Chapter 99 The Cunning Hyena hunting the Zebras, unaware of the Mischievous Lion hiding behind
At this moment, Leo was crouching at another inconspicuous position, still waiting for an opportunity to strike the rear of the Black organization's.
"Luckily, I didn't stay any longer at my position before..." Leo silently said to himself. Just like what he had expected, it didn't take too long for another batch of people from the Black organization to arrive in the cave.
Well, what happened was, after a while of killing the Magical Beast that lived in the cave, the first batch of Black organization members immediately moved forward, so Leo also decided to follow behind.
Fortunately, he did, since dozens of people in black clothes being led by someone that has a golden token with a symbol of a black skull in the middle suddenly arrived.
Although, the location he had hidden before was indeed an inconspicuous place, but the moment the reinforcement arrived, they unexpectedly spread out around the area. If he had stayed any longer in his former location before, he would have surely been found out.
The dozens of people that backed up the first batch immediately ordered the latter to retreat and recover while they will continue the killing.
"Mages, focus attack at 11, 12, and 1 o'clock position! Melee and Range soldiers, begin your assault! Melee soldiers, be sure not to run into the perimeter of the Mages assault!" The person who has a golden token with a symbol of a Black Skull in the middle quickly sent out order after order.
If Leo was nearby that person, then he would have quickly recognized him as, Richton Skull!
The dozens of people that reinforced the first batch were the men of Richton. He was sent out immediately since he was nearby the area and he wasn't busy, too. Moreover, he was also one of the people in charge of infiltrating Silver city, since the Black organization still doesn't have any branch in Silver city yet.
"Start moving forward!" Richton suddenly followed up. Apparently, he cannot let his men stay any longer near the entrance hole. The moment a person from the North Sewer Management comes nearby the area, the sound of the explosion from the Mage's Magic spells would surely be able to attract their attention, which would obviously result in their plan being found out. It was the exact reason as to how Leo was able to find out their location.
Also, Richton wasn't a fool to indeed stay in one place while waiting for the Magical Beast to charge at them. It was common sense for everyone that had successfully hunted a Magical Beast that they should never, ever think of the Magical Beast as something stupid.
Staying in one place might sound like a good idea, really, but who knows that there might be some Magical Beast doing some kind of trap to kill them all. Such as making the stalactites fall to them, digging holes to trap them, or worst of all, collapsing the entire cave system.
Aside from being powerful, Magical Beast was labeled with the word 'Magical' because they were capable of doing unexpected or surprising things. They were not just animals waiting to be slaughtered like those ordinary animals commonly found in farms or nearby the places where people live. All the Magical Beast, the moment they were entitled as such, were capable of thinking, scheming, planning, and the likes... Underestimating these Magical beasts would highly likely result in a person's death.
That was the exact reason why some students, despite already being Mages, were still afraid of Magical Beast.
However, Magical Beast wasn't really that scary too, since they can still be killed the moment a person found out about their weakness or knows a lot about their behavior. After all, they were still beast. They were not as intelligent as the people. Hence, their strength was bound to have holes that the hunters can exploit.
So, Richton, the moment he realizes that the Magical Beast was incapable of breaching the perimeter of the Mages assault anymore, immediately sent out an order to move forward.
A while later, just like what Richton had expected, after they walked dozens of steps forward, one of the men fighting in front suddenly fell into a deep hole.
"Ahhhhh! Help me!" That person screamed out at the top of his lungs as his body was being eaten by tens of Magical beasts waiting under the hole.
"Ignore him! Kill all those Magical Beast inside before moving forward!" Richton quickly ordered. That person that fell in the hole has no hope of surviving anymore. The hole was small enough to only fit tens of Magical Beast inside. So, anything that fell would surely be eaten completely, dead or alive.
Soon, the hole where tens of Magical Beast was hiding was completely eliminated. The soldier that fell inside was nowhere to be found anymore. Even the soldier's bones were completely eaten by the Magical Beast.
However, everyone from the Black organization didn't felt fear after seeing such a scene. Everyone saw something similar to this situation, even something much more fearful than this. all of them were trained in the red zone of the wilderness as only the strong ones who were capable of escaping alive in a red zone of any wilderness at Silver Kingdom could become an official member of the Black organization.
"Continue!" Richton sent out an order again.
The battle then continued...
After reaching the middle part of the cave, the melee soldiers of the second batch only have 3 remaining from the 8 men before. Some fell into another hole while the others were penetrated by the unexpected falling stalactites caused by the Magical Beast. There were also some that were killed directly after being surrounded in all directions by tens of Magical Beast.
Fortunately, those from the first batch finally completely recovered themselves, hence they soon joined the battle.
The Black organization has unexpectedly sent out a third batch and fourth batch too, though only 20 people were added. But still, it was enough to completely change the tides of the battle. There were only a few soldiers falling into traps at this moment, since they could send out warnings after warnings now, hence being able to avoid falling at another trap.
At an inconspicuous side of the cave, Leo was standing still and has long casted a Cloak and Invisible spell to completely cover his presence. There were already over 50 plus people of the Black organization inside the cave. Any mistake made would surely lead him to be discovered.
Leo had already seen enough of how the people of the Black organization fight. Even though they were his enemy, he still can't help but admired how powerful they were. So, if ever he was discovered by them because of his carelessness, then he was 100% sure that death would be the only thing waiting in his path.
Soon, the Black organization members finally reached 3/4 of the entire cave. They could finally see in their front another hole leading to the cave of the 1 Star Magical Beast, the guardian entrusted to guard the 12 pieces of large Mana stones.
Everyone was already very serious at this point of the fight. No one can afford to be careless anymore. Also, there were only 30 of the Black organization members remaining, since the Magical Beast suddenly became so daring the moment they were finally pushed to an edge. Even the most docile of an animal will bite back the moment it was pushed to its death, how much more these savage Magical Beast. So, the casualty rate of the Black organization rise by a huge margin. Even to the point that every dozen of steps they took would result in 1 or 2 deaths.
Even worse was, their fatigue was already building up. The Mages attacking at the rear were already exhausted because of overusing their Magic. None of them were 1 Star Mage yet, hence they needed to gather Pure Mana from their surrounding, then convert to Element Mana, and finally constructing a Magic circle. Thinking of it might sound easy, but doing it was really energy-consuming. On top of that, they have been doing it for more than or less than 5 hours straight. Who on earth wouldn't be tired of doing that?
The melee soldiers, though they were killing Magical Beast like machines awhile ago and were trained for such kind of battle, were also feeling the fatigue. Even those archers and crossbowmen, the position with the less energy consumption, were feeling the tiredness of the battle too.
Although all the members of the Black organization had survived a red zone of a wilderness in Silver Kingdom, that alone doesn't really mean that they are powerful enough to have an endless amount of energy. Afterall, they were still Humans. Moreover, there were many ways of surviving in the wilderness, no matter how dangerous it was. Such as, hiding while slowly moving, looking for the best position to escape, help from others, and the likes...
In short, even if a person was thrown into a red zone of any wilderness, one of the deadliest areas in a wilderness, surviving it wouldn't necessarily be that impossible. As long as they know how to be careful, then they will have chances to survive. Just like when Leo lost his way in the Yellow Forest, though it was only a dark green zone, he could still avoid the majority of the Magical Beast in the area because he was careful and cautious.
"Those that still have some energy continue moving! While the others go and rest to recover!" Richton immediately sent out an order. Although by doing so would increase the time they needed to complete the mission, the most important question right now was; how they would complete the mission?
If they continue fighting while ignoring their tiredness, the moment they arrived inside the cave of the 1 Star Magical Beast, all of them would surely be slaughtered.
If using the time to rest will lead to the success of the mission, then obviously, Richton would choose to do so.
Watching them divide their force, Leo, hiding at the side, suddenly showed a mischievous smile on his face as he finally decided to start what he had been planning to do from the very beginning.