Chapter 579: Guards and the skeleton fortress
The other expedition members are all still in the dark as to the true aim of this mission. They only know that they are here on an important mission assigned by the kingdom. They didn’t know and Lei Wang only gave a cursory explanation about it being important to the kingdom.
Fei Fei, Sylph, Bing Ling, and Bishi lifted the veil when they gave orders for the expedition members to stay behind and guard the camp. It took them a few minutes to realize that the true mission only begins beyond this point. This job is only something that Fei Fei & the others can undertake.
Nobody grumbled because as descendants and core members of their own sects and factions, they knew when to ask and when to stay silent on a matter that was deemed critically important to the kingdom. It’s wiser to see nothing and say nothing. They took their orders and they zipped their mouths.
After delegating their tasks, Fei Fei, Sylph, Bing Ling, and Bishi merged with Wu Yan & co.
“I believe I don’t need to mention the escalation of difficulty in this upcoming part…”
Fei Fei breathed in deeply and she continued.
“All I am going to say is this, let’s pray for the success of this mission.!”
The others chuckled and they nodded in agreement. They took one last look at the camp behind them and they entered the center region of the Giant Beasts Forest.
The sacks filled with the ape king’s blood were passed down by Fei Fei to their subordinates as a defense for the camp. In the place they are heading to, the blood will do nothing to ward off the monsters roaming inside, the apex predators of the entire Giant Beasts Forest.
The center region is arguably the smallest region of the Giant Beasts Forest. It’s way smaller in area than the inner regions they just departed from. There are not a lot of monsters in this place, however, all tier 9 individuals who wandered into this area and made it out alive all spoke grim tales of their encounters inside this region, they can’t stop spinning tales about how formidable the monsters are in the center region.
Most of the inhabitants here are tier 9 demonic beasts. Not just that, these monsters are top-of-the-line killing machines.
Although tier 9 monsters are rare, the monsters here are those that can easily trample on the tier 9 monsters that held territory in the inner regions of the Giant Beasts Forest. By logical deduction, these monsters are way scarier and dangerous.
If they carried the blood of the ape king with them then they would be walking coffins since tier 9 monsters would rain down upon them in minutes.
The closer they got to the center, the stronger the monsters appeared. Nobody dared to come into this area to hunt. Due to that, the isolation gave birth to a lot of tier 9 monsters that can easily beat tier 9 humans.
Demonic beasts had longer lifespans than humans and that’s why demonic beasts had a harder time breaking through bottlenecks in cultivation. After making it to tier 9, the humans would stop bothering them and this gave them the chance to accumulate strength and experience. With time factored into the equation, it wouldn’t be surprising if there are more tier 9 demonic beasts than humans.
Out of all the tier 9 demonic beasts, chance and fate finally witnessed the birth of a demigod tier beast king that evolved from a peak tier 9 demonic beast.
Although there aren’t a lot of monsters to look out for, they still traveled in a cautious manner since the area is relatively smaller than before. They kept moving forward for a while, the trees stayed the same but everyone agreed that the air here is completely different than the inner regions. The air is suffused with a suffocating sensation of danger. Everyone can feel it in the air.
To make sure they don’t run into tier 9 monsters, Shokuhou Misaki and Ikaros used their powers to scout out the area for any presence of tier 9 demonic beasts. If they detected any beasts, they would adjust their paths and travel in a different direction.
It’s not lack of guts that made them so wary. They are just here to investigate unless forced into a battle, they agreed to be light-footed than to proceed with guns-blazing.
They didn’t know if they should thank their gods for their luck. They detected about 3 or 4 monsters on their way here and they are all at least level 85 or above. In tier 9, a level’s difference can be very large. A level 85 would end the Longarm ape’s career, forget monsters above level 85.
They did well with this routine of staying away from potential threats, thanks in large part to both Shokuhou Misaki and Ikaros. They dodged the obstacles in their way and they navigated their way around the monsters.
Fei Fei is holding the map of the Giant Beasts Forest with Bing Ling and Bishi chiming in as they regained their bearings. They did this every time they averted another potential encounter. They had their own headaches to deal with.
Of the people who entered the Giant Beasts Forest, most would not venture any deeper than the outer regions. Hence, there are not a lot of detailed maps in circulation. The maps they have of the inner region are rough at best. Meanwhile, there are almost no maps that cased the center region. The old monsters presiding over the Board of directors of Silvaria World Institute took this map out for Fei Fei & co. Apparently, the map was a relic left behind their forefathers.
The maps are in their hands but it’s a trying task to figure the map out due to the poor quality of the map. This is the reason why Bing Ling, Bishi, and Fei Fei got together to iron out their location in this forest. They spent most of their time in this region looking at the map.
Fei Fei led the group. At one point, Fei Fei sighed in relief and she smiled at them.
“Good! We are at the core region of the Giant Beasts Forest!”
They perked themselves up, this is the region where the beast king is probably residing in.
Wu Yan & co confirmed their locations on the map and it checked out. They looked at each other and they continued forward. Suddenly, they saw a scene that made them very shocked.
“This…”
Bing Ling stepped back in astonishment.
“How can this be?…”
“No way…”
Bishi’s breath became chaotic and he lowered his head in despair.
“How are we supposed to complete our mission like this?…”
Fei Fei and Sylph exchanged a glance and they suppressed the emotional fluctuations inside their hearts.
“Yan…”
Hinagiku, Mikoto, and Shokuhou Misaki turned towards Wu Yan, they hesitated but asked him anyway.
“What are we going to do about this?…”
Wu Yan bitterly laughed and he looked at the thing in front of him.
There’s a vacant plot in front of them with a diameter of about 1 kilometer. The trees formed a circle surrounding that vacant plot. There’s a structure that stood proudly in the middle of this vacant plot. It’s a castle made out of skeletons.
The castle is about a hundred meters in height and it took out about half of the area of this vacant plot. It’s emanating a very heavy pressure on everyone. Anyone who laid their eyes on this castle would feel like they are entering a gigantic beast’s maw. It shook everyone’s core.
More importantly, there are dozens of monsters that guarded the entrance of the skeleton fortress.
Dozens of tier 9 demonic beasts!
It’s the strength of these beasts that made everyone lose their crap.
The dozens of monsters patrolled the entrance like sentries. They all had strengths that made the Longarm ape king look like a piss-poor foe in comparison, heck, they are even stronger than the beasts they detected on their way here.
Before this scene, you looked at me, I looked at you, everyone looked at each other and they lowered their heads in dejection.