“This way.” Embla got off the ground, looking ahead. There was a fresh trail of Sabyr tracks. Sabyr tracks were distinct from other large cats such as mountain lions and the like. Sabyr Tracks had this unique indentation that indicated the presence of a six toe. Whereas normal large cats and even cats in general only had five on their front paws.

“You said these were bigger?” Embla turned to her team leader with an inquisitive look.

“Yes.” Yuki looked down at the track. That track was likely twice the size of her foot. “The cages back at the tent were huge.”

“I can tell,” Embla replied. “They went this way.”

“Did you guys ask where he got the animals from?” Cal asked, trailing closely behind Embla.

“Yeah, he said he got them from Svartalheimr. Some animal sanctuary?” Yuki looked to Red for some help.

“He said it was a training facility so yeah, sort of the same thing.” The dragon-kin shrugged as they continued to walk.

“I can see why they’d call for someone to come and get them. These ruins make for a great home. I crashed in a few of these before when I was out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes, I’d have to drive out a bear or a sabyr to get in. But a roof was a roof,” Embla said, reminiscing of her travels.

“The guy at the tavern said that people pray here. That’s why the Ringmaster sent for some adventurers. It was because he thought that the local deity would curse him or something.” Pandora glanced at the large stone arch that they passed by. “There are signs of worship.” She looked at the various crudely made lampposts that lit the forest path. “I wonder what God they worship here though.”

“You’re not going to be one of those crazy worshippers that denounce other Gods right? Like a psycho or overzealous priest?” Cal glanced over his shoulder to his sister.

Pandora looked offended as she spoke up. “I’m not the average Priestess. I don’t care what God people worship.”

“There’s more tracks here and…” Embla looked around. Broken bushes. A toppled tree… geez. Scratch marks on the rocks and surrounding wood and the smell of… Embla took a whiff of the air around her. A familiar metallic smell entered her nostrils, causing her nose to curl up. “Blood. Yeah, something was here and it was big.”

“Any idea where it went?” Red asked.

“That way.” She got up and began walking into some brush. Embla unsheathed one of her blades and began hacking her way through. “Are you sure this is a Sabyr and not like… a giant mutant bear or something?”

“No, he said it was a really big Sabyr.” Yuki gave her a deadpan look.

“The tracks match up. Whatever they hunted must’ve been a boar judging from the fur and tracks,” she replied absentmindedly. Embla ran her hand across a tree that had a large slash mark going across the trunk.

“Let’s keep going. The ruins are farther into the woods. We just need to follow the path that they put out.” Yuki crossed her arms.

“About that, we’re not on the path anymore. We kinda went off when Embla hacked through the shrubs,” Cal said.

“The path’s back over there. We can get back on it or we can follow this trail. Odds are, the only one staying there is the pregnant female and the others are out hunting,” Embla said. “If it is a pack and if they are this big, it’s best to split up and hunt them down in a place where we can plan our own ambush.”

“Ambushing an ambush predator. Sounds stupid but knowing you, you probably have a way to do it,” Cal said.

“I always have a way. For one, I bought some raw meat from the tavern to use as bait. Like wolves, Sabyrs have scout animals that go in and draw out the old, young, and weak. We’ll find somewhere to place the bait and I’ll imitate the sound of a weakened deer or something,” Embla said.

“Do you even know what weakened deer sound like?” Pandora asked. She slapped her forehead upon realizing how stupid her question was. Embla’s a hunter…

Embla smiled and pressed forward. “Seeing as they have a pregnant alpha female, the female will need lots of food during its pregnancy. Come on. I think I hear a river nearby where we can place the bait.”

The dead leaves of the forests of Midgard crunched silently under its paws. The fresh scent of blood and the cries of an injured deer had reached its ears. The Sabyr crept toward its intended target. Its fur did it no favors when it came to blending it. It was no longer in its home environment.

Unlike the standard Sabyr, which appeared as a tiger with massive fangs, this Sabyr was larger, stronger, and far more ferocious. Like the standard sabyr, it had striped fur, though its fur was white due to its original home environment. The forearms were much stockier than a regular sabyr and its claws were serrated and splayed out rather than sheathed. The famous fangs of the Sabyr were blackened at the tip but still retained the same characteristics as its normal counterpart. The eyes were red, unlike a regular sabyr’s which was yellow. Finally, its tail was long and had quills at the end. The quills were useless to it at the moment but it made for a good weapon to stun. The quills were tipped with small barbs that allowed it to get stuck inside another animal in the event it got hit with the tail.

It raised its head and sniffed the air, ears twitching to detect that sound once more. The sweet metallic smell of blood hit its nostrils, causing it to snap its head to its left. The Sabyr bounded across the forest floor, leaving barely audible footsteps in its wake. All small prey fled or hid as the massive predator ran by them.

The sabyr broke through the brush, circling its target. A slab of meat lay on the floor before it. The smell clearly emanated from this meat. It sniffed the meat, curiously pawing it with its paws. After deeming it safe, it opened its mouth to grab it when a sharp pain cut through its back.

The sabyr roared and shrieked as it stumbled to the side, staggering from Cal’s arrow.

“Nice hit,” Embla said, patting his back. The two were situated on a tree branch directly in front of the meat. The others were on the surrounding trees, ready to move once the Sabyr was confirmed dead.

“I’m going for the head next,” he said, nocking another arrow. He closed his eyes and inhaled. Light infused itself into the arrow, causing it to glow yellow.

“Woah, wait. You can infuse magic into your weapons?” Embla asked.

“Yeah, didn’t Pandora teach you that? Mana can be used to infuse weapons like Prana. The only difference is…” Cal let go of the arrow, causing a golden streak to fly through the air and pierce through the entirety of the sabyr. Golden sparks of light could be seen arcing off its body as it fell dead on the ground.

“What skill was that?” Embla asked, staring at the Sabyr. A straight shot through the entire body is bound to hit all the hearts.

“That was my [Sun Piercer]. It’s a new magic skill I’ve been developing off the standard [Straight Shot] skill.” Cal’s hand reached for his quiver.

“Wait…” Embla hopped off the branch, silently landing on the ground. She quietly crept over to the seemingly dead big cat. As she reached down to feel its pulse, Embla immediately recoiled when she saw the skin twitching and convulsing.

“What the fu-”

“EMBLA! BEHIND YOU!”

Embla didn’t need any further instruction as she rolled out of the way. She turned quickly, coming face to face with three large sabyrs.

Instantly unsheathing her blades, Embla dashed forward, appearing in eight separate places.

She performed her [Eight Fold Dance] on the closest sabyr, sending blood spraying everywhere as she hit both of its hearts as well as its lungs and some organs.

“That all you… got?” she stopped for a moment, seeing the same writhing, convulsing skin except this time, she saw what was underneath. Black veins pulsated and snaked their way out of the wounds. The sight wanted to make her vomit.

The veins slowly twisted and spasmed on all of the wounds Embla inflicted, hooking and stitching it back together as if it were some sort of macabre suture.

“That is all kinds of wrong,” Embla whispered, backing away as the two other sabyrs rounded on her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the sabyr Cal downed, beginning to twitch back to life.

“Embla! I’ll cover you!” Cal yelled.

She nodded and ran back towards the tree, enhancing her speed. The instant she moved, the two sabyrs moved to pounce on her. A flaming arrow flew through the air, impaling one of them. The other narrowly missed, cutting a strand of Embla’s hair.

“Shit!” Cal lowered his bow arm and raised his left hand. A yellow magic circle formed in front of him. “Embla, duck!”

“Wha- WOAH!” she ducked her head as a beam of light flew past her, blowing the sabyr’s head off. Embla heard a crash behind her but kept running. In a minute, she was back next to Cal, looking down at the carnage.

“Regeneration. They can heal themselves and any internal damage they sustain! Even damage to their organs!” Embla panted a little.

“...” Cal remained silent, nodding at her words. “What now? The moment they heal up they’re going to…”

“Wait… look at that one.” Embla pointed to the sabyr that no longer had a head. Its body was still, leaking black fluids in droves.

“It’s not…?” he failed to understand what she was getting at.

“It’s not moving. The others are all showing signs of movement despite having internal organ damage from your [Light Piercer] and my [Eight Fold Dance],” she said.

“So aim for the head then,” he said.

“It looks like it but… it looks like they can heal their wounds as long as the brain remains intact,” Embla said.

“Right. Go tell Pandora. She’s a good aim with her staff,” Cal said.

“Got it.” Cal knocked another arrow as he felt Embla’s presence vanish from his side. The feeling of wind blowing past his hair as she kicked off from the branch caused him to smile.

“What the hell was that? Should we have-?”

“Guys!”

Pandora jumped when she heard Embla’s voice.

“Dear Odin, Freyr, and Thor in Heaven! You scared me!” Pandora said, turning to face her new branch mate. Yuki and Red sighed in relief, seeing Embla arrive at their tree.

“You escaped. Thank Frey,” Yuki said.

“What happened down there?” Red asked.

“They have some sort of healing factor. They’re not like normal sabyrs. You can kill a normal sabyr by damaging its internal organs severely or destroying both hearts but this one, these can heal severe organ damage and all outer wounds,” Embla said, looking back at one of the sabyrs. It was now fully upright and sniffing the air. She knew. It had caught her scent.

“So what do we do?” Pandora asked.

“Destroying their heads seems to work. Cal said you were a good shot with your staff,” Embla replied.

“So aim for the head then? Got i-” Pandora and Embla looked down when they felt the tree shake.

“It’s here,” Red said, looking down. The larger-than-average predator crouched and jumped, grabbing hold of the nearest branch. The entire tree shook once more from its weight.

“I’ll draw its attention to me. You get a head shot okay?”

“Huh? Wait, how-”

“No time to argue.” Embla pushed off from the branch. She infused her leg with prana and landed a devastating kick to the Sabyr’s head. The sickening sound of a crack ran throughout the forest as the sabyr hit the ground. One of its fangs embedded itself into the ground across from it.

“You wanted me? Here I am.” Embla gripped her Chromatic Slicers tightly. The large cat got up quickly. The sound of bones cracking and popping inside its neck and jaw could be heard as it turned to face her.

“Even breaking its neck doesn’t work.” Embla dodged as the beast swung its paw, leaving deep gashes on the tree behind her. Come on Pandora…

The sabyr slammed its paw, intending to crush her head like a grape. The paw struck nothing but air as Embla reappeared in front of its head, kicking it back. It hit the tree behind it with such force that the tree fell over.

Growling, it roared. However, just then, a crackling spike of ice impaled its head. The sabyr roared as small black sinewy tendrils wrapped around the spike uselessly. The spike exploded, sending chunks of gray matter and skull fragments everywhere.

“Two down, two to-” The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as Embla quickly rolled out of the way.

“Go.” her red eyes narrowed as the two remaining sabyrs circled her. “These guys…”

Embla ran forward and ducked underneath the cat’s paw. She slammed her palm into its chest. Time to test out this new skill! Dark Spike!

True to its name, a series of black spikes erupted from the Sabyr’s body, sending it flying and sprawling in the middle of the shoreline.

She dodged another Sabyr swipe and jumped back. The other one should be reforming right now so…

Embla glanced over to a golden glint in the tree line and smiled. A yellow arrow shot from the branch and impaled the downed cat, destroying its brain.

“One more left.” Embla ran forward and readied her blades. “You guys are really a pain in the ass. But there’s one thing I know, you guys aren’t normal Sabyrs that’s for sure.”

She lunged forward at the beast, swiping her blades. Eight consecutive slash marks appeared on its body, stunning it.

“Pandora! Cal! Any day now!” she yelled.

A spike of ice and a yellow arrow hit the Sabyr’s head. The sabyr’s head exploded in a gory fashion, killing it instantly.

“Oh, we’re done,” Embla said, sighing in relief. “You guys can come down now.”

“Is this normal?”

Embla turned around, seeing Yuki, Pandora, and Red walking up to her.

“No, it’s not. If these guys are like this, then the alpha’s probably the same. And to think that she’s pregnant.” Embla squatted and placed her fingers on its neck. “No more pulse and…” she stuck her finger in one of the wounds.

“What are you doing?” Cal asked, walking up to them.

Embla ignored him and pulled her finger out, drawing out a viscous black and red fluid.

“Is that blood?” Pandora asked.

“If it is, then there’s something severely wrong with this thing. Blood isn’t normally this dark. It’s almost a pitch-black color and it’s cold.” Embla flicked her wrist, sending the blood-like substance all over the ground. “Blood’s not supposed to be this cold after something just died.”

“Then what the hell are we dealing with?” Red asked.

“I don’t know,” Embla replied. She got up and dusted herself off. “I do know one thing. We aren’t dealing with a sabyr. At least, not the sabyr we’re used to dealing with. We need to kill the alpha before it gives birth or this entire ecosystem will be overrun with these things.”

“So what are we waiting for? If that alpha gives birth, the entire town and forest could be screwed," Cal said.

"Yeah, let's get to the ruins. We need to kill the alpha before it gives birth," Pandora said.

"Yeah, let's go." Embla looked to Yuki, who nodded in response.

“Let’s get back on the path. The ruins should be an hour’s walk from the river. Thirty minutes or less if we run,” Yuki said.

“The sun’s going down.” Embla looked at the ruin entrance.

“Yuki, do you sense anything inside?” Cal asked, scanning the entrance.

“I do. There’s something big inside.” Yuki sighed and stood.

“So we’re just all going to pile on it?” Pandora asked.

“Wait,” Embla said, raising her hand. “We should think about this more carefully. If anything, this thing’s going to be as hard to kill as the other two. Add to the fact that it’s in an enclosed area…”

Yuki sighed. “You got any leftover bait?” she asked.

“No, I figured that luring the alpha would be easy but…” Embla trailed off.

“But?”

“Well, you told us it was pregnant when we were out of town and I kinda forgot to bring more,” she said sheepishly.

“You forgot?” Yuki asked, looking back.

"I figured that the pack would be close enough to the ruins to let us draw the alpha out," she replied with an embarrassed look on her face.

“So what do we do now?” Pandora asked.

“Rush it?” Embla responded.

“Really? Rush it? After that big speech?” Cal asked, looking at her incredulously.

“H- Hey! I just realized that I have no bait to draw it out in the open. Unless of course, you want to be bait.” Embla crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look.

“Okay, you two. No fighting. We’re on a quest right now,” Red said, getting in between the two.

“He started it,” Embla said.

“Knock it off you two. I think I have a plan that can get us that thing out of here. Embla, you said that pack animals hunt, even when pregnant right?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah but not usually right so close to birthing. It will go out and eat if the pack brings back food,” she said.

“Right so… Cal.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Yuki said. “Go stand outside the cave.”

“Huh?” Cal looked at her like she was insane. “You want me.” He pointed at himself. “To stand outside the mouth of that cavern?” he gestured to the temple’s entrance.

“You volunteered earlier,” she responded.

“Nope. Not going through with it. Besides, how do we know it’s gonna come out just because I’m standing there,” Cal said.

“Because you smell different. Sabyrs can smell foreign smells on their home turf. Not so much while they’re gorging but when you step foot in their marked home…” Embla trailed off.

“...” Cal kept his mouth shut as he contemplated his decision.

“If you want, I can go be bait for you. I doubt Embla and Yuki are good shots,” Red said, patting his shoulder.

“Are you sure about this? It was just a suggestion,” Yuki said.

“If there’s another option, then I’m all in for it.” Red looked at the white-haired fox kin for an answer.

“We can try blowing the cavern?” Embla smiled weakly, seeing how her suggestion, while effective, could land them in trouble with the village.

“No.” Yuki’s sharp look caused Embla to shut her mouth. Yuki sighed. “Okay but… the minute it gets out, run to the clearing we passed by earlier. I don’t want any collateral damage to happen to the temple while we’re fighting.”

“I got this. Don’t worry. We’ve been through worse than me throwing myself in front of a big cat,” Red said with a smile.

Yuki looked at him worriedly as he dropped down from the branch.

“He’ll be fine. We’ve been through worse,” Embla said, recalling the fortress incident.

She didn’t respond, choosing to look on at Red’s small figure approaching the entrance.