Chapter 585 Ambush

Chapter 585: Chapter 585 Ambush

They simply played along, allowing their Priestess to maintain her excuse while silently trusting that she would explain herself when the time was right.

The moment the guard saw that the female Tigrens genuinely appeared exhausted, their shoulders slumped and their expressions weary, the crease between his brows gradually eased.

He hesitated for a moment before finally turning around and heading back toward the rest of his group, who had also stopped a short distance away to wait for him.

The moment he was far enough away, the Tigrens turned toward their Priestess.

One by one, questioning gazes settled on her.

They still didn’t understand what had prompted her sudden request to stop. As far as they were concerned, the journey had been tiring but manageable, and nothing obvious had happened to warrant such caution.

The Priestess understood their confusion, as aside from the route being questionable, nothing had happened yet.

"I feel uneasy," she finally explained through their mindlink. "That’s why I asked us to stop. I want us to take a moment to look around and assess our surroundings before we continue."

Her words immediately caught their attention.

The Priestess rarely acted without reason.

If she was uneasy enough to interrupt their journey, then perhaps there truly was something wrong that they hadn’t noticed yet.

"What do you mean, Priestess? These people are our Queen’s people. Are you saying we should be wary of her?"

One of the Tigren warriors questioned through the mindlink, his expression hardening with displeasure. The moment the Priestess’s words seemed to cast doubt on their new Queen’s intentions, his instincts immediately bristled.

After all, their Queen had yet to give them any reason to distrust her, and the last thing they wanted was for their Chieftain to hear that the Priestess had been openly questioning their Queen’s motives.

"Of course not!" the Priestess quickly explained. "It’s just that... our new Queen might still be angry with me because of what I pulled the last time we met. But despite that, I don’t believe she’s a malicious person, nor do I think she would deliberately pull anything underhanded against us. However..."

She trailed off, her expression becoming more serious.

"But what?" another warrior immediately asked through the mindlink.

Around them, the other Tigren warriors suddenly became very busy.

Some began gathering firewood. Others started preparing the ingredients for their quick meal, while a few wandered around as though they were searching for suitable places to rest. To anyone watching from the outside, they were merely going about the ordinary tasks of setting up camp.

In reality, every single one of them was listening.

They had deliberately scattered themselves instead of gathering around the Priestess, knowing that a tight circle of warriors whispering among themselves would only attract attention. And the Priestess noticed.

For a brief moment, a faint look of pride flickered across her face.

Her little ones were growing up.

She hadn’t even needed to tell them what to do. The moment she admitted that something felt wrong, they had instinctively understood and quietly arranged themselves without making it obvious that they were having a private discussion.

Perhaps she really had raised them well.

The thought almost made her smile.

Almost.

Because whatever had made her uneasy was still weighing heavily on her mind.

"There is something I can’t quite put my finger on," the Priestess finally continued, her voice lowering through the mindlink. "It’s only a feeling, but ever since we arrived here, I’ve had the faintest sense that something isn’t right."

The warriors exchanged subtle glances without breaking their act.

The mood among them immediately became more serious.

"What kind of feeling?" one of them asked.

The Priestess hesitated again before answering. "I don’t know yet." Her eyes quietly swept across their surroundings. "But my instincts have never been this persistent without a reason."

"And what if these people aren’t actually our Queen’s people?" The Priestess’s question immediately changed the atmosphere.

She was guided toward a protruding rock and settled onto it as though she were simply taking a moment to rest. Yet the Tigren warriors understood her well enough by now to know that nothing about their current movements was as casual as it appeared.

The females quietly shifted toward the center of their formation and sat together, rummaging through their storage pouches and passing around dried rations as though they were merely preparing something for the warriors to eat. In reality, their hands were searching for anything that could prove useful should a fight suddenly break out.

The males, meanwhile, positioned themselves along the outer edge of the formation.

They appeared relaxed, but their bodies were coiled with restrained readiness. Their ears twitched at every unfamiliar sound, their noses tested every shift in the air, and their heightened senses swept constantly across their surroundings while they listened to the Priestess through the mindlink.

The connection she had established covered every Tigren in their group.

Normally, a mindlink this broad could only be maintained by their Chieftain. As the leader of their pack, he possessed the strength and authority necessary to connect their minds into a single network. The Priestess, however, could imitate it through magic.

Unlike the Chieftain’s natural connection, hers required her to use magic to establish a direct link between her mind and the brains of her targets. It was useful, but it also carried a risk. Any powerful mage or witch nearby would be able to sense the magical signature surrounding her and potentially realize that she was secretly communicating with the entire group.

Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be any such presence nearby.

Only werewolves.

So the Priestess continued.

"We don’t know enough about this territory," she reminded them through the mindlink. "We don’t know its hidden currents, its alliances, or who might be moving behind the scenes. We have stepped into someone else’s territory, and we shouldn’t assume that everyone we encounter is exactly who they claim to be."

Her gaze remained fixed ahead, her expression thoughtful.

Before they had entered Werewolf territory, their Chieftain had specifically warned her to remain observant and to trust no one too easily.

At the time, she didn’t fully understand his warning.

Now, she finally understood why he had insisted on it.

Aside from their Chieftain, she was probably the only one among them with enough worldly experience, awareness, and knowledge to recognize when something felt out of place. That was precisely why he had entrusted this responsibility to her.

And now...

She couldn’t shake the feeling that they had walked straight into something.

Something hidden.

Something they didn’t yet understand.

Her fingers slowly tightened against the edge of the rock.

"I can’t tell you what it is yet," she admitted through the mindlink. "But something about this place is bothering me."

The warriors remained silent.

The females continued pretending to prepare their food. The males continued pretending to rest.

Yet beneath that calm fa?ade, every Tigren was now alert.

Because they trusted their Priestess.

And if her instincts were telling her that something was wrong, then they would rather be prepared before they discovered exactly what that something was.

But before they could prepare themselves or even react, they heard the sharp whistle of something cutting through the air.

"Ambush!!!"