System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 51
Brady’s death site lay just two miles from Spansol. The three of them walked along the village’s narrow path for half an hour before a dense thicket of pine trees came into view.
The trees were ancient, most over a hundred years old, towering above forty feet. Looking up, the thick canopy of branches formed a dense, umbrella-like shield that blocked out the sun, casting a shadowed gloom over the forest floor.
The ground was covered in a thick layer of fallen twigs and leaves, the earthy scent of decaying plant matter mingling with the sharp tang of pine. From time to time, a small animal would peek from the underbrush, startled by their presence, before quickly darting back into the deeper woods.
“Up ahead, you’ll find the crime scene. The bloodstains have dried, but I’m sure you’ll recognize it,” Casili said, his voice flat with resignation. “I’ll wait here. I’m not going any closer.”
According to Casili, places where blood had been spilled were unlucky; they carried a curse. He had already visited the scene once but had no intention of returning.
The two men made no protest.
At a distance, they could see the sharp outlines of tall pine trees near the edge of the woods. Some branches had curved inward, forming a jagged, towering spire more than a man’s height. Beneath them, the ground was stained a deep reddish-brown, littered with scraps of meat and bone, flies buzzing in thick swarms above the mess.
It had been a lucky break—no rain in the past three days had allowed the marks at the scene to remain undisturbed.
The two men approached cautiously, stepping carefully around the scattered human footprints left by the villagers. The smell of decay hung faintly in the air.
As they neared the scene, a low hum filled the quiet woods, the sound of buzzing insects. Roy flinched, instinctively stepping back, his spine arching like a cat’s in surprise. He moved a few steps behind Letho.
It wasn’t cowardice, just a tactical retreat—there was a big man ahead of him, so why take unnecessary risks with his small frame?
“Relax, Kid.”
Letho’s right hand brushed over the serpent-shaped pendant on his chest, quelling the faint vibration of magic. “The magical fluctuations are slight. This isn’t the arrival of a monster; it’s merely a resonance from lingering energy at the scene.”
He closed his eyes, feeling the air around him.
“Even after three days, I can still sense the faintest elemental ripple.”
“Then the killer really isn’t a normal human?” Roy crouched down and touched the base of the sharp spire of branches, brushing off the dirt from his fingertips.
“These branches weren’t naturally formed, nor were they piled by human hands. This was caused by supernatural forces.” Letho’s voice held the weight of certainty. “I can almost picture it—Brady, caught unawares, his body lifted by branches from the ground, then gutted in mid-air.”
“So this is where Brady died?”
Roy’s brow furrowed as he scanned the area.
Letho shook his head. “I can’t imagine anyone would go through such effort to use destructive magic on a corpse.”
Roy nodded, his eyes shifting to the pine tree near the scene. “There are strange scratches on this tree.”
Letho looked at the marks and pondered for a moment before giving him an approving glance. “Those are signs of vine drag. The killer used vines to restrain Brady, lifted him off the ground, and then used magic to deliver the fatal blow.”
In the underbrush nearby, they found a severed vine.
“Controlling vines ... using earth-spike magic...”
Roy’s mind flashed with the image of some kind of monster. A theory began to form, but it was still vague.
Letho squatted down, unaffected by the filth, and picked up a piece of something foul-smelling. Roy’s nose wrinkled as the stench hit him.
“Rotting flesh ... and the waste of birds and beasts...”
“More precisely, this includes bird and wolf droppings, dried urine. The quantity is ... abnormal.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.