Chapter 5: Monsters

The typical range for a scout's reconnaissance was about three to five kilometers from the caravan, depending on the scout's abilities.

Qiqi wasn't your average scout. As a member of the catfolk, she possessed innate agility, and on top of that, she had the talent called "Spirit Wind," which made her exceptionally fast, expanding her reconnaissance range and speeding up her scouting.

Proudly, she referred to herself as an elite scout.

In no time, Qiqi traversed an eight-kilometer stretch. Along the way, there was no sign of danger, and this section of the road seemed safe to pass through. It seemed that they hadn't left the protection zone of the city yet, with the patrols of the Haidu Guard deterring any potential troublemakers.

So, Qiqi pressed on, darting forward until she exited the protection zone.

However, barely five kilometers beyond the safety zone, she spotted trouble: a pack of foraging tusker boars.

Tusker boars were quite common monsters on the continent, widely distributed and typically at the Bronze level in adulthood, occasionally reaching Silver, depending mainly on their size.

Among this pack of boars, one stood out for its enormous size.

"Oh my whiskers, is that big boar a Silver?" Qiqi hid in the canopy, observing.

This pack of boars was evidently a large family, numbering around twenty to thirty individuals, with the largest among them standing over two meters tall. It probably reached Silver level, as its stripes shimmered with a silvery glow.

There were also seven or eight other large boars, all reaching the Bronze level, while the rest were smaller boars, barely reaching Bronze level.

This pack of boars posed no threat to the caravan, but the issue lay in their method of attack: "Boar Charge." Though the escort team could handle it, a careless collision with a cart carrying goods could spell trouble.

So, Qiqi decided to lead the boars away, as long as they were kept away from the merchant road.

With determination, she radiated a cyan light around her, wind swirling around, and in a single bound, she dashed out, appearing in front of the largest boar in the blink of an eye. With her short sword's scabbard, she tapped its forehead.

"Thud!"

The blow wasn't too heavy, but it stung, sending the boar into a rage.

"Come chase me, you silly pig!" Landing like a cat, Qiqi made a funny face at the boars, then turned and ran.

The big boar was furious, leading its family to chase after Qiqi.

Qiqi deliberately slowed down, baiting the boars, then sprinted off after leading them several kilometers away from the merchant road. After circling around a wide loop, she returned to the road.

With the boars dealt with, she resumed her reconnaissance.

Brave Qiqi, unafraid of difficulties, charging ahead!

Qiqi trod lightly, leaping agilely between tree trunks, moving swiftly.

However, at that moment, a gust of wind blew in her face, and Qiqi's nose twitched, furrowing her brows.

The smell of blood?

Something seemed to have happened up ahead.

Brave as she was, Qiqi decided to investigate.

She traversed through the woods, crossed over grassy slopes, and finally reached the source of the bloody smell.

Instantly, Qiqi's mouth hung open in disbelief.

On this side of the slope, the grassy ground was lush and adorned with white and yellow flowers, a beautiful sight. But on the other side of the slope, blood had stained the grass and soil red, with big-horned cattle lying on the ground, their innards spilled out, blood pooling around them.

Some were even dismembered, with chunks of flesh scattered around. The thick smell of blood made Qiqi's sensitive nose sting, almost bringing tears to her eyes.

What had happened here?

Qiqi dared not approach, so she could only observe from afar.

These big-horned cattle were probably owned by herdsmen, as they had leather ear tags, and some even had bells around their necks.

From the wounds on the cattle's bodies, it seemed they were attacked by some kind of monster.

Qiqi felt that it must be an extremely ferocious and powerful monster.

Because judging from the huge tearing wounds, the creature that attacked the cattle must have been quite large.

Hmm... and its mouth must be huge too. It looked like one of the cattle's necks was bitten off, and it seemed to be bitten off in one bite, with just a bit of skin left intact.

But if it was a monster, it shouldn't be like this. Although monsters also hunt livestock raised by humans for food, they usually do it to fill their stomachs and would drag away their prey after killing it. They generally wouldn't continue killing, let alone leave behind corpses everywhere.

Monsters know how terrifying humans are, and humans will surely retaliate, so they wouldn't be foolish enough to stay in one place to feed.

Here, the entire herd of cattle had been torn apart, and at a rough count, there were at least thirty to forty heads of cattle.

Moreover, while big-horned cattle were only at the Bronze level in terms of domesticated monsters, their size made them formidable. When threatened, they would gather to charge, and even a herd of Bronze-level cattle charging together was not something a low-star Silver-level monster dared to face head-on.

Yet here, they had clearly been completely overwhelmed and slaughtered.

So Qiqi speculated that this might be caused by a Silver-level or even a Gold-level monster gone berserk!

It might even be a Gold-level monster! 

A Gold-level monster... Captain Geof was only at Silver Nine Stars. Although Qiqi had heard that before joining the escort team, Captain Geof had led his team to successfully hunt down Gold-level monsters, it had also come at a heavy price.

Having lost three teammates, it turned out that the scout in the team had died in that battle, and Qiqi had taken his place as the new scout for the squad. Therefore, Qiqi felt that if they were to encounter a Gold-level monster, they shouldn't confront it head-on; instead, they should evade it if possible. However, decision-making was the captain's task, so Qiqi thought it best to return and report the situation first. Even though the route would be longer, the probability of encountering the terrifying creature that had slaughtered the cattle would be much lower.

With these thoughts in mind, Qiqi turned around to head back. However, just then, a gust of foul wind blew, causing the fur on Qiqi's tail to bristle instantly, her pupils shrinking in fear. Almost instinctively, she leaped into the air just as a massive claw mark appeared on the ground where she had stood, soil flying everywhere.

Without pausing after landing, she sprang backward like a spring, retreating tens of meters before coming to a stop.

Qiqi's chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared ahead, her eyes filled with terror.

It was a monster, standing three meters tall, with a humanoid body covered in steel-like black fur. There was an "X"-shaped blood pattern on its chest, and atop its body sat a massive wolf's head, its mouth twisted and grotesque, almost stretching to its ears, filled with jagged teeth, with drool mixed with blood dripping slowly.

What kind of monster was this?!

A werewolf?!

But werewolves don't look like this!

Qiqi had seen werewolves before; they were a type of orc, but they weren't nearly as terrifying.

The creature before her didn't look like an orc; it looked more like a humanoid monster, emitting a fierce aura.

Missing its target, the wolf-headed creature seemed somewhat surprised, but more than that, it seemed mocking.

The look in its eyes made the fur on Qiqi's tail stand on end, and she could sense the meaning behind that gaze.

It was a bloodthirsty, murderous desire, killing not out of necessity for survival, but out of sheer enjoyment of slaughter!

So much so that its exaggeratedly wide mouth kept stretching backward, as if it wanted to stretch all the way to the back of its head, revealing a "smile" that was so grotesque and terrifying that it made Qiqi's scalp tingle.

She couldn't win, no matter how she thought about it...

Qiqi moved discreetly backward, as if getting further away from the monster would make her safer.

In fact, it was true.

The monster didn't move, but its eyes were fixed firmly on Qiqi.

Suddenly, it made a slight movement with its feet. In an instant, without waiting for anything else, Qiqi turned and ran.

A cyan light appeared on her body, and she infused her magic to the maximum, fleeing at the fastest speed possible.

Qiqi moved, and the monster moved too, growling lowly as it pounced towards her, but Qiqi's swift reaction once again allowed her to evade its attack.

Failing to catch her twice in a row, the monster seemed to be stirred up even more, its limbs landing on the ground as it chased after Qiqi.

Qiqi didn't dare to stop, exerting all her strength to activate her magic and drive her blood and energy, pushing herself to run even faster.

"This is bad!"

"I'm going to die!"

"Captain, help me!"