Allen also looked shocked. “Is that a wolf?”

Eiwin nodded with a frown.

“Weren’t the wolves supposed to only arrive a few days later?” The young master seemed confused.

There were no native wolf monsters in this forest, so it was clear that whatever this monster was, it had to have come with the horde. This was not all either.

“We are still a ways away from the river, too.” Red said. “For a monster to appear this far west near the road, it can only mean the guards weren’t able to hold all the horde back.”

Eiwin nodded again. “Something must have happened. Come on, let’s hurry and see what is going on.”

Red climbed down from Narcha’s back so the woman could join the fighting. The increased pressure of the Moon gaze was still affecting him, but at the very least, he didn’t feel like he was about to collapse any longer.

They rushed forward, and after turning around a bend in the road, they saw the scene of battle. Sure enough, a large white wolf was in the process of fighting against six town guards. Wounds littered the monster’s body, but there was also a casualty among the guards as they saw a corpse laying on the ground.

“It’s in the Lesser Ring Realm.” Red warned his companions. “It’s wounded, though… and exhausted.”

Narcha nodded and took out her saber from her back with eagerness. “That’s all I needed to hear!”

She, Eiwin, and Allen rushed ahead, while Red observed their fight from afar. He still wasn’t in much of a condition to fight. The guards noticed the group’s approach, and their expression lit up.

“It’s the Water Dragon Guild!”

“Out of the way!” Narcha waved them off.

The guards were more than happy to obey her orders. They stepped back, leaving a clear path to the wolf, which also seemed to notice the arrival of the humans.

It turned around to face this strong human, releasing a low humming growl. Narcha didn’t stop charging, though, her anger and eagerness to fight clear in both her mannerisms and her fluctuation to Red.

The wolf leaped at her once she was within a few meters, but just like Red had predicted, the monster seemed too slow for a beast of its power. Narcha sidestepped the blow with little issue and brought her saber against the monster’s side.

The wolf howled in pain and stumbled. Before it could recover, though, Eiwin charge in from behind Narcha and struck the beast with a well place kick on its snout. The beast faltered, the blow confusing its senses.

This moment of distraction was more than enough for Narcha to follow up on. She circled around the wolf and cut its hind leg clean off with a single slash of her saber. This time, the monster finally fell down, and it seemed too wounded and daze to even notice what was happening.

It didn’t take more than a ten seconds for the duo to dispatch it. Narcha finished it off with a stab on its chest, after which the beast’s injuries were finally too much for it to handle. It fell quiet a few seconds later, unmoving.

“Ah…” Allen, who didn’t even have the opportunity to act, nodded at his companions. “Good job.”

“Is it really dead?” One of the soldiers asked, afraid to approach the monster’s corpse.

“It is.” Narcha nodded. “Is this the only one around?”

“You sure took your damn time!” Another soldier glared at the group. “We were waiting for you at the border the entire day! We even sent people to go looking after your sect! If you had been there sooner, then they wouldn’t… My friends would still be alive.”

None of the soldiers joined in with their companion, but from their expression, it was clear they also shared some of his sentiments. Narcha frowned, glaring back at each and every one of them. Before she could say anything, though, Eiwin spoke up.

“I am sorry for your loss, but trust me, if we had been able to, we would have been there.” She said. “Unfortunately, we were ambushed along the way and were kept from our path.”

The soldiers looked surprised.

“Ambushed? Who ambushed you? A monster?” One of them asked.

Eiwin hesitated. “It’s hard to explain, but as you can see, even now, we have yet to find all of our sect members because of that.”

For the first time, the soldiers seemed to notice the state the group found themselves in. Punctured and lacerated armors, traces of blood - all signs of hard-fought battles. Upon seeing that, their previously angered expressions disappeared.

The soldier who first had an outburst bowed towards them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

“It’s fine.” Eiwin shook her head. “You have lost some of your companions today. It would be strange instead if you were in a calm state of mind.”

Narcha looked like she wanted to say something more, but instead, she just sighed. “With that out of the way, then, would you mind explaining what happened? I thought the Skycrown wolves were only meant to appear on the second wave of the horde.”

“You’re right.” The soldier nodded. “They weren’t meant to appear until a few days later, but… Our scouts reported something happened to spur them on.”

Narcha frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“We don’t know for certain, but they told us that a lot of the wolves were suddenly driven into a maddened frenzy.”

“It’s a horde! Of course, they were in a frenzy!”

“No, you don’t understand.” The soldier shook his head. “This was different. Although they were part of a horde, they were still under the control of their alpha. But something changed, and all of a sudden they just started to break off from their pack formation and charge west in a frenzy. We received this news just a few hours before the first wave hit, so we didn’t have time to prepare…”

Eiwin looked worried. “Did you receive news of our elder?”

“We did.” The soldier nodded. “Our scouts saw Master Hector fighting against the Alpha and leading it away from the pack. They weren’t able to keep up with them, though, and lost track of them earlier today.”

“You mean the change in the pack happened after the Alpha was gone?” She asked.

“It happened much later than that. Our scouts told us the wolves fell into a small panic after their alpha was led away, but they still kept heading west. That strange change only happened after that, so we don’t know the cause for certain…”

Eiwin frowned in thought. “And the line at the river? How did you fare?”

The soldier grimaced. “We lost a lot of men, but still held on in the end. However, a lot of monsters slipped past us, all heading towards town.”

“So you were hunting for them here?”

“Yes, but… It didn’t go as well as we planned.” The soldier’s gaze lingered on the corpse of his companion on the ground.

Eiwin sighed. “I’m sorry for your loss. However, I must ask you something else.”

The soldier nodded. “You saved our lives. You have the right to.”

“Have you seen the rest of our companions?” She asked. “Two men, Rog and Rimold. One is a hunter, and the other is a… knife-wielder.”

“I know who they are. We haven’t seen any of them, though. We could pass the word around to our men to see if they have seen them, but… If they had, we probably would have known. Captain Orvin told us to let him know as soon as we found any of you.”

Eiwin seemed troubled by this.

The soldier hesitated. “… I know your companions are missing but… The fighting is still going on near the river. Our men are trying to contain and exterminate whatever monsters we can, but a lot of these beasts are beyond our capabilities… A lot of my friends have died already. We could use your help.”

This made the group fall silent. Evidently, the soldier’s words moved them, but the fact of the matter was that Rog and Rimold were still very likely under life-threatening risk. If one of them was possessed and they didn’t cure them soon enough, they would be lost forever.

This wasn’t an easy decision to make, and the responsibility of this all fell onto the shoulder of their appointed leader. Eiwin, however, was also under visible distress as she considered their options.

‘… She’s still too soft for her own good.’

“You can go.” Red said. “I will look for Rimold and Rog.”

Narcha scoffed. “In your state? You’re more likely to fall dead on the way over!”

“I already feel better.” The boy said. “Besides, if it really comes down to it, I will just avoid a fight and stick to the shadows. I’m much better at that than all of you.”

The woman gritted her teeth, but she couldn’t find a rebuttal.

“But what about the… thing that attacked us?” Allen asked with a worried expression. “Isn’t it still around?”

Red frowned and shook his head. “I have a feeling it won’t trouble us for now.”

He was being sincere. The head was targeting him, most likely, and he doubted the necromancer would allow the boy to die or be controlled by it. Or so he hoped. In any case, if the head was going to attack them, it would already have done it by now or when they were almost killed by the possessed Narcha.

Besides, there were still the Curse Breakers around the forest.

Allen seemed to be convinced by his words, yet Eiwin, on the other hand, seemed hesitant about his suggestion.

“How are you going to find them?” She asked.

This was, indeed, the biggest problem.

“We could send some of our scouts to help you look for them.” The soldier offered his help.

“It’s fine.” Red shook his head. “Just keep an eye out if they do turn up.”

‘They’re likely to get killed if they try to find them.’

The boy turned around to look at Eiwin. “I will try scouting the area where they disappeared.“

The woman frowned. “Is that wise? I thought you said it was very dangerous.”

“It is, but it’s our only choice. With my skills, I should be able to at least assess if anyone is waiting for us back there.”

Red actually was still afraid people like the Curse Breaker could have a means of detecting him too, but he still believed that going by himself would yield them the best chances of finding the rest of their companions.

Eiwin seemed to relent. “Fine, but take this.”

She handed him two talismans - an omnidirectional barrier and a swift escape talisman - all precious survival items. The soldiers who saw this all seemed surprised, but they didn’t say anything.

“I have my own talismans.” Red frowned once he saw this.

“You do, but you can never be too safe.” Eiwin said. “With these, you should at least have more of a chance if something happens… And don’t think to protest. I am your leader, and this is an order!”

The boy sighed and nodded. “Fine.”

The leading soldier looked over at the boy, still surprised they would entrust someone so young for a task like this. However, he didn’t voice his opinions. “If you do find them, come look for us near the Crossing Village, where Captain Orvin is located. Do you know where that is?”

Red nodded. “I do.”

The boy checked over his equipment before looking towards the rest of the group.

Narcha gritted her teeth and nodded at him.

Allen, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be as worried, showing his absolute trust in Red. “Bring them back quickly, Red!”

Eiwin smiled. “Most important of all, be safe.”

Red didn’t respond and nodded. Then, no longer hesitating, he turned around and walked away. Soon enough, he couldn’t sense the fluctuation of his companions any longer, and neither could he see them as he walked around a bend in the road.

The boy was ready to dive into the woods before he felt another human fluctuation close by. He froze.

Red looked over towards his left, but he didn’t see anyone. Yet, he was certain that there was a fluctuation there, no more than ten meters away from him.

An invisible individual.

His heart skipped a beat.

“Your companions are due south of here.” An ephemeral voice spoke to him, sounding almost as if it was right next to his ear.

Red shivered, but didn’t respond.

A few seconds later, the fluctuation completely disappeared, leaving a confused Red behind.