[You have received 4250+ EXP]
Aldred coldly looked at the two corpses, and then they were engulfed by flames.
"Who do you think had sent them?" Mary asked Aldred.
"It has to be the Emperor, Pharder, or people that sided with the Dragon."
"To send assassins this far, they are quite motivated to erase you," Mareona said.
"Well, if Simond is not going to do it, then they will send someone else."
Aldred sighed and then looked at the ruined tavern. "Too bad. It was quite a comfortable tavern."
"Well, things happen," Stella said. "Should we continue our journey? The mountain should be close."
"Sure."
They continued to walk to the north, and after a few days, they finally arrived at the foot of Mount Savy.
When he arrived, he saw a lot of people were already gathered there. They were mostly in small groups with a lot of spatial bags hanging on their waists.
Most of them were lone adventurers or adventurers within small groups. Only a few of them came from a big group, bringing a lot of soldiers and logistics.
In history, it was commonly known that large groups or organizations almost never succeeded in obtaining the secret treasure. It was always the lone prodigy that battles through hardship without the backing that obtained the treasure. And when they obtain it, the large organization would offer anything to invite them to their ranks.
Everyone was silent as they distanced themselves from each other. Tension seemed high as they looked at each other as competitors.
Those who reached this phase had to be the best of the best. After thousands of people died in dungeons and on the road, these people prevailed either through wit or pure strength.
Aldred respected every last one of them. After all, he fought through gritted teeth to get here as well, so he understood their pain. Not to mention they did not have the advantages as he had.
A man bumped into someone. They stood still, staring at each other for a few seconds before they slowly backed away.
Aldred nodded. The people here were careful. They would not risk it for a small bump.
"So what are we waiting here for?" Ivette asked.
"Hmm, I don't know."
"Brother." Krista tugged his sleeve.
"What is it, Krista?"
She pointed at the mountain. "Climb."
Aldred looked at his wives. "I guess we should start climbing."
Right after Aldred said that an eagle dove down, and picked up a man.
The man screamed as the eagle caught him by the throat. The eagle stabbed his stomach and devoured his innards.
"The Runehawk!"
"Ahh, Tom, help me!"
Numerous Ranehawkes, giant eagles, dove down on them. A female wizard was being grabbed by her shoulders and legs, and the eagle ripped her in half.
An eagle set its eyes on Krista. Circled the sky once, and then flapped its wings to dove down. It let out a cry before turning its claws forward.
Aldred's sharp glare was locked onto the eagle, and the eagle exploded from within.
[4325+ EXP]
"Kill the eagles!" someone shouted.
The adventurer began to retaliate, throwing powerful spells at the sky.
A giant earth javelin shot from the ground, straight toward the sky. It slammed against a Ranehawk right in the head before slamming three more eagles and shattering into numerous rock spikes that wounded the eagles nearby.
The corpses of the eagle fell like rain.
The adventurers think their counterattack worked, but they were not prepared for even more retaliation. Thousands of birds flew from the mountains and the forest nearby.
They almost blocked the entire sky with their terrifying numbers, and then they cried at the same time.
Their cry rang in their ears like mad. Aldred's wives quickly conjured a magic barrier to block the sound wave, but some still went through and shook their eardrums.
Stella raised her staff. "Nullify Sound!"
Suddenly, the world became quiet. Aldred and the rest of his group could not hear anything. Their hearing sense was completely deactivated. Outside their magic barrier, the scene was horrific with exploding heads and bleeding from orifices.
Occasionally, some birds would fly down and grab onto the unassuming prey as they were distracted by the pain.
"No wonder the locals are so scared by these birds. They might not be that problematic alone, but as a group, they are a force to reckon with," Aldred commented though he knew that no one can hear him right now.
A man crawled with blood leaking out of his ears. He tapped the magic barrier and muttered something.
"Sorry, friend. I cannot open the barrier," Aldred said.
The man read his lips, understanding what he meant. A Ranehawk cried and picked him up.
After a few minutes, the Ranehawk cried for one last time and left.
The sky was bright again.
Stella deactivated her spell and their hearing sense returned.
All around them, people were laying with blood leaking out from every hole in their bodies. Some groups managed to get away by using secret artifacts and treasures.
One man even had powerful armor that could create a magic barrier around him.
A lot of people died, but a lot survived as well. The birds only managed to kill around 25% of the adventurers' total number.
That was impressive, considering that these people have come this far by passing a lot of challenges on the way.
"What a disaster," Mira said.
"It's not the first time that this happened," Stella replied.
The others nodded. In some challenges, there would be an event that could wipe out a large percentage of treasure hunters in one go.
If they were ill-prepared, they would surely die.
"So what do we do now?" Mareona asked.
"What else can we do? We proceed forward," Aldred said.
"Hey, you over there." A man with well-made clothes approached him. "Give me all your treasure—"
Aldred slashed his head off. He looked at his wives. "Let's go."
They left the man as the headless body fell, making the guards behind him gasp in shock.
"What just happened?" someone asked.
"I don't know. That guy approached someone and was about to rob him. But he couldn't even finish his sentence before his head got cut off."
"That man is vicious. Be careful about what to say to these people. You never know if they will let you finish your words or not."
"Yeahhh," the man replied nervously.
Aldred set off to climb the mountain with Krista pointing out the route. Aldred was curious. She sometimes got the power to point out the direction, but it couldn't be activated at will. Sometimes it happened, but most of the time, it didn't.
A Ranehawk perched on an unassuming tree high on the mountain. It looked around and then moved its back, revealing a woman who was riding it. The woman frowned and stared at the group of people below. Specifically, she was staring directly at Aldred.
…
"Pharder, My Lord. One of Lord Arthard's champions was killed."
Pharder looked at the soldier. He grabbed the stack of paper on the table and placed it on the side before he leaned on his office chair.
"How many champions are he willing to send at once?"
