[ Ridge Clearing – Guild Adventurer Meetup]
A small camp had been erected near the forest's edge, overlooking the slope that descended to the known monster perimeter.
Waiting there were:
Ildrin Sahl, Level 6 spearmaster, Guild-appointed party leader.
Mara Teln, Level 5 trap specialist.
Greth Balrock, Level 6 battle mage, armor scorched, cloak torn at the edge.
Sethen, Level 5 scout with Ferrow ties—assigned to liaise until Ferrow returned.
Commander Solin dismounted, approaching Ildrin.
"You've seen the perimeter?"
—Solin
"We circled it twice. Too precise for just a normal beast pack."
—Ildrin
"Alpha confirmed?"
"Lucan Ferrow's team shadowed it. No engagement, but they're still out there."
—Sethen
Solin folded his arms.
"Then we hold this ridge. No movement past this point until Ferrow reports back again."
"If the alpha shifts formation—we strike. Not before."
—Commander Solin
Ildrin nodded.
"Understood. We're adventurers. But we follow command on this one."
"The Guild made that clear."
---
The camp settled into rotating watch shifts.
No fires.
Only the low wind.
A map was spread over the table, pinned by daggers and marked with chalk. Commander Deran Solin, Ildrin, and a few sub-captains huddled close. Lanternlight flickered off steel and sweat.
"We strike only if Ferrow's team confirms a shift. Until then—defensive wedge. Shields up, mages behind."
—Solin
"If the traps are networked, we'll need two runners to trace the connection before the front moves."
—Mara Teln
Ildrin pointed to a narrowing in the cliff route.
"That gulley here is our choke. If they rush, we fall back through it. Let them bottleneck."
"Then Greth turns the air inside molten."
Greth nodded grimly.
---
A sudden low tremor rolled through the earth beneath them.
Silence.
Then—
BOOM.
A thunderclap of magical force detonated across the distant treeline. The sky lit in twisting gold and red arcs, fire cascading like meteor trails.
Then again.
And again.
Six volleys.
Then twelve.
Then nonstop.
A sustained, precision bombardment, striking far past their forward watch. The forest itself seemed to shriek—explosions folding trees into ash, air cracked open with every blast.
---
"What the hell is that?!"
—Greth, stunned
Solin burst from the tent, scanning the burning horizon. The ridge beyond the slope glowed with smoke and refracted sigil-fire.
"That's not field artillery.That's magic barrage."
—Solin
Sethen slid into the tent, breath short.
"We saw a mage lights from the slope. It's a Guild signature—but no one told us they'd deploy a caster cell."
Then—
A final deep roar rolled over the hill.
Bestial. Deafening.
Pain. Rage.
And then—gone.
---
Silence.
No more blasts.
No more beast calls.
Just… smoke. And a sudden cold that spread through every soul on the ridge.
"I want scouts. Now. Find Ferrow's unit. Find out who launched that barrage."
—Commander Solin
"If that was one of ours…"
"Why didn't anyone tell us before firing?"
__________________________
Ash floated through the air like black snow.
Trees were reduced to brittle stumps. Craters smoked, ringed with molten glass. The ground itself looked peeled open, raw and hissing from the precision arcane strikes.
From the treeline, Lucan Ferrow's cloaked figure emerged, flanked by his three shadow operatives.
They moved carefully, silently, the usual stealth now layered with a strange reverence—as if entering a ruin not meant for mortal feet.
Lucan knelt near a scorched clearing.
There, at the center: the remains of what could only be the alpha beast.
Once massive—now pulverized. Its horn shattered, ribs broken outward, the flesh melted and blackened beyond natural death.
"It was alive when it was hit."
—Ferrow, low voice
One of his scouts circled closer.
"Too clean.No magical residue left behind, either. Whoever did this... erased their own trail."
Lucan's eyes narrowed. He opened a small relay stone.
---
Message sent:
"Alpha down. Entire formation scattered. No surviving beasts. No sign of caster or unit.
Ground is pulverised. Too clean as no magic intervention detected. Recommend secured investigation.
—L.F."