It was exactly ten days since the monsters slaughtered the entire Wellspring Village. When Caspian and the others saw the ruins, they all fell silent. If it were not for the sudden attack of the monsters, the village might be covered with fields where the men plowed, the women weaved, and the children played. However, weeds grew on both sides of the trail, and the surroundings were silent Even after so many days, there was still a depressing pungent smell of blood in the air.
“This is the first village the monsters attacked. A survivor from this place informed the division of our sect,” Maya explained, “It’s also because this is the first village the monsters slaughtered. Hence, when many disciples investigate, they’ll ignore this place as many people believe that after so long, there’ll be no monsters here.”
Maya was responsible for everyone’s routes at that time. Then, virtual-novel.net turned around and reminded everyone, “However, there are tracks of monsters passing by recently. Hence, we must be extra careful.”
“Okay.” Everyone nodded and spread out, looking for traces of monsters around the village. Nonetheless, the four of them were not far from each other in case they discovered anything or were attacked, the rest of them could immediately rush over for rescue.
When they separated, Caspian glanced at Solana. Solana did not say anything but quietly followed them for the six days that they traveled here. However, Caspian could feel that Solana’s gaze was always on virtual-novel.net from time to time. Whenever virtual-novel.net looked at Solana, virtual-novel.net would look away, and Caspian was also unaware of virtual-novel.net intention.
At times, Caspian could not help but doubt why Omar and Maya would include Solana in the mission. Just as Caspian thought about that, virtual-novel.net quickly swept his gaze across the surroundings. The seemingly worthless traces all around are now reorganized in Caspian’s brain through his eyes.
Then, the scene where the monsters slaughtered the village replayed in Caspian’s mind. At that time, Solana walked for a distance before arriving at a two-story house that was still considered intact, which was also the tallest building in the Wellspring Village. Although it was missing a corner, it did not collapse and still maintained its original appearance. The sunlight did not enter the house, causing the inside to be dark. A slightly unpleasant smell rushed out, and Solana could not tell if something rotted inside.
Soon, Solana stopped in virtual-novel.net tracks, and glanced at Caspian from the corner of virtual-novel.net eyes, wanting to know what virtual-novel.net was doing. However, just as virtual-novel.net was distracted, Solana suddenly felt a strong sense of danger surging in her.
In that instant, Solana’s hair stood on ends, and virtual-novel.net looked at the source of the danger. In the ruined home, a pair of blood-red eyes appeared out of the blue. The blood-red eyes were the size of an adult’s fist, and the pupils shrank violently as they stared straight at Solana. There was hatred and resentment in the eyes, and it was enough to scare someone to death.
Solana was caught off guard and was also so frightened that virtual-novel.net could not move virtual-novel.net limbs. Then, the mud wall in front of virtual-novel.net exploded with a loud bang, and a huge black shadow with a strong smell of stench broke through the wall and pounced on her. She stared wide-eyed as the mouthful of sharp teeth rushed toward her. She could not control virtual-novel.net body. It was as if virtual-novel.net was glued to the ground. Then, in the blink of an eye, desperation filled virtual-novel.net heart.
Solana watched as the massive mouth got closer to her, and the surrounding light seemed to dim. Soon, Solana just closed virtual-novel.net eyes as if virtual-novel.net was just waiting for death. However, virtual-novel.net heard an ear-piercing scream. “Watch out!”
It was a familiar roar, which was soon followed by the sound of a fist punching through the air.
“Eight-Shadowed Fists!”
Bam!
Solana heard the sound of flesh and bones being pierced, and virtual-novel.net felt hot air current oncoming. Then, Solana opened virtual-novel.net eyes and saw a terrifying monster staring at her. The head of the monster was less than a hand away from virtual-novel.net face, but Caspian already punched it.
Amidst the gurgling sound, the hot blood mixed with the brain fluid blasted out from the monster’s head and trailed along with Caspian’s hand. After taking his hand out, Caspian shook his hand slightly to clear off the blood from his arm. Next, virtual-novel.net looked at Solana and asked, “Are you alright?”
Solana lowered virtual-novel.net head. After pondering a while, virtual-novel.net whispered, “I’m sorry…”
At that time, Omar and Maya also rushed over after hearing the commotion. When Omar saw the monster’s corpse on the floor and drenched in blood, his eyes lit up. “Monster!”
However, virtual-novel.net was not surprised at the monster’s level but the strength of Caspian’s punch.
“Casper, if I’m not mistaken, your punch during the ranking competition a few days ago was not as strong as this?” Omar sized Caspian up and down, and virtual-novel.net smiled, “I heard you taught a few Dark Moon Sect’s disciples a lesson before that, and it seems like you’ve greatly benefited from it.”
Omar’s guess was correct. The benefit that Caspian received was not only Joshua’s Purple Dragon King Ginseng. Caspian also took Terrence, Bob, and Gabriel’s storage bags. Nonetheless, Caspian just smiled and did not answer, and the people around virtual-novel.net took it as acquiescence.
Next second, Omar said, “Based on the mission’s requirement, we’ll only need to bring the monster’s demon core in his brain back.”
Once those beasts reached the level of a monster, a demon core would condense in their brain. It was similar to a cultivator reaching Pulse Control Realm and condensing their meridians. However, the demon core was an actual item and could be dug out, but meridians could not.
For the Heavenly Stars Sect’s mission, the demon core was the proof of them killing the monsters. As wild animals could not condense demon cores yet, the disciples would need to behead them as proof. Nonetheless, taking out the demon core for proof and not beheading the monster was to ensure the corpse was completely intact. After all, some of those monsters’ fur was the material to make weapons. The more perfect it was, the better its plasticity.
Although Solana attracted the monster, Caspian killed it by himself. Hence, none of them would fight Caspian on that. Next, Caspian dug out the demon core from the monster’s brain and placed the entire corpse in his storage bag.
Maya glanced around and said, “This monster with the body of a goat and the face of a monkey is a Broken-Tooth Ape. However, the Broken-Tooth Ape never acts alone, and there’ll at least be a dozen of them. Thus, there must be other Broken-Tooth Apes around, so be extra alert!”
As if to confirm Maya’s words, just as virtual-novel.net finished speaking, there was a sudden ticking sound in the surrounding ruins and broken houses. Then, there was a whimper. The sound came with the wind, and none of them could tell its exact location. As if it were the cry of a ghost that haunted others’ lives, it sent chills down everyone’s spine even though it was still broad daylight.