There is... though it's all covered in blood.

The pathway continued for a few minutes, giving me plenty of time to admire the effect I had had on the local flora. The trees had grown wildly, but not truly chaotically. They seemed to almost be aware of each other, growing specifically so that each tree had its own space to take. It was beautiful, in its own way.

Beauty, that began to fade as I could tell we approached our destination. Corpses littered the pathway once we got far enough, entrails and blood sprawled from them. A few had crushed heads, their neck ending in foot-shaped craters.

Millana covered her mouth with her hands in horror as we came close enough to see the details. Lana just squeezed her eyes closed or looked away. Karen stepped around the corpses, paying them no heed but making no disrespect as to step in them or their innards when possible. Isabell seemed nearly entirely unfazed by the scene, only distressed due to her lady's condition.

Not much distance was between the start of the corpses and the beginning of the encampment. The environment did not much change, bodies and innards covering most of the ground around.

As we approached, I noticed something that caught my attention and caused me to squat down and examine one of the corpses. Lodged into their chest, was a large piece of bone. At first glance there was nothing strange about this, probably a fractured shard of something. But upon closer inspection, the spike in question seemed to not fit any bone within the human body.

I stared at it, examining it closely as I thought about what it meant. 'My champion... is really something else, huh? I was not expecting bone lances, and honestly, I was not expecting anything near this level of carnage. If this is his strength, I wonder if he was right before in saying I was overestimating the light... Regardless, he will do a wonderful job of playing the villain.'

To cover my actions, I shook my head before almost starting the prayer again. I stopped myself just before starting though, looking to Karen and instead simply standing up. It served as a good enough excuse, and reminded everyone that their priestess had denied my efforts to bless someone to the afterlife.

Just past a large pile of corpses, many of which seemed to have been running away when they were struck down, with only a small number looking like they had been trying to fight, was a gateway of sorts. It didn't have an actual gate, but it was a break in the wall with a bridge over it, so it served as a more defensible entry regardless.

Walking through the entrance, Isabell noted something while examining the corpses. "They were all running out... And fighting towards the interior..." She seemed deep in thought, her thoughts not on Millana for perhaps the first time since we got here.

Karen was of course oblivious to what she meant, "What are you trying to say, maid? Are you trying to call these dead soldiers who sacrificed their lives cowards or something?" I shook my head in somewhat genuine disgust at her immediately aggressive reaction.

Before Isabell defended herself, I relayed what I understood of her thoughts, "I believe she meant that there are no men who died stopping it from getting in. Which leads me to believe it entered at another location."

The few guards who had accompanied us away from the carriages took a quick look around. A second or so later, they nodded in agreement. "Aye sir, there are no signs of an attack from the outside here, only from within."

Looking back to the others, Karen was rolling her eyes. "What does any of this matter? So, a monster didn't use the front door, so what? Why is that important enough for us all to stop and discuss?"

Before I could open my mouth, Lana whispered her own response. "Because..." Karen looked at her with a glare, shutting her up. Soon after, she looked to me and Millana, who both made gestures for her to continue. She took a deep breath, gathering her courage before continuing, much to Karen's dislike. "Because it means that this monster is intelligent enough to know that a hole in the wall does not mean a weak point. Pair that with the speaking, and..."

Karen stormed over to her, getting in her face with a glare and raising a hand. She shouted at her ward in a surprising rage, "You do not speak against me, girl! Especially not in this company!" She quickly recollected herself in front of us, but it did little to fix what little remained of her shattered image.

Something else was revealed from this outburst as well, however, and I would not miss the opportunity presented. "Dear me, did something happen to your arm? It looks to be in a quite grizzly state."

Her eyes went wide as she realized just how big her mistake was. She said nothing as she simply stomped her way into the fort, trying to ignore how much she had ruined herself over the course of this outing.

I looked around to the others, a concerned expression on my face as I tried to judge their reactions. They all seemed to be in my favor, watching her leave with disgust, a slight glare, or a look of minor frustration in Lana's case.

Lana hesitated for a moment before eventually following after her mentor. A short moment later, Millana and Isabell went ahead as well, some guards following closely behind them. In the end, I gave a cautions shrug before continuing forward myself.

We split up carefully, each trying to find our own clues for what exactly had occurred.