After a moment, the members of the caravan finally processed what had just happened.

Three of their own had been snatched by those flying monsters, right before their very eyes!

"What the hell were those things?!" "What do we do now?"

Amid the clamor, Colin surveyed his surroundings.

The slopes on both sides of the ridge were steep. Besides, the monsters could fly; chasing them was impossible.

"That thing was about the size of a Griffin. The people who were taken are as good as dead," Orelia said with concern.

Kase looked at Colin, still shaken. "Do you know what that thing was?"

"Seems like a Scorpion-tailed Lion. They’re quite a handful, said to be even tougher to deal with than a Griffin," Colin said, flipping through his goatskin parchment.

’We detoured to avoid Giants, only to run into something like this in the mountains.’

’This world really is... something else.’

The Dwarf leading the caravan stood on a carriage and shouted, "Quiet, everyone, quiet! There’s a village not far ahead. Let’s go there and get settled! Those monsters won’t follow us into a village to snatch people!"

Once he finished, the caravan members quickly regrouped and set off again.

No one knew if the monsters, still hungry, would come back for seconds.

Walking beside them, Kase nocked an Arrow on his Longbow and stared intently at the clouds. Orelia, too, unhooked the Shield from her backpack and held it ready.

In a situation like this, it was hard not to be tense.

As they advanced, Colin gripped the Dagger at his waist. ’If a monster comes close, I’ll definitely give it a nasty surprise.’

Fortunately, the next stretch of the road was as uneventful as the past few days.

If three people hadn’t actually vanished, it would have been easy to dismiss the whole thing as a hallucination.

After crossing the summit and walking a short distance, they spotted the next village.

Colin looked ahead as he walked.

The mountain village was situated in a small hollow. Low stone houses clung loosely to the hillside, connected by a few haphazard, muddy paths. Thin wisps of cooking smoke had just begun to rise from the roofs before being torn apart by the fierce mountain wind.

’With Scorpion-tailed Lions in the vicinity, it’s a miracle anyone still lives in this village.’

The caravan followed the muddy road into the center of the village.

A few villagers sitting in their small courtyards saw the caravan arrive but showed no reaction, simply going about their business in silence.

After parking the carriages in the small village square, the caravan members had to ask around before finding the village tavern.

The tavern itself was run by the villagers; it was nothing more than a few tables and chairs set up in a small private courtyard. The stables, too, looked to be in a state of disrepair.

Most of the caravan members found a table and sat, ordering beer and some food from a woman who appeared to be the owner’s wife.

Colin saw the Dwarf leader go to find the owner, so he followed, intending to hear what was going on. Orelia naturally trailed behind him.

Kase, who had wanted a drink, sighed at the sight and quietly followed along as well.

"Well, hello there," the owner greeted them, leaning against the low wall of his yard. "It’s been a long time since a caravan came through."

"Of course it has. Otherwise, we would’ve known about those flying monsters around here long ago," the Dwarf said. "Do you have any way to avoid them?"

"What monsters? There are no monsters here," said the tavern owner.

"Bullshit! We just had three living men snatched away, and they’ve probably been eaten clean by now!" the Dwarf said, getting angry. "Besides, what good would it do me to lie to you?"

Some of the Adventurers in the group shot him unfriendly looks.

Seeing this, the owner’s voice and expression suddenly grew hesitant.

"Well, you’ll have to ask the village chief about that... Look, here he comes now."

The owner pointed behind them, then ran over to help his wife pour beer.

They turned to look, and sure enough, a man was hurrying over.

"Are you the caravan that just arrived? You must have some Adventurers among you, right?"

"Of course we have Adventurers, a few dozen of them," the Dwarf said. "When did the monsters outside the village appear?"

"Three months ago..."

"Three months? Forgive my asking—why haven’t they attacked this village?"

"We just give them some livestock each week. Those beasts can speak and understand human language. But four days ago, they told us..." The village chief swallowed before continuing, "to hand over three living people within seven days."

Hearing this, Kase snorted like a horse.

"The stupidest thing to do. You fattened up the Wolf Pack yourselves, without stopping to think who they’d eat first once they grew bigger."

"We had no choice! When they first appeared, we organized a party to deal with them, but we lost several men instead." The village chief’s face was a mask of bitterness. "The Baron of Torrent Bay said he would solve this problem, but we haven’t heard back from him in a long time."

’That Baron probably won’t be writing back,’ Colin thought. ’He’s likely got his hands full with the recent Hill Giant incident. He wouldn’t have time to worry about this small village.’

"Then just hire people with your own money," the Dwarf said.

"The main trade route to the south is just over there. Who’d want to take this difficult, out-of-the-way path? The Adventurers who do come through here aren’t skilled enough to handle Scorpion-tailed Lions. And if we post a quest in the city, no one’s willing to hike three days into the mountains just to fight monsters."

"More likely, you’re just unwilling to pool the money. Dealing with that kind of thing requires a reward of at least one hundred Gold Coins. At that price, you’d rather just feed them livestock and save a little, right?"

The Dwarf’s words made the village chief blush.

He ignored the Dwarf and shouted directly to the courtyard, "Is anyone here willing to kill that pack of Scorpion-tailed Lions?"

Colin and the other two exchanged a look and quietly moved to the side.

"Well?"

"Depends on how much he’s offering," Kase said, looking somewhat distracted.

Orelia nervously pinched the tip of her tail. "Can we even handle monsters like that?"

Colin flipped through his notes.

Based on what they looked like during the attack and the village chief’s description, the monsters were without a doubt Scorpion-tailed Lions.

These creatures had an Intelligence slightly lower than a normal person’s, but they were still a species that could speak and communicate, and they had a particular fondness for human flesh. The only reason they hadn’t attacked this village was that they were treating it as their personal pantry. They probably couldn’t hold back anymore and decided they wanted a taste of human to satisfy their cravings.

According to dwarven and library records, their power level was roughly on par with a Winter Wolf, which meant they weren’t an insurmountable foe.

’Besides, if we don’t deal with those monsters, we’ll definitely be attacked on our way down the mountain.’

At that thought, an image of the three of them being snatched away by Scorpion-tailed Lions inexplicably appeared in Colin’s mind.

’That’s just ridiculous. My luck can’t possibly be that bad... can it?’

"Seventy-five Gold Coins!" the village chief shouted. "We can offer seventy-five Gold Coins to the heroes who clear out the monsters’ nest!"

At that moment, six Adventurers walked up to the village chief.

They wore Chain Armor and carried decent-looking weapons like Short Spears and Longbows on their backs. All in all, they could be considered well-equipped.

One of them shouted, "Our squad can’t take on three Scorpion-tailed Lions alone. Anyone else want in? After the quest is complete, we’ll split the reward by squad!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kase unconsciously fiddled with the strap of his harness.

Colin shot Kase a meaningful look.

’If several squads team up, seventy-five Gold Coins won’t amount to much when split. A life-or-death job like this definitely isn’t worth doing for so little money.’

’Simply put, they need to up the price.’