Forced to act
The moment he finished speaking, the driver holding the reins on the lead carriage, which had only just started moving, felt his pupils dilate as though he had seen something horrifying. He tried to cry out, only to discover that his throat had stiffened and his vocal cords had frozen. All he could produce was the chatter of his teeth-not even a single scream.
"What's going on? Why have we stopped again?" Feeling the wheels stop, Yue Lin lifted the curtain with these questions on her lips. If they were delayed any further, they would not reach the estate until after dark.
The instant she lifted the curtain, the sight in the distance gave her an answer.
Even Yue Lin, worldly and accustomed to dealing with countless people, felt her heart tremble at that moment. It was as though she had only now realized that she was a physically frail woman. That instinctive feeling briefly rattled her, but only for an instant. Reason returned and steadied her, and the composure of the Yue Clan's leader kept any great panic from her voice as she called:
"A wild beast! Guards! Protect us!"
A wild beast-that was what they had seen.
To be precise, it was a black bear, roughly ten feet tall and five feet across, with eyes like lanterns and a body weighing over a hundred pounds.
When the convoy stopped and someone shouted, the charging black bear halted about ten meters from the lead carriage. It stood on its hind legs and raised its head, watching its prey's movements.
At the shout, figures sprang from the three carriages behind them, their feet hitting the ground in an instant. Clad in supple black armor, they wielded silver axes, short blades, sharp arrows, fine bows, daggers, Snake Spears...