--- Kat ---


    Slvr never did figure out where exactly the girls would need to turn off. Not ideal, but ''you''ll know it when you see it'' was probably a good enough description. That was the hope anyway. Despite the pleasant atmosphere of the town, and the fact they never reported to the local hunters… it just wasn''t worth sticking around.


    They had a job to do, and with no mayor and no church to even potential request copies of the notice they might need there was no reason to stick around longer then they had to.


    And so went a day of travelling with seemingly no issues. The second day was much less pleasant. Sometime early in the morning, Hunter gave a shout "EVERYONE UP!" and Kat found herself bolting out the tent, Lily in her arms as they looked around. The campsite was untouched so far, but surrounding them was a pack of wolf-like nt monsters.


    They seemed… somewhat dried up and were growling towards the camp but making no move to attack.


    Hunter threw a glob of demonic fire towards them, clearly falling short of her target in a way that had to be intentionally. The wolves nearest to the glob of fire all stepped back a bit but they didn''t actually run away. Hunter looked back at the group, which now included Kamiko who had her spear out and ready while standing next to the horse.


    "Shall I dispatch them?" asked Hunter.


    "What would you rmend?" asked Kat.


    "Well… that is a tough question. I believe we''re starting to enter into the edges of the drake''s territory. These beasts may not know what exactly they are fleeing, or perhaps they were simply copying more connected beasts, but they are clearly attempting to leave and have not been eating properly.


    There are arguments to leave them around, but as there happen to be a number of settlements nearby the question is…


    "Do we wish to eliminate them now? Or risk allowing them to attack a settlement. Allowing them to attack might not even be bad thing. It is possible that the people living inside do not yet know that anything is wrong. Having them attacked by a few waves of weak monsters like these wolves might be the wake up call they need," exined Hunter.


    *I… I''m really not sure. I''m leaning towards taking them out. No sense in potentially risking it. Sure people might need the kick in the teeth… but there should be more packs. Plus, if these particr ones were to hurt people I know I''d feel guilty. I''d spend too long wondering if we were making a mistake.*


    [I''m with you on this one] "Take them out," said Kat.


    Hunter nodded and pulled out her gun. Five shotster and the eight wolves were dead faster then Kat could blink. "Um… why use your gun for once?" asked Kat as she looked at the copsed wolves. Most of them had one bullet hole straight through their centre of mass, though the ones that were in front of another wolf all hadrger chunks missing.


    "I bear these monsters no dislike. While we have decided they should not live, simply burning them down to ash would be disrespectful. This way we can either eat their remains ourselves, or trade the carcases when we get to the next town. In the worst case scenario, that we leave the remains here, then at least they are nurturing the soil.


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    Ash from demonic fire isn''t toxic or anything, but it isn''t particrly good either. The closest equivalent I can make would be like a person eating cardboard. Not inherently toxic, but not providing any nutrition either," exined Hunter.


    Kat nodded as the corpses were packed away in Hunter''s storage ring. After a brief discussion the group decided it was best to get moving now they were all up. It wasn''t too far off the usual waking time for everyone except Lily and while it was dark, the sun was already just barely peaking over the horizon so that would change soon. Soon the group was on the road…


    s, the wolves were not the only things seemingly fleeing from the drake. Not even an hourter and they encountered arge flock of birds with gleaming feathers. Under most circumstances they would''ve allowed the flock to pass. Not these ones. The birds seem to be particrly ornery for some reason and dived straight at the group.


    Hunter whipped out her rifle once again and started taking potshots. Though this time it was more of a team effort.


    Lily summoned up a massive amount of paper to throw at the group closest to Kat, while Kamiko brought out her spear and let a few impale themselves on her weapon. Kat threw out a bit of fire for the ones that managed to survive Lily''s onught and finally, even the horse managed a good hit in. One of the birds dove down to try and bite it on the ass and got kicked in the face as punishment.


    It wasn''t enough to kill it, but Kamiko''s follow up attack was enough to finish it off.


    "Is this going to be a recurring issue?" asked Kat as she gave Lily a few scratches between her ears.


    "Likely. It seems that drake has sufficiently disrupted the ecosystem here to be causing issues. If we were not already travelling at a good speed I''d suggest increasing the pace. As it stands, I suspect we will want to start looking for the drake soon. It might not be close to any towns just yet, but with what we''ve seen, the animals of the area are attempting to flee.


    That will reduce its readily avable food, and likely cause its range to increase.


    "Though, with that in mind we may wish to save up the corpses we collect. The nearby towns may be struggling to hunt proper game at the moment. They may be considering too dangerous to roam for food at the moment, and if that is indeed the case they will appreciate us leaving them the carcases as we pass through," stated Hunter.


    "Why not just give them food?" asked Kat.


    "A number of reasons. Pre prepared food may be unfamiliar and as such deemed unfit for consumption. We may mistakenly introduce non-native seeds into the native fauna.


    Additionally, if we say we were attacked and simply want the corpses dealt with, they will still need to butcher them, giving them a feeling of at least some aplishment and as such making them more likely to ept the food as it is not just ''being given'' to them," exined Hunter.


    Kat looked like she wanted to debate that line of thinking for a few moments but in the end said nothing and they got back onto the road. The attacks continued throughout the day. Sometimes it was more wolves, sometimes more birds, other time it was newer monsters. A few times arge group of clearly non-hostile animals would pass by.


    There was a group of what looked like bald squirrels with beaver tails that sprinted across at one point.


    Those were always left alone. No sense in taking out anything that wasn''t going to attack first. Even still, they were gathering quite therge bounty and Hunter had stated they were not to simply hand out the full amount. Nobody would ept all the food they''d be providing and at least inside the rings they can remain fresh essentially forever.


    When they finally settled in for the night, Hunter asked, "Do we wish to set a watch schedule? I do not fear these monsters, and likely neither should you even in your sleep. Our tents are well defended and injury seems unlikely… but that is not the same as impossible,"


    "I can just stay up," said Kat.


    Hunter frowned at that. "Are you sure? I would not like for you to be in less than top condition these next few days. While I do not expect to run into the drake for quite a few days yet we are in what I would call the ''hazard zone'' where the targets presence should be ounted for if not expected,"


    Kat just waved Hunter off though. "I''m not concerned. I can stay up for a few days without any side effects and just sitting around will let me rest my mind more than enough. I''m really not worried,"


    "In that case I shall ept your offer of guarding us through the night," stated Hunter. "Of course, while I shall ept it for now, and potentially a few nights into the future, I do request that you take the time to rest when we reach our destination. Being in an active settlement should mean there will be lookouts so take that as a chance to sleep properly.


    Your ability to keep a night watch may be needed more as we get in close. I would not wish for you to burn out and need sleep just a night or two away from the beast,"


    "I''ll keep that in mind," agreed Kat.