CH917

He did his best to keep a careful eye on everyone as Quin opened her portals, watching them with his various senses as well as connect, stretched out as far as it could go to keep track of all they thought and felt, finding himself doing well enough so far.

None of them felt openly hostile having him as their leader, though a few were curious about him too. There were a few small flashes of recognition from a couple he’d copied skills from in the past but overall, the biggest issue any had was the fact they didn’t recognize him, something they all found odd considering their own high standings in the guild and was made all the more so when they considered the importance of their mission. They were off to search for one of the world’s third tiers, a task of unequal value, how could the role of leading them not fall on a more widely known, accomplished adventurer?

And yet, despite those few misgivings, they were all professional despite that. While not having the sort of discipline that would be forced into any member of the planet’s different militaries, they were valued members of the guild and while both first and second ranks had to do with whether they held awakened skills, getting to the third rank demanded at least a bit of professionality that Ben hadn’t always gotten to witness in anyone ranked fourth or lower. They had all been brought on for a specific job, and while there was a risk of disobedience from them, so long as he properly explained why they’d be doing certain things, he could count on them to act appropriately.

With a few even already on his side after his brief introduction. While he hadn’t outright said it, some had caught on by how he’d titled himself that he might have been a third tier, albeit, one they hadn’t heard of before, and distributing his mana and buff bracelets to all who hadn’t already been given one had been a good look as well, immediately showing the worth of the action as they went.

While not as smooth as some cohesive group used to marching in formation, they were all fast enough going from one portal to the next as their space mage opened them that they arrived at the fourth site just below the thirty-minute mark, a far better time than any of them had initially expected, even if that left the issue of how much there was still to go.

It was anywhere between there and the sixth site that Foast had been sent to track from that he’d gone missing and with no more information than that; it meant they’d need to walk it to give their trackers any hope of finding anything, with the only option being to start there.

“Alright, this is the last confirmed location of the true shifter Foast. For now, do your best to find whatever signs of him you can, but if you have any specific questions about what you might be looking for, go to Peac since he’s the one most familiar with who we’re looking for among us. Anyone who’s not specialized in tracking, for now stay in place. It’s going to be hard enough to follow the path of a shapeshifter already, we don’t need to make it even more complicated for them by disturbing the rest of the scene by looking around if we’ve got nothing to contribute, understood?”

He got agreement through both yeses and nods as their four trackers began to move, looking around the area and talking amongst themselves while Ben observed it too, both through his senses along with everyone else's as he took it all in, seeing the destruction that was left behind.

No bodies were present from whenever it had happened but a long enough time in the woods was always going to ensure that was the case, scavengers that had tagged along during the exodus of hundreds of different planets filling those lands ensuring there was always something to find to be to their taste but despite that and the effects of time wearing it away, signs of the battle that took place were still there. Burn marks from magic, stone shaped in ways that would never be found in nature, trees broken down, and slash marks speaking of weapons. Even if it was slowly being weathered away in whatever days or weeks it had been since it had happened, judging from the total area of damage he was seeing, it was enough to make estimates about how many had been involved.

Fifty to a hundred from the looks of it, going to depend on skill level but the greater issue is that I can’t tell how many would be from whatever expedition was sent out here compared to how many demons they had to have faced but if it was a contender, it might have only been one. I’ll have to ask for clarification later. Other than that… No survivors from it or any other site. I suppose if there had been, then both me and Foast would have been given more information to work off of. Oh god, since I’m in charge, I’m responsible for these people’s lives, aren’t I? God damn, not a fan of that.

He was sure they were all assigned for the job because they were equally powerful and competent, but he still didn’t want anyone dying under his watch, something that was all too possible with the little bit of information he held. There was no telling what could go wrong if they found Foast, nor any way to know what sacrifices might need to be made to save the third tier. As he looked around, having seen into their memories of the lives they had waiting for them, could he in good conscience sacrifice any one of them to save one life?

Supposedly it would be worth it, he knew most there understood that too, but just the thought left a foul taste in his mouth that only grew worse when the four trackers walked over, their expressions telling him enough.

“No luck then?” He asked, with one stepping forward to answer.

“Not exactly. We believe we’d found him based on a few clues that would suggest a creature had been changing its shape, but the issue is the final one. Something capable of flight, if his journey to the next location was in the skies then finding him is going to be all but impossible.”

Incredible. Just freaking fantastic.

“Okay,” he said, trying to keep the disappointment from his face. “This is going to change things just a bit then. Quin, you’ll be taking us to the next point where the trackers will begin searching again, if we don’t find any new signs of Foast then we’ll come back and do a proper search of the woods between here and there but if we do find any, we’ll know we can keep going and either follow them or, assuming he’s flown off again, do the same thing for the sixth site.”

And hope he didn’t fly off from there because if he did, who knows what direction he might have gone off in?

Just the thought made him want to pinch his brow as he was left wondering how long they could be out there searching if he had flown off again but he felt general agreement for the plan from the minds of the others and that was enough for him and at the very least, cutting out the need to walk between the sites would reduce their time out there if Foast really had made it to the last one, meaning they just needed to see where he’d ultimately made it and with their space mage opening a new portal they were off, ready to see whatever the next location had in store.

Author’s note

Okay, from this chapter I’m renewing my efforts to try and fix some of my common grammar mistakes so bear with me for a bit because it’s a pain in the butt. Obviously, I’ve had some capitalization issues which are easy enough to fix but commas are going to be the death of me. One very well written article on them I read said there’s 26 different ways to use commas in english and I’m seeing a frankly unreasonable amount of conflicting information on when and where to use them. For example, in the earlier parts of this story I used to use them a lot more but stopped when I read an article telling me I was using them wrong but now that I’m trying to get better with them I’m reading a lot of things telling me I might have been using them correctly in some of the areas I stopped and long story short, I’m not a fan but I’m doing my best to figure them out, hopefully with an end result that gives you all a better reading experience in the process.