It didn't take long for Hera to arrive at the crater, with Bonnie and her being the last members of the party to arrive. Helena was doing fine. She was attacked by Thorne, but she managed to handle him just fine. Unfortunately, he ended up trying to escape and fell into a trap that impaled his neck. Blue also was attacked by someone who they knew, but it was Kaela. Shane and Adriel were in a larger group that was split off before they reached the kill zone behind the crater, and they never actually saw anyone who was participating in the coup, not alive at least. They ended up finding Mylo and Berylla fighting against two members of the guard who they didn't have much contact with, and Berylla killed both. Not that Mylo was against killing someone who was trying to kill him, but the fighter tried to knock them out while the chief builder just went for the throat, quite literally.

Thankfully, they were all together, but at the same time, there were already more problems on sight. For one, the Night River was nowhere to be found, neither was Grilat. The path that would drag the monster to the killzone was now open, but it seemed like the Night River, or whatever broke the trees, wasn't going to the place filled with traps. Instead, turning to the left and heading to a less cluttered part of the jungle.

Sammy suggested they follow the path of destruction. They could try to go back to the village, but since everyone was going towards the Night River there was a good chance of them finding them like that. After all, that was everyone's destination. With a nod, everyone started walking, while still being careful not to trigger any traps. Even if this wasn't supposed to be the path, people also considered that the monster could come by here, which meant that it was still a minefield.

Moving carefully they pressed forward and noticed more and more signals of fighting. There were trees with large gashes across the trunks. Parts of the ground were cracked, there were scorch marks, and signals that some of the traps were triggered. There were also some blood splatters here and there, which meant that whoever was fighting against the Night River wasn't doing so hot. They continued following that path for about five minutes until they saw two monster bodies. One was a large puddle with a single crystallized core in the middle, and the other was a large clump of vines that seemed to have dried out.

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Night River Core

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Boulder of Vine corpse

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Hera only used her [Observe] knowing that [Inspect] could make windows that were too large. After confirming that the monsters were dead they continued following the trail of blood. At first it was just some spatter here and there, but eventually it became an actual line of blood. At one point, everyone started to get worried. There was a lot of blood and it was hard to imagine someone bleeding that much and still being able to move around without any problems.

No one wanted to say anything, worried that it might lure some of the rebels, or something worse, but they also wanted to call and see if anyone needed help. With those thoughts in her mind Hera couldn't stop thinking that Kadhan was right. She was too nice. She was just attacked, most of her body was still sore, even with the help of the curse, and her first instinct was to help others. Sure, there was a good chance that they were getting closer to Grilat, and he could be injured, but there were no guarantees. It was very likely that they were going to see another one of the rebels.

Suddenly, everyone started hearing a voice. It was faint at first, but when they got closer they were able to notice that it was someone sobbing. They glanced at each other and rushed towards the sound. It didn't matter if the person in question was part of the rebels or not. If they were crying in the middle of the jungle they needed help. Plain and simple.

When they got closer to the sound, the party was taken aback with the sight. Calling this gruesome was an understatement. There was blood everywhere in this small clearing, pieces of flesh, bush, and large puddles of water covered the entire area. To their left, they could see an arm that seemed to have been ripped to shreds. Aside from the clear cut that split it from its owner, they could see the bone in several other places. To make things worse, there was more blood around those wounds than on the part of the arm that would connect to the rest of the body, meaning that, those wounds were not made after the arm was removed. In the center of this clearing, they saw Reynara holding Grilat on her lap and tears dripping from her eyes. Hera walked forward and she quickly understood why she was so sad. Only the upper half of Grilat was intact. There were still several wounds all over what was left of his body, but at least they were all in one piece, from his stomach down, everything had turned into some sort of paste. Possibly caused by the Night River delivering a blow much more powerful than he expected. Yet, despite all that, the corpse was still holding on to his spear.

Reynara had already closed his eyes, but she was crying over him while tenderly holding his head. She saw the group approached and looked up with an angry expression, "Go on. Laugh. Crazy bitch Reynara is crying for a man who already dumped her."

Hera just walked closer to her and placed one hand on the huntress' shoulder, "He was a good person. It doesn't matter why he was here, that won't change," Reynara nodded and continued crying, "How do you guys deal with death here? Do you guys have a cemetery or something?"

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"Yeah, back in the village. We have an underground mausoleum," Reynara replied between sobs.

Hera didn't say anything, she just nodded, and turned to the Royal Tutor, 'Lurize, grab his arm, and bring it here. Let's try to bring most of his body back.'

Lurize just nodded and picked up the arm. He looked around to see if there was anything else around but this seemed to be the only piece of Grilat's body remaining.

"I know this is not the best time, but can you tell me what happened with the Night River and the Boulder of Vine? I saw the corpses back there but is it really them?" Hera asked.

"Do you think I would be here crying like a little girl if there were still monsters around?" Reynara glared at Hera.

"No, but I also don't think you would chase them if they were clearly running away. And the fact that both of them were close to each other feels very strange," Hera kept her cool, not wanting to make the huntress even more upset. She also noticed how one of Reynara's arms was completely covered in thorns.

Reynara snarled, and turned back to Grilat. Eventually, she answered the question, "Kadhan gave me some poison. It made the monsters fight to the death. I don't know what it did exactly."

Hera just nodded. She wasn't aware that Kadhan had that kind of poison. Then again, the potion he gave her wasn't something she knew about either. When Lurize came back, the Empress helped place the arm in the right place, even if it was still detached from Grilat.

'Lurize, ask the others to look around and make sure monster are not being lured by the smell of blood. Also, ask Adriel to stay here. Reynara knows us, it's not a lot, but we might be able to give her some support.'

The Royal Tutor just nodded and walked back to the group. He whispered what the Empress said and they started moving. About half an hour went by, and luckily, no monster came around. However, they couldn't stay here forever. Now, the entire party was closer to Grilat's body, but they were still giving Reynara some space. Only Adriel and Hera still close to her.

"Reynara, we need to get back to the others. I think going to the outpost is a decent idea, even with the rebels moving around," Hera said.

"What rebels? What are you talking about?"

"Oh… right-" Hera took a deep breath- "I know there is a very good chance that you won't believe me, but some people of the Vanguard attacked us. It seems like they didn't like the fact that you were not going to be the next chief and wanted to change that forcefully. Kadhan came after me and I had to kill him. He took a few potions that made him lose his mind and I had no other option."

That last sentence wasn't just for Reynara, but for Hera herself. During this time where they stopped, there was only a single thought going through her mind. She had killed someone, and this time, it wasn't an accident.

The chief huntress looked at Hera with an angry expression, "And you expect me to believe you? You who just got here? Instead of trusting the friends I have her for years?"

"You can believe what you will. The point is, we need to move back to the outpost," Hera said.

"And how can I know that you are not one of those so called rebels?" Reynara asked.

"Because if we were, telling you would go against our plans. They apparently wanted to trick you into attacking the kingdom. Telling you that you are a puppet doesn't seem productive for it. Especially when people know about your temper," Hera explained.

"So? Your plan might be something else, you can be telling me all this just to manipulate me," Reynara continued staring daggers at the Empress.

"Reynara, we found this nearby," Shane stepped forward and showed a few broken arrows that had some blood splattered on them, "I'm guessing the tips will be in Grilat's back."

Reynara looked up, then down at Grilat. She caressed his face, and just said, "Help me turn him without making this worse."

Adriel and Hera tilted the fighter's body while making sure not to damage his corpse anymore than it already was. As Shane suggested, there were a couple of arrowheads embedded into his back. No one else knew they were here, so even if the kingdom was involved in this, it also meant that there were traitors inside et Vanguard. Seeing that, Reynara helped place Grilat back on the floor and started crying again. After a few moments, her voice came out in a crack.

"Why? Why would they do that? He loved the Vanguard more than anyone. He would do anything for these people…"

"I don't know…" Hera replied. There wasn't an easy answer to her question. Losing someone close was already hard by itself, having them killed by someone close to you only made things much, much worse.

"ARGH!!" Reynara yelled and punched the ground. Blood started pouring from her knuckles, "I'm going to kill them! Every last one of them!" she jumped to her feet and started walking towards the woods.

"Reynara, stop!" Hera called.

"Shut up! Everything was fine until you showed up!"

"I wasn't the one who killed him, and you don't even know where they are. Also, are you going to just leave Grilat here?" when Hera spoke, Reynara finally stopped and looked back, her eyes stopping at the body.

"Do you have a way of moving him?"

"I can make a stone slab and we can carry him like that," Hera suggested.

"Hera, may I?" Blue stepped forward, getting a confirming nod as a response, "I can make a storm cloud that can carry him. Like the one I use to move around."

"I think that's better. Can we?" Hera turned to Reynara.

"Yeah…" the huntress replied. They all worked together to get Grilat up on Blue's cloud before they started moving.

As angry as Reynara was, now that she was more worried with the body of her former lover, she decided to move with the group. They all walked slowly through the woods, making sure not to trigger any traps, and with their eyes and ears peeled, looking for monsters, and rebels. Their destination was the outpost, and they could only hope that nothing would happen until they got there.