They quickly arrived at the location where the town administrator was, and were directed to meet with him immediately.

For a town administrator that was usually supposed to look plump and well-put together, this man wasn't… Or at least, he currently didn't look to be.

Greaves, as Finn quickly got to know his name, was a man who looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His office in the town hall was cluttered with reports, supply ledgers, and architectural plans for additional fortifications.

"More academy students," he said when Finn and Elara were shown in. He didn't sound particularly relieved. "How many did they send this time?"

"Five. Eleven in total, including both teams." Finn sat without being invited. "Tell me about the attacks. Everything, not just what you put in the official reports."

Greaves blinked at the direct command, then seemed to decide Finn's age didn't matter if he was actually here to help.

"It started three weeks ago. Small groups of beasts, nothing the town guard couldn't handle. But every night, they started to come in more numbers. And they were... coordinated. Not like normal beast behavior. They'd probe different sections of the wall, like they were testing our defenses."

"What changed two nights ago?"

"The C-rank beast." Greaves's hands clenched on his desk. "It came with a full pack. Forty, maybe fifty D-rank beasts as support. They breached the eastern gate before we could reinforce it. We lost six guards in the initial assault, and they killed a dozen civilians before we drove them back."

"And Master-rank support?"

"Was supposed to arrive five days ago." Greaves's frustration was evident. "We've sent runners. Birds. Every communication method we have. We get confirmations that help is coming, but no one arrives. Meanwhile, the attacks keep escalating."

Finn exchanged a glance with Elara. Her expression mirrored his own concern.

"Have any other towns in the region reported similar problems?" Finn asked.

"Three others. Stonegate to the south, Winterfallow to the north, Ashford to the west. They all started experiencing beast attacks around the same time. And they're all requesting support." Greaves rubbed his face tiredly. "It's like something is driving every beast in the Thornwood forest toward human settlements simultaneously."

Which was wrong and disturbing. Deeply wrong and disturbing.

Magical beast outbreaks happened, but they were typically localized. Usually from one nest getting too large, or one territorial dispute, or an unstable mana source. But never had any of that caused coordinated attacks across multiple settlements like this.

"I need access to all your incident reports," Finn said. "Especially details about the beasts' behavior. What they targeted, how they moved, any unusual patterns."

"I'll have my clerk compile everything." Greaves looked at Finn with something like hope. "Do you think you can figure out what's causing this?"

"Maybe." Finn stood. "In the meantime, we'll reinforce your defenses and prepare for tonight's attack. If the pattern holds, they'll come again at dusk."

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Very quickly, the afternoon went by in a blur of activity.

Finn reviewed the incident reports while his team worked on defensive improvements. Torin and Maris identified the same weak points he'd spotted on Lyssa's map, plus two more. Vex detected mana fluctuations near all the vulnerable points. So it was not random, but following a pattern that suggested deliberate manipulation.

"This isn't natural," Vex reported. "Something is redirecting mana flow toward the town perimeter. It's subtle, but it's there."

Finn filed that information away alongside everything else. The pieces were forming a picture, but he couldn't quite see the full shape yet.

By the time the sun began setting, both teams were positioned along the eastern wall. Lyssa had reluctantly accepted Finn's tactical suggestions, though she'd made sure her team knew they were only "testing alternative approaches."

But Finn couldn't care less about their petty game of who the credit went to. He only cared about the results, and they had complied. Simple.

He stood atop the wall with Elara beside him, watching the Thornwood forest darken as twilight approached. Behind them, archers nocked their arrows. Below, ground forces checked their weapons one final time.

"I don't like this," Elara said quietly. "Something feels wrong. More wrong than just a beast outbreak."

"I know." Finn's gaze remained fixed on the forest. "Stay alert. If things go badly, the priority is keeping our team alive, not being heroes."

"Since when do you care about keeping people alive?" The words came out sharper than she probably intended.

Finn glanced at her. "I care about mission success. Dead team members represent mission failure."

"Right." Elara's expression was unreadable. "For a moment, I thought you might actually—" She cut herself off. "Never mind."

Before Finn could respond, a horn sounded from the southern watchtower. Then another from the north.

"They're not just coming from the east," someone shouted.

Finn's eyes narrowed. A feint, just like he'd predicted. The beasts were smarter than normal.

The first creatures burst from the treeline on all sides simultaneously.

D-rank beasts mostly — wolves with crystal-like growths on their backs, bears whose claws glowed with mana, serpents that moved faster than anything their size should. But behind them, waiting in the darkness like predators waiting for the best chance to strike…

C-rank beasts. Multiple ones.

"Positions!" Lyssa shouted from her section of the wall. "Hold the line!"

Finn drew on his magic, carefully channeling Error in ways that looked like standard elemental manipulation. Fire bloomed along the wall where he gestured, forcing beasts back. Wind pushed back the flying creature-types, sending them crashing into their ground-bound kin.

Beside him, Elara also burst into action, efficiently using her earth magic to create barriers and pit traps that funneled the beasts into kill zones.

The battle raged for hours.

Finn moved along the wall, directing defenders, filling gaps where the line weakened, killing beasts with supreme efficiency. He didn't think about the lives he was protecting or the danger he was in. It was purely from a tactical perspective, constantly updating himself with information, constantly adjusting, moving pieces like a chess puzzle.

Eventually, a C-rank beast — something like a panther but twice the size, with jagged ridges extending from its spine — made it over the wall despite the defenses. It killed two guards before Finn intercepted it.

The fight was brief and brutal. The beast was fast, but Finn was faster. He wove between its strikes, letting his Error magic invert the creature's own momentum, turning its attacks against itself. Within thirty seconds, it was dead.

He didn't even pause to catch his breath afterwards, moving to the next threat immediately.

By the time dawn broke, the beast horde had retreated. The defenders had held, but barely. Five dead, seventeen wounded. Could have been worse.

Should have been better...

Finn walked the wall, assessing the damage, cataloging what had worked and what hadn't. His team was exhausted but intact. Lyssa's team had taken heavier casualties. Three were wounded, one very seriously.

"You were right about the northern approach," Lyssa admitted when she found him. She looked as tired as Greaves had yesterday. "They did exactly what you predicted."

"They're being directed," Finn said flatly. "This isn't random beast behavior. Something is coordinating them."

"What do we do about it?"

Finn stared out at the Thornwood, where the last of the beasts were disappearing into the shadows.

"We stop waiting for Master-rank support that isn't coming." He turned to face Lyssa directly. "Tomorrow night, I'm going into the forest. I'm going to find what's causing this."

"That's insane. You'll be walking into their territory, alone—"

"Not alone." Finn's gaze shifted to Elara, who'd approached during their conversation. "She's coming with me."

Elara's eyes widened. "I am?"

"You are." Finn looked back at Lyssa. "Your team will hold the defenses. If we don't return by the following dawn, send word back to the academies about what we found. Everything. Don't wait for official communication channels."

Lyssa opened her mouth to argue, then seemed to see something in Finn's expression that made her reconsider.

"This is incredibly reckless," she said finally.

"Probably." Finn turned toward the stairs. "But sitting here waiting for help that isn't coming while people die every night is worse."

He descended the wall without waiting for her response.

Behind him, Elara hurried to catch up. Again.

"You can't just decide I'm coming with you on a suicide mission," she hissed once they were out of earshot.

"You're the best defensive mage on either team. If we run into something we can't fight, you're the most likely to get us out alive." Finn's 'logic' was sound. "Besides, you wanted me to start treating you like something other than a chess piece. This is what that looks like."

Elara stared at him. "I... that's not... you can't just…" She made a frustrated sound. "Fine. But if we die, I'm going to be very angry with you."

"Noted." Finn held back a chuckle and headed toward the barracks. He needed to rest before tomorrow night.

And more importantly, he needed to prepare.

Because from somewhere deep within him, he could tell that something was going to happen in this forest mission. Something defining… something that could probably help trigger his tether… and he needed to be as prepared as possible for it.

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The following day came and moved at an extremely slow pace.

Finn spent the morning in preparation for their night mission, reviewing maps of the Thornwood forest, cross-referencing them with the incident reports.

The attacks all originated from a specific sector of the forest — deep enough that town patrols never ventured there, but close enough that the beasts could reach Greystone before dawn.

Elara prepared their supplies ahead of their sort journey, taking only what was necessary for a night mission alone. They weren't going out there for days. Just long enough to find answers.

"You should eat something," she said around midday, finding Finn still hunched over his maps.

"Not hungry."

"You never are." She set a plate beside him anyway. On it was bread, cheese, and dried meat. "But your body still needs fuel, whether you acknowledge it or not."

Finn glanced at the food, then back at his maps. After a moment, he picked up the bread and ate mechanically, barely tasting it. Elara was right, of course. Maintaining peak physical condition was tactically sound.

"Found anything useful?" she asked, studying the maps over his shoulder.

"Maybe." Finn pointed to a cluster of marks he'd made. "The beasts are all coming from this general area. But look at the timing — the attacks on Greystone start later than the ones on Stonegate to the south. And the ones on Winterfallow start even later."

Elara frowned. "Like a wave pattern?"

"Exactly. Whatever is driving them starts here," he tapped a point deep in the forest, "and expands outward. The closest towns get hit first, then it spreads."

"So we're looking for a central source."

"Yes. And based on the mana fluctuations Vex detected, it's probably something that's actively manipulating ambient mana." Finn rolled up the maps. "We leave at dusk. The beasts will be focused on attacking the town, which means fewer patrols in the forest interior."

"Assuming they have patrols at all."

"They do." Finn's certainty was absolute. "They're too coordinated not to. Something is directing them with enough intelligence to organize tactical strikes. That same intelligence will have sentries watching for threats from behind."

Elara was quiet for a moment. "You sound almost excited about this."

"I'm not."

"You're not scared either."

"Fear is counterproductive." Finn stood, gathering his maps. "It clouds judgment and slows reaction time. Better to approach this as a problem to solve."

"Everything's a problem to you, isn't it?" There was something in her voice — not quite accusation, and not quite sadness either. "People, situations, your own emotions, all of it are just variables in an equation to you..."

Finn looked at her directly. "Yes."

"Do you even realize how messed up that is?"

"Probably." He replied after a short pause and headed for the door. "Rest while you can. We have a long night ahead."

Elara watched his retreating back with something like pain flickering through her eyes before she then sighed and moved after him to carry out her duty.

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