Finn, the old hunter walking at the head of the party, raised his right hand.
Everyone immediately went on guard. The guards tightened their grips on their shortswords, cold metal pressed against damp palms.
As they drew closer, they caught a scent-a fresh, sweetly bloody smell mingled with the thick stench of decay.
Veylin pushed aside a huge fern frond, and everyone's pupils contracted at the sight before them.
A monster shaped like an ox, but with four eye sockets, had been torn in half by some tremendous force.
Its flesh had been gnawed clean, leaving only a stark white skeleton and a tattered hide.
"A Four-Eyed Marsh Ox. A level-two magical beast."
The hunter's voice was a little dry. "Look at the wound. It was bitten in half in one bite."
The party continued forward. More and more such remains appeared, and enormous three-toed footprints began to mark the ground.
Each footprint was as large as a washbasin, stamped deep into the dried mud.
"Gray Swamp Crocodiles," the old hunter said, recognizing the tracks. Fear colored his voice. "Our old friends."
Ora Stonebeard looked at the footprints and swore in a gravelly voice.
"Fuck. These wallets with legs."
Although the subordinates behind him were also unnerved by the enormous footprints, an unmistakable greed had crept into their eyes.
Gray Swamp Crocodile hide was superb material for making armor.
Yet when they finally edged carefully up a gentle slope to higher ground, and the hollow below lay fully exposed before them-
That pitiful little trace of greed evaporated without a trace.
What lay below could hardly be called a nest.
It was a crocodile kingdom.
An enormous, ring-shaped depression teemed with Gray Swamp Crocodiles.
The smaller ones, roughly two meters long, served as dutiful sentries. They swam back and forth