"So, what you’re saying is this miniature Beast Tide was the result of the Saberclaw Raptors, but not directly?" Celestina summarized.

"Yes," Frey nodded, "We were fortunate enough to find a Third Order fox among the beasts outside this town, and from him we were able to glean a bit of information."

"According to that fox, dangerous two-legged newcomers with sharp claws and fangs appeared in the Forest Master’s territory, and a fight broke out, sending many weaker beasts scattering," Frey explained the results of her earlier interrogation.

"I see," Celestina nodded, turning her eyes towards the southern outskirts of Blossom Town.

Having arrived at roughly the same time as the rest of the Snow Spirit Foxes and Spirit Initiates of the hunting party, Celestina had ordered most of the group to secure the town and its surroundings before calling a leaders meeting.

The situation was somewhat unexpected, and significant damage had already been done, but there was still a silver lining; they had found a trace of the Saberclaw Raptors.

Corey Stone, who was more than a little relieved Celestina was back, promptly suggested, "We should rest and recover until sunrise, at which point we should head south into the forest and attempt to find the Raptors."

"Agreed," Frey followed up, "I wasn’t able to get much from that little brown fox due to his low strength and sentience level, but I got the impression this ’Forest Master’ he mentioned was at least as strong as Bron or I. If the Saberclaw Raptors clashed with such a foe and its followers, they are probably injured now."

"En, we should go for the kill now while the prey is wounded," Bron concurred, his eyes gleaming with killing intent.

The plan was simple, but effective, so Celestina had no objections. This really might be their best chance to eliminate the threat of the Raptors once and for all.

"It’s settled, then," Celestina brought the meeting to a close, "We’ll leave behind 5 Spirit Initiates and 10 Snow Spirit Foxes, while the rest of us enter the southern forest to finish this."

With that, the 4 leaders went their separate ways, heading back to the temporary lodgings Baron Luck had arranged for them.

.....

2 hours later, just as the first rays of dawn began lighting up the sky, a group of roughly 20 humans and 40 foxes set out from Blossom Town, heading south along the dirt road to the southern forest.

Both the humans and beasts were still a bit tired, but none of them uttered a single complaint. They were focused on their mission, determined to finally bring this long hunt to a close.

Using horses borrowed from the Baron, Celestina’s group was able to make it to the simply named ’South Village’ about an hour after they departed, but when they got there, all they found was ruins.

99% of the small logging village’s population had been killed last night, with the smell of fresh blood still lingering in the air.

Perhaps it was thanks to the cold night air that the smell of death and decay had yet to set in, or it could have been the fact that most corpses had been picked clean by the beasts. It was impossible to tell from a cursory investigation.

As sad as the scene before her was, though, Celestina didn’t have time to mourn the loss.

There was nothing she could do for the dead here other than offer some simple prayers, but she could find the Saberclaw Raptor pack and destroy it, ensuring this kind of tragedy didn’t repeat itself elsewhere.

Spending but a moment to offer her sympathies to the fallen, Celestina signaled for her unit to dismount before turning to the 3 Vein Opening Realm riders and ordering, "Take the horses and retreat immediately."

"Yes, Lady Balfour!" The riders, simple guardsmen from Blossom Town, didn’t need to be told twice. All 3 of them were more than eager to leave this place.

Using ropes to gather the various reigns, the guardsmen set off back north at a brisk trot, silently hoping that the lingering scent and aura of the powerful hunting party would be enough to ward off any stray beasts until they got back home.

Meanwhile, Celestina gripped her bow and nodded to Frey, signaling her to lead the way.

.....

Following the traces of destruction left behind by fleeing Wild Beasts, Celestina’s team made their way through the dense woods for about half-a-day before they finally came upon a recently made clearing.

Smashed rocks, toppled trees, deep pits... the scene was clearly one of destruction, and not the natural kind.

Turning to Frey, Celestina received a nod from her and understood that they had found what they were looking for.

The Saberclaw Raptors had thus far managed to elude them, sometimes disappearing unexpectedly, other times creating fake scent trails to lure them in wrong direction, but that didn’t mean the hunting party had wasted all this time tracking them.

Frey, Bron, and the rest of the Snow Spirit Foxes had long ago memorized the scent of the Raptors, so even before reaching this battlefield, they had detected the latter’s presence.

More specifically, they had smelt traces of the raptors along with a large amount of blood.

Signaling to the rest of her team, Celestina’s group began fanning out to search the clearing while remaining with earshot of one another.

A few minutes later, one of the Fourth Order Snow Spirit Foxes broke the uneasy silence, letting out a loud howl that drew the others over.

Arriving at the Fourth Order fox’s location, Celestina looked down at the green-scaled corpse and frowned, "It’s them."

Soon, other corpses of raptors were discovered, along with what appeared to be the mangled remains of a giant deer of some kind.

Having found conclusive proof that the Saberclaw Raptors had been here, the hunting party redoubled their efforts, searching for clues as to where the enemy pack had gone now.

It had probably been over a day since the battle here took place, which was long enough for the enemy to have escaped quite far; however, given the scale of the destruction around them, it was obvious this had been no ordinary fight.

The few deer corpses they found were too shredded for Celestina or any of the other humans to identify their species, but the simple fact that such creatures dared to challenge a pack of carnivores led by a Sixth Order Alpha severely limited the number of possibilities.

"The ’Forest Masters’ here are probably a herd of Red Tail Deer," Corey muttered.

"That would make sense," Celestina nodded, "Red Tail Deer normally don’t exceed the Fifth Order, but Sixth Order individuals aren’t unheard of."

"Are these Red Tail Deer Wild or Spirit Beasts?" Frey, who was nearby asked through her Soul Senses.

"Wild Beasts," Celestina replied, "They’re quite large and territorial, but as long as they’re left alone, they’re generally harmless. The only time you might see them become aggressive is during their mating season, which just so happens to be right around now."

"I see..." Frey nodded, "In that case, it might be best if we try to avoid them while searching for the raptors."

"En, there’s no need to fight two enemies at once," Celestina agreed.

Unfortunately, it seemed the Heavens had other plans as a series of deep, guttural bellow suddenly came from the south, along with the sound of stomping hooves.

"Damn it," Celestina cursed as numerous powerful Life Auras entered the detection range of her Soul Sense.

No one needed to say anything as the humans and foxes quickly gathered together, forming into a single cohesive unit, ready to face down the charging herd.

Seconds later, 28 Red Tail Deer burst through the far treeline, their giant antlers gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight.

Each individual in the herd stood at least 3 metres in height, with many reaching the 4 metres mark. At the head of the pack was a particularly large stag, standing over 5 metres tall with numerous scars criss-crossing its body.

Most of these scars were quite old, but some were obviously new. There were even traces of blood still matting the stag’s fur here and there, making it clear it had recently fought a fierce battle.

Scanning the stag, Celestina quickly concluded it was a powerful Mid Sixth Order Beast. She also noticed two Low-Rank Sixth Order deer standing behind it, a male and a female.

The rest of the herd consisted of Fourth and Fifth Order individuals, all of them red-eyed as they glared at the odd group of humans and foxes before them.

Once all the Red Tail Deer had emerged from the forest into the clearing, a standoff ensued.

They might not have been Spirit Beasts, but no Sixth Order Beast was stupid.

They had just fought a vicious and cunning enemy, suffering multiple deaths and injuries that they had not recovered from yet, only to discover an even more powerful group of invaders had suddenly appeared in their territory.

The lead stag was practically radiating anger and hatred, but it didn’t immediately charge, probably understanding that doing so would have disastrous consequences for him and his family.