When the aerial scouts returned last night and warned that villages belonging to Blossom Town, a settlement of some 7,000 people roughly 150 km south-south-east Delore, had been destroyed, Corey Stone had a difficult decision to make.

The fastest way to get to Blossom Town was by air; unfortunately, there were only 5 Tartans in Delore, stationed there as part of the ongoing hunt for the Saberclaw Raptors.

5 Tartans could carry 10 fully armed and armoured humans.

With the need for at least one Adept to remain in Delore to defend it, if Corey wanted to get to the danger zone by air, he could take a maximum of 9 Spirit Initiates with him.

Using this method, Sir Stone could arrive rapidly, but it would also put his life and the lives of his subordinates at extreme risk.

If this incident really was caused by the Raptors, and the High Sixth Order Alpha was lurking nearby, a single Low-Rank Spirit Adept and 9 Spirit Initiates wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight.

On the other hand, if the whole hunting party were to travel by ground, it would take them 7 to 8 hours to reach Blossom Town.

Delore and Blossom Town might have been just 150 km away in a straight line, but the road between them was over 200 km long, which would add significantly to travel time.

In the end, at Lady Frey’s suggestion, Corey Stone adopted a compromise.

Traveling by foot, he led the 4 Sixth Order Snow Spirit Foxes along the road while the rest of the hunting party followed behind.

By moving separately, Corey and the Sixth Order Foxes managed to arrive at Blossom Town just three-and-a-half hours later.

When they reached the outskirts of the two, Corey’s lungs burned from exertion, and his allies were also breathing quite heavily, but they were still about 75% combat capable, which was enough to protect themselves.

Scanning the settlement, Corey quickly noticed that its population had swelled to over 10,000. There were also hundreds of Wild Beasts launching reckless attacks against a hastily arranged line of defenders.

With no time to rest, Corey charged in, letting his aura flare while simultaneously requesting Frey and Bron do the same, hoping that a show of force would be enough to scatter the attacking beasts.

The strategy worked, with Bron’s killing-intent filled howl being particular effective; however, judging from the sobs and mournful cries Corey heard coming from all around him, he understood that they had still arrived a bit late.

If he had chosen to fly here directly, the number of casualties might have been reduced, but even if given a second chance, his choice would have remained the same.

It was a cold and brutal calculation to weigh the lives of thousands of civilians against those of himself and his subordinates, but it was also the most logical choice given the threat they faced.

The former Royal Guard sympathized with the deceased, but he still felt he made the right decision.

Setting aside this moral debate, Corey Stone scanned the town again, his Soul Sense quickly locking onto the strongest human aura he could detect.

A few minutes later, together with the four horse-sized Snow Spirit Foxes, Corey stood before the kneeling local lord and waved his hand, "Rise."

"Thank you, My Lord!" The elderly man, a Fifth Step Core Formation Realm Practitioner, got to his feet, though he kept his head down.

Not finding anything strange with this old man’s behaviour, Corey simply proceeded, "What’s your name?"

"I am Baron Thomas Luck, Your Excellency. I have the honour of serving as Lord of Blossom Town and its surrounding villages," the old man replied respectfully.

Nodding faintly, Corey continued, "Tell me about the situation here."

"Yes, My Lord!" Baron Luck bowed before launching into a long, somewhat rambling speech about the suffering his small Barony had suffered.

In the end, though, it all boiled down to a few simple points.

Sometime around sunset yesterday, beasts began pouring out of the southern forests and swarmed Blossom Town’s outlying villages.

Outnumbered, overpowered, and caught off-guard, the small villages were quickly overrun and destroyed. Few, if any people survived the onslaught.

The lucky souls who did managed to escape the carnage, mostly by relying on fast horses, rode hard to Blossom Town where they warned the local Lord what was happening.

Sensing grave impending danger, Baron Luck ordered everyone who could fight to arm themselves, and anyone who couldn’t to seek shelter in the centre of town.

Once that was done, Thomas Luck thought about sending riders to Delore to ask for aid, but before he could do so, a Tartan carrying a scout from the Golden Wings Legion landed at his Manor and said he would report the situation to his superiors.

The scout, a noble son and Sea Establishment Practitioner, also ordered the Baron to send riders to the nearby villages that weren’t yet destroyed to get them to evacuate.

Not daring to refuse, the old Baron sent out the riders, all of whom had returned to town by the time Sir Stone showed up.

Corey Stone basically knew what happened after that, so he stopped the Baron from explaining any further.

Turning to his allies, the Low-Rank Spirit Adept asked, "What do you think, Lady Frey?"

Sniffing the air again, the female Snow Spirit Fox furrowed her brow slightly, shaking her head, "I can’t detect any trace of powerful beasts in the surrounding area, but that doesn’t mean the Raptors aren’t here. They’ve managed to elude us thus far, which proves they’re very adept at concealing themselves."

"Hmph, damn cowards," Bron, ever the grumpy one, grumbled slightly before turning and glaring at the local Baron.

Being stared and snarled at by such an imposing beast, Baron Luck’s knees almost buckled as he stutteringly asked, "M-M-My Lord... these... these... guests, are?"

Having not yet opened his Soul Sea, the Baron was unable to communicate with Frey and Bron directly without them intentionally trying to translate for him, nor was he able to ’hear’ them when they didn’t specifically direct their Soul Qi and intent at him.

Understanding this, Corey Stone explained simply, "These two are Lady Frey and Lord Bron, allies of our kingdom."

"I-I see," the Baron, who had never encountered such powerful beasts before, nodded in acceptance and bowed in apology to the group of white foxes; not that he could really do anything else.

"Should we search the area more thoroughly?" Frey suggested

Thinking about it for a moment, Corey shook his head, "No. The situation seems to be under control for now, so we should wait for our reinforcements to arrive."

Bron snorted, clearly disagreeing with such a passive approach, but he didn’t raise any objections. He too didn’t see much point in taking risks to help these weak humans.

Besides, the presence of 5 powerful beings in Blossom Town was already enough to deter any kind of attack from lowly First and Second order Wild Beasts.

Suddenly thinking of something, Corey asked, "Lady Frey, is there any way you could... question some of the nearby beasts? Find out why they suddenly left their homes and attacked?"

"You think just because we’re also beasts, we can just talk to any stray animal?" Bron snapped, clearly taking offense to what Corey was insinuating.

Frey, however, waved her paw to calm her husband before replying, "It may be possible, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. The surrounding beasts are all quite weak and feral, communicating with them won’t be easy."

Pursing his lips, Corey thought about it for a moment before lowered his head, "Please try, Lady Frey. Although it doesn’t appear the Saberclaw Raptors are directly involved in this attack, they may still have something to do with it."

"You suspect our quarry may have incited the beasts to flee the forest?" Lady Frey interpreted.

"En," Corey nodded, "If that’s really the case, and it happened recently, we may finally be able to locate and eliminate them."

Thinking it over, Frey eventually nodded, "It’s worth a try."

With that decided, Frey decided to take on the mission of interrogating the surrounding beasts herself, a decision that didn’t surprise anyone.

After interacting with the Snow Spirit Foxes for nearly half-a-month now, Corey and the rest of the humans in the hunting party had come to realize that Frey was by far the most intelligent and adaptable of the pack.

If a task needed brute strength, any of the Snow Spirit Foxes would do, but if something needed a more delicate approach, asking Frey was really the only option.

Taking one of the other Sixth Order Foxes with her, Frey dashed off to ’catch’ a few of the local beasts, hoping to ’persuade’ them to cooperate with her questioning.

Bron took the last Sixth Order fox with him to patrol nearby, with Baron Luck assigning a couple of riders from the Town Lord’s Manor to accompany them and explain to the people that these terrifying beasts were friends, not foes.

Of course, the Baron wasn’t worried about these powerful foxes being in any danger; his concern was that some of the people in town might mistakenly attack the ill-tempered Bron, causing the latter to ’punish’ them.

In the mean time, Corey took control of Blossom Town and began triaging the situation, doing his best to further secure the perimeter and handle the injured.