Chapter 5: Stalk

“Forget about seeing something like this, I have not even heard about a beast like this one,” A man wearing leather armor grimaced as he looked at the creature he was holding by the leg. It had blue skin, and its frame was like that of an eight-year-old child; one that had survived his whole life on a diet of water and flour.

“You think we’re gonna get some good cash for it?” A younger man laughed as he looked at the creature. “I heard that the lord enjoyed exotic animals. Maybe he is going to like this one.”

“Maybe if we had brought it alive,” An older man chuckled. He was better equipped than the rest, with shoulder plates and a chest piece covering his upper body. His small, well-trimmed beard showed that he was much better off than the rest of the soldiers. The fact that he stood at the front with confidence cemented that he was their leader.

“If we found one, we’re going to find others,” the young man laughed. He looked back at the monster that they were dragging by the ankle and said, “It probably got lost from its pack. We can search for them when the sun is out.”

The leader of the squad of five smiled before looking forward. As they approached a small clearing, he couldn’t help but frown.

“Wait, careful.” The middle-aged man raised his hand to stop his squad before walking into the clearing. Five wolves were left dead. Some of the beasts were savagely ravaged while others were killed in a more clinical and precise fashion.

“What in the world…,” The young man walked next to the leader and looked at the scene in front of them with an incredulous expression, “What could have killed these wolves? A bear?”

“Bears aren’t usually in this part of the forest,” The leader shook his head. He looked with concern at the bodies of the wolves before kneeling and checking one of them. “Bears are savages, they will break all your bones and full chucks. Half of these wolves were killed with one strike.”

The young man raised an eyebrow, “Then what? Was it some hunters?”

“Hunters don’t have claws,” The captain shook his head. He then looked at the wolves that were savagely eaten, “And that wouldn’t explain those two.”

The middle-aged man looked with furrowed eyebrows at the scene while lost in thought. Suddenly, his eyes got used enough to the darkness that he could a smidge of red reaching to the left. His eyes followed the trace of blood as it lead to some shrubbery at his left.

Without saying a word, the captain looked at the young man and signaled with his head to follow the trace. The two walked slowly through the grass and unsheathed their swords. Whatever was beyond the bushes, they did not want it to take them by surprise.

As they walked closer to the shrubbery, their hearts palpitated. They clenched the grip of their swords hard and rushed toward the bush. In a fraction of a second, they crossed shrubbery with their swords already in a swinging motion. However, there was nothing.

The young man let out a sigh of relief, “That got me scared.”

On the other hand, the middle-aged man did not say a word. He was looking down at the ground to check for the blood trace. It had stopped.

He stood in his place for a few seconds intently looking at where the trace had stopped. Finally, he let out a deep breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.

“Let’s go back. No use messing around here.”

With that order from the captain, the two walked back to the rest of the squad and continued on their way through the forest.

* * *

Thorian let out a deep sigh of relief as he looked at the squad of soldiers through the thick branches of a tree. The emblem of a Bear and a shield that was embroidered on their clothes was especially eye-catching.

Once the soldiers were out of view, Thorian and Nox jumped down from the tree into the bushes below them. Thorian couldn’t help but feel fortunate. If the two soldiers had looked up when they reached the end of the blood trace, the two would have been found out.

I’m more glad for them than for me. Needlessly killing foot soldiers leaves a bad aftertaste.

“Creature weak. Hide why?” Nox looked with confusion at him after jumping down off the tree.

“Those were human,” Thorian explained. “If we had killed them, it would have brought us quite a bit of trouble. A full squad disappearing will bring a lot of attention to the forest, and we wouldn’t be able to hunt in peace.”

Nox’s confusion was only accentuated by Thorian’s explanation. He shook his head and said, “Nox not understand. Nox trust…” The night kobloid frowned at Thorian before continuing, “Smelly Poo.”

Thorian raised an eyebrow at the last two words.

Should I teach him a lesson?

Looking at Nox’s simpleminded expression, Thorian couldn’t help but shake his head. “My name is not Smelly Poo. My name is Thorian, Th-or-ian.”

Nox’s eyebrows furrowed even further as he tried to repeat the name, “Thor?”

“It’s Thorian, not Thor,” Thorian clicked his tongue.

“Thor-Thoreen?” The letters and syllables struggled to come out of Nox’s tongue.

Seeing the poor kobloid struggle so much, Thorian shook his head and sighed, “I guess that’s fine. I will need to educate this tribe later, this cannot persist.”

With their discussion over, Thorian thought back to the squad of soldiers. More precisely, he recalled the emblem that they were all wearing.

So this is really the forest of Sherwood. We should be close to Locksley.

Thorian grinned as the proof that he had been looking for finally revealed itself. He was now certain; he had gone back to the past before the day of the apocalypse, and somehow inhabited the body of a monster.

Locksley… Now that I think about it, was that Territory Altar not close to that city? It should be a few kilometers to its east if I remember correctly.

One of the best territories in the whole kingdom with three dungeons under its area of influence: Raven’s Nest. It easily eclipsed Locksley as the most important city in the region. It had also become the Ravenwood family’s base of operation.

Remembering the chiseled face of the head of the Ravenwood family, Thorian couldn’t help but chuckle.

I’m sorry William, but your fortune is going to be mine in this life.

“Thoreen face scary.”

Nox’s voice snapped Thorian out of his reverie. His grin mellowed out to a neutral expression before he turned and looked at the direction that the squad had taken.

“We need to follow them. Let’s go.”

While Thorian had a vague idea of the whereabouts of the territory altar, he was not the most familiar with the place. He spent most of his time in the lowlands in the south, where his city was located. He had come to visit the Ravenwood family many times and partook in hunting with them as a diplomatic gesture, but he did not truly know all of its ins and outs.

I need to reach Locksley to have a clearer idea. If we go from the east gate and follow the main road for five kilometers or so, I should find it. If I remember correctly, the Altar wasn’t that far off the road.

Using his wolf-like sense of smell, Thorian immediately picked up the scent of the five soldiers. They had not walked that far yet. With quick steps, the two ran through the dense trees and followed the squad. In but a few minutes, they could already see them.

“Slow down,” Thorian raised his hand and stopped Nox. “We need to follow them from very far away.”

The two left a distance of 200 meters between themselves and the human squad. With the darkness of the night and the noises of the forest, the soldiers couldn’t detect them even if they wanted to.

The march was painfully slow as Thorian and Nox needed to follow the pace of the soldiers dragging the corpse of a monster. As Thorian looked at the blue-skinned creature, he immediately knew what kind of monster it was.

A blue goblin, huh? Quite the rare variety. I did hear from William that some of his men caught one before the apocalypse began. I thought he was just bragging about nonsense, but it seems that was not the case.

While Thorian was interested in the blue goblin, that did not change his plans in the slightest. His main priority right now was to find the Territory Altar. If he could claim it, the advantage that he would have over everyone would be monumental.