster than something of their bulk should be. The raptors, momentarily confused, hesitated - then, realizing they had stirred something worse, they turned their aggression toward the Sentinels instead.
It was a slaughter.
The first raptor lunged, only to be caught mid-air by an inhumanly strong grip, its body twisting violently before being slammed into the ground with enough force to shatter its bones. Another attempted to retreat, only for a Sentinel's massive hand to clamp around its throat and crush it as if it were made of twigs.
Ray and Effie had almost made it past the ruins when one of the Sentinels shifted its attention toward them. With unnatural speed, it moved, a massive arm swinging in Effie's direction. She turned, raising her shield, but she wouldn't make it in time.
Ray reacted without thinking. His [Guardian's Shackles] pulsed with energy as he activated [Imprisonment].
For a brief moment, the massive creature froze in place, its movement completely halted as if trapped in invisible chains. Effie wasted no time, yanking Ray forward as they both sprinted with everything they had. The moment the Sentinel broke free, they were already beyond its reach.
Their surroundings blurred as they ran, neither daring to look back. It was only when the ruins thinned, and the looming figures of the Sentinels faded into the distance that they finally slowed down.
Effie was breathing hard, sweat glistening on her skin as she turned to Ray. "That… was too close."
Ray, still catching his breath, let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah… let's not do that again."
Effie huffed, shaking her head before a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "Gotta admit though… that thing you did back there? Pretty useful."
Ray rolled his shoulders, feeling the lingering strain from using [Imprisonment]. "I'd say it was more desperate than useful."
Effie glanced back toward the ruins. The Sentinels had already returned to their motionless state, their hunt finished, their presence once again blending into the dead city.
"Desperate or not," she muttered, "it saved my ass."
Ray smirked. "I'll remember that next time you threaten to punch me through a wall."
Effie scoffed but said nothing more. Without another word, they turned and continued their path back to the settlement, now completely done with the hunt.
The rest of the journey back to the settlement went luckily without anymore trouble. Still, both of them remained vigilant and cautious the whole time.
A while later, Effie and Ray finally arrived at the foot of the mountain. The path up was as steep as ever.
When they nearly reached the top, Effie broke the ongoing silence, "Say, handsome, do you, by any chance… bring misfortune?" and asked while scratching the back of her head awkwardly.
Ray let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. "Not that I know of. Why? Feeling unlucky today?"
Effie scoffed but didn't answer immediately, her sharp eyes scanning the surroundings as they walked. The mountain air was thinner here, crisp and cold, carrying with it the faint scent of the settlement above.
"You show up, and suddenly we run into a nightmare pack larger than usual, nearly get swarmed, then we have to cross a Sentinel field, which - by the way - is something even the dumbest hunters avoid. So yeah, excuse me if I start wondering if the dead gods have a personal grudge against you."
Ray exhaled through his nose, adjusting his halberd on his shoulder. "If that were the case, I think I'd be dead already. Maybe you just attract trouble and don't want to admit it."
Effie snorted, but the slight smirk on her lips betrayed amusement. "Right. Because I was the one who wanted to hunt with you, not the other way around."
Ray didn't argue, but a small grin tugged at his lips. They continued in silence for a moment, the settlement's slums now visible in front of them.
Finally, Effie spoke again, rolling her shoulders as if shaking off tension. "Next time, we take the long way around. I'd rather deal with raptors all day than cross another Sentinel field."
Ray hummed in agreement, but something about her words stuck with him.
Next time.
She was already assuming they'd be hunting together again.
Somehow, that thought wasn't so bad.