The Whip-Tailed Cougar had suffered far too much damage in this last exchange, and although it wasn't dead yet, it was bleeding profusely and several of its critical organs had been cut to pieces. It was now just a matter of time before it perished, and there was nothing it could do about it.
After struggling to stand upright, Farah tried to put some weight on her left leg only to suffer a sharp, shooting pain and confirm it was sprained. It seemed the cougar's final desperate counterattack had landed, though it was not a clean hit as that would likely have resulted in broken bones instead of just a minor wound.
Looking over at her dying opponent, Farah sighed and shook her head, figuring it was a fair trade to sacrifice some mobility in one of her legs to bring the cougar down.
Tossing away what was left of her dagger, Farah hobbled around the whimpering cougar. Staying clear of its claws just in case it suddenly burst out with one final struggle, Farah made her way over to her sabre before bending down awkwardly and picking it up.
With her blade now available to use as a crutch, Farah was better able to balance herself as she lifted her head and glanced off towards the west, where she saw what seemed to be a pack of Horned Boar approaching, together with some stray deer, and even a pair of bears.
Although this kind of mixed group of Wild Beasts was normally an impossible sight, it wasn't the first time tonight that she had seen similar gatherings, so Farah wasn't surprised.
Quickly judging the distance, she figured she still had enough time to make it behind the barricade before this pack of beasts arrived, so she didn't panic.
Just as she was about to start limping back, however, the first rays of sunlight peeked out from the east, signaling the arrival of dawn, and also glinting off something further behind the mass of charging beasts.
This glint of reflected light naturally caught Farah's eye and she couldn't help shifting her gaze to investigate. A moment later, a solemn look appeared on her face as she caught sight of a giant scaled beast, slithering along the ground, chasing after the frightened herd in front of it.
"Damn it… just how terrible is my luck," Farah cursed, stomping hard on her left leg, drawing an anguished cry from her lips as she forcefully assumed a combat stance.
As she stood there, perspiring heavily from both the exhaustion and pain she felt, Farah mused that although the long night had ended, the battle was far from over.
…..
Dawn broke, and the first rays of sunlight bathed Redwood Town in an early autumn glow. Ordinarily, farmers would be waking up about now, preparing to head to the fields to tend to their crops while merchants, craftsmen, and other professionals would be opening their shops for the day.
A sleepy morning, filled with sleepy people, all of them going about their lives, that was what would normally be the day's routine; but not today.
Today, tension filled the air, as the fierce growls and roars of Wild Beasts could be heard all throughout the western quarter.
At the same time, the shouts of humans, and the clashing of weapons echoed across the town. Even in the 'safe-zones', which were now jam packed full of both locals and refugees, there was no quiet or calm as people rushed back and forth, doing what they could to secure their surroundings or to treat the plethora of injured.
Throughout the previous night, refugees from all 14 of the surrounding villages had poured into Redwood Town, some in large groups, others all on their own, but the process was in no way smooth.
In the early part of last evening, things hadn't been so bad. It was still light out, only a few Wild Beasts had emerged from the forest, and there was a large region around Redwood Town that was protected from attack by the Great Oriyan.
There had also been roaming patrols of adventurers and guardsmen from Redwood Town that had been there to assist the fleeing villagers.
However, as night fell and the Great Oriyan left, the mobile patrols were pulled back and more and more Wild Beasts flooded out of the Great Western Forest, hounding the refugee convoys that hadn't yet made it to safety.
The result of this was an enormous number of injuries and deaths. A full count hadn't been done yet, but even a rough estimate put the number of casualties well above the 1,000 mark.
Beth, the Town Guardsman sent out to warn the villages to retreat to Redwood Town, returned shortly after midnight, her right arm hanging limp, carrying a wounded, unconscious little girl no older than 4 in her left.
Upon seeing the bloodied Beth and asking her what happened, Sasha felt a deep stabbing pain in her heart. Apparently, when Beth arrived at the last village, a small logging settlement situated to the north of Redwood Town, it had already suffered several beast attacks and many of the villagers were already dead.
Beth found this little girl amidst the ruins of a collapsed house, sobbing mournfully under her father's dead body. Seeing the claw marks on the man's back, it was obvious that he had died shielding his daughter.
There were other bodies in the ruins of the house, but none of them were still alive, making it clear that the little girl was the only survivor.
Unable to just abandon the child, Beth pried her little limbs off her dead father and carried her away, doing her best to ignore the desperate pleas she was making to take her papa and mama with them.
Gathering the few survivors she could find, which amounted to less than half of the original village's population, Beth did her best to escort them back to Redwood Town together with anyone who could pick up a weapon, but it was an arduous task that they were ill prepared for.
Even though there was no shortage of sharp axes given the nature of the village, most of the villagers only knew how to chop trees rather than fend off beasts, so Beth was forced to deal with most of the real threats on her own.
Along the way, Beth's spear snapped, and her shield was lost, forcing her to rely solely on a sword not meant to be used on horseback as it was far too short.
A wolf clawed open her leg, drawing blood, while a boar knocked her off her mount, causing her to dislocate her arm in the fall.
Panicked and injured, the horse Beth was riding fled, its fate unknown.
Still, Beth could be considered one of the lucky ones as from the time her group left the village until they reached Redwood Town, 20 more villagers she was escorting died.
After listening to Beth's full report, Sasha wanted nothing more than to tell her to get a hot meal and take a rest; but unfortunately, even that wasn't possible.
Despite having lived next to the Great Western Forest for over a decade, venturing inside it to hunt and forage no less than 100 times, Sasha found she had greatly underestimated just how many Wild Beasts truly lived inside of it, a mistake in judgement that was now yielding deadly consequences.
Originally, both she and Charles had thought that while it would be difficult, it would still be possible for them to hunker down and ride out whatever stampeded came their way, at least for a few days until things settled down a bit.
However, as soon as night fell and their big friend left, requests began flooding in from all the barricades, begging for reinforcements as they were quickly being overwhelmed.
At the start of the night, only those with combat experience above the Seventh Step Body Tempering Realm were sent to the barricades, but as time wore on, everyone above the age of 16 who was capable of fighting had been sent out, including many among the village refugees who had just arrived.
The night wasn't even half over before there was no one left to guard the overflowing safe-zones as everyone had been reassigned to the front lines.
With the situation being what it was, Sasha steeled her heart and ordered the injured Town Guardsman, "Beth, go have Herbalist Erwin set your arm, then head to the main barricade and join the town's defence."
Beth was completely drained and was feeling faint from blood loss, pain, and exhaustion, but she offered no complaints or objections to this order. After what she had just gone through, and what she had seen inside the town, she knew that there was no way for her to rest now.
As long as she could still swing a sword or thrust a spear, she had to keep fighting or she, and everyone else would die.
It was another hour or so after Beth returned that Sasha finally finished settling all the immediate matters regarding the Manor and the refugees and turned to Helen, "I'm leaving you in charge now."
Without waiting for a response, Sasha dashed out of the office, grabbing her spear as she headed for the main barricade.
All this time, she couldn't join the defence lines as someone needed to be around to coordinate the overall situation; but now that all the work that could be done was done, Sasha felt it would no longer matter whether she was around or not.