Marcus and Rita followed the trail of broken trees left by the bloodsaurus to get to the source of the otion.

  Along the way, they saw what looked to be half-eaten corpses of people.

  “By the gods, I hope the children are alright,” Rita muttered.

  That wasn’t the only thing they saw; there were brutalized corpses of monster parts scattered around.

  Fear gripped their hearts as they thought the worst had happened.

  Following the trail of corpses, they soon arrived at the sourbsp;

  What they saw astohem; there were many stacks of dead monster, many cw marks, fallen trees and the st of burnt wood lingered in the air.

  “What happened here,” Marcus muttered, his heart sinking.

  If his guess was right, the sve traders made camp in their current location.

  Meaning that the kids were here when disaster struck, the possibility of them being alive was low.

  The only way he could think of them surviving was that some sve trader took them and escaped when the disaster strubsp;

  Snap!

  The sudden snapping of branches suddenly drew their attention.

  Looking at the source, they could see the outline of two figures atop a tree.

  The clouds were obsg the moon so it was a bit hard to see.

  Cautiously, they approached the tree, the clouds began moving away letting the moonlight shine once more.

  Suddenly the two silhouettes started falling down.

  Marcus immediately distanced himself because he couldn’t tell what they were.

  But Rita immediately dashed forward and caught the two figures.

  She had caught a glimpse of silver hair and bck horns shining due to the moonlight.

  They only had one person with silver hair and bck horns in their family.

  “By the gods, are those the kids,” Marcus excimed, a bit ashamed of his overly cautiousness.

  If Rita didn’t grab the kids, they might have been hurt from the fall.

  “Waaaaaaah,” Vasileios cried out upnition of his grandparents.

  “Shhh. It’s okay, grandma is here now,” Rita forted while cheg his body for injuries.

  Marcus took Draco, who looked to be barely scious, and began cheg for injuries.

  “Ugh, Vasileios, where are you,” Draco called out in his delirious state while trying to free himself from Marcus's grasp.

  His mind was so jumbled now that he couldn’t reize his Grandpa Marcus.

  He thought that the monsters had grabbed onto him.

  “Rita, please e che him,” Marcus pleaded; he didn’t know what to do.

  “Just what happeo you, Draarcus muttered.

  Rita quickly handed Vasileios over to Marcus and began iing Draco. Draco’s body now looked like a shriveled up mummy.

  It looked like he haden in days, despite being away from home for only about a day.

  His body felt too bony to Marcus's toud his eyes sunken in.

  During his forced awakening process, Draeeded a lot of food to supplement what he had lost.

  Sadly, he didn’t know about this and the situation he was in didn’t allow such a thing.

  He kept pushing his body, and this was one of the sequences.

  Luckily he was found now and could slowly recover or his body would have beguing at his life span to preserve his life.

  “I don’t know what is going on but he needs food. We should hurry back to the vilge,” Rita said after iing his body.

  The only thing she could tell was that Draco’s body was starving for something.

  She couldn’t feed him solid food as he was currently unscious so they o return quickly.

  …………………………………………………………………

  Darkness bhe dense forest, the only illumination ing from the flickering moonlight that filtered through the thick opy of trees.

  The air was thick with tension as Anita, a level 5 retired adventurer wielding a massive hammer, and her husband John, a level 4 retired adventurer armed with a sharp sword stood cautiously.

  They were fag off against an injured and exhausted bloodsaurus.

  Anita gripped the handle of her hammer, the worher ing providing a secure grip.

  “Stay alert, John,” she whispered, her eyes sing the shadows for any sign of movement.

  John nodded, his gaze serious as he held his sword at the ready.

  “I'm right with you, my love,” he murmured.

  Suddenly, a deep, guttural roar pierced the night, and the bloodsaurus emerged from the darkness, its sharp teeth bared and its eyes glowing with a primal hunger.

  Today had been a bad day for it, not only did it have to deal with the past intruders in its territory and fight a horde of monsters.

  Now there were new intruders in its territain and they were challenging it.

  ROARRR!

  Anita braced herself, her muscles tensing as she swung her hammer in a wide arbsp;

  Whoosh!

  Her o, cleaving through the air.

  “Now, John!” she yelled, her voice resonating with the fidence of an experienced adventurer.

  John sprung into a, his sword fshing as he darted forward.

  g! g!

  The sound of steel g against scales eg through the forest.

  The bloodsaurus roared in pain, its massive tail swinging around to knock John off banbsp;

  Thud!

  “Argh!” John cried, stumbling backward as he regained his footing.

  Anita seized the opportunity, her hammer raised high as she charged towards the bloodsaurus.

  Thud!

  The hammer ected with the creature's leg, causing it to falter a out a pained screebsp;

  “Take that, you rown lizard!” Anita shouted, her eyes bzing with anger.

  John surged forward, his sword slig through the air as he aimed for the bloodsaurus's vulnerable nebsp;

  Ssh!

  The bde found its mark, drawing a spray of thick, crimson blood.

  Roar!

  The bloodsaurus thrashed in agony, its massive cws swiping at them.

  Anita deftly dodged the attacks, her hammer poised to strike again.

  Thud!

  The hammer collided with the creature's side, sending it reeling.

  “We've got it on the ropes, John!” Anita shouted, her voice filled with exhiration.

  "Keep at it!" she instructed. John nodded, his brow furrowed in tration as he unched a flurry of strikes, eae sshing against the bloodsaurus's scales.

  The creature's movements became more erratic, its roars of pain eg through the forest.

  Sensing an opportunity, Anita swung her hammer with all her might, the sound of the blow resonating as it ected with the bloodsaurus's head.

  The creature stumbled, its eyes gzed with pain and fusion.

  “Now, John!” Anita yelled, her voice ringing with triumph. John surged forward, his sword poised for the final strike.

  Ssh!

  The bde sliced through the bloodsaurus's neck, and the creature let out a final, agonizing screech before colpsing to the ground, its massive body thumping against the forest floor.

  Thud!

  Anita and John stood side by side, their breath steady and calm.

  Anita g her husband, a proud smile spreading across her fabsp;

  “Well done, my love,” she said, her voice soft.

  Johurhe smile, his eyes shining with relief and satisfa.

  “We still make a great team, Anita,” he said, reag out to grasp her hand.

  “Now let’s go get randchildren,” Anita said, rushing ahead to catch up with Marcus and Rita.

  On the way, they met Marcus and Rita rushing babsp;

  “What happened, what about the kids?” John asked in .

  “Vasileios is physically fi Draco…” Rita replied showing Draco to them.

  “Anyway we o return back quickly, you two go ahead and iigate the sve trader campsite maybe you find some clues about them,” Marcus suggested.

  “Alright you two take the kids bae quickly, we will return after searg a bit,” Anita replied.

  Marcus and Rita nodded and began making their way bae.

  ……………………………………………………………………..

  Not too far aerched on a tall tree, a shadowy figure observed the unfoldis.

  “Tsk, those people look strong. She will not be pleased with the results but my job has been done so not my problem” the figure muttered before slowing disappearing into the darkness.