Chapter 549 Siege 16
"Wait... earlier, before everything started, I felt something was off. I got suspicious and was about to check it out, but something interrupted me." She frowned, pressing her fingers lightly against her temple. "And now... I can’t remember what it was. Not what I noticed, not what I was about to do."
A flicker of unease crossed her face. "It’s strange... I only remember the feeling that something wasn’t right. Like I missed something important."
Seeing her strain so hard to recall what she had noticed earlier, whatever it was that had sparked her suspicion, Zion couldn’t help but reach out and gently pat her shoulder. He could see the pressure weighing down on her, how desperately she was trying to grasp at that missing clue.
And maybe that was exactly why it kept slipping further away.
"Breathe, Addie..." Zion murmured softly. "Leave the rest to us. Maxwell, Levi, and I, we’ll help you. You don’t have to carry everything on your own."
Before she could protest, he pulled her into a brief, reassuring embrace.
The warmth, the familiarity of his scent, grounded her. Slowly, the tightness in her chest eased, her racing thoughts beginning to settle.
But even then...
Nothing.
The clue was still out of reach.
Addison exhaled shakily, realizing she would have to start over, piece everything together from the beginning. Whatever she had sensed before... it had to be important. It might even be the key to solving everything.
Still, this time, she wasn’t alone.
Just like Zion said.
With them beside her, the weight didn’t feel as crushing anymore. She could focus, observe more carefully, look for what was out of place, what didn’t belong.
And if she still couldn’t find it...
Then they would hold their ground and wait for Archmage Elric to finish the teleportation portal. They could retreat. Leave this place behind.
By then, it wouldn’t matter if they never uncovered the cause; they would be safe.
But...
Addison’s gaze hardened slightly.
Running away wasn’t a real solution.
If this place were overrun, they would never learn what was drawing these creatures here. Any evidence would be wiped out; perhaps that was exactly what the spies who orchestrated this wanted.
And if the same thing happened somewhere else in the kingdom...
They would be just as unprepared.
More lives would be put at risk.
No...
Simply retreating wasn’t enough.
They needed answers.
"Thank you... Then help me coordinate the warriors and the Alphas on the front line," Addison said, her voice steadier now. "I’ll focus on finding whatever it is that’s attracting these monsters and wild animals, something that affects them, but somehow goes unnoticed by us... even with our heightened senses."
She trailed off.
A thought struck her, and everything stilled.
If the source of attraction was truly scent... then why couldn’t they detect it?
They were werewolves.
Their senses were far superior to those of ordinary animals.
So if beasts and monsters could pick it up so clearly, enough to drive them into a frenzy... then why were they completely unaffected? Why couldn’t they even detect the faintest trace of it?
Her brows furrowed as her mind raced.
That didn’t make sense.
Unless...
It wasn’t just scent.
"...A trigger," she murmured under her breath. What if it wasn’t a single stimulus, but a combination?
Scent alone wouldn’t explain it, but if it were paired with something else... something more specific...
A frequency.
A wavelength.
Her eyes sharpened as the pieces began to fall into place.
What if only creatures that met certain conditions, like those with simpler instincts or those more susceptible to primal signals, could respond to it?
Werewolves, despite their wolf side, still possessed higher intelligence. Their minds were more structured, more resistant. That alone could be enough to filter out or suppress whatever influence was driving the others into mad frenzy.
But wild animals... monsters... They wouldn’t have that same resistance.
"...That’s why we can’t sense it," Addison whispered, realization dawning fully now.
Because whatever was drawing them in was never meant for them in the first place.
Seeing that Addison had reached a breakthrough, Zion chose to remain silent, giving her the space she needed to think things through. Soon after, they split up to handle their own tasks.
Addison immediately began moving through the camp again, scanning everything with renewed focus. People were rushing about in every direction, tending to the wounded, reinforcing defenses, carrying supplies, making it difficult for her to properly observe her surroundings.
But she didn’t stop.
She couldn’t afford to.
And then—
Her efforts paid off.
Hidden among the flowers near the riverside, she spotted it.
A beast-attracting flower.
At first glance, it looked completely ordinary, almost identical to the other roadside blooms. That was what made it so dangerous; no one would think to question it, much less notice it among the hundreds scattered across the flower field.
But Addison knew better.
This flower only became effective under two conditions.
First, when it reached full bloom and released its pollen.
Second, when it was rubbed violently, its particles would spread into the air by the wind.
And here... there wasn’t just one.
There were dozens, no, at least a hundred of them.
Her eyes narrowed as she examined them more closely. These flowers didn’t belong here. They had been transplanted recently, only a few days ago, just in time to fully bloom and meet the first condition.
Even with hundreds of these flowers blooming together, it shouldn’t have been enough to drive so many monsters and wild animals into such a violent frenzy. The effect was too strong. Too widespread.
Now, she only needs to find what was amplifying its effect.
Which was heightening the agitation and pushing those creatures beyond reason.
And whatever that second trigger was...
it was still out there.
Now that Addison had identified the first trigger drawing the creatures in, she knew she couldn’t waste time hunting for the second before taking action.
She had to act—now.
The flower field was close to where Archmage Elric was constructing the teleportation portal, which meant the elderly and the young pups were nearby. Addison quickly called them over, directing them to gather dry twigs and hay from the surrounding area.
There was no time to uproot the flowers one by one.
Burning them would be faster.
More efficient.
And so, without hesitation, she set the field ablaze.
Flames spread rapidly, devouring the seemingly harmless flowers until the entire patch turned into a sea of fire. Heat rippled through the air as smoke curled upward, carrying with it the last remnants of the beast-attracting pollen.
And just as she had expected—
The distant growls began to weaken.
The frenzy dulled, if only slightly.
But it wasn’t enough.
The particles had already scattered before the fire. The damage had been done. All she had accomplished was stopping more from spreading—preventing additional creatures from being drawn in.
Which meant...
The second trigger was still active.
After thanking the elders and the young pups for their help, Addison didn’t linger. She broke into a run once more, scanning the surroundings with sharpened focus.
Time was slipping away.
Half an hour had already passed.
Fortunately, Zion and Maxwell were holding the front line well, keeping the pressure at bay, while Levi was nearly done packing the supplies in preparation for a possible retreat.
That bought her some time—
but not much.
And she intended to use every second of it.