Even with the map provided by the hunter, finding the area he was referring to wasn't simple. When he'd first described it to me, I had thought that it was going to be a simple place to visit, however, as we followed the map he'd provided, the well worn road turned to barely trodden path as we entered a dense forested area, before the path became what were essentially game trails.
Thankfully this wasn't actually that much of a problem as all I needed to do was web the front of the horses and carriage and put chitin plates from Carapace to protect from the stray branches that might cause issues for the horses, or damage the carriage. I also took some time to thickly web the wheels for additional comfort and so that it would be less likely to get stuck on anything. If the horses had been living or had the carriage been a normal one, Arya and I would've needed to leave them behind and progress on foot.
Arya and I did the best we could to relax as the carriage bumped and bounced through the woodland. It wasn't horrendous, but it was much rougher than the ride had been up until this point. However, this only lasted for about an hour until the horses came to a stop, either because something was blocking their path, or we'd arrived at the next landmark. I slid the sunroof open and poked my head out to see that we indeed hit the final landmark, a thin canyon, just wide enough to fit one or two people shoulder to shoulder. This of course meant that it was time to leave the carriage and horses, but the hunter said that unless one scaled the mountain, this was the only way in or out, so it would be fine to leave them as long as I put up some protection, something a dense forest made very easy.
The carriage and horses were out of sight not too far away, and even should someone decide to poke their nose because they saw tracks or something, all that awaited them was to be trapped by various webs and traps. If you didn't run into the near invisible webs that ran from tree to tree, then the snares and other traps I fashioned would. To make matters worse for any unfortunate soul that wandered too close, the webs were nearly fireproof, and unless you had a special tool, or understood how the thread was made, you'd need massive amounts of force to cut through it, not something easily accomplished if you were stuck.
Once I felt satisfied with the protections, Arya and I began to make our way through the canyon, something that only took about half an hour, and wasn't too difficult, though going back was going to be slightly more difficult as we would need to head up, rather than down and there were plenty of drops we'd need to climb to get back up. That was a challenge for another day however, and I practically forgot about it once we exited the canyon.
We stood overlooking a large open basin, open grasslands filled most of the area, but I could see a forest, and small lake that was fed by a river that was made by a waterfall coming from one of the steeper mountains. I thought that this was the kind of place I would like to retreat to and finish out this life once I finished dealing with the Outsiders, or the the plot the potentially false Queen of Hell had thrown me into, whatever the truth of the matter was.
Arya and I looked over the vista for a little longer before heading down. The hunter had said he'd encountered the creature on the edge of the forested area, so that was where we would start, plus that would be a good place to set up a nest for our temporary lodging while we were here. I'd also be relying on Arya quite a bit as well, since when used, her Yatagarasu Skill would cause her eyes to lightly glow, and her vision became so good she could make out details at a distance of about a mile(1.6 Km). As such she was able to keep an eye on the majority of the plains like grassland, while I would wander around in the forest, essentially relying on luck to run into the same beast as the hunter.
Time slowly pressed on as we settled into the routine of life in this wilderness. Unlike in the village, living here wasn't a task that could be accomplished by just lazing about and doing nothing, however, that suited my purpose quite well as it gave me something to do while hoping I would run into the beast. I honestly felt like I was slowly becoming feral the longer we stayed her, not that I minded it too much, it was liberating and a nice change of pace.
In the morning, I worked on training my Agility, it was my lowest Variable Stat, and the one I'd neglected the most. I hadn't really needed much before as I relied on brute force and my regeneration to fight, but living in the forest had really shown me that I needed to work on it. I would either run along the ground dodging whatever was too large to barrel through, while trying my best not to trip among the dense undergrowth, or swing through the treetops with webs, something that was much more difficult than the running as it required far more agility and flexibility than simply running.
Once the sun began to reach its zenith, Arya and I would take a break from looking for the cat beast and cultivate. At first we used the nest, but we soon found that the grassland was actually quite comfortable if I laid down a silk cloth, the somewhat cold air only bothered us for a moment before we were plenty warm. As such the progress of our Universal Yin-Yang Revolutions, became quicker as full exposure to the midday sun was much more efficient, and I think helped Arya become more accustomed to exposing herself, something that had once been unthinkable.
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A week passed before I managed to catch any sign of the cat-like creature, though I couldn't figure out what it was. I leaned down as I examined the fresh tracks, a spear in my carapaced right hand. While my sword was something I was used to, it wasn't suited to the close quarters that this forest made, so a simple thrusting weapon was replacing it for now. The tracks themselves were quite large, but there were other smaller tracks around the main one as well.
I wasn't accomplished enough in tracking to tell if it was a pack, or if similar creatures were moving in the same direction at a slightly different time. From what I could tell, the tracks were going to head out of the eastern side of the forest, which led to a steep mountainous area that was filled with caves.
I was about to contact Arya, when her voice rang through my earring first. "I can see a feline beast sprinting across the plains, heading east to the mountain caves. It's fast, though I don't think it's as large as what you described to me."
I told her to keep an eye on it and follow it if possible as I stood and began to chase the tracks I had found. Whatever type of beast or monster it was, it seemed to be one that formed a pack, a rare trait amongst the feline creatures I'd read about. Arya kept me updated on the situation as she followed her quarry from quite a distance.
It soon met up with a larger one, that was surrounded with ones about the same size as the one she was following. I was pretty certain at that point that the tracks I was following belonged to the largest cat creature and its retinue. I told Arya to keep her distance but to keep watch on them to see if they were going into a cave, or if they were moving elsewhere.
I eventually met up with Arya who pointed the direction that the beasts had gone. They were a pack of spotted runners, with a single larger alpha and several smaller members. The signs pointed to them being a pack Khetorah, but they were much larger than what Seshat's Library had described, so they were either a different kind of monster, or perhaps an evolved form, not something that would be common and even more unlikely to be recorded, so it would make sense why Seshat's Library had no information on them.
We stalked them for quite a long time, only managing to keep them in sight because of my stamina and Arya's eyesight. I carried Arya while she focused on keeping the pack in her sight, until after nearly six hours of chase they finally stopped under a rocky outcropping and began to rest.
We only needed one, though since I wasn't sure what made a good Vessel, I thought it best to keep as many alive as possible so Steria could take her pick. But there were enough of them that it would be overwhelming to deal with all of them, so I had Arya hang back and provide fire support through archery since it was her best Skill, and this was the kind of place where it could shine its greatest.
I did my best to sneak up on them, but not only were they sensitive to sound, something I didn't need to worry about, but smell as well, something I couldn't do much about so it came as no surprise when the one on lookout noticed me and alerted the others. Knowing my chance to sneak attack was gone, I burst forth with as much speed as I could, causing all the smaller ones to rush forward as well, only the largest staying back, as I and the smaller creatures came closer and closer to clashing.