Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 529 - 529 252 Man and Nature

529: Chapter 252: Man and Nature 529: Chapter 252: Man and Nature Seeing the rangers take on the commission, outsourcing this tough problem to professionals, Henkel felt an instant sense of relief.

Especially when he looked at Leon, who had heavily defeated the Wolf Family forces and captured the Young Master; even he seemed somewhat easier on the eyes.

After accepting the commission, Leon and the others didn’t linger further in Leding Castle.

They immediately had the Wolf Family’s old knight lead them to the last sighting location of the Horror Mountain Bear.

Everyone mounted their respective steeds and followed Henkel’s troops out of the city at a brisk pace.

Within just a few hours, they reached a wild mountain village to the southeast.

According to Henkel, someone fled to Leding Castle a few days ago to report an attack.

This small village before them was the area where the Bear Monster had last been active.

This place had long been deserted, with villagers either killed by the bear monster or fleeing far away, never daring to return.

Upon arrival, the rangers dismounted and spread out, relying on their experiences and skills to search for traces left behind by the Horror Mountain Bear.

Knight Derek found what appeared to be tufts of bear fur scraped off among the ruins of a collapsed village house and let his Horror Wolf sniff them.

The wolf beast, with its extraordinary sense of smell, sniffed the dangerous and pungent scent, baring its fangs and letting out low growls before starting to sniff around the surroundings, skillfully tracking the scent.

This wasn’t its first time tracking signals from exceptionally dangerous creatures.

Although its instincts still carried some fear, the Horror Wolf had been mostly desensitized due to its owner’s past hunts for equally terrifying wasteland dragon beasts.

Larian and Glenn Soren analyzed the tracks left by the giant bear, while Olivia stood by, her gaze both obedient and curious, attentively learning from these seasoned monster hunters.

The rangers briefly explored the nearby woodlands and quickly confirmed that the Horror Mountain Bear had headed deeper into the northeastern forest.

“Need me to send some soldiers to assist you?” Henkel proposed.

Glenn Soren glanced at the soldiers, whose eyes betrayed hidden fear.

He shook his head at the Wolf Family Knight: “No, your warriors have already lost their fighting spirit.

If they come along, I’d have to split my focus to protect them.

Besides, too many people might alert the prey prematurely.”

Leon glanced at the direction identified by the rangers and said to Henkel, “Just stay here and look after the horses for us.”

The forest ahead was not particularly dense, but the deeper one ventured, the terrain became increasingly rugged.

Warhorses were of no use; only Derek’s Horror Wolf could move freely alongside them.

Everyone checked their weapons and tool kits, wasting no time as they stepped into the woods.

Together, they formed three groups.

Leon, Olivia, and Knight Mowen—acknowledging their own lack of expertise—followed Larian.

The remaining seven Orland Rangers split into two groups, with Glenn Soren leading one and Wolf Hunter Derek leading the other.

The three teams maintained a distance between each other, with Derek and his Horror Wolf taking the lead.

They tracked the Horror Mountain Bear’s trail while ensuring they didn’t get too close.

Roughly an hour later, Leon noticed that Knight Derek and his Horror Wolf had stopped up ahead on the right.

Seeing that there seemed to be a discovery, everyone approached to take a closer look.

Derek pinched a small tuft of short hair found on a tree trunk and showed it to the others.

“… From the length and texture, this isn’t fur from an adult Horror Mountain Bear,” Larian analyzed.

“Could it belong to another animal that brushed past here?” one ranger speculated.

“But Dak could smell our target’s scent from it,” Derek shook his head.

Dak was the name of his Horror Wolf companion.

“You’re suggesting the Horror Mountain Bear is traveling with a cub?” Leon asked, somewhat surprised.

“We can’t confirm that yet… let’s keep moving,” Derek replied.

The knights resumed their trek.

After a few more hours, as the sky darkened, Derek’s group made another discovery.

Horror Wolf Dak sniffed intently at a patch of ground that was slightly different in shade from the surrounding soil.

Derek immediately retrieved a shovel from his wolf’s saddlebag and dug into the earth.

Beneath the soil, insects and ants scurried away, revealing material that appeared to be almost dried animal dung.

Several rangers approached without expression, grabbing twigs and beginning to “stir the feces.”

Though Leon had inherited a hunter’s instincts from his father, his knowledge of monster dung paled in comparison to these experienced rangers.

From their analysis, based on the color and texture, the dung belonged to a Horror Mountain Bear but was clearly not from a mature adult.

Adult Horror Mountain Bears never conceal their excrement.

These fully-grown giants, with virtually no natural enemies, tend to leave traces everywhere, marking territory or attracting mates.

Nowadays, Horror Mountain Bears are rare—likely even rarer than Flying Dragons in the northern wasteland mountains.

Without these pungent pheromone signals to communicate with their kind, these ancient giants would have gone extinct long ago.

Young bear cubs are different.

Without the ability to defend themselves, baby bears instinctively bury their excrement to avoid attracting predators until they mature.

“Why haven’t we come across any cub tracks along the way?” Leon asked the rangers in confusion.

He had always been curious about the Magic Guidebook’s depictions of chimeric beasts and dragon beasts but hadn’t devoted any effort to studying ordinary creatures like tigers, leopards, wolves, and bears.

His knowledge of the Horror Mountain Bear was still very limited.

“Because Horror Mountain Bear cubs often spend most of their time on the mother bear’s back, especially during the early days after birth.

Despite their size being half that of an adult human when born, they cannot keep pace with their mother yet,” Larian explained.

Leon nodded, feeling that he’d learned something new.

With nightfall approaching, the group found a suitable clearing to set up camp, light a fire, and rest.

After dinner, Leon couldn’t help but inquire further with the rangers about the habits of the Horror Mountain Bear.

Following the detailed discussions, Leon stared at the flickering campfire and reflected on the day’s discoveries, as well as Henkel’s remarks… pondering quietly…

By all accounts, the Horror Mountain Bear had been living in Mamor County’s western region, near the Nightmare Forest’s border mountains, peacefully coexisting with the human villages for so long.

What, then, had suddenly prompted the bear to invade human territory and start such a bloody slaughter?

Because of the Corpse Ghosts wandering… causing animals to flee and migrate…?

But those Corpse Ghosts clearly posed no threat to the powerful Horror Mountain Bear; the bear monster could easily crush a bunch of Living Corpses with a single paw swipe.

No!

…Leon suddenly realized the Corpse Ghosts indeed posed a threat to the Horror Mountain Bear.

Not by endangering the bear itself, but by threatening its food supply and ecological territory.

The widespread attacks by Corpse Ghosts on animal communities living on the forest edges drastically reduced the prey available to sustain the Horror Mountain Bear.

This was likely the reason the bear abandoned its long-held territory and followed the migrating prey.

This Horror Mountain Bear might have just recently had cubs and was in urgent need of food to feed its offspring…

Thinking back, when he encountered the bear and it exhibited such ferocious behavior, pursuing him and his companions relentlessly, it might have been during its pregnancy.

But that’s not all.

Leon pondered further, counting the dates.

Today was October 14th, which coincidentally aligned with the period when Horror Mountain Bears began preparing for hibernation by consuming large amounts of food.

At this critical time, prey had become scarce due to the Nightmare Forest’s disturbances…

No wonder this Horror Mountain Bear, after years of mutual non-interference, suddenly left the mountains and invaded human lands.

Leon patted his forehead, realizing that the events unfolding here had circled back to connect with his own inadvertent triggering of the Netti Card Magic and the subsequent Spiritual Field’s dissolution.