The Ranger looked around cautiously, he then addressed Arnand,
"it seemed that there were higher tier beasts that appeared here, likely a tier 2 beast or higher. If our target rain into it, I don't think you'll even find a complete corpse."
Arnand nodded to acknowledge him but gestured for him to continue forward.
A few steps later, they emerged into a clearing where they could immediately tell that a fight had occurred. There was scattered and trampled vegetation everywhere, cut branches and stems and streams and traces of dried blood. The dogs paced uneasily, unwilling to enter the clearing.
Arnand moved into the clearing, stopping by a dried pool of blood. He looked around, seeing if he could find a body.
He gestured to his soldiers, who spread out in all directions, searching for any clues and traces. A few minutes later they all came back to report to Arnand, none of them had found anything.
Arnand looked at the Ranger, who started explaining,
"it seems that our target encountered the beast here, I'm surprised he wasn't offed immediately. You told me he was tier 1 at best. "
The hunter looked at Arnand suspiciously, who looked back at him expressionlessly.
The hunter felt a chill at Arnand's expression and obediently swallowed back his questions. He continued speaking.
"The target fought the beast here, from the traces he actually put up a fierce fight. In fact he might have won. You can see that a huge beast fell by the pull of blood. That is the blood of a beast, from the magical traces, a tier two beast. That shows that he may have slayed the beast."
Arnand fixed his eyes on one of his soldiers. It was the remaining guard who had been guarding the young lord, the remaining guard blanched and stuttered.
"Everything I told you is true lord. I didn't keep anything back."
His eyes whirled in panic as he stuttered. He seemed to remember something as he said frantically,
"The sword, he had a sharp sword. It pierced through the young lord's armor as if it was butter. You saw the wound yourself."
Arnand withdrew his sharp gaze and contemplated silently.
He looked at the Ranger again, who shrugged and said, "There are no traces of anyone else. So either the target won and fled or the tiger won and carried the body away. However either away there are no more tracks, and the dogs"
The hunter sighed as he saw the dogs staying away from the clearing.
He hesitated for a while and then mentally reached out. After a while there was a little rustling in the leaves by the side. A huge wolf made its way out of the trees, it radiated a Tier 2 aura as it made its way towards the Ranger, looking cautiously at Arnand. No one seemed surprised or reacted; they knew that Rangers could tame beasts, it was part of their skill set.
The hunter communicated with the beast which lowered its head to sniff out the place, as a tier two beast it wasn't intimidated by the aura of the panther.
After a while, the wolf suddenly recoiled as if it had picked out something terrifying. It began pacing anxiously and seemed ready to bolt.
The hunter calmed down the anxious wolf, and started regretting his decision to pick up this job. Anything that could spook his wolf that way could only be a vastly stronger being.
It could be seen in how weary it was of Arnand, a Grand knight. Whatever else had been here it had been definitely been at the same Tier or even higher, and it was definitely not something he wanted to mix himself in.
Arnand had also seen the wolf's reaction and his gaze flashed dangerously, this was getting even more interesting.
He fixed his gaze on the hunter and ordered in a unquestionable tone, "Track them down."
The hunter had an unwilling expression, but he didn't dare resist. He ordered his tamed beast to track down the scent, which paced uneasily for a while then started out in a certain direction
They followed the wolf as it started out, heading deeper into the forest. At this point the place Reign had fought the panther was already pretty deep into the forest. As they headed deeper they started encountering beasts here and there.
Most of them saw their number and avoided them but it still made them all alert. They knew the deeper they went the stronger the beasts they would encounter so they kept a vigilant watch.
The wolf continued tracking the scent, sometimes it would seemingly lose it, only finding it after a while, the ranger was practically sweating at those times, as he felt Arnand's cold gaze on his back.
They made their way deeper and deeper, driven on by Arnand's relentless push. They soon started encountering packs of beasts which showed signs of attacking, however when they sensed Arnand's overpowering aura they didn't attack.
When they had penetrated so far that even Arnand was considering calling off the mission, they noticed the wolf had stopped.
It then paced around uneasily, and no amount of prodding by the hunter could make it move forward.
Arnand looked around cautiously; everywhere they could see there was only the forest and nothing else. They thought perhaps a third tier beast lived here and the wolf had picked it up.
They all tensed, drawing their swords and keeping their shields at the ready. Some of them had a glow appear on their skin, showing that they were elite warriors. Arnand too drew his sword, adhered to his appeared a thick glow similar to that of the warriors.
They looked around, waiting and watching out for an attack. They waited for a while, their ears strained and bodies tense but no attack came. The forest remained silent, seemingly mocking their alertness and fear. A
rnand's eyes stirred as he seemed to think of something, he looked at the place where the wolf had withdrawn from and his eyes flashed fiercely.
He raised his sword high and swung it, a thick sword shaped beam shot out, cleaving the air and making the surrounding vegetation tremble fiercely.
It swept out fiercely towards the front where there were only trees and nothing else. The sword attack suddenly collided with an invisible surface, causing a loud rumble that echoed throughout the forest.