Balton asked his soldiers to lay traps. He thought that he would soon catch the beast that visited the den.
The soldiers obeyed him and laid many nets near and inside the den. Of course, those were no normal nets.
They had special magic imbued in them. They would zap or give a paralytic shock to the beasts or monsters that would touch them. Needless to say, humans would also get shocked, therefore it was necessary to handle them with care.
That was why a special glove-like apparatus was given to hold the net without any problem. Those very gloves ensured that no one got paralyzed because of their own net.
The soldiers did exactly as they were ordered and placed the nets. They themselves then hid near the cave. Some of them hid in the trees while others kept watching from a bit far away place.
Of course, they had binoculars like instruments that enabled them to look into a farther place.
Now all they had to do was wait for the beast to arrive.
Shin and Aella had gone hunting. They had rested enough and now hunted beasts that were weaker or smaller than themselves. Of course, they could hunt bigger beasts easily, however they would fail to carry them due to which all the meat would go to waste since other monsters or beasts would end up getting attracted to the smell and would end up finishing the untaken parts.
They waited for thirty minutes but there was no sign of any beast approaching the area. Needless to say, they were looking out for a wolf since that was what they had deducted from the fur.
"Master, isn't this enough for tonight?", was what Aella asked Shin.
It was evening time, or even perhaps nighttime by now. Of course, the moon was visible in the sky but the sun hadn't set. So it was basically a twilight.
Shin was greedy, he wanted to taste tons of beasts. Of course, he hadn't hunted all the beasts in the forest so he wanted to keep hunting.
But Aella was worried about the dangers that came with the sunset. Therefore she wanted to return to the den as soon so possible.
Well, she felt safe whenever she was around Shin so she didn't have much to worry about, but she was cautious. Her thinking ability had been enhanced so this was to be expected!
"Master, we should go home...", she kept saying that but Shin was looking for one more beast that he wanted to hunt and savor.
Of course, he was not an idiot to ignore what Aella said. He too knew that he wasn't invincible. Although he did grow strong, there were far stronger ones in the forest.
However, he was forced to hunt and the reason was quite simple.
[ Quest 96: Hunt A Teronaris ]
[ Teronaris -> A type of spider beast with eight legs. Imbued with poison ]
[ Quest Rank: B ]
[ Time Left: 00:01:50:22 ( 1 hour 50 minutes 22 seconds ) ]
[ Failure will result in a decrease in host's level by 1 ]
Shin didn't want his level to drop. He had worked hard for each and everything so yes, he wanted to keep going forward.
That was why he was searching for the beast, needless to say, the navigation was quite helpful.
[ 0.5 miles to the west ]
He kept going towards that area. Aella was quite irritated because Shin never once listened to her.
Well, it was not his fault, he was now receiving daily quests that he had to complete every day! Of course, he had to complete them before the sunset!
"Fine then, I will be going back!"
"Come whenever you want! Hmph!", right after saying that Aella ran away using the skill Wind Run!
Of course, that was not the way to speak with a master who saved one's life. But she had gotten quite close to him and now perceived him as a lover.
Well, it was indeed one-sided, but love was still love. Or perhaps it was affection. Whatever it may be, she looked at Shin in a different manner when compared to how she looked at him a year ago.
Nevertheless, she had already left the area and was not that far away from the den which she and Shin had discovered, modified, and perhaps created too.
"Sigh, she became angry again..."
That was all that Shin said.
'But, for some reason, my heart feels heavy...'
'It's beating faster than normal as if...'
'As if I am going to lose something...'
Those were his thoughts which were completely natural and genuine. He had no idea why he felt like that.
Probably it was because he was closely attached to Aella and was used to seeing her every day and every time and since she was heading towards danger, he too could feel the sense of uneasiness.
"Nah, I must be overthinking..."
"It must be because I'm quite tired..."
And there went his one and only chance to save Aella.
Well, Aella wasn't weak. However in front of humans, who are highly intelligent and have extreme tools and weapons, beasts as small as Aella could easily get killed.
Although she was strong, she wasn't ready to face the humans and their might. Well, she never met humans in the first place.
Ever since her birth, all she had seen were wolves. The only time when she saw other beasts were when the bears attacked their clan and when she went on hunting with Shin. Until then she had no idea about what she was eating or what she was sleeping on!
In any case, she herself hadn't realized that she was heading towards death doors. It was a pretty bad idea to leave Shin's side because even if Shin were to face a strong monster, he would be able to escape it with ease thanks to his sharp intellect.
She indeed regretted the decision of being separated from Shin the moment she fell into their trap!
'Aoooooooo'
She howled. The electric shock that zapped her almost made her lose consciousness. She was barely hanging.
'What...'
'What just happened?', she asked herself.
Because of the Wind run, she arrived at the place quite quickly. She didn't even realize that there were humans in the surrounding.
Well, she didn't have the time to detect the smell or anything. She didn't have any idea about who they were.
"Yes!"
"Sir Balton!"
"The wolf has fallen in our trap!", the soldiers raised their voices.
They were shouting in joy as if they had achieved something great. Of course, they would be happy because as per what Balton had said, the wolf was the same beast that was mentioned by the sage.
Balton rushed towards them on his horse as fast as he could. Wendy did the same because they wanted to look at the wolf.
The moment they arrived near the place and took a look at the wolf, they were surprised and were shocked.
'A wolf pup?', was what Wendy asked himself.
Not that Aella looked like a wolf pup, but she was not big enough to be called an adult.
Of course, she was just a little bigger than a pup and was half the size of any wolf.
That was what led Wendy to conclude that Aella was nothing more than a pup.
Well, that was not the only reason why Wendy was surprised. He was also baffled by the color of Aella's fur.
It was white, like that of the moon. Perhaps whiter than that.
'Is it really a strong beast? Or is it some random beast that was wandering around this part?', was what he asked himself again.
As mentioned earlier, the darker the fur of the wolf, the stronger it is. That was the classification that the wolves used and that was how humans too studied the wolves.
Since Aella was a white wolf, her fur was white thus causing them to think that she was one of the weakest wolves out there. That was what led Wendy to question himself if Aella was the beast that they were looking for.
All of the soldiers were laughing loudly in joy. Of course, that could attract other beasts, but there were not many beasts that would dare to come closer to the place that was just next to the Land of lost ones.
'What are they saying?'
'Who are they?'
'What are they?'
And those were the last thing that she thought about before she tried to free herself from the net.
To be continued...
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