Kaden returned to area where Verdict was and started scouting the area. Some time had been lost, but nothing significant with his speed.

The area always kept changing. The scouting information Kaden collected would likely stay up to date for just a few months at best. Territories would change, some beasts with special abilities would start forest fires or floods, some old hiding holes collapse, some beasts would dig wide networks of tunnels in place. Though, for short term it was well acceptable.

Kaden was still going to complete the mission properly. All the parts that needed to be moving were doing so and he would be as innocent and possible. An obedient member of the team. Completely unnoticeable. Poison had already been poured in.

Kaden found nothing of interest in the area. The beasts were weaklings. That is the reason why he had stayed long term in the area when he himself was weak in similar way. It was generally safe. Still, there were beasts around that were fine targets and would net Verdict good rewards. Cores and valuable beast parts and possibly even contribution points by clearing away most dangerous beasts, which was their actual mission.

Now, if anything stronger came, such as the strongest beasts in the area that the boar had notified, he would act as necessary.

Finally, after giving a look everywhere around the base camp, Kaden returned. Everyone else had been putting together some traps. Kaden wondered why they didn’t have any actual traps with them, such as the type Sidon had used to attract beast and then bind it into the area. Perhaps that would have gone too much against the sense of it being a training mission? The traps that had been made seemed more like made from whatever materials everyone carried or salvaged from their camp site. Flimsy traps that might stop or injure a weaker beast for a moment. Kaden wondered why they even bothered with traps.

“You took your time”, Olren said and then added slightly condescendingly. “I thought perhaps you were dead.”

“As if anything in the area is even a problem to us”, Kaden replied. Then he went to the place where they had their map. “I know since I went over the area. If you want to see, then better come look now.”

Kaden pointed on the map what beasts he had found and where. Then he also estimated their territory roughly and gave his own opinion regarding which of them should be killed and in what order. He mainly pointed towards the thougher ones, even a few that were at limits of dire beast stage. Giving an excuse that they were worth most to get Verdict move far from the base camp to more dangerous places.

It was a win win situation. If Verdict suffers a loss, a few people would likely die or be injured. Suffering a loss during a mission would look a bit bad, but… these things happen! Kaden felt it would be fine.

If they win, using a valuable opportunity to kill a limit dire beast was a very good achievement. Better collect those contribution points when there was a chance!

After finishing his explanation, he let the rest decide what to do. As usual he would merely follow them and maintain his status as the strongest.

“We will select the Mist Fox right here”, Olren decided and pointed at the map.

Kaden snorted. Olren had picked a mere advanced dire beast as their target. At least it was some distance away.

Olren explained his reasoning. He apparently wanted to try their traps against a slightly weaker beast before going against the strongest ones. The Mist Fox was agile and stealthy one too. He wanted to see, if they would be able to hold any more slippery targets. Hem and Sari agreed.

Since Olren picked that beast, it meant they would attack within the day time. Mist Fox would be extremely difficult opponent during night where its special abilities would allow it to move fast and still be difficult to spot.

After making their preparations, they left immediately. It seemed they had been slightly bored during Kaden’s scouting. Besides, the missions had a limited time. They didn’t know how long it was, but they needed to get some work done so wasting time slacking off was not good. They had done enough of that during the first night when they had tried to setup a camp.

The team only had to kill a few minor beasts along the way to the target location. Once they were some distance away, they placed some traps in the area. They would have to lead a beast into them, but otherwise they would likely hold for a moment.

“How are you planning to get it into these traps?” Kaden questioned. He didn’t think the traps were useful. “Its a single beast, we should kill it without any tricks.”

Olren groaned. “This is a test!” He said. “Do you know the word?”

“Are you scared of fighting stronger beasts?” Kaden ignored the insult and continued. “You will eventually run into something strong without preparing for it. If you cannot beat beasts without traps, you will die that day.”

“And as long as that doesn’t happen, I prefer to be prepare”, Olren continued. “Why give these beasts slightest chance? They need to know humans aren’t to be messed with.”

“Sure, sure”, Kaden replied dismissively. It didn’t matter that much to him what was going to happen.

Olren also ignored Kaden and instead started describing a plan on exactly how they would get the fox to trigger the traps. The rest would hide while one of them would gain its attention by passing nearby. Then lead it to the area with traps. Olren told Kaden to stay back. He assumed Kaden would just kill the beast before they get the chance to conduct the test.

Then Kaden watched Hem go forward towards the area where the Mist Fox was still staying. It’s usual hunting time was during late night or early morning or when there was mist in which it could hide, so it would rest during day. Yet, when a seemingly random human suddenly passed by its hiding place, it was going to take the bait. It wasn’t that intelligent to notice a oddities of the situation.

In fact, Kaden was surprised as Hem ran past a trapped area and that the fox suddenly found itself stuck with a mana enhanced rope around its leg. In Kaden’s opinion, only reason it worked was because they had arranged a spot where the fox would have to run between some trees and rocks that made its path more predictable.

Sari was there to insert mana into the rope to keep it strong and even control it slightly.

Olren and the rest watched for a moment how well the mana enchanced rope could hold an advanced dire beast like the Mist Fox. It was showing some damage as soon as it began biting at it, but those few moments it was forced to be still, was enough. Olren separated its head from its body with a swift sword strike.

“Pathetic”, Kaden said. “You never needed the trap. Nor will it hold anything bigger. For sure not those limit dire beasts we should be hunting.”

“We can use them to stage an ambush”, Olren said. He sounded somewhat annoyed. “It is enough.”

“Then play your games and waste time”, Kaden replied. “Perhaps next time when our performance was terrible this time, I get to lead.”

Olren stared Kaden and was clearly fuming in rage, but he didn’t do anything. Instead now that he considered his test done, they would go for better targets. They still ignored the physically tough targets such as bear dire beasts or other larger ones. Instead they went for some lizard. Kaden could not remember its species, but it had a spike shaped bone at the tip of its tail. It was also about the size of a large dog.

Being one of the strongest beasts in the area had allowed it to remain safe for quite a long time. Kaden actually remembered it had already been in the area back when he lived there. He had not messed with it, because it was a limit dire beast. If it ever reached High Beast stage, it would have had to leave the area and go somewhere else. The boar would surely kill it, if it tried to stay. Perhaps even before it truly evolved. Now Verdict was going to kill it.

Kaden was actually rather interested how strong it was. If rest of the Verdict members were going to make their silly trap setup again, he might get to see it.

Once at the right place, they did go for the same trick. He should have expected it. This time Kaden didn’t question it, but watched. His job was to finish the lizard, if the rest didn’t manage to do so. Olren seemed to set up Kaden in such a position where he would not get to show his strength and let himself collect all the glory and hold back Kaden.

Kaden sneered. He was already beyond Olren.

Once the trap was set up, everyone performed the same act. The lizard charged after Hem with its spiked tail in a strike position. The lizard was slightly faster, but Hem was still able to maneuver towards the trap position.

Yet, as soon as the lizard was supposed to step into the trap, it stopped. It hissed and slammed its tail on a tree next to it, which was cut down and crashed upon the area triggering the trap. Surprised Sari was also forced to move out of her hiding place. The lizard quickly acted and charged towards her.

Hem and Olren started to act quickly, while Sari did quick movements to avoid the spiked tail of the lizard. Kaden also entered the fray, but didn’t immediately end it. While he had generally speaking favorable opinion about Sari, he would at most not attack her himself. He didn’t really care, if something else did. Still, he had to play his part about being a ‘team member’.

It took a lengthy fight, but no more than minor injuries, until the lizard was dead. Kaden repeated his words about the useless traps and that it almost got someone killed! Olren argued that, if they had fought directly, the end result would have been roughly the same.

At any rate, over the course of the day, their hunting had some successes and yet some failures. Eventually they decided to concentrate on advanced dire beasts rather than ones at limit. The traps were also eventually put aside or placed just in case they would be useful, but no one would directly use them until needed.

By the time it was finally getting dark they were planning on killing one more beast until returning. This time they were not using traps and were instead using an ambush with otherwise similar stragtegy.

Their target was this time a porcupine.

Just as the team had started their attack and were moving silently towards the porcupine, Kaden noticed something at the edges of his senses. Something relatively strong was quietly approaching them. Surely a limit dire beast. Now that Kaden noticed it, he realized it had likely hidden itself and waited until the team moved.

“Huh, it was able to hide itself well enough that I didn’t notice it immediately?” Kaden thought to himself. “This one is smart and knows what its doing. Hehe… could this one be one of the strongest that the boar notified? I haven’t encountered something like this so far.”

Since Kaden’s job was not to take part in the initial attack, he had the chance to look around. With his eyes he finally noticed a large beast closing into the area. Shadow Tiger! One of the most dangerous dire beasts that could be found near human territories!

It moved in silently. Its fur was what gave it its name. Dark stripes on its fur seemed to wave and move as it blended into the shadows. This caused visual effect that seemed to make it appear and disapear at random.

“Lets see how this goes”, Kaden smiled as he watched.

The ambushers were going to be ambushed soon.