The beast guarding the cave shifted its bulk, scraping claws against stone. Its presence alone suffocated the air. Charging in was suicide. He needed another way.
He closed his eyes, listening—every breath, every scrape of claw, every exhale from the survivors deeper inside. The guardian was alert, but not actively searching. It was stationed to keep prey in, not out.
"We can't fight that head-on," the gauntlet whispered.
"I know," he replied. "So we make it move."
He crouched low, gathered a handful of stones, and whispered a minor mana infusion into them. The gauntlet shimmered, subtly altering the sound frequencies when thrown.
With a sharp flick, he sent the first stone clattering against a far tree trunk. The impact echoed unnaturally loud, as though something heavy had crashed through the brush. A second followed, landing deeper in the opposite direction, mimicking the thud of hurried footsteps.
The guardian stirred. Its head snapped toward the sounds, nostrils flaring, muscles tensing. For a moment, it hesitated—then lumbered away from the cave mouth, massive frame shaking the ground with each step.
He waited. One heartbeat. Two. Three. When the sound of its steps faded, he slipped inside.
---
The air in the cave was damp, heavy with the copper scent of blood. He moved cautiously, eyes adjusting to faint light reflecting off jagged rocks. His hearing sharpened, mapping the faint breaths ahead.
He found them huddled behind a crumbled wall of stone. The man was slumped against the rock, gravely injured, chest heaving shallowly, blood soaking through broken armor. Beside him, a woman clutched a child close, both exhausted, eyes wide with fear.
Their gazes snapped to him the instant he appeared. The woman tensed, shielding the child instinctively.
He raised a hand slowly, keeping his voice calm but firm.
"I'm not your enemy. What happened here?"
The woman's lips trembled. She glanced at the injured man, then whispered hoarsely, "Ambush… mercenaries… they wanted something in the ruins. We tried to flee, but—" She bit back tears, tightening her hold on the child. "The guardian came. It killed them all. We… we're the only ones left."
His eyes narrowed. Ambush. Mercenaries. A guardian beast tied to ruins. It wasn't coincidence. Someone had orchestrated this.
The gauntlet pulsed faintly. "They weren't the target. They were caught in someone else's hunt."
He studied the survivors. One near death. One woman on the edge of collapse. One child barely clinging to composure. None would survive long if he left them here.
But outside, the guardian still prowled. And whoever had set this ambush might return.
"Looks like we're in deeper than expected," he murmured, eyes scanning the cave walls for signs of what the mercenaries had been after. "Let's see what was worth dying for."