The beast kin galloped along the road on all fours. She has picked up the scent.
Along the way, she passed by a dead flesh abomination. Its skin was still moist. Not surprising given that, the weather during this time of the year was overcast.
"Meow. No cuts or burns. It seemed that someone deliberately triggered this one and just got away and let the beast run out of mana."
The beast kin crawled around the area, searching for clues. Using her paw, she began digging away at the dirt path. "Cart tracks. Meow? A boot print. Oh Meow, huge!"
She lowered her nose down close to the ground and sniffed. "Hmm.. Smells like the one I'm looking for. "
Then, she stuck out her tongue and licked the deep part of the boot print.
"Wyvern skin? A tad on the expensive side, but people do make boots from those."
She spat out the soil.
A gust of wind blew past her. Sniff* Sniff*. Her nose twitched, the scent was still fresh.
She continued galloping down the road. More corpses. Another boot print. She pressed her nose into the print and began sniffing.
"Wyvern skin. The scent strong."
The beast kin then came across a wrecked caravan. The territorial army flag flying over it. Wooden carts torn to pieces. By some miracle, several sacks of grain survived intact.
Several depleted flesh abominations littered the grounds.
"Sliced in half. Rurrrr… Rurrr.. Strong sword did this."
She came across a curious one with four hoffs in its tentacles.
"This one's grabbed a horsey. Meow, but where horsey go? Dis thing dont have mouth. "
Then, she found a pile of charred corpses. Or what's left of it.
"Meow. Strange. The grey men no use fire. Meow, the fire strong to burn wet body."
She sniffed around. The pungent stench of the rotting abominations.
"Many boot prints. Meow. Pointing different ways. Meow. She walked here and then here. "
She continued following the trail. Another boot print.
"This one points sideways. Meows. Meow follow."
She followed the trail. It was sparsely wooded.
"Mm meow. Tree trunks got cut with one swing."
There was a tree that was still standing, meow, but a large round hole was blown right through it.
"Cannon Meow? But where cannon tracks?"
There were plenty more trees trunks littered across the grounds with the
Placing her nose close to the ground, she sniffed around.
"Hmm…. gunpowder, acid, aether fire. Rrrurrr… The hooded disappearing men."
Then she stumbled upon a set of half burnt robes. Though its wearer had dissolved to ashes.
"Meow. They got wrecked."
She dug around the robes with her claws.
"Moew, where shiny thingy that makes hooded men disappear, meow."
She sniffed around the cloak.
"Gone, meow."
She found another cloak.
"Boot marks. Rrurrr… hooded men smell, bad smell. meow."
Then she noticed a clearing in the middle of the woods. She could see the boot marks from quite a distance. Jumping into the middle, she dug away the layer of dust with her paws.
"Meow, two prints."
She licked the boot print.
"Wyvern skin meow."
Then she licked the ground surrounding the boot print.
"Sweaty. Meow. Smells like her. Meow."
She continued searching, in a bigger and bigger ring.
"Musket balls, lots. Meow"
She sniffed around.
"Rurrrurrr…. aether fire!"
She found another cloak with a hole right through it.
"Cannon. Meow. Me thinks she carries a cannon around."
She sniffed around the body.
"Purrr… No foot prints around. No big boot print either. Meow, does she know telekinesis?"
She continued. Then she found a wooden handle sticking out of the ground. She pulled it out. It was the weight of a normal sword.
"Funny shape sword, very fat headed, meow, no hand guard. "
She picked it up and balanced the wooden part on her furry arm.
Sniff* Sniff*. She smelled the blade.
"Mmmm… Strange, Ria's perfume? Meow, I is bit off today."
She pulled out some rope and strapped the sword to her back.
"Shiny, I take. Maybe trade horsey meat, purrr… "
she raised her nose as a gust of wind blew past.
"Dat way."
The beast kin galloped in the direction of the wind.
"Sniff* Sniff* Dat way."
Soon, a hill with a stone outpost on top came into view. Growling quietly. She stayed low in the vegetation. Her fur turned brown, blending into the ground.
From where she was, she could see cannons mounted atop the outpost. If spotted, they could fire and try to hit her from that distance.
She crawled past corpses. Both flesh abominations and those in grey uniforms. Cannon balls and shrapnel strewn across the grounds.
"Meow…. fighting uphill is bad… meow… they are a day old … "
She cleared the kill zone uneventfully, reaching the blind spot where the cannons cannot hit.
Along the way, she passed by more lifeless abominations.
"These look like they never moved, meow. The hooded men snuffed them?"
She leaned up against the wall of the outpost, pressing her pointed ear against the stone surface.
"Hooded man.. Sitting still.. Praying meow?"
She raised her nose and sniffed
"Oof! Smells strong! Meow! She's very close."
Ba dum! Ba dum! The beast kin felt vibrations through the stone.
"She's just up that wall."
Using her paws, she scaled the stone wall, finding a deserted battlement.
"Cannons cold. Meow."
She peered over the ledge. There were hooded men idling around. Their muskets were thrown together in the center of the keep.
"Strange."
She continued following the vibrations to a cannon tower.
"Horsey meat and Oof! She's right inside. Meow. I found her."
She scaled right up to the top and peered down.
It was a humongous, muscular woman, several times her size. Long silver hair, a full suit of pitch black wyvern skin suit.
She had made a campfire with a makeshift roast and was eating some cooked horse meat and her dried rations.
Her socked foot was propped up on a cannon. Her boots by the wall, a claymore taller than the beast kin leaning against the wall.
The beast kin dropped down. Landing on the ground on all fours. She kept her head low and crawled slowly along the circular walls of the cannon tower.
But the giantess just ignored her, demonstrating neither hostility nor interest in her.
Ba dum! Ba dum! The beast kin could feel the giantess's heartbeat through her fur.
Her nose was twitching. As the giantess showed no intention to attack her, she slowly approached the source of the smell she had been tracking. The stench from the damp cotton tickling her nose.
"Its you, Hikari! Meow! I'm Camilia windranger! I saw you at da ball!"
Hikari just ignored her, continuing her meal.
Camilia removed the sword she found earlier from her back and presented it to Hikari. Hikari's cannon ball sized iris turned to her. Camilia felt a shiver down her spin at the giantess's gaze.
"I found dis! Meow! Is it yours?"
Camilia felt a tingle of mana through her fur, the sword in her hands humming briefly, before flying off into one of the scabbards on Hikari's thigh.
"Thanks. Have some horsemeat."
"Really? Meow~! I'll help myself then." Camilia sat down at the camp fire. There's still a good chunky shank. It was well cooked. Some stains of dried mucus from the flesh abominations. No seasoning was available.
Nevertheless, the beast kin happily bite into the juicy meat.
"Nom Nom Nom. Whao! You are really big. Nom I saw what ya did to all those evil hooded men. How did ya manage to hit them. Nom. Nom. They really annoying, always becoming look through so you cant hit them. Nom. Nom. They very fast too. Nom. They have all those guns with the strange fire that make my skin crawl. Nom. Nom."
Hikari continued her meal, undisturbed by Camilia.
"Nom. Nom. So whats ya mission? Must be something important eh. I asked Ria if you needed any help. Nom. Nom. I asked her really nicely. Nom. Nom. Ria said I could help. Nom. Nom. So what we doing first? Nom. Nom. My nose is really good. Nom. I found ya by finding ya smell. Nom. Nom. You smell really strong. Nom. "
Camilia let out a loud burp as she finished up the rest of her horse meat. She crawled up to Hikari's socks and purred, her nose twitching.
"Ya don't mind if I take some of ya smell? Meow. Ya small is really strong. Helps me appear more scary. Meow. Ria has ya smell too. Meow Would ya share it with me? "
Hikari kept quiet. Camilia carefully approached and rubs her fur against Hikari's socks. She starts with the back of her left paw, then her mane, and then her shoulder fur, and then lift her hind leg up to get some of the smell there.
Then she crawled to the other side and rubbed her right side against Hikari's sock.
"Purr… this is good. Purrr.. Its nice and strong… "
Hikari continued eating. Camilia then crawled to her boots. She raised her twitching nose to the slit at the front. "Purr… Hikari's boots smell strong too… wyvern skin… "
She crawled around the left boot, rubbing her fur against the wyvern skin. She crawled from the outer side until her nose touched the stone wall, turned around, letting her other side rub against the boot. Then she pushed herself into the center of the boots, rubbing both sides at the same time. And then did the same for the right boot.
She returned to Hikari, crawling to her side and placing her paws in front of Hikari's fingers.
"Meow is all set! Where do we go? Where do we go? Lets go hunt some more hooded men together? When they surround you, Meow can sneak up on them from behind and put meow's claws up their purrr….. "
Hikari finished up her meal. She put her gloves back on. Then she stood up, turned her boot around and slid her feet into them. The wyvern skin sheets assembled themselves around her calves. Finally, she picked up her claymore and strapped it onto her back.
She turned and looked down at Camilia who looked at her expectantly.
"Gaurd this place."
"Eh? Stay guard? Meow… don't ya need a tracker?"
"Reinforcements will arrive soon."
Hikari bent her knees and leapt out of the cannon tower. The shock wave throws Camilia back.
"No! Come back. Meow...… "