Odesday, 1st of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era

It took us a few hours of marching before we reached close to the clearing where Ivan, Jenny, and I slayed the two wyverns and where we last spotted the corpse of the white griffon. As the rest of the expedition continued their march onwards towards Anteron, Ivan and I led Hunt towards the clearing where the griffon and wyvern corpses should still be. Temporary direction of the expedition was handed over to Sir Churchward in the meantime as we didn’t want our forces to lose traction or delay their march.

Luckily enough when we reached the clearing, the griffon corpse was still intact - well, when I say intact I mean it changed little from the last time where Ivan lopped its head off. As Hunt neared the griffon’s corpse, he knelt next to it as he started to analyse and look over the entirety of the remains. We had already given Hunt the gist of what had happened during and after the battle including how Ivan was the one who ultimately put the creature out of its misery, to which Hunt only frowned as he heard the report but nodded his head anyways.

After a while of searching and going around the corpse for a few minutes, Hunt immediately made a discovery as on one of the griffon’s legs - specifically its left hind leg - he found traces of a sort of branding mark left upon it. The mark had a strange symbol of what I could only describe as an elaborate cross design as well as small markings or runes around it. The scarring seemed old, suggesting that the beast had had it for quite a while. I caught sight of Hunt having a grim scowl on his face as he had finished his analysis of the corpse.

I wasn’t able to ask anything more before Hunt went to the headless corpses of the Wyverns that I had slain with Ivan and Jenny. As he was analysing the corpses of these wyverns, he went straight for the leg areas and I could see markings, very similar to the one on the griffon corpse, again on the left hind leg of one of the Wyverns, it was then I finally decided to just ask Hunt what was going on and what any of this meant.

“Are they connected to the Malcanis cult we’re currently dealing with?” I asked as I too was kneeling inspecting the odd symbol from the markings.

“...Hmmm, at this point I can’t say for sure, Charles…” Hunt said as he was still analysing the symbol “But one thing is certain and that is I have indeed seen these markings before, or at the very least markings similar to these.”

“A group of poachers perhaps?” I sounded out an opinion I had.

“It would be great if it were just a simple poaching ring, but yes these markings are usually used by certain mages with talents in beast taming. Usually a brand isn’t needed on most creatures, just a ‘binding of will’ spell would be sufficient, but for beasts such as these… aye, a branding iron would indeed be required to help in the forceful taming of these beasts in a more long-term fashion.”

I honestly didn’t know how best to react to the fact that spells that ‘bound wills’ were a thing in this world and to what extent is its power able to affect the lives of people. Perhaps it would be a good discussion starter with Alfred to ask him a thing or two about this in more detail as he seemed knowledgeable enough on most topics. Noticing the confusion on my face at his explanation, Hunt gave another brief explanation after making doubly sure we were out of earshot of anyone else.

“Forgive me, Charles, your’s and Ivan’s prowess in battle are just so adept that I forget that you two might still not be all too privy of the properties of magic in Orbis. A spell to ‘bind wills’ sounds powerful - and yes to a large extent it is - but it is very energy consuming and besides from perhaps a few select talented individual spellcasters, very difficult to cast on intelligent and sentient folk like us men, elves, dwarves, beastmen, et cetera, but for beasts and creatures like these it’s a different story and dependent as well on the level of intelligence of the beasts in question thus requiring the use of special branding marks or even chain-iron to properly subjugate such beasts…”

“How widespread is this ability that I see a perhaps not-so-legal organisation is able to do this and not to mention even managing to procure beasts of such high rapport?” I asked again trying to gauge at the complete gravity and scale of the new problem faced in front of us “As far as I’ve been led to understood is that outside of the Royal Court and Military itself only a few Lords and Noblemen would even be allowed to field and breed Griffons in any capacity at all, not counting that these are truly creatures of the wild variety.”

“That is indeed my main cause of concern. I fear that there is another larger conspiracy at work here that may or may not be connected with the current crisis we’re facing regarding the Malcanis cult, though I highly doubt that there is any real connection considering how recent the cult’s activity has actually started to begin and that I have known that some forms of illegal beast-smuggling rings do exist within the darker parts of our society for quite some time now. What troubles me more is that these illegal rings and organisations are merely fronts for the true powers that are perhaps hiding out in plain sight and when we consider that possibility, the list of potential enemies that would want to bare its fangs against the Crown of the Sky Throne is virtually endless.”

It was indeed a lot to take in and I find no pleasure in being privy to any such conspiratorial works. I only gave a nod to Hunt as I heard his explanation to which Ivan also showed that he had processed all the information Hunt had given.

“But, you two don’t have to worry yourself too much, especially not you Charles as you are still under the guardianship of the Prince-Imperial and not yet an official part of the Adventurer’s Association. I will personally file a report for an investigation to be conducted about this issue, but it will have to wait until after our current mission is concluded…” Hunt let out a sigh before he continued “Lord Alfred is definitely not going to be amused that we have just added to the long list of headaches he would have to deal with but regardless, I thank you two for your efforts in aiding us to shed a light on this situation. Now that we’ve concluded our preliminary investigations, I believe that we should head back and rejoin the main group of our expedition before they start getting worried. It’s a shame we can’t spare too much men to properly dispose of the corpses and to gather the necessary materials from them but hopefully when all of this is done, they won’t be too decomposed and we’d still be able to salvage at least some materials out of them.”

I had wanted to tell Hunt about the Gryphon egg that I had stumbled upon as well but after thinking about it more, I decided against it. Though I trust the veteran adventurer a great deal from the conduct he has shown and even him knowing mine and Ivan’s secret origins, I have come to understand that Hunt operates under a very ‘lawful’ approach to things and though it’s not certain nor even likely that he will rat me out for having the egg, something tells me that it’s best to keep it under wraps and perhaps show it to Alfred first as his authority would be higher to allow for a more plausible deniability.

And so with that we went away from the clearing and quickly rejoined the rest of the expeditionary forces as we continued our steady march towards the ruins of Anteron.

***

Tirsday, 2nd of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era

I was standing at the peak of a small hill as I laid eyes on another hill a bit further away from my position but not by too much with forested areas between the two points. On top of the opposing hill, one could catch sight of the ruins of what was once the mighty fort of Anteron built by the Augustans - this world’s equivalent of the Romans to my understanding - many centuries ago but was left derelict and abandoned for the better part of six centuries when the Imperium had left the Archioric peninsula in a rather abrupt fashion. Alfred had told me the history regarding said fort - or castra - in that it was built on top of an earlier Gaolidain hillfort and was used at first as a forward outpost of the Augustans as a part of their campaign to subjugate the many tribes and petty kingdoms of Archior before ultimately abandoning the Province of Archaea as the Empire was tearing itself apart at the seams nearly seven centuries ago.

Our expeditionary force had marched onward for more than a day before we reached this point as Ivan, Jenny, and I resumed our position as forward reconnaissance alongside the recuperated baronial scouts. Along the way we had made short work of smaller wolfbeast and werewolf patrol parties. Though their numbers were few - only having about three to five units a party - Hunt was worried that the cultists were bound to be aware of our presence. It was then that we had spotted Anteron from atop the hill we currently stood on and based on Hunt’s apt caution, our expedition decided that it was best that we set up our own fortified position on top of this smaller hill where we’d raise our encampment.

Though it was no mountain-top fortress, I found the defences we had raised here to be very apt as the terrain of the hill itself was naturally defensible. The hill was an elevated position which was surrounded by small cliffs and large rocks effectively leaving only one obvious route of entry into the encampment without having to scale the roughly six to eight metre tall vertical rock surface. The top of the hill was covered in enough woodland that should somewhat aid in concealing our presence or at the very least make it harder to spot our men should a battle take place though Hunt and Sir Churchward had directed a few dozen men to fell some of the larger trees in order to quickly construct a makeshift palisade and some platforms to give our men an even bigger advantage in the case of a defence. Not counting the two militiamen still slightly injured, the expeditionary force had a total of a little over four dozen able-bodied defenders, consisting of eight knights -including the advanced knight Sir Churchward-, thirty militiamen mostly equipped with ranged weapons like crossbows, hunting bows, and even some arquebuses, and seven adventurers including myself.

The sun was already beginning to set with its red rays vanishing from the corner of my eye as darkness was seeping in by the time the fortification of the encampment was finished. We had set up campfires at several points of the encampment to help us maintain a certain level of vision should an attack be laid out against us in the dark of the night. Though some of the militiamen were complaining among themselves about the level of vigilance everyone was forced to maintain, I couldn’t help but agree with Hunt’s level of caution. I had borrowed a pair of binoculars - a relatively new invention for Orbis especially in its practical form - from Percy earlier to look over at Anteron and from what I saw with my eyes, due to my enhanced vision despite the darkness of the night, were strange movements coming from the fort as what I made out to be several dozen werewolves and wolfbeasts. This highly concerned me before I made it in front of Hunt’s main tent where I saw Hunt, Sir Churchward, and Mother Margaret talking to each other. It was there where I decided to interrupt them and to give my report.

“I beg your pardon for the interruption, but I’m afraid it is something urgent that I must report.” I said with a stern expression

“What happened, Lord Charles?” Sir Churchward caught my grave expression as he was the first to jump up in worry before Hunt followed suit

“I was merely observing the enemy’s movements around Anteron with Percy’s binoculars when I caught sight of strange movements coming from the fort. Dozens of the savage beasts and werewolves were making their way out of the area and I fear that we are their targets, though I may be wrong, I could not help but be cautious of this and to notify all of you.”

Just as I said that, many howls could be heard coming from the direction of the old fort as if to confirm my suspicions.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Haha! Well, it’s a good thing that Sir Hunt here has decided to fortify the camp then!” Sir Churchward said with a hint of excitement as he was about to make his way to his tent “I’ll inform my boys to get armed and be ready for what’s to come. We’ll give those bastards a good thrashing should we meet them here!”

“A wise choice…” Sir Hunt said “And I believe we too must prepare. I’ll get the militia ready at their positions. I’ll set up our ranged missile troops to the cliffsides. As usual, Percy! I need you to captain the men for me. Have them shoot at your command and instil discipline into them to not waste any munitions in this battle.”

Percy quickly nodded as he heard Hunt’s orders before he immediately made way to set up the men on their platforms. I quickly looked at Ivan, signalling him with my eyes to get him to come closer before I proposed my plan to Hunt.

“Sir, if I may, I would like to make a proposal of a strategy in anticipation of an attack that may very well occur soon.” I said with a cautious tone “If I may, I would like for both me and Ivan to act as a preliminary forward vanguard to intercept the beasts and whittle away at their numbers as best we can to whittle away their numbers and pick them apart. With mine and Ivan’s skills and abilities, even with the heightened perception of our foes, I suspect we could still use the advantage of surprise and wreak a good amount of havoc among their ranks to sow confusion as well in doing so, we hope to ease the burden of our men here so that we might still be able to launch an attack on the fort tomorrow with our full strength…”

As I had finished my proposal, Hunt had a serious expression on his face as he crossed his arms while holding up and scratching his jaw.

“Charles, once again the plan you have proposed is severely reckless and some might even say foolhardy. Do you know the amount of risk the both of you will be putting yourselves in there? Even if I were to agree to this plan, only the two of you? You wouldn’t require any support from Jenny?” Hunt voiced his reasonable concerns but I was still adamant.

“No, Jenny is needed here to support the reverend mother in mounting the defence of the camp. We wouldn’t dream of putting you all at risk like that. While this plan may seem reckless, I assure you we are not blindly charging in. I promise the moment things become dire, we’ll steadily make our retreat back here but with our fronts constantly facing the enemy. The closer we are to this elevated position, the better our missile troops would be able to pick off the beasts and kill them while they’re preoccupied with dealing with us. It’s similar tactic to the one Alfred and I used in defending Dansville.”

As I gave my reasonings, silence once again took hold of the atmosphere as Hunt continued in his deep thought before he looked over at Ivan and asked, “Do you agree with Charles’ frankly insane plans?”

“I trust this man with my life.” Ivan said curtly with a single firm nod. It wasn’t long before Hunt let out a deep sigh while rubbing his temples, a habit I’ve noticed him doing a lot especially lately as the amount of stress was piling up on him. I gave an apologetic look as I realised that Ivan and myself might be the source of half the man’s stress.

“I don’t know what demon may have come over me after hearing your plans, but I’m inclined to agree that it may actually work… I know how strong you both are but a part of me can’t help but think that your bravery is at least partly due to youthful hubris. I remember the days when I was like that as well. I had thought that I could conquer the world with my skills…” Hunt sighed again in resignation before he nodded “Go then. The earlier you two start the better your chances of catching the foe with the element of surprise. Just please remember your promise and the minute things start looking like they’re about to go south, I want you two to make a retreat immediately, do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal clear, sir.” I said as I gave a slight bow before I moved to leave along with Ivan “If that is all, then we’ll start preparing…”

“God be with you…” I could hear Hunt saying softly under his breath before I replied back with a smile.

“And also with you…” I answered confidently in an audible tone to Hunt’s surprise before I made the sign of the cross and set off to prepare with Ivan. It was going to be one hell of a night. One hell of a bloody night.

***

It had been two hours since Ivan and I left the camp and the landscape was full blown dark already. I was resting atop one of the tallest trees in these woodlands while Ivan was below cloaking himself in shadow between some rocks. I had asked Percy to lend me his binoculars for the duration of the mission, but to my surprise, the man had gifted it to me saying he had many such trinkets at home and if it would help me in the mission it would be better in my hands. Percy was a surprisingly nice person and very affable, though the wink he gave me and perhaps some of his stares made me feel just the tiniest bit uncomfortable. Shaking my head of such unnecessary thoughts of my allies, I got back to stalking my prey.

The number of wolfbeasts and werewolves I had caught sight of was the largest I had seen yet, even counting the sieges of Dansville and Surlock. It wouldn’t be wrong to think that the cultists had perhaps pooled all of their remaining strength within Anteron in preparation for something big. Them mobilising this amount of combatants would mean that they had either planned for one final strike on somewhere big or that they had caught notice of the expedition’s movements which wouldn’t be a surprise considering the amount of their forces we had slain.

Luckily for me and Ivan, the wolfbeasts and werewolves lacked any clear semblance of discipline among their ranks and acted as an amalgamation of different individual wolfpacks as compared to an actual cohesive unit. This was perfect for me as that would make it easier for us to pick them apart. After studying the incoming wolfpacks for a bit, I had taken a look at their stats as they closed in on their distance to me and I saw that all the wolfbeasts here were more powerful than any I hade faced before save for perhaps the general wolfbeasts I had faced before. Regardless, I felt as if with my current strength, they would pose little challenge.

I waited silently for their arrival as I never once broke my view of them and waited as they were just underneath me, still completely unaware of either of our presences. As the first of the wolfpacks finally closed in, I made a silent prayer before I gave the signal to Ivan to prepare before finally in three… two… one…

I had immediately jumped from my position towards the beasts below with both my weapons unsheathed. The wolfbeasts had noticed the rustling coming from the branches of the tree but by then I’m afraid it was too late for the poor bastards.

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

As I chained and combined my attacks, letting loose a flurry of swings and slashes, I had made quick work of three of the beasts before I engaged with two more. There were a total of ten wolves in this first pack but their numbers were quickly reduced by half as I had slain the two beasts that had engaged me with two more strikes.

Immediately the remaining beasts sought to surround me and attack at once. I had managed to kick one back with powerful force and slain another as it lounged at me but I managed to duck and drag Windwyrm straight across its belly, causing its blood to spray and killing it.

*You have gained 400XP!*

As the remaining beasts of this pack were about to attack, Ivan retracted his shadows and uncloaked himself as he appeared from the shadows as if out of nowhere and unleashed a powerful strike that managed to maim and kill three beasts at once.

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

With the first pack slain, I could hear howls coming from multiple directions ahead of me. Shit was about to go down for real as I knew for certain that the wolves were fully aware of our presence and from what I could see, this next pack had several werewolves in it. I only smirked and looked at Ivan as he nodded before once again vanishing into the shadows.

Three more wolves had already rushed ahead of their pack as they charged at me with great ferocity. In return, I had immediately unleashed a flurry of torrents with Galesword, disrupting their momentum before I charged in and placed near-precision strikes on their vital points be it the centers of their major arteries, their eyes, or parts of their underbelly. Once you’ve slaughtered as many of these beasts as I have by that point, even without a formal education in the animal’s anatomy, I could tell what parts were best for me to strike to land a kill. This rush of violence got my heart to really start pumping as I could slowly feel the bloodlust getting to me a bit. This killer instinct that I had first felt when I had entered into this accursed world.

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

*You have gained 400XP!*

Just as I had mutilated the wolves that had charged at me, the first of the werewolves were already closing in and from what I could see, they too were considerably more powerful than the werewolves I had slaughtered outside the walls of Surlock. Weak strikes won’t cut it for these bastards so I had to give it my all, despite my ever decreasing energy and mana.

I had flurried forward with more strikes, landing many vicious attacks on one of the werewolf attackers, wounding him considerably. However, as I was focusing on that one, I noticed it a little late when another one was already next to me as it landed in a bite on my left shoulder. I winced and let out a groan as I hooked the bastard who took chunks of my flesh from me to prevent him from escaping and proceeded to stab him unrelentingly in his jaw and neck, before my strikes had actually managed to sever his head from his body, his teeth still sunk into me.

*You have gained 1040XP!*

As the werewolf died, his body morphed back into that of a man in his middle age as his severed head too morphed back and finally unlatched itself from my shoulder. It was the first time in a while that I had felt such stinging pain as the blood continued to pour from me. Regardless I had lounged myself forward at the other werewolf I had already managed to wound before landing a deadly strike to its neck, killing him as well.

*You have gained 1040XP!*

*You have leveled up!*

With that blessed notification ringing in my ears, I had been restored to full strength and once again all the wounds on my body were miraculously healed without even a trace of scaring, as smooth as it was when I came out of my mother’s womb. But even so, such injuries reminded me of how dangerous being unfocused was, especially on the battlefield. Dominating too much had made me more than a little complacent. I had almost forgotten that these werewolves were both sentient and intelligent as they were people too. Savage and horrible monsters of a people, but people nonetheless.

*You have gained 1040XP!*

*You have gained 1040XP!*

As I got new notifications, I quickly looked up and saw that Ivan too was still engaged with three werewolves at once, though his natural tank-like build managed to allow him to sustain more than just a little damage, he still looked a little worse for wear. I saw him punch a werewolf in its stomach as ice spikes spouted from inside it, from that point of its stomach to the surrounding areas of its body, killing it in a horrifying way. The next moment, Ivan swung down his mighty berdiche as he lopped off the limbs of another werewolf.

*You have gained 1040XP!*

*You have gained 1040XP!*

As Ivan was handling the remaining werewolf next to him, I saw two more of those fuckers getting ready to pounce at him. Just before one of them lounged at him, I had already rushed in as I leaped off with a powerful gust and stuck my galesword to the side of its head, crushing its skull and killing it instantly. Without giving much time for reprieve, I immediately turned and engaged with the other werewolf as I lounged and pinned it down to the ground before I stuck my blades in its jaws as it struggled to shake me off as I had pushed myself down on it with the help of my wind powers. Soon enough the struggling stopped as it breathed its last with tears running down its eyes.

*You have gained 1040XP!*

*You have gained 1040XP!*

“Ptuey! Fucking Bastard Mutt!” Ivan had also knocked his opponent to the ground before he spat on the werewolf and stomped his foot onto its chest, freezing the area with frost and ice before he swung his axe down like a golf club, once again lopping a werewolf’s head clean off its body. Just as we were about to calm down, we could hear and see what looked to be dozens more of the beasts headed towards us. “Fuck these bastards! There’s no end to them!”

“Holding them back here without support is untenable, Ivan, let’s head back to camp!” I said as I prepared to fight them off while making a retreat.

“You don’t have to tell me twice…” Ivan said with a grin before once more he had vanished into the shadows.

The battle was only just beginning to start in earnest. The forests were these beast’s element, but I didn’t intend to play into their elements. If you’re going to pick a fight with me, know that I do not fight battles that I don’t win. These mutts were in for a rude awakening…