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. Someone triggered this one and let the beast run out of mana."
The beast kin sniffed around the area. She dug with her paw. "Cart tracks. 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?"
She spat out the soil.
A gust of wind blew past her. Sniff* Sniff*. The scent was still fresh.
She galloped down the road. More corpses. Another boot print.
"More Wyvern skin. The scent strong."
A wrecked caravan. The territorial army flag. Wooden carts torn to pieces.
Depleted flesh abominations littered the grounds.
"Sliced in half. Rurrrr…"
She found a pile of charred corpses.
"Meow. Fire?"
She sniffed around. The pungent stench of the rotting abominations.
"Many boot prints."
She continued following the trail. Another boot print.
"This one points sideways. Meow follow."
She followed the trail to a sparsely wooded area.
Trees cleaved off their stump.
One with a hole blown right through it.
"Cannon?"
Splinters.
Placing her nose close to the ground.
"gunpowder, acid, aether fire. Rrrurrr… The hooded disappearing men."
She stumbled upon a set of half burnt robes, its wearer had turned to ash.
"where shiny thingy?"
She sniffed around the cloak but found nothing.
Another cloak.
"Boot marks. Rurrr… hooded men smell, bad smell."
A clearing in the middle of the woods.
She landed in the middle and dug.
"Meow, two prints."
She licked the boot print.
"Wyvern skin"
She licked the ground.
"Sweaty."
She continued.
"Musket balls, lots."
She sniffed.
"Rurrrurrr…. aether fire!"
Another cloak with a hole right through it.
"Cannon. Me thinks she carries a cannon around."
She sniffed.
"Purrr… No foot prints around. No big boot print. does she know telekinesis?"
She continued.
She found a wooden handle sticking out of the ground.
A sword.
"Big throwing knife?"
Sniff* Sniff*.
"Mmmm… Ria's perfume?"
She 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.
"Sniff* Sniff* Dat way."
The beast kin galloped in the direction of the wind.
A hill with a stone outpost on top came into view.
She stayed low in the vegetation.
Her fur turned brown, blending into the ground.
She could see cannons mounted atop the outpost.
She crawled past corpses.
Both flesh abominations and those in grey uniforms.
Cannon balls and shrapnel strewn across the grounds.
"Rurrr..." the beastkin growled.
She crawled closer, crawling past more lifeless abominations.
She leaned up against the wall of the outpost and pressed her pointed ear against the stone surface.
"Hooded man.. Sitting still.. meow?"
She raised her nose and sniffed.
"Oof! Smells strong!"
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.
She peered over the ledge. It was a masscre of the fort's defenders.
She continued following the vibrations to a cannon tower.
"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 and clad in a full suit of pitch black wyvern skin suit.
She had made a campfire with a makeshift roast.
Her socked foot was propped up on a cannon. Her boots by the wall.
The beast kin dropped down.
She kept her head low and carefully approached.
But the giantess just ignored her.
Ba dum! Ba dum! The beast kin could feel the giantess's heartbeat through her fur.
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.
Camilia removed the sword she found earlier from her back and presented it to Hikari.
Hikari's cold ruby eyes turned to her causing a shiver down camlia's spine.
"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 was a chunky well cooked shank.
"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."
Hikari continued her meal.
"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. "
Camilia let out a loud burp.
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.
After rubbing the other boot, she crawled back to Hikari.
"Meow is all set! Where do we go? Where do we go? Lets go hunt some more hooded men together? "
Hikari finished up her meal.
She stood up. The wyvern skin sheets assembled themselves around her calves.
"Gaurd this place."
"Eh? Stay guard? Meow… don't ya need a tracker?"
Hikari leapt out of the cannon tower.