As everyone was in the midst of their heated discussion, the big-bellied man called Edward abruptly voiced out his skepticism,
"Leader, don't you think it's suspicious? Hendrik and his men had been lingering here for a long time now. They are definitely up to something."
He just spoke the truth. The Silver Fang Adventurers group has spent too much of their time here under the premise of taking on a mission issued by a small village.
Not to mention that the anomaly of the Spear Soul occurred some time ago.
He could smell it. Something is fishy!
Thinking of this, Edward revealed a greedy simper and exclaimed with great enthusiasm,
"Perhaps, they have some clue about the Spear Soul. Or maybe, they have discovered something worthwhile. Leader, do you think we can—"
Oomph!
Before he could even finish his word, the grizzled hair woman punched him on the back of his head, "Looking for death!"
Seeing this, the other also jeered with a sense of sarcasm.
"How stupid! Do you think our strength is enough to confront them?"
"Leader, give him a few more smack. Maybe we can make him smarter that way. What an idiot!" While covering his stomach with one hand, the brute-looking man named Erik suddenly stood up from his seat.
With a somewhat contorted expression, he exclaimed, "F*CK!"
"..."
Seeing that no one paid him any heed, Erik just shrugged and casually grabbed the thumb-sized bell hanging by the tree. "Well, I will take this and will be back in a while, keep some food for me."
The small bell was a specialized tool made of bronze and is engraved with mystical runes to help detect dangerous Demon Beasts or vengeful spirits.
Though it's pricy, it's a must-have for every adventurer traveling in the wilderness.
Being cautious was necessary.
Feeling the need to relieve himself, Erik whistled and walked away while also bringing his Bird-type War Soul.
Soon, his silhouette faded into the forest's haze miasma.
——
Whoosh!
"Huh? Is that you, Erik!?" While caressing her War Soul, a three-meter-long yellow lizard, the brown-haired woman looked toward a specific direction.
Her brows tightly wrinkled together.
"Is it just my imagination?"
After a few seconds of silence with the strange noises ceased, she was left puzzled.
Seeing that everyone else doesn't seem to detect anything out of the ordinary, she was about to dismiss the paranoid thought but then discovered the peculiarity.
The brown-haired woman doesn't know when it happened, but the buzzing of insects seems to have stopped unknowingly.
Except for the firewood cackles and the sound of conversation here and there, the atmosphere surrounding their camp was dead silent.
Then,
As she glanced toward the spot where the small bell used to be,
The woman gasped and took in a deep breath as her heart instantly chilled.
That terrified expression on her ripened face was so pale. It seems as though someone had poured a cold bucket of freezing water on top of her body amid a bitter snowstorm.
Yet, that was not the end, and to her horror, the brown-haired woman realized that she couldn't move her body, not even a finger.
The next second, all she could see was the wide gaping mouth of an enormous beast.
It was even darker than the abyss.
There are those lengthy and deadly fangs that obviously can't wait to torment their victim, including the pungent stench of rotten flesh which assaulted her nostrils before it directly froze her last trance of thought.
SQUASH!
In just a split second, fresh blood and chunks of broken flesh flew everywhere and dyed the entire campsite in vibrant red color.
The previous calm atmosphere instantly shattered and was replaced with dread and terror.
With the sudden death of its master,
The yellow lizard understood that it couldn't support itself for long with its strength as a mere Rank 2 War Soul.
Determined, it let out a shrill cry and spits out a scorching fireball toward the hazy miasma of the forest before ultimately falling onto the ground, lifeless.
For a brief moment, its desperate effort before death was just adequate to unveil the vague figure of a gigantic creature of more than seven-meter tall.
It was simply colossal!
With everything transpire in just a few seconds, everyone was shocked to the extreme with barely anytime to react at all.
Judging by the sinister aura lingering in the air, it was undoubtedly a Demon Beast, yet, they didn't get any warning prior to this sudden attack.
"The BELL! Where is the f*cking bell!!?" Furious, the grizzled-haired woman roared. Noticing that the shadow of the beast disappeared, thick beads of cold sweat started to form on her forehead.
"!!!"
"Shit! Get cover with your War Soul quickly! This thing is too fast!"
Even with all her enhanced senses as a Nine-stars Elite, the grizzled hair woman couldn't trace the Demon Beast's movement at all.
There is not even an after image!
It was inconceivable that something of this caliber would appear at the outskirts of the Eflfo Woodland.
Moreover, the surrounding miasma was too dense, making it even harder for her to see anything further than twenty meters.
"Wh...what is—" Standing in the back, Edward staggered as he stared blankly at the blood on his hand and was momentarily in a daze.
Before his mind could begin to process the current situation, a black shadow flashed amid the camp, and the next second passed. His War Soul was already getting shredded to bits without any chance of retaliation.
"Pufft! Y-you son of a bitch..." Upon uttering his last word,
A frightful, sharp, obsidian-like claw covered in a dull blackness emerged from within Edward's own shadow and quickly tore him in half.
Boom!
Without warning, the solid ground was burst apart like cobwebs and threaded out furiously.
Then, the seemingly blazed shadow moved again, and in the blink of an eye. Edward's upper half body that was darting through the air was already in the terrifying Demon Beast's gaping jaw, prepared to be devoured.
"Run... RUN!!"
"I... I don't want to die, Leader! Save me!"
Aside from the frightening shrieks and cries of despair, the sounds of fine teeth chewed on broken bones and flesh make these veteran adventurers' limbs go soft.
They couldn't even see the attacker, not to mention fighting back. It was simply a child's dream.
Every time the shadow fluttered, a life is lost.
For a short while, the campsite was booming in chaos.
Terror echoed in the night air.
The grizzled woman could hear a deep cry for help, somewhere between a tortured whine and a despairing screech. With every second passed, her heart grieved greatly.
They were, in the end, her life and death comrades.
"COME TO ME, YOU BASTARD!" Gripping tightly onto her two-handed hammer, the grizzled hair woman roared menacingly as her eyes turn bloodshot and rapidly scanned the battlefield.
It has already slaughtered everyone else, and the likelihood of her successfully running away was as good as zero.
So why not fight till the end?
Quickly, the fear in her heart evaporated and is renewed by a strong fighting spirit.
Without any procrastination, the crazed woman and her War Soul, a Peak-stage Rank 2 Charging Boar, was instantly wrapped in a fiery aura of spirit energy.
The dazzling light instantly brightened the surrounding hundred meters.
As if sensing something, the grizzled hair woman hastily spun around and whirled her two-handed war hammer while executing her most deadly skill by burning their blood, soul, and spirit.
"Forced Impact!!"
The Charging Boar, too, was covered with a thick metallic energy shield before storming forward without any fear of destruction.
However, just as the woman thought she could get a solid hit onto the creature responsible for her current predicament, it instantly burst into a cloud of obscure black smoke before crossing through her attack effortlessly.
"How..."
It was unbelievable!
In the end, the Demon Beast in front of her was anything but ordinary.
Although her all-out attack failed, she succeeded in taking a clear glimpse of this unknown demonized creature for what it was before she broke down in horror and self-mockery.
'Those sinister and murderous eyes, we never stood a chance from the beginning—'
"...Ha—"
"Haha..."
"HAHAHAHA!"
After she exploded in a burst of frenzied laughter, the grizzled hair woman sadly dropped her weapon onto the ground.
The moment she identified the Demon Beast's characteristic and its species. She has already accepted her impending fate and watched on helplessly as its claws descended.
'Hendrik, if this is what you have been looking for, then good luck!'
Savage, swift and efficient.
The mysterious Demon Beast open its jaw and swallowed her in one bite, as its fang and teeth easily tore through her thick metal armor with no difficulty.
The fight concluded in a one-sided slaughter.
From the beginning to the end, everything happened in less than two minutes.
"ROOAAARRRR!!!!!!!!!!!" Once its carnage session's over, it let out an earth-shattering roar that echoed for tens of miles.
Countless fierce beasts quailed while birds fly in turmoil.
That night and the days that would soon be followed, the people of the Dandelion Village can't seem to lay rest.