Ch 48: First Mission (3)

Leaves and branches whipped at his face as Ray crashed through the canopy, his senses locked on the aura signatures he had spotted from the bullhead. Or rather,

on the single faint aura signature and the several voids closing in on it.

Breaking through the canopy, Ray flipped his body forward and brought his heel crashing down on the crown of the Grimm beneath him. Crushing the creature's boney skull beneath his armored boot as he landed on the ground with his back to the faint Aura signature and facing the remaining voids.

"Great, wendigos." Ray grumbled to himself. As he scanned the pack of eight and a half meter tall bipedal Grimm through the dissipating smoke of the one he had just terminated. Each had a black muscular body covered in shaggy ebony fur, an exposed ribcage, a deer skull filled with needle-like teeth with the classic red Grimm markings for its head, a long slimy black tongue dangling out of its maw, and spikes jutting out of its back.

[Nine of them. Too many to have gathered together by chance. No sign of an Alpha. This must be only a portion of a much larger pack. I can't risk scaring them all into hiding, and I can't guarantee that I will be able to eliminate all of them while protecting this kid.] Ray's thoughts spun as he squared off against the nine hungry monsters before him. Both sides observing and judging the other.

Wendigoes weren't the greatest combatants, but they had sharp claws and teeth and were fast and agile when attacking or running away, which was where the problem came in when dealing with them. Wendigoes were smart, well, smart for a Grimm, at least. They wouldn't stick around to fight if they knew they couldn't win and preferred to stalk their prey for days, feeding on their nightmares and increasing their fears so that once they finally showed themselves, their quarry would be too exhausted from lack of sleep and terrified from their heightened fears to fight back. The rare survivors of a wendigo attack often reported that the Grimm seemed to take an almost human pleasure in slowly killing their prey once fear immobilized them. If the Grimm found someone particularly delicious, they would store them in their ribcage to carry around with them and feast off of their fears for days or even weeks before finally killing them.

And Ray now found himself staring down a pack of almost a dozen of these terrifying Grimm with a civilian that he hadn't had the chance to check on yet sniffling in fear behind him. He did not want to get into a fight with what was most likely only a small part of a much larger pack of Grimm while having to protect someone, but showing his back and running from them was an even worse idea. So Ray did the only thing he could, stood his ground and released as much confidence and fighting spirit at the Grimm as he could without triggering them. He needed to strike a careful balance between appearing too strong for them to take down even in a pack and too appetizing to pass up the chance of devouring.

The standoff lasted for several seconds that felt like hours before the Grimm began to slowly back up and fade away into the shadows cast by the trees. Holding his vigilance for a few more seconds as he tracked their voids moving away, Ray finally relaxed and turned to face the person he had just saved.

It was a young boy, maybe 10 or 12 years old, with sandy brown hair and striking blue eyes that almost seemed to glow, wearing plain colored clothes that were closer to well-worn than rags, but only by a little.

"You, ok?" Ray asked as he crouched down in front of him and gave him a quick once over. The boy bravely nodded his head that he was fine, though his pale complexion that made his freckles stand out, and the trembling of his slightly emancipated body said otherwise.

Ray gave him a warm smile and patted his head, "Good job getting away from those Grimm." he praised. The boy needed encouragement that everything was going to be alright now more than he needed a scolding. Being hunted by a pack of Grimm was more than enough of a lesson on the dangers of entering the forest alone.

"Let's get you home." Ray said as he stood up and reached out his hand for the boy to take. It would have been faster for Ray to carry the boy out, but it was important he stood up on his own, psychologically. Get him moving physically, and he would start moving mentally as well towards getting over this trauma. Ray wouldn't be here for long, so doing this little bit to start the healing process was important for him.

Hesitantly, the boy took Ray's hand and pulled himself to his feet. Not letting go of the boy's hand, Ray began to walk in the direction of the settlement. The boy stumbled a couple of times as his legs were still shaking from the lingering fear and exhaustion from desperately fleeing for his life, but Ray pretended not to notice and simply slowed his pace to match the boy's.

"I wanted to gather mushrooms and berries for my little sister." the boy finally said after they had been walking for a minute.

"Oh. Is that why you were in the forest alone?"

The boy nodded. "Our parents died in a Grimm attack four years ago. We had been getting by alright with the help the other people in the settlement provide to all orphans and what I was able to gather in the forest. At least until the merchant caravans started disappearing. Now nobody has enough to share, and the guards won't let anyone out into the forest. I had to sneak out through a gap in the fence."

Ray squeezed the young man's hand in encouragement. "That was very brave of you. You're a good big brother trying so hard to take care of your sister, but you know it wouldn't do her any good if you ended up becoming a snack for a Grimm."

The boy trembled as he remembered those glowing red eyes, those glistening bone-white fangs, those slimy black tongues, and those razor-sharp claws that had almost ended his short life. Then he turned to look up at the young man that didn't look much older than he was who had saved his life, a spark of hope shining in his eyes. "Are you a huntsman? Are you here to help us?"

*Chuckle* "Huntsman-in-training technically, but yes. My partner and I are here to investigate and deal with your Grimm problem. And thanks to you, we now know what has been hunting the merchant caravans in this area." Ray answered the boy with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Blue!" A little girl's voice shrieked as they parted the last of the underbrush separating them from the no-man's-land around the settlement. A little girl around eight years old with familiar sandy brown hair tied in a loose ponytail reaching down to her the middle of her back but vibrant green eyes instead of blue was standing next to Glynda with a group of armed men from the settlement beside the bullhead Ray and Glynda had arrived on. The girl, who was almost certainly the little sister of the boy, Blue, that Ray had just saved, would have bolted towards them if it wasn't for the restraining hand Glynda had on her shoulder. Ray had no such reason to restrain Blue, however and with a joyful shout of "Green!" from him, Blue rushed away from Ray and wrapped his now bawling sister in a hug as she angrily beat her tiny fists against his chest and scolded him for doing something so foolish.

As Ray approached Glynda at a more leisurely pace, he could see that while her mouth was set in a stern disapproving line, her eyes showed little sign of reprimand. She could easily guess now why he had jumped and knew she likely would have done something similar if their positions were reversed. Still, Ray needed to apologize for his rash actions and report on the situation. That was just what teammates did.

"Sorry for bailing on you like that. I saw that boy about to be eaten by a Grimm and didn't have time to let you know." Ray apologized and explained as he nodded at the two children who were now being led back inside the safety of the settlement walls by the group of guards.

"The good news is we now know what we are up against. The bad news is it's a pack of wendigos. When I saved the boy, I saw 10 of them killed one, but I'm willing to bet there is more and at least an alpha leading them. This is going to be a bit troublesome."

Glynda nodded in agreement as she shifted her gaze to scan the treeline behind him, "Let's get inside and talk with the mayor. If we are going to make sure we exterminate all of these Grimm and make the roads safe to travel again, we are going to need some help."

Ray grinned mischievously at her, "I might just have an idea about that." Glynda raised an eyebrow as her stern lips couldn't help but twitch up slightly at his statement.