Chapter 458

And the results of the beastmen’s search were predictable—there was no discovery whatsoever.

Aside from the corpses of beastman warriors, there were only the corpses of the servant troops.

And the grain within the city, like before at the fortress, had been gathered onto the square and burned entirely.

“Where are the Bloodthirsty Bat Knights? Did you find their corpses?” Moral asked, his face dark.

“My Lord Moral, we found no trace of the Bloodthirsty Bat Knight lords!” his subordinate replied cautiously.

Moral clenched his fist again, his nails digging into his own flesh.

“Issue the order—our army departs immediately, no delays!”

“Yes, Grand Leader Moral!”

Moral did not want to waste a single moment.

This time, he would resolve this group of humans, no matter what.

Not just to vent his anger, but for the future safety of the beastfolk.

Because Moral had a premonition.

If this time, that human named Gervas survives and returns home,

then in the not-so-distant future, Gervas and his subordinates may threaten the safety of the Behemoth beastfolk.

Soon, after relentless travel, Moral led the beastman army to the wasteland.

And upon reaching the spot where Gervas had previously paused, Moral’s party naturally saw clear tracks heading west.

“Grand Leader Moral, the tracks lead westward, and the horse dung on the ground is still warm—meaning they passed here roughly two hours ago!”

Moral nodded. “Pursue without pause. Until we catch these humans, no one stops!”

Moral refused to believe that those humans, after continuous battle, could still keep moving and fleeing—while his beastmen could not!

“Yes, Grand Leader!”

Thus, the beastman force turned directly westward in pursuit.

And this pursuit lasted over two hours.

Then, after two hours, the trail of carts and horses that had persisted all along suddenly vanished entirely.

This left the beastman scouts ahead utterly bewildered.

They hurried back to report to Moral.

“Their tracks disappeared? What does that mean?”

As his subordinate reported, Moral had not yet processed it.

“G-Grand Leader, the human tracks… they’re gone. They… they seem to have vanished into thin air…”

“Impossible! Do you think these humans can fly?” Moral snapped back to awareness, his eyes blazing.

How could a force of over a thousand simply vanish?

The subordinate shrank back, daring not to retort.

Moral knew now was not the time to blame his men. “Take me there.”

“Yes, Grand Leader!”

Soon, Moral arrived at the front of the column.

Indeed, as he reached the front, the road ahead showed almost no traces.

Though he rarely hunted or herded, as a Behemoth beastman, he still possessed some tracking experience.

A force of over a thousand, plus horses and carts, must leave obvious traces.

It was impossible for them to vanish like this!

“How could this happen?” Moral finally turned his gaze back to his subordinate.

“Grand Leader, I… I have a theory. Perhaps the humans deliberately concealed their tracks. So I’ve already sent teams to scout the surrounding area!”

“Then what are they trying to achieve?” Moral knew this was the only possibility.

But why would Gervas, without reason, hide his trail?

His route was fixed—west was the only escape path.

Concealing his tracks was pointless—it wouldn’t help, only slow them down.

Yet his subordinate clearly had no answer to this second question.

Moral dropped the matter. “Search thoroughly. Double the scouts. Find the humans’ direction as fast as possible!”

“Yes, Grand Leader!”

In truth, Moral did not wait long.

Less than half an hour later, a scouting team returned in haste.

“Grand Leader Moral, we found the humans’ trail!”

“Where? Can you confirm? If confirmed, order the army to pursue immediately!”

The subordinate hesitated, his expression uneasy.

Moral glared. “Speak! If you waste pursuit time and let that damned Gervas escape, I’ll cut off your heads!”

“G-Grand Leader, the human trail isn’t far—it’s two li north, but… the tracks… they’ve turned back east…”

“What did you say?”

“I… I mean, the tracks seem to have turned east again…”

“So after chasing for hours, those damned humans circled back and ran the other way?” Moral erupted in fury.

“Yes, Grand Leader. After finding the trail, our scouts followed it for four or five li without any change in direction.”

“Meanwhile, other scouting teams have fully surveyed the surrounding eight li—all with no human traces, especially no horse dung…”

Hearing this, even if Moral refused to believe it, he had no choice but to accept it.

Tracks left by carts and people could be concealed.

But tracks left by horses—especially horse dung—were far harder to erase.

Thus, if no horse dung existed in the eight-li radius elsewhere, it was nearly certain no human force had passed through.

“Pursue! And this time, send scouts ahead! No more mistakes!”

“Yes, Grand Leader!”

Immediately, the beastman force followed the newly discovered trail once more.

Of course, for caution’s sake, Moral also dispatched hundreds of men to continue westward.

This was to guard against any stragglers escaping west.

Second, he ordered the western support units to advance eastward.

Thus, roughly two hours later, Moral and his men returned to their starting point.

Though he repeatedly confirmed with his subordinates whether they’d made an error, when they rediscovered far larger human troop traces heading east, Moral fell into deep thought.

If the earlier traces might have been a deception,

then these new traces on the eastern road proved beyond doubt that a force of over a thousand had passed here.

Thus, Moral now knew for certain—he had been tricked. Tricked by that damned Gervas.

Moral burned with rage, yet forced himself to stay calm.

For something more important than anger now demanded his attention.

What was the purpose of this?

The humans’ only escape route was west.

Yet they fled east instead.

And to the east lay the main beastfolk army—if they escaped Moral’s pursuit, they could not return to the kingdom.

Instead, they risked being detected by the main force, which would then send more troops to annihilate them.

“Damned Gervas, what exactly are you trying to do?” Gradually, Moral’s eyes turned bloodshot. A vague, indescribable sense of danger stirred in his heart—but he could not grasp it.

“Wait!”

After some time, Moral suddenly widened his eyes, fear flashing across his gaze.