A week had passed since Cloud had arrived at the village, time that he along with his subordinates, had used to reconnoiter the terrain, as well as search for clues as to the location of the strange creature, but to no avail.
It was as if the thing had been swallowed by the earth, which was a possibility they had explored.
"This looks like nonsense" - said Ponzu with a frown as she looked at the sky with boredom - "We haven't found anything even using all our skills."
"Hunting requires patience" - Cloud said calmly as he brought his face close to the ground and started sniffing, only to frown as he smelled a faint scent of blood - "And I think we finally found our first clue"
"Huh? Really?" - Ponzu asked in surprise as she released one of her bees.
A few seconds later, the bee began to move erratically, only to return to Ponzu's hat, who was deep in thought.
"I detected the scent of blood" - said Ponzu as she looked at her companions.
"If I remember correctly, near here there is a village" - Pokkle said as he took out a map and opened it, only to mark with a finger the route they had taken - "Here."
Cloud was silent for a few seconds before indicating to his companions to continue.
10 minutes later, the group had arrived at a village that seemed to be surrounded by a dark aura.
"This place gives me a very bad feeling," Ponzu said as she approached Pokkle with a pale face.
"Get out, strangers!" - exclaimed an older man as he appeared in front of the group - "We don't want strangers here!"
"Sorry, but we can't do that, we are hunters in search of answers" - said Cloud as he noticed how a small group of villagers, came out of their hunts with all kinds of farming tools - "Wait, why are there so few of them compared to the huge number of houses?"
"It's because our inhabitants have disappeared, among them my little ones" - said a woman as she began to sob.
Cloud frowned as he instructed Ponzu to send a message to the central base because this was already entering a higher level of danger.
"Ok, I understand the situation and we will investigate this, but I need you guys to evacuate to a safer place" - Cloud said as he earned the surprise of everyone, even Pokkle and the other hunters because they never thought such a human reaction from a man as cold as him.
"Are you authorized to do this, Mr. Cloud?" - Ponzu asked curiously.
"My orders are only below Netero's, so you don't have to worry" - Cloud answered neutrally while looking at the villagers - "But leaving that aside, I want you to prepare yourselves as soon as possible because whatever attacked your village and captured its inhabitants, it is possible that they will be back at any moment."
The villagers didn't hesitate any longer, they quickly ran to their rooms, leaving Cloud's group and the crying mother.
"I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am" - Cloud said as he looked at the brown-haired woman - "I promise you that we will get to the end of all this, and bring justice to your children."
"Thank you" - murmured the woman as she wiped her tears - "But I feel that my little ones are still alive, it's a mother's feeling."
"If they are still alive, then I will bring them back to you" - Cloud said with a small smile.
"Their names are Kurt and Reina" - said the woman while taking a picture of her little ones - "If you see them, tell them that mommy misses them".
Cloud took the photo and kept it in his inventory to keep the scent and the current state of the photo because you never knew when something like that might come in handy.
"What shall we do now?" - Pokkle asked as he looked at his leader.
"We'll escort them to safety, and keep an eye out for whatever comes against us" - Cloud said neutrally.
"Hai!" - exclaimed the hunters as they saw how the villagers were already ready to be able to leave, after all, they didn't have much stuff.
Cloud nodded again and motioned for them to follow, only to stop when he noticed how someone was watching them, but what made everything strange, was that the person in charge was talented because he couldn't detect the exact location of the person in charge.
"The prey are escaping, and those guys look different, possibly they can also use the strange energy" - said a humanoid silhouette with a strange curved tail - "I have to warn the others about the escape attempt of those humans."
Without a second thought, the strange creature disappeared from the place.
Cloud for his part, could only frown when he saw how the strange creature was gone because he could no longer feel its gaze.
"Is something wrong, Cloud-san?" - Pokkle asked while looking at his leader.
"No, it's nothing" - answered Cloud as he thought for a few seconds - "I think our trip back won't be too good to say the least."
"What do you mean?" - Ponzu asked with a frown.
"That someone already saw that we are evacuating, possibly it's the creature, and from what I could tell, it has an intellect similar to that of an average human" - answered Cloud as he indicated to his subordinates to get ready because things were about to get out of control.
* * * * *
"That's what happened" - said the humanoid silhouette that had been spying on Cloud and the others from a distance.
He was a man with greenish skin and chameleon-like features, along with a long curled tail.
"What do you guys think?" - Asked what appeared to be a white-haired penguin as he looked at his companions.
"Before I give my opinion, I want you to tell me how strong you think they are" - said a man with white bird wings on his back - "I want you to be honest."
"Possibly lethal" - replied the chameleon man - "Instinctively my body was telling me not to take another step or I would end up dead."
"A mere human terrified you?" - asked a large, white-colored lizard man - "That's disturbing."
"Tell it like it is, he's weak" - snorted a gray werewolf with dirty blond hair - "If it had been me, I would have attacked without mercy"
"And you would possibly have died, Welfin" - said the chameleon man disdainfully - "I can assure you that he was a monster in human skin."
"That we will have to find out for ourselves when we go to hunt him because we cannot allow our prey to escape" - said a woman with lilac skin, wine-colored hair and a long scorpion tail at her rear - "Don't you think so too?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't plan to participate, nor do my subordinates" - said the white-winged man as he looked around - "It's better to trust our instincts"
"Not going hunting, is proof of your weakness, Colt" - said a cheetah man as he looked at his companion - "At times like this, it's go, kill and gather."
"It's not weakness, it's simple common sense" - replied Colt as he looked around - "Our duty is to control our subordinates and fulfill the wishes of our queen, not to go hunting just for fun and endanger our race."
"Tch, as glib as ever" - said the scorpion woman as she looked at her fellow squadron captain - "If it wasn't because you were one of the first to have a human appearance, you wouldn't be here with your shitty attitude"
"But I am, and my opinion is just as valid as yours" - Colt said as he narrowed his eyes - "And that includes you too, Zazan."
"This meeting is taking too long" - said the penguin man as he frowned - "What Zazan says has a point, we can't let our queen's food escape, but we can't just attack just like that either."
"What are they talking about?" - A female voice asked.
The commanders quickly jumped up and knelt before the voice because they recognized it immediately.
"N-Neferpitou-sama!" - The commanders exclaimed at the presence of the female figure walking in their direction. She had messy white hair, two cat ears sticking out of the top of her head along with a tail of the same color over her backside. The girl was wearing what appeared to be a blue coat with six yellow buttons, brown pants that only covered her thighs, stockings of the same color, and a pair of black sneakers.
"I don't want to repeat the question" - Neferpitou said as she grew her claws with a cold expression - "What were you doing?"
"W-We were talking about the possible sighting of someone extremely strong among the humans, and how they were escaping" - answered Peggy, the penguin man while ducking his gaze.
"Why weren't we informed about something as serious as the escape of the queen's food?" - Neferpitou asked as her aura unconsciously began to be released by the enormous fury she felt - "Is it because of that human, by any chance?"
"That's right" - answered Peggy while he swallowed saliva as he noticed how his superior's expression, was getting colder and colder.
As commanders, they answered directly to the queen's royal guard, who was concentrating all her attention on bringing the king into the world.
--
NEW WORLD - ARIFURETA
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