Chapter 580 - Scaring your own subjects [2/2]

The girl's breath hitched in her throat. Her small hands clenched into fists as she turned on her heel and bolted back toward the village centre. Her frightened steps sounded dull on the mud road, as each hurried movement was punctuated by the distant, rhythmic clicking of the beast's claws against the packed earth.

The creature did not pounce, nor immediately attack. Instead, it took slow, deliberate steps forward, its amber eyes sweeping over the village with a haunting, calculating gleam. Its head tilted slightly, those unnerving whisker-like tendrils quivering as if tasting the very air for fear.

The father and his fellow guard took a step back, gripping their spears with white-knuckled desperation. More of the village's fighters rushed to the palisade, drawn by the earlier roar.