The sound of intense fighting reverberated inside the forest as a Pack of Rank 5 Gray Wolves attacked Lux and his party during their travel.
The Half-Elf was always paying attention to the map, so when these red blinking dots approached them, he purposely didn't change course and engaged them in battle.
The reason he did this was simple.
Deimos-Ranked Monsters and above were almost always alone. At most, there would be two to three of them together, signifying that they were a family or life-long partners.
Having dozens of small, red blinking dots working together meant that they were monsters that moved in packs, which meant that they were inherently weaker.
For Lux, he wasn't afraid of facing Monsters below the Deimos Rank, so he didn't evade them and even took the initiative to intercept them.
"Kill them cleanly if possible," Lux ordered. "I will either use them as Fusion Materials or cannon fodder for my Necromancer Skills."
Although Gerhart and Cethus didn't know what Lux was talking about, they obeyed his orders and initiated one-hit kills that targeted the Gray Wolves' hearts or heads, killing them in one blow.
The two of them were Initiates, so Rank 5 Monsters weren't that hard for them to deal with.
Lux, on the other hand, didn't attack and simply ordered his Named Creatures to engage the enemy. He was there to ensure that the Dwarves' lives wouldn't be in danger.
As an added precaution, Lux summoned Pazuzu and Orion, who stood in front of Randolph, Grandma Annie, Laura, and Livia as their protectors just in case one of the wolves decided to target the weakest members of their party.
After killing over a dozen wolves, the Alpha of the Pack decided that enough was enough, so it howled and ordered his brethren to make a hasty retreat.
'I should probably feed the Wargs some of the Gray Wolves' meat and beast cores,' Lux thought. 'They have stayed at Rank 3 long enough.'
Aside from Jed, who was a Rank 4 Monster, the rest of the Wargs that Lux received as a reward in the Dungeon hadn't made any progress in their Rank.
Truth be told, the Half-Elf had neglected them and only used them as mounts for his Guild Members. Most of his resources were used in fusing and upgrading his Undead Army, so the Wargs' growth came to a standstill.
Even Jed, Lux's Thunder Warg King, was still a Rank 4 Monster.
Back then, it was the strongest Monster in his team. But now, it had been left behind by the others and was only summoned by Lux whenever he needed a ride.
Having remembered this, the Half-Elf felt a bit guilty, so he decided to give the Wolf Cores to the Wargs as compensation for his negligence.
After collecting the spoils of over thirty Wolves, the group continued their journey to leave the Forest of Beginnings.
No Deimos-Ranked Monsters and above tried to block their path, and they were able to leave the Forest smoothly after three days of traveling.
"Finally, we're out of the forest." Cethus snorted as he unfurled his wings to fly. "I felt like I was a caged bird the whole time."
The Dragon Born then soared toward the sky and did a few aerial maneuvers, as if he had just been freed from his cage.
As a creature who was used to always flying in the sky, Cethus' mood had always been stormy since they entered the forest.
"Scout for us from above," Lux shouted. "Just make sure you don't provoke any Deimos-Ranked Flying Monsters and lure it in our direction."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Cethus scoffed. "I would never do such an idiotic thing."
Although Cethus' words still sounded a bit arrogant, he still performed his duty well and looked down on his surroundings from the sky, making sure that his group wouldn't find themselves walking into a herd of monsters in the plains.
The Shaufell Plains was a vast expanse of land that was almost double the size of the Forest of Beginnings.
The Forest Folk had told them that they should head to Abingdon Town in order to help the residents deal with a serious problem. As for what that problem was, the Forest Folk only told Lux to talk to the Town's Mayor to get a better idea of what was happening.
"It will take us a day to reach Abingdon Town if we pace ourselves normally," Lux said as he guided his party in the Northwest direction where the town was located.
After traveling for half a day, the Half-Elf ordered everyone to stop their advance, not because they were going to take a break, but because they could no longer take another step forward.
Lux was frowning as he looked at the Map in his Soul Book.
In front of him, thousands of red blinking dots were moving non-stop as if they were holding some kind of procession.
However, he couldn't see any monsters in front of him. While they were traveling, Lux saw herds of monsters grouped together, but they had stayed a good distance away from them.
But now, he couldn't see even a single monster, which made him feel that something wasn't right.
Cethus, who was in the sky, was wondering why his group stopped, so he landed beside Lux to inquire what was happening.
"What's wrong?" Cethus asked. "There's nothing but open plains in front of us. Why did you stop?"
"Monsters," Lux replied. "Thousands of Monsters are in front of us."
"Hah? What nonsense are you talking about?" Cethus frowned. "There's no sign of monsters on the land and in the sky. Are you sure you didn't just imagine things?"
Lux shook his head firmly before summoning one of his Skeleton Gang Bangers.
He then ordered the Skeleton to run ahead of them, which the latter did obediently.
Everyone watched as the Skeleton Gangbanger ran for nearly four hundred meters before the ground under its feet erupted.
A four-meter-long Iron Ant captured the Skeleton Gang Banger's body in its mouth and dragged it under the ground, which made Laura and Livia cry out in shock.
Cethus, who had just told Lux that there was no monster in sight, almost choked on his saliva after seeing such a scene.
Although it was only a brief moment, the Half-Elf was able to identify the attacker, and it made his skin crawl.
—------------
< Iron Tetramorium Ant >
– Colony Worker
– Rank 4 Monster
Active Skills: Iron Bullet, Crunch, Acid Spray
Passive Skills: Iron Body.
Special Ability: One with the Colony.
—-----------
< Iron Bullet >
– Spits an iron ball projectile, similar to a cannonball, at targets that are 500 meters away.
—-----------
< Crunch >
– A bite that is strong enough to crush a human in half.
—-----------
< Iron Body >
– The body of this creature is as hard as Iron.
—-----------
< One with the Colony >
– A Tetramorium Ant can communicate with its entire colony, and call for backup even though it is three miles away from its nest.
– The Queen Ant can also use its connection with its brood to see, hear, and order them, regardless of how far they are from the colony.
—------------
"I think it's time for us to fly," Lux stated after looking at the information of the monsters hiding underground. "Make sure to fly at least a thousand meters above the ground, so you won't get hit by long-range attacks."
The others all nodded their heads and felt grateful that they didn't suffer the same fate as the Skeleton Gang Banger, who didn't even stand a chance against the sneak attack that came from under its feet.
This once again reminded them that they were no longer in the Kingdom of Gweliven, and they needed to be more aware of their surroundings, or else they would become easy prey for an entire Ant Colony.
