Penny understood that she did not know everything there was to know in the world. What she was well educated upon was the military system of Atlas, the geography of Solitas, the native dust, fauna, flora, and grimm. However, she did not know what to make of the hunched over, black wreathed figure approaching them. Its two bone white canes stuck into the floor as the hunched figure made its way ever closer to Dove. Not that he stopped or changed direction. Dove was walking straight forward as if the figure did not even exist for him.

"Dove. You do see that, right?" Hesitantly fielded Penny.

"The Gevatter? Yeah."

"It is called a Gevatter? How do you know?"

Less than 30 feet between the two now. "I wouldn't be surprised if you've never seen or heard of a Gevatter. They're a little, how do I say this, messed up in design."

"How so? And why are you not avoiding it?"

"Calm down Penny. They really don't pay attention to us."

The hallowed face of the Gevatter looked up at them, its sunken red eyes glazed over, staring through Dove at her. Its mouth opened in a silent scream, and the next cane placement aimed it the husk humanoid at the two, shuddering all the while. Dove closed the distance to 20 feet. "It sees us."

"Yeah, but that's only because you're stressing it out. Calm down."

"That is because you are not doing anything about it!" Hissed Penny. "It is a grimm. Grimm naturally make me unsettled, as they can see my aura and have tried to disassemble me before."

"Oh that." Dove took three steps to his left, away from the ancient grimm. 10 feet between them. "That's cause I can't actually do anything against it."

"How so. It is a grimm. How you not able to kill it?"

"As I said, part of its design error." Another two steps to the left, swinging wide around the grimm, leaving only 5 feet between Dove and the creature. Dove continued walking past it. The grimm started turning to follow. "It has time dilation."

"Please clarify."

"If I was to swing my sword at the Gevatter, my blade would age, and would most likely snap upon hitting its boney hide." Dove, continuing at his slug's pace, gained an additional 5 feet on the grimm. "The cloak thing they wear is like its fur. It's actually really boney underneath it."

"And the canes?"

"That's their hands. Or technically, two of their fingers. If you look closely, their nails actually age the ground beneath it."

Dove adjusted the camera to look behind him. To her disbelief, he was right. In the places where the cane dropped into the snow in the sunlight, the snow melted exponentially faster. In the shade, the snow turned to ice. "And its own inability to chase?"

"As I said, design flaw. It aged itself. It's more of a moving hazard than an actual threat."

"As in a real threat, but one that is avoidable rather than one in which we need to be concerned about. It still has not left our trail."

"Because you're still worried about it." Chided Dove. "Chill."

Penny used a second to reorder her emotional state. "Can these Gevatters be killed?"

"Yeah. Explosives. Or you drop a really big rock on them."

"And if you do not kill it?"

"It does like negative emotions, but its ability to track them is quite diminished by its own age. As seen here." Penny looked back, and saw the Gevatter poking at their footprints, trying to feel out where they went. "It is basically blind when people have their emotions in check. What it can always feel out is people who are already on death's door."

"Like you?"

"Technically. Though it basically can feel out anyone who's going to die within the next 100 days without fail. Numbers vary, but that's the general rule."

"By feel out you mean…?"

"I mean they can feel them from a continent away and will start making their way over. Probably the only reason why they haven't been decommissioned."

"Their ability to track those who are injured and elderly?"

"Precisely. Especially since they can't be transited on like Gryphons or Dragons."

"Is it because they age them too quickly?"

"Precisely. And can't do bullheads either cause they age right through the metal floor plating."

"They sound astonishingly useless." Admitted Penny.

"Except the fact that no huntsman team can defeat one. It takes a city to kill it." Explained Dove. "They're siege engines."

"How many have you fought?"

"Just one." Dove sighed. "We learned to just move to other settlements when we start seeing Gevatters. Helps knowing that they always come from the south."

"Just the south?"

"Grimmlands are to the south."

"Going off of what you told me, is it not possible to lead one into a body of water, or bury them alive?"

"They don't breathe." Dove grimaced. "Most actually have to cross an ocean to get to any continent. They do so by walking on the ocean floor, so take that as you will for the quality of their armor." Dove gestured to the Gevatter behind them, which had turned back around and continued heading further inland. "That guy probably had to cross two."

"Oh. Is there nothing we can do?"

"Attach a bell onto it?" Jested Dove. "Unlikely. They just show up, and you either dump your explosives on it, leave, or you all die."

"They essentially ignore most walls, do they not?" Asked Penny with a quiet concern.

"Yep. Anything that rusts will, and wood rots in their presence. Their literal only problem is that they take forever to get to wherever they're needed."

"When were they discovered?" Penny asked. "How did the kingdoms not hear of these highly specialized grimm before they were upon us?"

"Surprisingly, about 22 years ago." Started Dove. "The first reports place them in Southern Vacuo. Thought the government passed it off as an old wives' tale that the tribes told to each other, and as an excuse to begin infringing on the territory of more northern tribes."

"Oh." The two slogged on in relative quietness. "What happened next."

"The CCT towers went down from sabotage, waves of grimm attacked the nomadic tribes, and the Gevatters punched through any walls that remained. It's why most of us never heard of them. Ancient bunch, just stupidly slow. Surprised one made it all the way up here though."

Not really. "It has been 22 years. One could make quite a bit of distance if one walked forward for 22 years straight."

"I guess that is true. Wonder how long it'll take us to reach the shore at this pace."

"I do not have any maps to inform you on any ETA's, but I can inform you that we will most likely close the distance in 0.4x the time in which the Gevatter took."

"And how did you do that math?"

"You move approximately 2.75x faster than the Gevatter, and I factored in breaks for sleeping and defecation."

"Nice."