Ulysses could not understand just where everything had gone so wrong. This had been supposed to be his chance to prove himself, the chance to show his lord that he'd been worth all the attention that the prince had given him.

And yet, here he was, fleeing for his life as he ran through a freezing wasteland, forced to constantly cast reconnaissance spells so as to avoid the monstrous nonhumans hunting him down.

Everything had fallen apart, and Ulysses was completely helpless to stop it.

"Oh, Lord of Eyes, give me the sight through which I may witness mine enemies!" He gritted out, the meager amounts of mana remaining within him swirling in complex patterns in accordance to his will.

A moment later, the familiar feeling of opening a dozen new ethereal eyes washed upon him, and through it, he was able to once again check on the situation around him.

It... didn't look good. Not at all.

When the three-tailed fox savage had arisen in their midst out of seemingly nowhere, she'd struck with such speed that Ulysses had barely been able to understand what was happening.

Sir Zach, however, had been able to. He'd tried to twist himself back, his instinctive reaction being to slash at the new enemy that had suddenly popped up behind him.

It had been useless. With a grace that had been utterly inhuman, the monster had deflected the strike, lunged forward, and ripped the royal guardsman's neck open.

It had happened in barely half a second, and by the time the rest of the group had reacted, their commander had died, his aura vanishing alongside his life.

And once it had, the rest of the savages had descended upon them.

Ulysses wanted to say that he had fought bravely. That he had stood his ground and cast his strongest spells, repelling back the demonic creatures, just as a proper mage should've.

But that wasn't what'd happened. Instead, Ulysses had turned tail and ran, just as half of the remaining soldiers had, all the while the other less fortunate half had been left behind to be massacred and devoured.

During the moment, Ulysses hadn't thought about how he'd been able to escape. He'd thought he'd gotten lucky, or maybe the savages were tired, or a thousand other excuses.

But now, thanks to his spells, he could finally see the truth.

He hadn't escaped because of luck, skill, power, or whatever else. No. He'd been allowed to escape, just as all the others had.

And now, they were all being hunted, with the fox-kins seemingly more than happy to let them tire themselves out in this cold, harsh terrain before descending upon them to put them out of their misery.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Ulysses could only hope that he'd be able to reach the rest of the expedition before they did him in as well, just as they had for the nine other warriors that had managed to 'flee'.

But alas, it seemed as though that was not to be, for as he kept on running, his spell allowing him to view all of his surroundings, he spotted a brownish-red blur racing towards him at speeds that not even a fully trained racehorse would've been able to manage.

"Shit. Shit shit shit!" He screamed, desperately trying to speed up, but all that he managed to accomplish by doing that was to trip on the waist-high snow as his foot got caught in a hidden root, causing him to fall forward onto his face.

And now, the blur was practically upon him.

"No, no, no! NO!" He screeched like a little girl, desperately trying to push himself up and get back to running.

He was one of the royal academy's top graduates! He was one of the second prince's most treasures subordinates! His future should've been a bright one, filled with possibilities!

He refused to die like this! He refused!

"Rise, o' masters of flame, and cast upon me your- Urgh!" His chanting was cut off as the red blur fell upon him, twin arms launching forward to grasp at his neck and squeezing tight.

Ulysses struggled, kicking and punching and biting like a cornered rat, trying desperately to free himself, even as he was finally able to properly witness the one that had chased him down.

It was the same monster that had almost killed him at the start of the ambush, the one that Sir Zach had managed to repel.

Except, there was no royal guardsman to defend him this time. Just him, a defenseless little clairvoyant mage, and this bloodthirsty monster capable of butchering trained warriors like they were pigs to the slaughter.

And, judging by the way she was looking down at him with half-lidded eyes filled with a horrifying hunger, it seemed as though she hadn't forgotten that fact either as she grinned at him, revealing two full rows of nightmarish teeth.

Ulysses wanted to scream, but alas, the hands around his neck prevented that.

And so, he was utterly helpless as the monster disguising itself as a beautiful woman tightened her chokehold, her grin only growing as Ulysses's struggles only grew both more desperate and weaker.

"Sleep." The monster whispered, leaning in close to his ear. "Sleep mage. Sleep." She commanded again, giggling slightly even as she forced him further down into the cold snow.

Had Ulysses been more focused, he'd have questioned how exactly this savage was capable of speaking the common language, but alas, he was too busy being choked.

And, as his life began to flash before his eyes, Ulysses came to regret many things that he'd done and failed to do in his life.

He regretted looking down upon those who trained their bodies. He regretted his meekness when it came to his long-time crush, having never had the courage to confess to her.

He regretted many more things, but alas, as darkness began to fall upon him, he knew that he could never change them now.

----------------------------------------

I watched with narrowed eyes as the mage finally stopped struggling, only releasing him once I was certain that the man had fallen unconscious.

It would be a hard sell to the rest of the tribe, I knew that much. Hell, it was hard to convince myself to do this, but I knew that it was necessary.

With a small scoff, I harshly picked up the overweight coward and holstered him onto my shoulders. Then, I began to run back.

The mage would live, but he would not enjoy it. I was simply too curious about the strange magic that I could smell from him to simply kill him.

And besides... Having a captive to interrogate on whether there were more humans around might come in use.

But enough about that. There was a feast to be had, and considering all the corpses that we'd been able to create, well...

It would be the greatest meal I'd ever had.