Drawing near

With his theory of there actually being a pack of beasts killing adventurers and travellers in this forest, Alex made sure his sword didn't leave his hand at any time.

With the advantage of numbers now stacked against him, he didn't want to take any chances and get sneak attacked by a group of beasts and end up as the next victim.

He knew he couldn't underestimate them as well, as they clearly had some skills in hiding and staying out of sight.

But they still weren't smart enough to cover their tracks, otherwise Alex would end up like the mercenaries — clueless and probably dead soon enough.

'Where could these beasts be hiding then? The trail of blood ended at the food of the tree, but there's no branches sticking out of it until at least 50 metres up, no ordinary beast could climb such a thing unless it was-'

While considering his options, Alex suddenly stopped dead on his tracks and looked like he had some sort of brain wave.