"Ordinary Great Antler Deer are relatively docile dangerous beasts with weak territorial instincts. As long as they're not provoked, they won't act aggressively," Leon explained as he led the small team down the slope toward the herd. "If these 'Blazing Flame Antler Deer' are simply enhanced with fire attributes without a fundamental change in temperament, then we shouldn't need to resort to violence to investigate."
Rebecca quickened her pace to catch up to him, looking up at her captain with curiosity. "Captain, how do you plan to investigate this herd of 'Blazing Flame Deer' exactly?"
Leon paused, considering his words carefully as they moved. "If Shadow went through the trouble of implanting Black Dragon Scales in this many deer, it's highly unlikely they captured and moved them all individually. They must have established some kind of laboratory or experimental facility here in Flaming Valley itself. If we follow these deer or study their patterns, we might find where Shadow conducted their experiments."
The mention of a potential lead caused a visible ripple of tension among the group. Leon's team had been pursuing Shadow's trail for years, only to have their most promising leads vanish at critical moments. Shadow's operations were always meticulous and left frustratingly little trace behind.
Despite orchestrating a century-long war between humans and dragons that reshaped continents, Shadow had vanished after the conflict's resolution, leaving behind only fragments of a larger, more terrifying scheme. Leon and the Lionheart Guild had been painstakingly piecing together these fragments like a massive jigsaw puzzle. Though the picture remained incomplete, the broader outline of Shadow's ambitions was beginning to emerge with chilling clarity.
This was why the possibility of an active Shadow hideout in the Flaming Valley ignited a fresh spark of determination within Leon.
The group reached the outskirts of the Blazing Flame Deer's territory and crouched in the tall, golden grass that bordered the barren earth of the valley floor.
Leon raised a clenched fist, signaling everyone to halt. After carefully surveying the deer's movements and disposition, he gave his instructions in a low voice: "Rebecca, Martin, Nacho, you're with me. Bring three sensing mages and three dangerous beast scholars. The rest will stay back here to avoid disturbing the herd." He glanced back at the main group. "Even though these deer are supposedly docile, our full numbers might spook them, which could disrupt the investigation. If they do turn aggressive, provide backup immediately."
Rebecca smirked, her hand instinctively drifting toward one of her many holsters. "Got it, Captain. But if you're too slow on the trigger, don't blame me when I've already taken down the whole herd."
Nacho snorted softly and began quietly selecting the designated team members. With their small investigation team assembled, they began slowly creeping through the rustling grass toward the grazing deer.
"Captain, the Black Dragon Scale energy signatures are strong and consistent ahead," reported Simmons, one of the senior sensing mages, his eyes glowing faintly with diagnostic magic. "The readings are coming from every adult specimen."
"Understood. Everyone, stay alert," Leon replied, his eyes scanning the herd for any sign of reaction to their presence.
The deer herd had already noticed their approach. Hundreds of glowing, fire-ember eyes turned almost in unison toward the slowly approaching group. The air grew thick with silent observation.
"Being stared at by a hundred-plus dangerous beasts with flaming antlers isn't exactly a comforting feeling," Rebecca muttered under her breath, her usual bravado tempered by the unnerving sight.
Thankfully, the Blazing Flame Deer maintained their calm demeanor. None showed the bristling aggression or defensive posturing typical of territorial beasts as the group moved closer into their midst.
Leon kept his movements slow and deliberately non-threatening, spreading his arms slightly away from his body to show he was unarmed. His open gesture was a calculated risk, a universal signal to intelligent creatures that he posed no immediate threat.
The others followed Leon's lead, mirroring his unarmed, open posture as they moved.
Just as it seemed their cautious approach would be successful, one of the largest bucks in the herd—a magnificent specimen with a sprawling crown of antlers that shimmered with contained heat—lowered its head, aiming its formidable weapons directly at Rebecca.
"Uh, Captain? I think this particular gentleman has taken a disliking to me," Rebecca said, her voice tight with nerves as she took a careful step back. Her hand instinctively twitched toward the pistol strapped to her thigh.
Leon immediately pinpointed the issue. "Rebecca, drop your guns. Now."
"What?" Rebecca blinked in disbelief, her grip tightening on her weapon.
"Your weapons—all of them. Drop them now," Leon repeated, his voice firm and leaving no room for argument.
Rebecca hesitated, her eyes darting between the aggressive buck and the rest of the herd, which was beginning to shift and tense at the standoff. Swallowing hard, she muttered, "If this thing decides to use me as a pincushion, Sis is never going to let you hear the end of it."
With a dramatic sigh, Rebecca unstrapped her primary gun holsters and let them fall to the dusty ground with a thud.
The massive buck didn't relax its stance.
"Come on, don't hold back now. The rest," Nacho muttered, eyeing the increasingly restless herd.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and began what appeared to be a magical act of weapon conjuration. She produced another pistol from a hidden holster at the small of her back, a serrated dagger from her boot, a small, palm-sized handgun from a sleeve compartment, and several more throwing knives and compact firearms from various concealed pockets on her person.
By the time she finished, a small arsenal lay piled on the ground before her.
Noticing the stunned looks on her teammates' faces, Rebecca shrugged innocently. "What? It's perfectly normal for a professional gunner to carry a few backup weapons, right?"
Leon stared at the considerable pile, half-convinced she had a personal pocket dimension hidden somewhere in her gear.
"How do you even walk, let alone fight, carrying that much steel?" Martin groaned, shaking his head.
"Relax, Martin. Next time, we can make a game of it—'How many guns is Rebecca hiding?'" she replied with a weak grin, though her eyes remained fixed on the still-threatening buck.
"Shh!" Leon silenced them, motioning with his head toward the deer.
With Rebecca's last weapon discarded, the herd visibly relaxed. The large buck finally raised its head, the immediate threat fading as it snorted and turned away, the glowing intensity of its antlers dimming slightly.
Leon turned to her, his expression a mixture of exasperation and relief. "In the future, when we're trying a diplomatic approach with unknown dangerous beasts, leave your personal armory with the backup team."
Rebecca grumbled something under her breath about being unprepared, but nodded in agreement.
The group moved cautiously closer now that the immediate tension had dissipated. The deer largely ignored them, resuming their normal behaviors—grazing on the sparse, hardy vegetation, dozing in patches of sun, and occasionally sparring playfully among themselves with clacks of their fiery antlers.
"Spread out and investigate quietly," Leon instructed in a low voice. "Look for anything unusual—wounds, strange behaviors, markings. Report anything immediately."
Leon himself approached the large buck that had initially confronted Rebecca. Its size, the impressive span of its antlers, and the deferential way the other deer moved around it marked it as the herd's alpha.
As he observed from a respectful distance, he noticed a patch of matted, darkly stained fur on its chest, just above the heart. The fur was clumped and discolored, unlike the rest of its well-groomed coat.
The buck shifted its weight, stomping a hoof irritably and lowering its body slightly as it scratched its shoulder against a rock. This new angle gave Leon a clearer view of the wound on its chest—it wasn't a clean cut or a gash, but a raw, inflamed area where the skin seemed abraded and torn, as if scraped repeatedly against rough surfaces.
"So it's injured," Leon muttered to himself. "But the wound doesn't look like a bite or claw mark from a predator. There's no sign of a struggle with another beast either."
The realization struck him with cold clarity. "It's trying to remove it. It's trying to scrape the Black Dragon Scale implanted in its chest out."
Around the same time, Rebecca and Martin returned from their own circuits of the herd's perimeter.
"Captain, we've observed something disturbing," Martin reported, his face grim. "Several of the deer, at least a dozen, are exhibiting clear self-harming behaviors. They're rubbing their chests against rocks and hard earth."
"Same here," Rebecca added, her usual levity gone. "Most of the wounds are concentrated on their chests, right near where their hearts would be."
Nacho, who had been consulting with one of the beast scholars, frowned deeply. "So they're aware of the foreign objects and are consciously trying to get rid of them? That shows a level of understanding I wouldn't expect."
Leon nodded, his own observations confirmed. "But here's the strange part, the part that doesn't fit: even though the scales are clearly causing them distress, they don't seem to be disrupting the deer's core behaviors or social structure. Look at them." He gestured around at the peacefully grazing herd. "They're eating, sleeping, socializing, even sparring for dominance as if everything is normal. The self-harm seems almost... compartmentalized."
"Does that mean the implantation was a failure?" Nacho asked. "If the hosts are rejecting the scales..."
Leon shook his head, his expression darkening. "Shadow has a well-documented history of eliminating failures. If these deer were truly failed experiments, they'd have been culled and disposed of long ago. Their continued survival, and the herd's overall health, tells me this is intentional."
"Then what's the explanation?" Rebecca pressed, her brow furrowed in confusion.
Leon's gaze swept over the herd, his mind working through the terrifying implications. "The Black Dragon Scales might require an external trigger, an activation ritual or command, to fully take effect. Until then, they remain dormant, a latent power. If that's the case, Shadow could not only ensure the creatures retain their original temperament and abilities, making them perfect sleeper agents, but also gain the ability to activate and control them all at will, anywhere, anytime."
Before they could discuss the horrifying ramifications of this theory further, a sharp, urgent shout came from nearby.
"Captain! Nacho! Over here, quickly!"
The group rushed to where Simmons, the sensing mage, was crouched at the edge of a slight depression in the ground, his face pale.
"What is it?" Leon asked, dropping to one knee beside him.
Simmons pointed a trembling finger toward the center of the natural hollow. "Look there. In the middle of the herd."
In a small, cleared space surrounded by watchful does, a pregnant Blazing Flame Deer was lying on her side. Her flanks heaved with rapid, strained breaths, and her body was contorted with obvious labor pains. The birth was underway.
"Whoa," Rebecca said, her voice a mix of amazement and concern. "The Black Dragon Scales didn't affect their ability to reproduce? That's... actually impressive, in a horrifying way."
Martin, however, narrowed his eyes, his scholar's mind analyzing the scene with clinical detachment. "Wait... something's wrong with the process. Look at her movements."
Leon's chest tightened as he noticed it too. The doe's struggles were too violent, too pained. She was pushing, but nothing was happening, and her distress was growing by the second.
"Captain," Martin said, his voice low and grim, "I think she's having serious complications. She's definitely in active labor... but she's struggling far beyond what's normal. Based on the positioning and her symptoms... it looks like she's having a breech birth. The fawn is positioned wrong."