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Mary stared at the hole in the ground with a grim expression. The trail of dirt had led here, to the suspected lair of Grimmoldesser. Mary turned her head towards the group of mercenaries that had accompanied her here. “Go scout the interior.”

The woman who had silenced Keith glanced at the people standing behind her. There was no point in maintaining a camp, not when there weren’t enough supplies to sustain them for an extended period of time. As such, everyone moved as one, bringing everything with them. No one had any complaints. What if they were left behind by Mary? If that happened, on this desolate continent, all they could do was wait for death. The robed woman pointed at the mercenaries standing at the head of the group. “The three of you, enter first.” Her gaze swept over the rest of the crowd. “As for the rest of you, set up the ballistae. If a dragon does emerge, we’ll want to be ready. Aim them at the entrance.”

Mary crossed her arms and watched as the mercenaries split up, each doing their respective jobs. As for why she didn’t charge into the suspected dragon lair by herself, although she was arguably performing a stupid act by hunting a dragon for the sake of a baby creature, she wasn’t a moron. Why would she risk her own life when she had people to do that for her?

The mercenaries moved quickly. Although they didn’t have much experience setting up the ballistae, the robed woman and the remaining two members of the Dragon Slayers guided them. Within thirty minutes, six ballistae had been set up, surrounding the hole in the ground. Two people stood by each weapon, waiting around with nervous expressions. The scouts hadn’t reported back yet, and it still wasn’t confirmed if a dragon would come crawling out, but that didn’t do anything to ease the tension; in fact, it made it worse.

The mercenaries glanced at Mary, who was sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, her face pointed straight at the hole. Her sword rested across her lap, and every so often, she would partially unsheathe it before sheathing it again, creating a rhythmic clanking sound. After the group waited around for fifteen minutes in relative silence, Mary shifted her gaze onto the mercenaries. They flinched upon seeing her gaze land on them. She gestured with her head. “Send another group of scouts.”

The mercenaries exchanged glances with each other. “Rock, paper, scissors?” one of them asked.

“How about we draw straws?”

“Let’s send the women and children first.”

The mercenaries glared at the man who had made the last suggestion. The crowd transferred the panicking man to the front, clearly bent on having him join the new group of scouts. Luckily for him, there was movement at the entrance of the hole in the ground, and two people dashed out. Blood spatters covered their bodies, and sweat dripped down from their faces. “Run! Run!” one of them shouted. “It’s coming!”

Mary stood up and pulled out her sword. Her brow furrowed as she readied herself to strike. The two mercenaries ran towards her, their eyes wide and faces pale. Mary waited, but even after standing still for a few minutes, nothing came out of the tunnel. Her brow furrowed. “What happened?” she asked, not dropping her guard.

“An invisible creature!” one of the trembling scouts said. “We couldn’t see it, but the footprints it left behind were monstrous. It sounded large; it must be the size of ten dragons.”

“Ten dragons?” the robed woman asked. “The tunnel isn’t even that wide.” She shook her head. Evidently, the mercenaries had been struck by fear. “What was the situation like inside? Don’t tell me you were running from that creature for an hour.”

“We advanced slowly,” the other scout said. “After leaving the region of the tunnel, it opens up to a cavern with a softer ground. There were large footprints that I suspect a dragon left behind. The weird thing is there were a smaller set of footprints that were similar to the first one. Within the area, there were a bunch of bones, and before we could fully explore the place, we were attacked by the invisible creature. It has some type of bladed part, maybe a really long claw, and it used it to cut Rob in half.”

“It’s also immune to magic,” the first scout said. “It ignored all my spells, tore right through them. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The woman who had silenced Keith turned to face Mary. “Does Grimmoldesser have children? It’s a reasonable explanation for why there’s a smaller set of dragon footprints here.”

Mary shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said, keeping her eye on the entrance. “I’ve never killed an invisible creature before. If we want to find the dragons, we’ll have to get rid of whatever’s blocking the way.”

“Why not lure the dragon out?” one of the mercenaries asked. “I knew Rob. He wasn’t weak by any measure. If he got killed without fighting back, I don’t think the rest of us stand a chance.”

“What if the invisible creature comes out along with the dragon?” the robed woman asked and shook her head. “We have to eliminate it first. If the two work together, we really won’t stand a chance.” She frowned at Mary. “Do you have a method to deal with the invisible creature? We only prepared to fight a dragon. If you don’t have a way, you can always bring us back to civilization, and we can prepare again from there.”

“They said it made noise,” Mary said. “As long as it makes noise, it doesn’t matter if it’s invisible. I can handle it. If it makes footprints as well, that’ll only make it easier to kill. As for ignoring magic, that doesn’t matter to me. There’s nothing magical about my sword.” She marched towards the hole in the ground. “You can wait for me here. I’ll be back soon.”

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