"Phew, that should be enough for today," Lyle said as he exhaled deeply.
Tens of bodies were piled up around him, there were Eijars, Demon Boars, Gnolls, Kobolds, and even hobgoblins.
Finding Gnolls and Kobolds was a surprise for Lyle as they were usually much deeper inside the forest. Most of the time, the two monster races stuck to being closer to the mountain that was further away and rarely ever ventured close to cities or villages.
Kobolds and Gnolls possessed higher intelligence than most monsters at their level and would usually keep to themselves as they feared the fierce retaliation that humans would give after they would destroy a village.
Seeing them this close meant one of two things.
They were chased out from the mountain and had no other option but to come here, or more of them had appeared and they were now spreading around because they needed more resources.
The hobgoblins were what made Lyle truly worried.
If there were already hobgoblins that led goblins here, then it wouldn't take long for more powerful variants to appear.
Ogres were one of those variants. They were incredibly powerful monsters that could crush enemies of the same level thanks to their incredible physical strength, but their intelligence was lower compared to hobgoblins and goblins of the same level, which made setting up traps to target them easier.
Hobgoblins and goblins also had other forms they could take after becoming more powerful.
Goblin warriors and sling shooters were two of the most common ones, but there were also shamans, alchemists, and more.
Those were the ones that were harder to deal with since they used magic and the weakness of their fleshly bodies would be negated.
Hobgoblins could also become warriors, swordsmen, archers, shamans, alchemists, brawlers, juggernauts, and more.
They would become harder and harder to deal with if the empire didn't respond quickly, but judging by how fast things had changed in the forest, Lyle doubted that the other regions of the empire had stayed peaceful.
It was just like the system had said in the beginning, the world was going through a change, and humans and other intelligent species would have to struggle again in order to survive the new dangers that would show up.
Lyle made up his mind to tell the guards about what he had found, but he would of course first disguise himself as another person.
Simply telling them that he had seen all of these monsters made no sense, so he cut off the heads of some Gnolls, Kobolds, and Hobgoblins in order to persuade them. After doing so, Lyle made his way back to the city.
He disguised himself as a middle-aged man that wore a ponytail and an eyepatch. Multiple scars could be seen on his face and the bare chest was visible thanks to the robe he was now wearing.
The robe wasn't just a normal robe, well, it was, but what it represented was far from ordinary.
Lyle was wearing a robe that was called the Khi. The Khi was a robe that one could buy almost everywhere in the world and the people that wore it was called Khilmen.
The Khilmen belonged to no empire or kingdom, but a clan of warriors that one could join simply by showing his worth and strength. The one that led the clan was one of the most powerful people below the world's strongest five and was well-respected by many thanks to his great power and young age.
Khiemon.
It was a name, but also a title that was given to the leader of the Khilmen.
Being only 50 years old, the current Khiemon was a talent that would only be seen once every 1000 years on the planet. He had risen in power quickly and many believed that soon he would break through to the next realm and that the strongest five would now have a sixth member amongst them.
The Khilmen didn't like wearing armor.
They disliked using any tricks either.
They were warriors and they fought in a pure and simple manner.
The robe that they wore was easy to identify since there were 6 different weapons painted on its back, the symbol of the Khilmen.
They would only use their weapon and that was it.
Their robe offered barely any protection, but they didn't need it as the Khilmen that were higher up in the hierarchy were all veteran fighters that could dust the floor with a normal opponent that was of their level.
Impersonating a Khilman was a serious offense, but simply wearing the robes wasn't. There were many that would buy the robe simply to walk around and show off, but some of those would face a terrible future as there were many underground organizations that held a grudge against the Khilmen and would attack them on sight.
Even some Kingdoms and Empires had banned the Khilmen from entering and the robes banned from being sold.
Still, there were those that would simply buy the robes and, in an attempt to look powerful and dangerous, would disappear.
Wearing the robe of a Khilman was something that Lyle occasionally did as they were quite well-respected in the Golden Lion Empire.
Partly it was because of how powerful the upper echelons of the Khilmen were, while another part was because the protector of the realm, the most powerful being in the empire had once been a Khilman before he hung the robe and retired from the life.
Being caught impersonating a Khilman was thus even worse here.
Lyle was well-versed in acting as a Khilman, but he was a bit nervous. He would need to face the royal soldiers and make them believe that he was a Khilman himself, but without his previous power and the lack of mana, he wouldn't be able to pressure them with his aura or anything like that.
His killing intent was the only thing he had left.
He had honed his killing intent so that none would leak when he would go for the killing blow during an assassination attempt, but one other thing he could do was what he had done when facing the duke previously.
He could suddenly erupt with a dense and powerful killing intent that would shake the very core of beings that were in front of him.
That would be the only way Lyle could get the soldiers to believe he truly was a Khilman, if that failed, however, he would either need to flee from the spot or reveal his true identity in order to avoid being arrested or even killed by the soldiers.
Lyle had now arrived near the city, upon walking to the gate, the soldiers had already noticed him.
The robe, coupled with Lyle's face and mannerisms made them a bit tense.
A Khilman arriving in the city was quite weird as they were mostly found in areas where the monsters were high in density and were more powerful.
His appearance and the invisible pressure that formed around him made the soldiers turn serious as they could immediately identify that the person in front of them was not someone to be trifled with.
Upon seeing their countenance, Lyle was surprised a bit. He was only leaking a small portion of his killing intent, but the effect was obviously much greater than he anticipated.
"S-State your reason for coming here, Khilman." One of the soldiers said as he stared at Lyle.
"I was merely passing by, but a troublesome sight had shown itself to my eyes, I merely come here to warn you and to investigate further for a couple of days," Lyle said in a serious tone as he suddenly took out the heads from his spatial ring.
Seeing the heads of Kobolds, Gnolls, and Hobgoblins falling down on the ground made the soldiers confused at first, while the onlookers stared in horror at the bloody sight.
"They were a couple of kilometers away from the mountain, you know what that means, right?" Lyle asked the guards who suddenly widened their eyes in shock.
"The monsters have started moving, it seems that the words we all heard two days ago did not lie, the world is changing, and we need to follow it, otherwise it could spell our doom," Lyle said before making a brief pause and continuing.
"You should bring this to the duke, and alert him of the changes, I will be staying here for a couple of days, investigating what is happening in the forest," Lyle said before walking through the open gate.
"W-wait, sir, the duke, he, he is dead." A soldier suddenly spoke from behind Lyle.
Lyle turned around and stared at the soldier before opening his mouth.
"What happened?"
"An assassin appeared, he killed the duke right before the so-called 'system' appeared, we came to investigate his death, I will bring this to the commander, will you join us?"
'As if.' Lyle thought in his head before speaking.
"No, as I have stated before, I am merely passing by, I only wish to investigate the forest for a couple of days, I will not bother the commander or you, I bide you farewell now, the journey has been long and I wish to rest before starting my investigation," Lyle said before turning around and disappearing around the corner, leaving the soldiers dumbfounded as they stared at the heads.
"Go to the commander, he needs to know about this!" One of the soldiers said as the one closest to the heads nodded before picking them up and speeding to the castle.