Mikael walked over, curious to see what Alf found.
"Do you also think this here is a good clue?" he said, showing him deep claw marks and broken of bark from an thick tree.
"To me it seems a fight took place here. There are marks like that everywhere, even on some stones. And the opposing party was most likely humans."
"What brought you to that conclusion? I don't see anything that suggests that." Mikael said, looking around but not noticing anything besides the obvious traces.
"Here." Alf walked a few steps, hovering his hand over some leafs and moss.
"Blood, and not a chunk, but sprinkles, like he got a wound when a sword slices through skin. And also this stuff here."
"Is this... cloth? Maybe from the other party."
Alf nodded. "There aren't many traces left, the encounter should've happened some time ago. But at some places around here I see now tracks, less obvious but there."
Together they walked down further, following the faint signs he found. Mikael had forgotten his firewood already, hammer in hand in fear this creature might ambush them.
'Last time before it emerged I had this sensation, let's hope I'll get this again. I wouldn't like to get thrown away like Leon.'
"This is as I feared..." Alf took Mikael out from his thought, holding up a blue, ripped and bloody shirt that belonged clearly to a person.
"Here is something, too. It looks like a bit of a spear." Mikael said, from his corner seeing that bit, holding it up.
"Only a bit of the tip is covered in dried up blood. And it is so dark..."
"Monster blood is mostly darker, especially the bigger ones. And this here lets us guess their encounter ended not in the parties victory. A violent fight with a monster that stretches out that far should show more... gore. Blood, limbs or corpses. But there is nothing from that here, except some splatters."
They wandered around the perimeter a bit, trying to get more clues, but found nothing more.
They agreed to head back, already having wandered of too far.
Back in their small camp, they arrived timely with Sophia and Herald, both safe and healthy.
But Mikael could count less arrows in Heralds quiver, and she had some blood on her shoes.
"And? Got anything interesting?" René asked, already igniting their fire again with his special technique.
Not sure who was meant, as both of them just arrived, Alf took the lead upon eye contact and a silent agreement.
He recounted their findings, that some fight took place between humans and monsters.
"We assume it was that Tusk Stalker, as nothing else is in these parts. I hope at least not." he held in his hand the broken spear, handing it René, unsure of he might got methods to retrieve more information.
Then it was the scouts turn.
"We sneaked deeper into the woods, in what we believed was part of its territory. I lead us to a cave we found previously, where a corpse of an hunter laid. We left it there as she had a faith that somehow forbid us to bury her corpse. But when we entered, it was gone. Not in a kind of nibbled on and bones left in place, but the whole thing.
What's worse was we got into the way of a group of Undead, no clue what they did there, maybe searching for us, who knows. Getting rid of them was quite easy, their bodies were falling apart from itself."
Herald mumbled again, something about his arrows being not retrietvable and how it sucked.
Sophia shot him an annoyed glance.
"We thought it would be a good idea to follow the way they came from, further to the east. Had to avoid an increasing number of these things, but before seeing its lair, you called us back." she finished, and René, sitting by the ignited fire, listened with a worried expression.
After he looked into the fire for some seconds, he sighed.
"At first Simon said I should limit my intervention, keeping it low and letting you do the work. But this is an emergency. This monster is far more dangerous, and needs to be subjugated immediately, before it can further hone its skills. This here" he held up the spear, throwing it into the fire, "and the missing corpse you saw suggest that this enemy can even bring back mana heavy creatures like us humans back to life. Apparently it can't supply its creations with much of its mana, either Tusk Stalker would run dry or he lacks the ability. But if humans are among them, he is not only a monster, but a threat to our souls." he slammed down his fist on a nearby root, squashing the massive wood and leaving a deep dent.
His voice wasn't angry or afraid, but filled with a determination to find that creature and eliminating it.
"Don't worry, I'll personally lead the charge against it. I can't very well divide my attention to face multiple enemies, but one or two should be doable. So I have to rely on you to keep away its forces, maybe supporting me when the opportunity shows. Can I count on that?"
He asked in the gathered round, all of them hanging at his lips, hungry for their battle plan.
All of them approved, voicing their support differently.
'This mission is getting serious.' Mikael felt, the aura of René flaring up suptly, giving him goosebumps.
Everyone around him also seemed to get the severity, not even Sophia cracking one of her dry jokes, or Mark and Meri whispering to each other what they often did.
"If I seem to struggle when facing it, don't worry too much. This beast got a certain intelligence, and maybe I need to deploy some tactics. When I need help I'll ask directly. Don't throw yourselves into danger unnecessary, observe your surroundings and be alerted. When we got more rest, we will advance. Last night we should have depleted most of Tusk Stalkers forces, if not we will do so tonight."
The confidence calmed their tensed nerves.
"Not that a bunch of rotting flesh could really be a threat. We are mostly made up of Copper ranks, and we three aren't weak either." Sophia said, ready to climb onto the big tree to take the first shift.
After they divided their roles, they went into a light sleep, only to recover an ever so slim amount of energy.
But the enemy didn't want to let them.
Not even an hour later, woken up by Sophia kicking his side, Mikael jolted awake, his tired eyes opening and closing as he tried to analyse the moment.
"Not again. Not even a damn hour of rest." Mark complained, shaking gently Meri at his side awake.
René already seemed to have noticed the arrival, as he stood on a large root that raised his viewpoint.
"Around the same size as last time, but consistent of more smaller creatures. Looks like it wants to either preserve the stronger ones or runs dry. Anyway, another sleepless night stands before us."
He jumped down, standing in front of thepart of the tree where they put up camp.
Looking around he could see unlike last time their position was disadvantageous.
"We have to take more of a initiative, advance while smashing our way through this horde. We can't let them bury us in a pile of corpses. Ready up, this gonna be messy." Taking up his long sword, he took stance already darting forward to the monster that approached him. The Goblins skill offered no resistance, and the weapon continued to pierce other creatures behind it.
His companions followed suit, Mikael also bracing himself, the hammer in both hands.
'Hope my stamina will last again.'
He walked up with his small frame towards a bunch of Bornos, Goblins and Kobolds.
At his side stood Leon, his sword risen and ready to engage.
"Take care of my back, and don't accidentally hit me, alright? Don't wanna spend more days then necessary on Jenny's cot."
"Same, and don't let me waste another of my potions. The good stuff is gone."
With this he swung sideways, destroying with a shattering ring the skulls and bones of multiple monsters, either killing them directly or sending them to the ground. His blunt strikes worked great as to incapacitate, Leon using his swift moves to finish the job, so Mikael could concentrate on smashing.
Alf, Herald and Sophia took a rest first, as they acted the whole day and to have a more fresh backup later on, if the fight takes too long.
And the lack of proper sleep and resting mentally showed itself soon. The creatures got closer, sometimes making them retreat or breaching their circle, risking to attack from their rear.
Leon showed also that despite his week of recovering, some lasting damage had been inflicted. He was a bit behind Mikael, not as energetic as before and playing it safer. Sophia replaced him as he failed to finish a clearly alive opponent on the ground, falling and nearly got bitten by it. He was rescued by Mikael, who made his move and send the head flying towards the undergrowth.
"If a rookie has to safe you, something is wrong. Get your mind together and dont mess up." she said, helping him up rudely and tossing him downright in the safety of the roots. Herald and Alf also took then Meris and Marks place as they began to make mistakes. Meri due to her lighter armor even got pinned down by an attacking Borno, its strong jaws biting down on her upper arm, making her calling out for help in pain.
Mark immediately turned, almost forgetting he just battled two enemies, a Goblin and a Jerksy and a wild dog.
Upon nearly abandoning his position, one of these monsters charged at his exposed side, also bringing him down.
Meris pained voice traveled to René, on which he promptly held out his hand, spoke a quick sentence, too fast and quiet spoken for anyone to understand, and like a invisible force wrapped around that monster, it got dragged away from her, in the next moment the head separated from the body.
Mikael witnessed that spectacle, already trying to clear his room to help Mark.
"Rookie, take her place, close this damn opening!" bellowed René, walking over and making short work of his opposing enemy.
"This isn't just a test anymore. You impressed me already far more than expected, and now I'm gonna treat you like at least a capable stone rank! Now, go in and hold, don't let them overrun our base!"