Dark King

Ian arranged Ruby and Dean to stay on duty while the others could take good rest during the night to restore their stamina and be at best state to deal with the battle that was upcoming.

“Signal me if a monsters gets close to us.” Ruby looked at Dean.

Dean nodded slightly but didn’t talk. Both of them were sitting at opposite sides of the basement. Their attention was concentrated on the movement outside the basement.

They didn’t ignite fire in the basement to prevent the heat that could attract monsters to their location.

The cold wind flew from the vents of the basement. Eugene, Ian and others were wrapped in clothes and leaning against the wall as they slept. All of them held onto their weapons. It seemed as if they could wake up to face a battle at any time.

Dean maintained thermal vision at all times. It wasn’t just about the movement of monsters outside the basement but he was concerned about physical state of Ian and others. He was watching their blood flow and heart beats.

“I have to find a way to sneak out to find Sergei by the completion of the task…” Dean’s eyes lit up as he secretly made calculations and plans.

The night was silent and long…

Sometimes low roars of the beasts echoed from outside. The muscles of Dean and Ruby would tighten every time they heard sounds. They would relax after the sounds disappeared and faded away.

The sun rays began to penetrate the darkness which meant dawn was coming.

Ruby immediately woke up Ian and others as he saw the sky brighten. They woke up, ate breakfast and packed their things. Luna and Dean checked the movement outside the basement and confirmed that there was no monster that stayed in the vicinity. The team quietly climbed out of the basement and came to stop in the street.

“Let’s go.” Ian took the lead.

The members of the team took out their weapons and followed after him.

They saw a pool of fresh blood along the way in addition to monster bones. Dean recalled the roars he heard last night. It appears the fight was here.

Few undeads were walking in the silent and desolate street. They turned towards the team as soon as they heard sounds. Their numb faces turned hideous and vicious as the undeads rushed towards the team.

“Little Dean, you are responsible for cleaning these undeads. Eugene has to save his stamina as he will be coping with the ‘silencer’.” Ian said.

Dean nodded. He grabbed and pulled off a long white bone from the ground which belonged to an unknown monster. He rushed out towards the undeads and used the newly acquired bone spear to pierce through the heads of the undeads. Because of the disparity in strength Dean was able to quickly end the battle without much fuzz.

Dean kept the bone spear after killing the undeads. He wasn’t planning to waste arrows against the monsters that were less than level 10. Although the arrows could be collected and reused but the sharpness of the tip of the arrows would wear out.

Dean killed undeads as well as a mouse like monster which was size of a wolf along the way.

“It’s really strange for these undeads to be alive where so many high-level monster live…” Eugene whispered.

No one answered to Eugene. Ian and others were alert as they observed the surrounding environment despite Luna and Dean who were already doing the reconnaissance.

Dean heard Eugene’s statement. He remembered the undead powder given to hunters in the outer wall. It was enough to cover the human smell and avoid the attack of monsters. It seemed that only small portion of the monsters would attack undeads. The rest of the monsters were indifferent towards the undeads.

…

…

They reached the edge of the city in the blink of an eye.

The road leading to the front of the mountain was bumpy and full of pits. There were many large pits which seemed like footprints and claws marks.

Ian narrowed his eyes: “We are entering the mountain. The ‘silencer’ has excellent auditory sensitive abilities. All of you wrap your shoes as it can hear even the slightest movement. Moreover, control your breath according to the ‘shallow-deep breathing method’.”

Ian took out fabric from his backpack and bent over to wrap the allow boots.

Shallow-deep breathing method was a very common breathing technique used for camouflage means. It was able to prevent monsters with excellent auditory senses from tracking the humans.

Dean and others were finished by the time Ian was ready. They adjusted their breathing to Ian’s as they quietly went into the mountain.

Dean saw a lot of heat sources lurking in the deep grasses around the foothill of the mountain. The heat exuded from their bodies wasn’t big. It seems that they were around level 13 to 18 monsters and weren’t a threat to the team.

Nevertheless, Dean gestured and signaled Ian about the monsters.

Ian nodded and continued.

The wet mist of the morning had covered the mountains. The team disappeared inside the fog as they entered the foothills.

They quietly went forward.

Suddenly, Luna’s face changed. She quickly raised her hand and made a signal.

Argh~~

At the same time as she signaled the team a black giant shadow jumped out from the grass that was covered with mist. It was rushing towards the crowd.

Ian and Martin responded rapidly as they were the ones to go against the giant shadow.

Eugene almost shouted out loud in fear. His face turned pale as he instinctively retreated back of the team to get sense of security.

Ian’s sword hit the giant shadow but he staggered and went backwards for to steps. Ian almost fell down.

Martin was the one to cover Ian. He was using double dagger as he blocked the giant shadow and repulsed it. He didn’t rush to battle as he waited for the team to adjust to the situation.

Rosemary and Ruby were quick to respond. Ruby threw the huge luggage from his back and pulled out his axe.

Dean saw the appearance of the giant shadow. It had a humanoid shape. The monster had bulging muscles in its chest. Its head looked similar to an eagle’s but it didn’t have eyes. The lower body of the monster looked like a thick snake tail. It had two human arms stretching out from the sides. Spurs which looked like sharp blades grew out from its arms.

“It’s a pecker!” Ian’s face changed: “The ‘silencer’ is in the vicinity!”