The Azure Sirens moved with practiced stealth through the mist-shrouded forest, fifty armed mercenaries trailing their scout. Amelia's breath brushed Kael's ear as she murmured, "Beast dens are rare in Mistveil. This one reeks of secrets."
Kael cleared his throat, ignoring the unintended shiver her proximity caused. "You suspect something unnatural?"
"These woods were a Cataclysm-era battleground," she replied, her masked gaze sharp.
The scout halted abruptly, pointing northeast. "There, Captain!"
Samuel signaled advance. The "den" was little more than a fissure veiled by frostbitten brambles—a crevice even seasoned hunters might overlook.
Kael ignited a flame as they entered, its flickering light revealing a grisly hoard. Gasps rippled through the ranks.
The cavern floor was littered with fourth-tier carcasses—Stone Serpents mid-coil, Earthrage Bears with frozen snarls, Shadowstalker Panthers preserved in death leaps. Dried blood crusted the walls, the slaughter recent enough to leave metallic tang hanging in the air.
"By the Flame Tyrant's forge!" A mercenary gripped his axe tighter. "We're sitting on a fortune!"
Fourth-tier cores glinted like cursed jewels in the firelight, each worth a small noble's ransom. Even Samuel's veteran composure cracked, his scarred face lit by avaricious awe.
Amelia crouched beside a bisected icewolf, her gloved finger tracing the wound's crystalline edge. "No beast made these cuts. This was..."
A low growl reverberated through the cavern.
Owen and Hannah moved swiftly, blades flashing as they dissected the carcasses. "No core here," Hannah called out, frustration edging her voice.
"None in this one either," Owen growled, tossing aside a Stone Serpent's severed head.
Samuel's jaw tightened as realization struck. "Trapped! These beasts were stripped beforehand!"
Torchlight flooded the cavern entrance. A young man stood silhouetted against the glare, his cold smirk illuminated by flickering flames. Behind him loomed a hundred armored mercenaries bearing the White Bear Company's sigil—a snarling ursine claw. Two robed mages flanked him, staves crackling with latent energy.
"Damien," Samuel spat, hand tightening on his axe.
The White Bear heir spread his arms mockingly. "Samuel! How gracious of you to deliver the Steel Rose along with your pitiful company!"
Owen leaned toward Kael, voice low. "Damien's lusted after Hannah for years. This ambush reeks of his spite."
Kael assessed the odds—fifty Sirens against twice their number, plus mages. The cavern walls narrowed their retreat options. Amelia's fingers twitched toward concealed throwing daggers.
Damien's gaze raked over Hannah. "Surrender the girl, old man. My men might let your dogs crawl back to their kennel."
Hannah's knuckles whitened around her blade. "I'd sooner bed a rotspider!"
Laughter erupted from the Sirens, brittle but defiant.
Samuel's grip tightened on his axe as Damien's ultimatum hung in the frost-laden air. "You'll surrender Hannah, or we'll paint these walls with your entrails."
The Azure Sirens growled in unison, blades rasping from sheaths. Hannah stood defiant, her dagger trembling not from fear but rage. "I'd sooner carve my own heart out!"
Damien's smirk twisted. "Crush them."
White Bear mercenaries surged forward, their formation tightening around the cavern mouth like a steel vise. Crossbow bolts ricocheted off stone as the Sirens ducked behind carcasses for cover.
"Protect Hannah!" Samuel roared, cleaving through a charging swordsman. Blood sprayed across frost patterns eerily similar to those in the den.
Kael's staff flared. A Magma Burst incinerated the front line, but more swarmed through the smoke. Amelia danced through the fray, her blade severing hamstrings and arteries with surgical precision.
"Fall back!" Owen bellowed, dragging a wounded comrade. "To the inner chamber!"
The Sirens retreated deeper into the den, their numbers dwindling. Damien's laughter echoed off the walls. "How poetic—the Steel Rose wilts in darkness!"
Samuel locked eyes with Kael amid the chaos. "Get her out. Through the fissure we passed earlier."
Hannah shook her head, tears freezing on her cheeks. "I won't abandon—"
A White Bear mage's ice spear impaled Owen through the chest. The veteran crumpled, his final breath forming a single word: "Run."
Hannah's face paled further, teeth sinking into her lower lip as tremors wracked her frame—fear and fury warring in equal measure.
"They're smoking us out!" Owen bellowed as acrid tendrils curled into the cavern. Flames licked the entrance, fed by White Bear mages' Inferno Walls.
Samuel cursed. "Damien's mastered the art of venomous schemes."
Kael's staff slashed downward. "Springwater Surge!" Azure torrents erupted from stone cracks, dousing the frontline flames. Through the steam, Damien's sneer sharpened.
"A mage?" The White Bear heir spat. "No matter—burn them to cinders!"
The firestorm intensified. Kael's counter-spells grew ragged under dual mage assaults. Sweat dripped into his eyes as mana reserves dwindled.
"Kael!" Finn's shout cut through the chaos. He crouched by the den's rear wall, fingers tracing frost-etched sigils matching those on the bisected beasts. "This isn't a nest—it's a warding circle!"