"Boring, let’s continue tomorrow."
She hummed a tune, leaving here in high spirits.
Early morning, Rubble Village.
A werewolf adorned in armor with a gemstone pendant hanging around its neck tilted its head towards the sky, constantly twitching its nose.
"The stench of corpses, a lot of them."
The werewolf elite said.
Behind him was a whole troop of sixty to seventy members of the Blood Race.
Leading them was the knight of the princess.
He frowned as he looked ahead: "That’s Rubble Village up ahead, isn’t it?"
A Blood Race Knight beside him nodded: "Yes, Lord Wolse, that’s Rubble Village ahead. All squads returning from the south must pass through there."
Knight Wolse nodded: "Speed up, and stay alert."
They passed through the path, arriving at Rubble Village.
The entire village was silent, entirely unlike the appearance of a place where Blood Race troops were stationed.
"A heavy stench of decay, a large number of corpses buried here, and they’re all ours." The werewolf sniffed carefully and said.
"Search! Find every corpse, even if buried underground, dig them up for me."
Following his orders, all the knights and soldiers got into action.
Soon all the bodies were unearthed.
They dug all the way from the village to far off forests and slopes by the roadside, uncovering many bodies.
From the road to the village at every point, traces of blood and battle evidence were found.
Knight Wolse examined the battle traces and the blood splattered around.
He squatted, rubbing the blood stained on various places with his hand, bringing it to his nose to sniff carefully.
"Human? Dwarf... And what is this other blood?"
Apart from human and dwarf, there was mixed blood he couldn’t identify.
This indicated he had never smelled it before, nor knew what it was.
He furrowed his brow, memorizing this scent.
"Sir, you should come and see this here." A soldier spoke up.
Wolse led his men to the soldier’s location.
Looking at the footprint left on the moist soil, the prints were disordered, but their owner evidently carried a burden and was massive.
"Claws? Bird claws?" Wolse puzzled over what kind of bird claws would be so large and deep.
Following the prints, they noticed these bird claws were used for walking.
"Is it some kind of big rooster?" Another werewolf beside him couldn’t resist scratching his fur, confused.
"No, these don’t look like chicken feet." Another knight denied.
Another knight discovered a different footprint: "Is this a hoof? A goat hoof?"
"Goat hoof? Goat hoof? It’s the dwarves! I remember those dwarves rode goats! I’ve had my leg bone broken by one of those goats." A soldier suddenly recalled.
On hearing this, the surrounding soldiers and knights all glanced at him, believing his words upon seeing him.
Because this soldier participated in a pursuit battle against the Count’s troop a year ago, facing Gray Mountain Dwarves’ warriors directly.
"That matches, we’ve smelled dwarven blood."
"So what’s the deal with these bird claws?"
Wolse stared at bird claws, puzzled.
"Maybe it’s some kind of mount we haven’t seen; after all, the world is vast." A knight couldn’t resist saying.
Though Wolse cared, he nodded pragmatically, as so many had not seen such large bird claws nor knew which creature it came from.
Besides, the continent they were on had the only Land Bird race taken by Kana into Night Watcher’s unit.
Even previously, they only lived in specific areas within the Eastern Wilderness.
The Blood Race of the Safro Kingdom had never seen them, all too normal.
"Sir, all the bodies around have been found." A soldier hurriedly reported.
Wolse nodded, leading the people around him onward.
The first stop was a particular cellar.
The whole cellar was tightly packed with corpses, seemingly classified and neatly arranged, perhaps out of boredom.
The entire skin of earth above the cellar was peeled back by soldiers and werewolves.
Inspecting the neatly arranged corpses, Wolse drew his sword, scrutinizing them while occasionally frowning.
"The enemy knows us well, all the ghouls have been headless, with minimal extra wounds.
The wings of giant bats were nearly all damaged, forcibly knocked from the sky. As for the werewolves, there aren’t many wounds left."
This indicated the enemy’s power overwhelmed, annihilating these Blood Race troops.
"Take me to see the others."
He then moved to inspect the other bodies, signs of significantly added injuries visible on them.
These were squad captains, Blood Race Knights, and various elite warriors from the Blood Race.
"The scars aren’t many; many were even killed within a few exchanges."
Wolse’s brow furrowed intensely, indicating strong enemy prowess.
The enemy stayed here undoubtedly for a while, at least over three days.
Not only the returning troops, but even those leaving Giant Rock City were all annihilated without exception.