The Huntsman of Red V2

Chapter 51 A Crow's Interlude: 1

Qrow was no stranger to reconnaissance. He'd been doing it since young as a bandit, and knew to employ a degree of caution in all things. This point was further enforced due to the uncontrolled nature of his own Semblance biting him in the ass at the worse of times.

Now though? Now he was just a little bit less prudent to detail than he'd normally be.

His bad luck would no longer affect him as long he didn't consciously will it too, meaning that he'd been having the luckiest days of his life since Mt. Glenn. He wasn't going to let himself fall victim to complacency though.

Circling in the skies in the form of a crow, he focused his gaze back on the valley ahead of him. On the first pass, he'd been too high to make out any distinct details in the bedrock by the mountain hillside, so on the second he'd decided to swoop lower. He still couldn't make anything out, and was now moving into his third swoop at an even lower elevation.

This time, he was able to make out the silhouette of something that clearly wasn't made by nature.

Beating his wings to slow into a glide, Qrow drifted on the wind, using his feathers to slowly brace himself for landing. Once he was low enough, he perched on the branch of a distant tree, and then peered into what was clearly a ruin in the middle of nowhere.

Wherever Archer had gotten his information from, the guy hadn't been lying.

Glancing to make sure no one was around, Qrow leisurely hopped off the tree and polymorphed back into his human form. His feet crunched into the dirt, knees buckling on impact before relaxing as Qrow stood up to his full height.

It was only now that he wasn't in his bird form that he felt something foreign prickling at his skin.

There was just something off with this place...

Qrow furrowed his brows and then gingerly began to step forward with a raised guard. His mind worked fast, experience the major player in it all.

Why were there no Grimm?

Flying in the sky, it had been fine not to see any Grimm if they were hiding in the forest underbrush, meaning he'd only have to look out for Nevermores or other avian types. However, now that he was on the ground, the place should have been crawling with them. It was for this reason why no one ventured outside the existing kingdoms. Grimm would tear them apart.

Yet there were none here. Absolutely none.

Were they purposely staying away, and if so, why? Most Grimm did not have the state of mind to consciously identify danger, and then avoid it. Rather, what they had was instinctual.

Then, was it instinct that drove them away from this place?

Only the sound of Qrow's own feet seemed to echo in this isolated area as if it had always been that way.

The feeling of tension Qrow had on every sketchy mission was always the same, but not quite like this.

Qrow was not a fool, and neither was Ozpin.

This arose a simple doubt about why Archer had not gone himself to retrieve this artifact despite all his information he had on it. A magic weapon that could slay immortals seemed like the kind of thing a magic artifact collector like Archer would have jumped at.

Ozpin had inquired why, and Archer had answered.

'A bad feeling.'

Yeah, Qrow had to agree with that sentiment.

Sudden chills caused Qrow to shudder, goosebumps running down his skin as he approached the ruin before him, and then entered its vicinity. In no way did he interpret the sensation as an actual one despite it being so. Markers spread around the ruin that Qrow did not know to recognize lay the basis of what was known as a Bounded Field.