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“Great! But keep wearing the mantle unless it’s reduced to rags,” Oli shouted while the team broke out in laughter.

Yeter boldly jumped back to the open area and did his best to hide how badly he was shivering. But no one commented on that since they were too busy donning their own mantles.

They hurried back into their bedrolls and napped for an hour until dawn. When everyone got up, there were no signs of wolves anywhere. But everyone knew it wasn’t so easy to get wolves off their trail. And if there was a larger pack that the wolves had been a part of, a future battle was imminent.

So the team did what was best. They moved along. A quick breakfast was all that happened before the team scurried away in pursuit of the glowing beacon.

Another fact was learned too. The beacon was gradually becoming more and more purple by the day. By then, it was half blue and half purple compared to mostly blue during the past few days.

“Maybe that’s a sign of how much time we have,” Oli suggested but didn’t give it too much thought. All he knew what that it was the seventh day of the qualifier’s first round. That meant they were halfway through the time limit, and that there was only one sun left before the round ended by default.

.....

What Oli wanted to know, though, was if any teams had already reached the shrine. He was almost certain that it hadn’t happened, but it was becoming more and more of an intruding thought with each passing day. Since only four teams could move on, Oli was beginning to fight with his anxiety a bit more each day. And the worst part was how it was impossible to know the final result or sway odds in his favor until they were already at the shrine. There was also the factor of getting all team members to the shrine, so it was hopeless for Oli to consider doing everything himself to relieve a bit of anxiety.

Those thoughts stewed and bubbled inside Oli’s mind throughout the day. Occasionally Oli would focus on searching for wolves to get his mind something else to ponder, but that proved fruitless.

To both their dismay and luck, the team went the whole day without encountering a major fight. They passed another fox den but they talked their way out of a fight yet again. Now, they would have to camp through the night.

Yeter asked, “If you think wolves will attack, then why not keep going? We’ve got the beacon to guide us, so let’s go!”

“It’s not that simple...” sighed Oli. “Fulkar, would you care to explain?”

Nodding, Fulkar laughed and gave Yeter a fiendish grin. “You know what’s scarier than getting ambushed by a wolf pack while camping?”

“... What?” Yeter asked.

“Do you know what’s scarier?” Fulkar repeated his question but didn’t wait for another reply, dropping his smile to give Yeter a deadpan, serious glare. “Falling into a trap or ambush in the middle of the night. If we’re expecting a night attack, at least we can prepare for it while camping. Unless you’d like to try avoiding them in the dark of night. If so, then pray to Dominus that you’ll be alive long enough to get a count of how many wolves enjoy the taste of your thick hide.”

Yeter felt his mouth go dry, rendering him unable to reply. Oli was also startled at how Fulkar handled the matter. But Trenk and Freele didn’t seem fazed, having known Fulkar for years.

On that note, a small fire was built and they prepared a barrier to keep the wind out. However, this time Oli went out of his way to knock down a few trees during the day’s travel. They would be using those for temporary walls instead of animal carcasses for the rest of their trip.

“We’ll be doubling up for the night watch, just in case,” Oli ordered. “First up is Fulkar and Trenk. Then it’ll be me and Yeter, followed by me and Freele as the last watch. That will cut our resting time, so make sure to sleep soundly and don’t stay up long.”

“Yes, sir!”

With everyone on board, the team ate some grilled lizard and hit the sack.

... Nothing happened that night.

Everyone was somewhat on edge as they got ready to leave in the morning. Oli didn’t seem to care that he’d slept less than everyone else, but he was also too focused on searching the camp’s vicinity for tracks to talk about anything new.

“Nothing. Not a single track...” Oli sighed with a perplexed tone. “What are you thinking, Fulkar, Trenk?”

“I don’t much about hunting,” Trenk replied. “I was too busy training in studios and studying to be the family heir until recently...”

“Hmm... I find it hard to believe that no wolves came to get us. But maybe there aren’t enough left in the pack to challenge our team, so they never considered tracking us down for revenge,” suggested Fulkar.

Shrugging, Oli remarked, “That’s possible. But I don’t want to rule out a wolf attack just yet... For now, we move on. And we’ll repeat the same night watch tonight.”

“Yes, sir!”

With their search coming up short, the team pressed forward through the snow and stormy weather. Their range of visibility was getting smaller and smaller by the day. Now, the team could only see about fifteen krin in front of them. And if they were in an area without any trees to break up the wind, they could only see ten krin ahead. This was boosted slightly with Freele’s help but it was clear to everyone that it was only going to get worse.

On the bright side, the beacon was bigger than ever and the team could sense they were only a couple of days away from reaching their goal.

So the team marched with reinvigorated morale, going a bit faster than the day prior.

The day seemed to pass uneventfully. By noon, they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of anything. This left the party to eat their lunch on the road in silence, half expecting wolves to burst out of the snow. After all, Oli was adamant to keep everyone together and suffer as few injuries as possible.

“... Trenk! Look out!”

Fulkar’s warning alerted the entire party but Trenk was startled that he wasn’t able to react fast enough.

A white blur flew out of a snowbank and straight into Trenk’s side. Trenk was able to sidestep and lessen the injury to just a grazing blow. However, there was no fixing the huge tear in Trenk’s mantle.

“We mean no harm! Stand down if you want to live-”

“Die, humans!” the fox howled with bloodshot eyes, not caring if it was outnumbered.

Instantly, the team could sense the fox’s energy and knew it was at least a peak-elder beast. And its bloodshot eyes suggested that it was already in a frenzy.

Oli jumped to get in front of his teammates, shouting, “We’ve done nothing to you or your family-”

“THEY’RE DEAD!! So don’t give me excuses!” the fox barked through its fangs, lunging straight for Oli with bloodlust oozing from his deadly glare.

“I’m sorry...” Oli sighed but could only react in defense. There was no way Oli would give the fox a free hit, no matter what.

Crshhh...

The snow was sprayed back as the two collided with each other. Oli’s mace smacked the fox’s claw aside while Oli’s other hand tried to grab the fox’s ice-coated fangs.

But the fox disengaged to avoid Oli’s clutches and darted to the side, throwing itself at the next closest target, Freele.

“DUCK!”

Hearing Oli’s shout, Freele was the first to react, doing as Oli ordered.

Suddenly, Oli’s shadow took a tangible form. It became a set of looming tentacles that rocketed out and wrapped around the fox’s talk and legs, narrowly passing over Freele’s head.

“COWARDS! BASTARDS! HUMAN CURS!” the fox howled and cursed telepathically for all to hear. But it was unable to escape the grip of Oli’s newest Shadow Puppet battle art.

Fulkar raised his sword, demanding, “Shut up or we’ll slit your throat now-”

“Do it already! Maybe I’ll see my family again-”

CRACK!

The fox immediately went limp after having his skull cracked open by Oli’s mace. Everyone was taken aback by Oli’s sudden action, but Oli acted as casually as usual. “No matter what, the fox wasn’t going to calm down or talk rationally. We don’t have time to deal with those issues, so I just gave him what he asked for and got it over with.”

To the party’s surprise, it was Yeter that was the least affected by Oli’s abrupt action. But that didn’t surprise Oli. Both of them were beasts. They both knew what it was like to fight for their lives and survive in the world of beasts killing beasts.

Fulkar was the next to shake off his startled expression, only a second or two behind Yeter. “If we follow those tracks, I bet we’ll find the fox’s den. With any luck, we can see if another team is nearby.”