As everyone focused on the battle, Eryndor carefully hid the contact card plenty of meters away below a few plants through his telekinesis.
I can't afford to extend my range drastically to move the contact card elsewhere, bringing it along with us is the only option.
Eryndor had to make a point to the blue haired senior who could sense the location of the card that they were indeed hunting the infected beasts.
As he thought of that, something suddenly clicked in him, but this wasn't the time to ponder over things so he shelved the thought aside.
Drakarion took the opportunity to kick the cat before giving it any time to stabilize itself.
The expected moment of the cat shooting off to crash into a tree didn't take place considering the force Drakarion put into his kick.
It only slightly pushed back the cat.
The kick only served to further infuriate the infected animal as claws emerged from within its paws.
The claws shined with ominous purple lustre even amidst the jungle, showcasing its sharpness.
"Uh oh."
Eryndor softly exclaimed.
The fight's difficulty just went up by a notch.
Drakarion positioned himself between the cat and the group, eager to protect his teammates and also to have the fight to himself.
The cat lunged once again.
Drakarion had a better response than Eryndor in that he slightly swerved to dodge the claws and launched a heavy punch at its head.
The punch landed right below its ear, emitting a heavy sound.
Everyone saw the cat's head snap to the side as it fell on the ground a few distance away due to momentum of its own earlier lunge.
"Do we already have the first casualty?"
Valentina spoke while glancing at Drakarion.
As if to answer their question, the cat stood up once again.
But they could see that it was swaying on its feet, no longer able to even walk perfectly.
It still had the aggression in its demeanor but it was as if its body wasn't listening to its command.
"Brain damage."
Paulina commented.
Eryndor stepped forward with a tranquilizer in his hand, understanding their roles, Paulina and Drakarion followed suit and held the cat.
Soon, the second infected animal was captured as well.
Just like last time, Paulina delivered the cat back to their inn and returned to join the group.
The battles were relatively easier, even when they encountered dogs.
Drakarion took care of pretty much everything, except one time when there was an extra cat in the surrounding area as they were dealing with an existing one.
Eryndor already knew about it, but alerted Drakarion only when the cat was in sight.
Paulina was quick and extremely accurate with her daggers, stabbing straight into its stomach while it was mid-air in its leap towards Drakarion.
Eryndor quickly tranquilized the cat while it was skewered on her dagger, storing it in a specialized bag before strapping it to the two wheeler.
By the end of the day, they had far exceeded their initial estimations, capturing around 40 infected animals.
While they were on their way to return to their inn, Eryndor recollected the conjecture he thought about earlier.
Did the blue haired senior put a tracker on us so that they can keep track of our movements? That we are indeed going from low to high risk infected animals?
Eryndor felt confused.
What connections did the blue haired senior have with the Mayor? Was the blue haired senior's name Rodrick Altreck? Was he the Mayor's younger brother?
He tapped on Paulina's shoulder.
"Do you happen to know how Rodrick looks? The Mayor's younger brother if you remember."
The trio's discussion stopped as Eryndor interjected with a completely new topic, with all of them glancing at him.
Paulina tilted her head, thought for a moment then answered with a bit of hesitation.
"I think he should have brown hair just like the Mayor. There was one among the group who looked a bit like the Mayor and had brown hair."
Eryndor nodded. "Thanks, that's some impressive memory."
She remembers the faces of so many people? That's kinda impressive.
Clearly, the rest of the teammates thought the same as both Drakarion and Valentina praised her about it.
Paulina smiled wryly, but didn't offer any explanation.
Eryndor fell back into thought.
So it's not the blue haired senior after all.
Then there is no connection between the location sensing and our team being fed information to head towards the vicinity of the red area?
Eryndor felt as if a layer of fog was surrounding all the events.
What was the missing link?
He heaved a deep sigh and decided to get a quick nap before trying to do a Cognitive Scrying on the blue haired senior.
Using Telekinesis on the contact card the entire day had left him feeling pretty tired with a slight headache.
It seems I made a good choice by using Telekinesis at a lesser range.
The drain seemed to be lesser than last night where he merely tested the limits of his range.
So range drains more energy than usage? Or is it because the constant card was so light that my usage was so less?
I'll need to keep experimenting for accurate data.
The four of them had a hefty dinner before retreating to their respective rooms.
All the captured animals had already been stored in the Academy's vehicle.
After about an hour, Eryndor groggily woke up due to the sound of the alarm.
Ah yes, I was supposed to wake up.
He didn't feel tired anymore, nor was there any sign of headache.
With a focused mind, he sat up and tapped into his ability.
This time he would be using Cognitive Scrying to extend his range and tap into the blue haired senior's mind.
Since both the abilities were at 'Active' rank, Eryndor hoped this one had an impressive range as well, else his future actions would be quite constrained.
As he activated the ability, his vision switched to that of the familiar third person view of his room.