Arthur and Regis exited the gate into the relic tomb, followed by Tess on his right, and Kaspian to his left, steadily the remaining members arrived after them. The plan was to quickly form a perimeter around the gate, but this was delayed as every single person kept being distracted by the world around them.

The first floor didn't feel like they were inside, but instead a fantasy world with an open field of tall orange grass, and widely scattered black trees with blue leaves. The sky itself was bright purple, without wind, clouds, or even a sun, despite everything being well lit.

"Ahhh, it feels good to be back," Regis commented as he could feel the abundance of aether all around them.

"This grass is going to be a problem," Arthur pointed out.

"Agreed, who knows what kind of beasts could be hiding out there watching us right now," Kaspian added.

"After we get the camp set up I recommend doing some controlled burns to clear the area," Arthur suggested. "I'm going up to see if I can spot anything. Regis, cover my spot."

Arthur took to the air about one hundred feet above and enhanced his vision.

"Seeing anythinge?"

"Yeah, but not very close." Arthur allowed himself to free fall back down.

"General?" Kaspian asked expectantly.

"There's a herd of something about a mile that way," Arthur replied pointing. "But that's it. This camp will be your responsibility after I'm gone, so I'll leave setup to you."

"Thank you. Noah, head back through the gate and give the miners the all clear."

"Ellie," Arthur called out. She quickly jumped off Boo's back and ran over.

"Yes?"

"When in the air I saw a herd of beasts in that direction. They don't seem threatening right now, but why don't you perch yourself in that tree and act as a look out."

"On it!" She replied enthusiastically, happy to do something to contribute. "Come on Boo!" She called out and ran to the tree. Thankfully for her, she was wearing pants instead of her usual skirt, allowing her to jump up to the first branch and climb up to a good spot easily as Boo laid down underneath.

"Are you sure allowing her bond to be here is a good idea?" Kaspian questioned.

"I want her to stay at the camp, that tree over there should be the furthest she should get. Boo might not be fast, but he's strong. If you're attacked he'll be useful to have here. It's only on the dive that I refuse to allow them."

Within minutes the miners started pouring in as the first few sections of the camp walls were being placed. Since Arthur wasn't going to be present for too much longer he left Kaspian in charge of the setup so he could have the camp set up how he thought was best, thankfully Arthur had no objections.

With the help of the miners the ten foot spiked walls were erected quickly, and work began on the rest of the camp. Ellie and a few others got out of that by standing guard along the top of the wall, where she continued to keep an eye out for the herd Arthur told her about.

With most of the camp set up, it was now time to go over the plan for the rest of the dive. Sitting at a rectangular table inside the command tent, that doubled as Kaspian's sleeping quarters, Arthur, Kaspian, and Helen sat with the two senior most miners. The first was a dwarf with firey red hair and a long braided beard. He was a little taller than Ellie, with arms bigger around than Arthur's thighs. The second was a human, with a short greying beard, and big bald spot on the top of his head, leaving the remaining hair to resemble a horse shoe.

"Gentlemen, lady," Arthur started. "Come morning we'll begin searching for the ore. Now you two already confirmed there isn't any under the camp?"

"That's right," the dwarf replied, then chuckled. "Although I don't think gentlemen would describe us," he said, gesturing to his human counterpart.

"I'm so sorry," Arthur apologized. "How could I be so rude as to address two lovely ladies like that."

The two miners laughed hysterically, the dwarf beating on the table. Arthur chuckled a bit as did Helen, even Kaspian covered his mouth as he failed to contain his laughter.

"Alright, back to work," Arthur said as he calmed down. "Right now our two main goals are to find the teleportation gate to the next floor, and find a suitable location to start mining."

"That'll be a bit difficult," the human miner stated. "Most minerals have "tells" that can give hints that it can be somewhere near. Whether it be another mineral or certain geographic conditions. Since we know very little about this ore, we're basically hunting blind."

"Kaspian, Helen, you two will be in charge here after I leave with my team, so I'll leave the decision making to you both."

"How many of your miners are able to sense individual minerals?" Helen asked.

"Including us, five," the dwarf replied.

To be able to differentiate between minerals was a refined skill for an earth mage, and was invaluable to a miner. The only downside to being able to do this is that the range is limited, on average roughly a fifteen foot radius. Through training and experience one's range can be expanded, but the very best ever recorded was fifty feet.

"In that case we'll go out in teams six with one additional miner that can check," Kaspian said as he formed his plan.

"I recommend only doing checks every hundred feet. That should be sufficient unless we aren't lucky," the human miner added.

Curtis then barged into the tent. "Ellie saw something out there!"

Immediately Kaspian and Helen scrambled out. Noticing Arthur didn't look like he was moving, Helen turned back to say something, but he was already gone. Once out of the tent the two captains ran to the ladder and quickly scrambled up, and found Ellie already pointing out something to Arthur.

"General, Eleanor," Kaspian said, not wanting to ask questions about Arthur's abilities.

"Straight ahead, just enhance your vision and focus on the grass," Ellie instructed.

Kaspian and Helen did as they were told and stared. After a few seconds there was nothing, then there was a change in the pressure as well as a drop in temperature. Kathyln was activating the first stage of her beast will. Having inherited Llyr's will from her willingly, she gained an even greater control over ice magic, almost effortless, and much sharper senses, specifically vision. Ice falcons possessed the greatest eyesight out of nearly all of the bird type mana beasts, as they tended to make nests in caves and were nocturnal, as well as needing to see fish underwater.

"They're on the other side of the tree as well. I've counted twelve so far, and I'm still counting," Kathyln stated.

"I saw something move!" Helen announced. "Are they camouflaged with the grass?"

"Looks that way," Arthur commented. "I think this is the herd I saw earlier, so there should be about two dozen at least."

"This grass is proving to be much more dangerous now. We'll need to clear it before we can search for the ore," Kaspian stated.

"Agreed. We have no idea how dangerous these beasts could be. The last thing we need is for them to sneak up on us," Helen added.

"I think they're grazing," Kathyln commented.

"General?" Kaspian questioned.

"Like what was explained in the class. Several floors were turned into their own ecosystems, which means there are predators and prey."

"So what are those? Predators or prey?" Helen mused.

"Only one way to find out. Captain Lunaris," Kaspian called out. "Get your team together and prepare to depart!"

Instantly Kathyln released her first stage. "Are you sure that's wise captain? They're so far away, and there are so many. Maybe we should try and lure them closer and attack from the safety of the walls."

"Princess, as much as I appreciate input from my subordinates, please keep your personal feelings in check," Kaspian replied coldly.

"But..." Kathyln started, but Arthur placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, silencing her. She looked past Arthur to see Kaspian looking back out towards the beasts with a concerned gaze.

What made Kaspian an effective leader throughout the war was how he was able to separate his personal feelings and focus solely on the mission. This was also the reason why he refused to ever work with family, as he never wanted to have to sacrifice them to complete a mission.

Frustrated, she leaped off the catwalk and landed back on the ground while sending a blast of cold air out around her, and went looking for Lunaris. Since the camp was small she was able to find him quickly, and ran to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Please don't go. It's dangerous."

"I know, but it's more dangerous to keep going through this mission blind."

"Blind?"

Lunaris pried her arms off himself and pushed her back a little and looked into her eyes. "We know nothing of the beasts, as far as we know they might be strong enough to break right through the walls and keep going. Sending a team to investigate now while they're at a distance will be safer for everyone. This way we can hopefully observe and engage them on our own terms."

"I-I guess you're right," Kathyln conceded as she looked down and fiddled with her engagement ring.

"Of course I am, but since when was my brilliant fiancé not able to read a situation that well?" Lunaris teased.

Kathyln looked back up with an icy gaze. "Don't you dare get yourself hurt out there, or else you have to answer to me."

Lunaris shuttered. "Yes dear," he replied nervously.

He then started to leave, but Kathyln grabbed his arm and pulled him back. As he turned around she placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him.

"Good luck."

—————————————————————-

"Your mission is simple, you are to approach the beasts with caution and try to determine what kind of threat they represent," Kaspian explained, then held up a flat triangular crystal.

Even though communication outside of the relic tomb wasn't possible, Arthur suspected short range communication within the floor was. Because of this theory several of the latest communication artifacts were brought along so the teams could keep in contact while outside of camp.

"We'll be maintaining communication the entire time, that way if we see something from our end we can warn you." He then held it out to Lunaris, who took it. "We'll have everyone capable of ranged spells on that wall ready to provide support once you're close enough, sadly though the herd is out of range, so run as fast as you can if things go wrong."

"Lovely, our survival may depend on us running like hell," Darvus commented under his breath.

Due to Lunaris' team originally being so small, Darvus and Caria were added to boost their numbers, while Stannard was assigned on permanent defense of the camp, since he couldn't augment his body very well.

"Don't forget, the beasts here are drawn to mana, so as you close in restrict your cores the best you can to avoid detection," Arthur added.

As the gate opened Kathyln gave Lunaris one last heartfelt good luck kiss, as did Noah and Karen.

"Alright team, let's move out," Lunaris ordered and his team left.

Immediately all of the conjurers and archers were up on the wall facing the direction of the herd. Lunaris' team was seen running through the tall grass, but after a few minutes the grass got taller, and eventually all that could be seen were their paths through the grass as they formed them.

Back on the wall Kathyln was tightly gripping the edge of the wall, leaving her knuckles white.

"Kathyln relax," Tess said in a comforting tone as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I should have talked him out of coming," she said with worry.

"You know he wouldn't have listened, he loves you so much but can't just sit on the sidelines. I'm actually surprised he didn't beg Arthur to take him on the dive."

"Actually he did, but Arthur said he needed him up here. And you're right, he's already worrying about me going on the dive and it hasn't even happened yet." Kathyln then placed her left hand on Tess', revealing her engagement ring.

"Wait! Lunaris proposed?!"

Kathyln smiled warmly. "Oh yeah. He did it a couple days ago. I wanted to tell you right away, but then things got tense with Arthur... is he ok?"

"Yeah, he's just got a lot on his mind," Tess replied awkwardly as she looked back out towards the herd, then gave Arthur a sideways glance.

"You know there are rumors going around about him. I don't believe them, but there are alot of weird things going on with him lately, his new magic and knowledge."

"I've heard, and if they knew half of what he's been through they would have their faces on the ground apologizing for believing those rumors."

"Care to enlighten me, or any of us?"

Tess shook her head with a pained expression. "I'm sorry, but I can't. It's now my story to share, no matter how much I wish I could."

Seeing Tess' expression was enough for Kathyln for now. She never expected Tess to share anything, she was loyal to Arthur like that. But that expression told her that whatever Arthur went through must have been either tragic or painful.

—————————————————————-

With their cores closed off, Lunaris and his team slowly closed in on the herd. Since her senses were stronger even without mana, Karen was taking point. And it was a good thing, as if it wasn't for her they would have walked right into the aether beasts.

The beasts themselves resembled a buffalo, were about six feet tall and nearly as wide as a wagon, had orange hair that matched the grass perfectly, walked on four legs, and had horns coming out of their heads that went out to the side. They each had a set of horns that varied in length from only a few inches on the smallest, to three feet, and some had splitting horns similar to that of deer.

The beasts were simply grazing on the tall grass leasurally, paying no mind to the team watching them, even if one was staring right at them. Slowly Lunaris pulled the communication artifact out and held it to his mouth.

"We've arrived," Lunaris whispered. "So far they seem to be docile. I could practically reach out and touch one if I wanted, but they don't seem to care about us, even though they clearly have noticed us."

"Do you think they're edible?" Darvus whispered, musing his own thoughts. Everyone just looked at him and shook his head. "What?"

"Possibly. They are still flesh and blood, they just have aetheric properties," Arthur replied. "But don't try and hunt one, we don't want to risk a stampede coming our way."

"Continue monitoring for a little longer then come back. We'll keep this communication opened," Kaspian instructed.

Due to the distance, and that they were all so focused on the herd, they failed to notice a dozen more paths being made through the tall grass.

The team watched the aether beasts for a little longer, but there wasn't really anything new that they saw. Quietly Lunaris gestured to the others to go. They all carefully started to get up, while still keeping low to the ground.

"Mrooooo!" one of the beasts cried out, causing the others to stampede.

Lunaris and the others quickly spun around, and were thankful the beasts weren't running towards them or the camp. They thought the beasts were finally reacting to them, that they were

somehow spooked by them. That theory was quickly dismissed, as they saw a pack of reptilian beasts pouncing on the previous beasts and killing them quickly with their powerful jaws or the razor sharp claw on their heels.

The beasts resembled a velociraptor, with its legs resembling the extinct dinosaur, but with four clawed arms that they kept close to their chest. It had three jaws, with four longer teeth between the two lower jaws, and a series of four eyes on either side of its head, located on the lower jaws.

The team watched as the predators ripped into their prey, only to leave it and go for the next. Purely by instinct, Jason released his core as he reinforced his body out of panic. One of the predators released its prey and looked up at them with a tilted head. Opening its mouth, it let out a high pitched screech, gaining the attention of the others.

"Shit! Run!" Lunaris ordered, and everyone took off running.

The predator let out another screech, then took off after them as the others joined. This pack of predators was not only powerful, but also built for speed, and were quickly closing in.

"We won't be able to outrun them!" Karen called out.

"I've got an idea to buy us some time," Jason announced as he pulled out his bow, and knocked three arrows.

Tilting his bow horizontally he released the arrows, causing them to be stuck in the ground a few feet ahead, then quickly knocked three more and repeated, creating a line of six arrows. As they ran past them Jason charged them all with lightning magic, so as the pack started to cross them several crashed down from electrocution. Only four collapsed in pain, the remaining eight either tripped or jumped over them, either way it bought them some time. This also gave an opportunity to gather a little more information on these predators, information Orson was going to put to the test.

"It won't be long before they catch up to us," Orson stated as they ran. "We won't make it into range for the conjurers, we'll have to fight."

"I agree," Lunaris confirmed. "With four of them down we might be able to handle these guys if we're smart about it." A smirk formed on his face as he glanced over to Orson. "And I'm willing to bet you have an idea."

"Even though they're pretty fast, I'm willing to bet they aren't very agile. If we make a sharp turn when they're close enough, I think we'll be able to get the upper hand."

"Are you willing to bet all our lives on that?" Darvus asked. "Because if you're wrong we might not be able to recover."

"And if we don't try something we'll be as good as dead anyway," Orson replied matter of factly.

"Tell us when," Caria said as Darvus gritted his teeth due to their situation.

"When I say so, you two and Karen go left, we'll go right. After that we charge in for the attack."

They kept running for another few seconds, just enough that they could actually hear the packs claws beating against the ground.

"NOW!"

The team did as planned and all jumped in their respective directions, and the pack reacted just as planned. As Orson suspected the aether beasts couldn't make sharp direction changes at those speeds, so when they tried they fell on top of themselves. Before the beasts could recover the team quickly charged in to attack.

Setting one sword ablaze with blue flames and the other with razor sharp wind, Lunaris charged at the closest beast. He targeted its throat, but it was flailing around so much as tried to get back to its feet, that he missed and instead cut off one of its arms and slashed into its chest. With his blades still in its chest he sent blasts of wind and fire from the tips, essentially blowing the beast in half.

Orson had little trouble with his target, as he made a vertical slash, cutting off its snout, and half of its head.

Karen's target had made it back up to its feet faster than the rest, so Karen thrust her spear into its chest where she thought its heart would be located, she was mistaken. The beast though held back, kept lunging its head forward towards her while snapping its jaws at her. Jason redirected his focus, and began unleashing a series of arrows that struck the beast's head until it eventually went down.

Darvus swung his two axes while using earth magic, and sent thousands of grains of sand at his target. The grains hit the beast like thousands of tiny bullets, causing its green blood to cover its front as it howled out in pain. Caria took advantage of its distracted stage and threw a powerful punch to the side of its neck. The beast collapsed to the ground in a heap as its neck snapped.

"Everyone form back up!" Lunaris ordered, as the remaining four beast had made it back up to their feet, and the other four Jason had subdued had recovered and were on their way.

The beasts that were already there held their positions between the team and the camp. Even though they were beast, they showed that they held a basic intelligence, and weren't going to let their prey escape.

Lunaris sheathed one of his swords and pulled the communication artifact back out. "Captain, General, we could really use some help here.

"I'm sorry Lunaris, but there's no way we can make it in time," Arthur replied.

"What the fuck did he just say!" Darvus shouted. "That fucker can fly damn it! He could get to us in seconds!"

"Skreeeee!" The four present beasts cried.

"It doesn't matter!" Orson replied at a normal volume while still showing his anger at the complaint. "We've been fighting in the beast glades this whole war, you can't count on reinforcements there, and we can't here. Our situation has barely changed from what we're used to," Orson lowered his stance as he drew three throwing knives from his side. "So why complain now."

Orson then threw the knives as he charged in at one of the beasts. Two of the knives hit the arms while the third sank into its chest. In his sudden aggressive act he triggered the other beasts as well, so they charged in. Orson however wasn't alone, Lunaris and Karen were right behind him, as Jason turned to face the beasts closing in from behind, and began releasing electrically charged arrows.

This time the fight was different, the beasts were different. Now as Jason fired his arrows they ducked and jumped out of the way to dodge. As he tried to set up another electric trip wire, the beasts jumped above it. As Orson and the others swung their weapons, the beats jumped back, and used their claws to attack instead of their teeth. They were showing their intelligence, they had adapted.

—————————————————————-

Meanwhile back at the camp, not only had they been watching everything, but with the open communication channel they were listening too.

"What are those things?" Kathyln asked as her body shook, her voice laced with concern.

"Not sure exactly, but I'd say they are some kind of predator," Arthur replied as he and everyone else watched the reptilian beasts pouncing on one beast after another.

"Shit! Run!" They heard Lunaris yell over the artifact.

Everyone in the camp watched helplessly as Lunaris and his team ran through the tall grass with the pack of beasts tailing behind.

"We have to do something!" Stannard stated in a panic.

"What? They are well outside of the range of our conjurors, and even if we sent another team to support, there's no way they'll make it in time," Kaspian replied cooley.

"What about our white core mages?" Noah spoke up. "They could be there in no time."

"Have a little faith in them will you," Arthur stated while gesturing back out.

Everyone not looking looked back out as Jasons electric tripwire spell took down four beasts.

"They won't be able to stay ahead," Kathyln stated. "Those beasts will catch up soon."

"And when they do the team will fight," Arthur said matter of factly. "Since I can perceive aether, I can gage those beasts' strength. I'd say those beasts are probably on par with an A ranked mana beast. So they should be able to handle them."

"A rank is still dangerous," Noah argued.

Arthur didn't reply and continued to watch calmly. They watched as the team quickly took down several beasts, but their momentum stopped as the other beasts got up and the others were closing in. Everyone heard Darvus' comments, followed by Orson's, before he charged in. The battle with the beasts went differently than with the others, the beasts were moving intelligently, dodging and countering attacks, leaving others wondering if the team would survive.

"You have to intervene now right?!" Noah asked in a demanding tone.

"You heard Orson, you can't expect reinforcements out here. At least here you have a camp to run to, on the other floors you need to find the gate to escape any danger, but you could easily be thrown into even worse danger on the next. If we're going to clear this floor we need to fight with everything we have, like there is no tomorrow. The second anyone thinks help is right around the corner they hold back, and that's when people get killed," Arthur replied coldly.

"Tess, please talk some sense into him," Stannard pleaded.

She looked up at her husband. She had seen this look in his eyes before, the cold detached gaze she realized must have come from losing everyone in the previous timeline. Only his family ever saw any true warmth from him anymore, while everyone else just saw a mask of fake happiness. As much as she wished to help bring him back to the Arthur she remembered from before, she also knew it would take time, years even before he could come back to who he was. Yes he was sometimes cold to others, but those were his friends out there too, as well as a good portion of the combat mages in the camp too, she could never imagine he would ever sacrifice them so easily.

"Do you really think they'll all make it back alive?" She asked him.

"I think they're capable. They'll probably take some injuries, but I'm confident in their abilities to come back alive," he replied with cool logic.

The temperature suddenly dropped.

"You think?!" Noah asked through his teeth as his ice mana surged. "That's not good enough! You lances are supposed to protect us!"

"No, the lances lead you, and face enemies that are on our caliber. We aren't heroes, we are soldiers just like the rest of you," Arthur replied matter of factly, as he brought the temperature down even further. "In a few days we'll find the gate to the next floor, and I'll be leaving with my team, and you won't have any lances or white core mages. Who will you get angry at then?"

Noah's father placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave a rarely seen sympathetic gaze, causing Noah to calm down. Karen was out there, the woman who held his heart, but there was nothing he could do to help her, and no one but the beasts to blame if she got hurt.

"Also, don't take my calm attitude as I don't care. I can only remain this calm with friends out there because of the procations I took."

—————————————————————-

Karen was holding back two sets of claws from one beast with her spear, as the beast pressed down with its weight.

One attempted to pounce on Jason as he stored his bow and switched to his short sword. He was able to dodge it, but another sank its teeth into his right shoulder. If not for his armor it probably would have been able to rip his arm off, as only its longer bottom teeth managed to break through his chainmail armor. Due to the close proximity the beast couldn't use its claws, so instead it swung him around like a rag doll until eventually throwing him.

He crashed into the ground in agonizing pain as two of the beasts began approaching him. Caria and Darvus saw this and came to his aid. Caria jumped onto the back of one and began unleashing a series of furious wind infused punches to the back of its head, as Darvus began hacking away at the other, sending thousands of grains of sand with every strike to deepen the wounds.

Meanwhile both Orson and Lunaris were doing their best to hold off two beasts each. Lunaris had managed to wound one, leaving one of his swords run through its leg so that it now couldn't walk, yet it still tried to move closer to fight. The two were fighting with everything they had, but the beasts were relentless. The longer the battle dragged on the more the beasts adapted and harder the battle became. One of them spun around and hit Orson in the stomach with its tail,

knocking the wind out of him as he crashed to the ground. Lunaris tried to rush to his aid, but the beasts he was dealing with weren't giving him enough breathing room to even try.

Desperate, Lunaris chose to fall back on one of Pasta's strategies, with his own twist. Thickly cladding himself in mana, he let out a burst of razor sharp wind, cutting up the beasts a bit and causing them to back off. He then pulled several small bottles from his dimensional ring and threw them at the closest beast to Orson, and one of his. The bottles shattered, leaving a thick clear liquid on them, which burst into flames as soon as Lunaris hit the liquid on each of them with a fireball.

The beasts screeched in pain as they seemed to be trying to run from the flames. Unfortunately the other beasts didn't seem to care, and continued their attack. The distraction was enough to allow Orson a chance to get back to his feet so he could at least defend himself.

"AHHHH," Lunaris cried out in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his right leg before it was pulled out from under him.

He was ready to take on his last beast, but instead he ended up on the ground as the beast he had wounded had managed to drag itself over, and sank its teeth into his leg.

Lunaris quickly rolled over as much as he could, and swung one of his swords, sending a wind blade that cut the top of its head off, killing it. Before he could even turn his head to face his next target another beast essentially kicked him onto his back and stepped onto his chest. He grunted in pain as the claw on its heel came down and pierced his armor, and gazed his mana core. He tried to swing one of his swords at its leg, but the other leg stomped down on it pinning his arm down. He tried with the other, but this time it bent down and blocked it with one of its claws. The beast growled deeply, he could feel the heat from its breath, and smell the stench of rotting flesh.

The beast pulled its head back, and just as it was shooting forward for the kill, an aetheric claw covered in destruction came from Lunaris' shadow and slashed at the beast's face. The beast was thrown off of Lunaris with great force and slammed into the ground, one of its lower jaws missing.

What emerged from Lunaris' shadow was not what anyone expected. It was wolf-like, and Artheric, it even resembled Regis, but it was bipedal, more so appearing like a werewolf.

"Screw team Jacob! Team Regis has the sexiest werewolf around!" Regis announced to Arthur before arching back, stretching out his arms, and letting out a howl.

"What the hell happened to you?" Arthur asked as Regis shot forward towards Orson's beast.

"While you were busy being trained by your master in the bedroom, I was busy training myself." He swung his left claw and ripped out the beast's throat, then moved on to Darvus'. "I was working on trying to change my form."

"What made you think to work on that?"

Regis grabbed the top and bottom jaws of the beast, then pulled them apart, ripping the top of its head off.

"Well you know, sometimes being majestic alone doesn't win a fight. Sometimes you need just something more."

He then pounced on Ceria's, and sank his fangs into its neck and bit down, severing its head.

Arthur sighed. "You were trying to give yourself a penis weren't you."

"Hahaha. Aya's going to love it!"

Arthur shook his head. "Runner. Don't let it get away," Arthur said as he could see the eighth beast runnin off.

"On it!" With that Regis returned back to his aetheric wolf form and took off running after the fleeing beast.

—————————————————————-

The gate to the camp opened, and the weary team trudged in. The only seriously injured were Jason and Lunaris, and received some basic first aid to treat their wounds until now where they had access to emitters. Due to Lunaris' injury on his leg, he was leaning on Orson, who was helping him along. Seeing this Kathyln quickly ran over to replace him. Once the gate was closed back the emitters ran over to the worst of them to get to work.

"Captain Aldwynn," Kaspian said as he walked up. "Report."

"Only Jason and myself were seriously wounded, everyone else was able to be treated with basic first aid."

"Very good. I know now might not be the most appropriate time, but could you please fill us in on what you learned about the second beast?"

"Yes sir. Clearly they are pack hunters, extremely fast, and...I'd say intelligent."

"How so?" Kaspian asked.

"They adapted to our tactics fairly quickly, as well as coordinated attacks and communicated with one another. It may be an apex predator."

Murmurs were heard around the camp. Apex predators were considered so powerful that nothing hunted it. There were only a handful of cases in the beast glades, but all were only seen deep within the glades where only teams of S ranked adventurers would dare to go

"Also, something else I noticed. When they attacked the first beast, they killed more than their numbers."

"You think they were a hunting party for a bigger pack? That they have a large nest somewhere?" Arthur asked as he stepped closer.

"It's only a guess, but I think so. It would explain why they killed so many. Also, thank you for sending Regis with us. We would have died if not for him."

"Don't mention it. The paperwork involved in killed in action reports are just too much of a pain," Arthur replied.

Lunaris groaned. "Tell me about it. I had to do all of the paperwork for General Bloom throughout the entire war."

Everyone looked around to one another, trying to figure out if they were joking with one another or not.