Edmund's group chased after Mark for a few miles, but they soon gave up since one of their comrades was severely injured and was in dire need of medical attention.
Edmund's face was dark as he stared at Mark's disappearing figure.
"Let's return and report the situation to Sir Keith." He muttered in a cold voice.
His subordinates nodded. They could feel that Edmund was furious so they didn't say anything more.
Meanwhile, Mark noticed that his pursuers were gone, but he still didn't stop running. He also took his time to erase his tracks in case those people were still following him.
He never thought that he would use this skill so soon after learning it from Larry.
Two hours later, Mark climbed on top of a tree and took a short break. His legs were already numbed and his whole body was sore. "Just what are those guys planning?" He muttered with a frown as he sat on a thick branch.
He didn't know a lot about the Iron Fist Gang. The only thing he knew about them was that they had a deep enmity towards Jason's group.
'I should not return to the village now.' Mark thought to himself. He was afraid that the members of the Iron Fist Gang would be waiting for him outside the village. Although he was worried for Jason and the others, he could only hope that nothing would happen to them.
After resting for ten minutes, Mark climbed down the tree and began searching for mystical beasts. He was furious and slightly concerned about being targeted, but he knew that he was too weak to fight back at this moment. He didn't know how many members they had or how strong their people were. Without sufficient information about their group, he didn't want to confront them.
While Mark was searching for mystical beasts, he suddenly felt the ground vibrating intensely. Having sensed this, his face fell and he quickly hid under the bushes. He also smeared his body with herbs to prevent any creatures from detecting his smell.
Most mystical beasts had very sensitive olfactory senses. According to Larry, the hunters use this method to confuse them and avoid being discovered by these predators.
Mark nervously waited under the bushes.
He only felt this kind of tremors when he last encountered the Black Scaled Boar with the hunting team. He didn't want to come across a beast of that level.
To kill the Black Scaled Boar that was a Third Level Spider-Grade mystical beast, a team of fifty hunters led by a Third Level Body Strengthening cultivator had to be mobilized. Even with such a lineup, there was still a chance of failure.
At this moment, the shaking of the earth became even more intense. Mark knew that whatever was causing this was getting closer to him.
Soon, Mark saw the culprit behind the quaking of the ground. It was a creature that looked like a wildebeest. It had a box-like head with curving horns. It had a black mane and a sloping back. Its legs were spindly which made the beast look weak. However, this creature stood at a height of six meters which was more than five times larger than its real-world counterpart!
What made Mark even more surprised was that this beast had multiple wounds all over its body. The wounds seemed to be caused by sharp claws.
'The wounds aren't deep enough to immobilize the beast, but there's a lot of claw marks so this must have been done by a pack.' Mark thought to himself while looking at the wounds of the cow-like creature.
Not long later, Mark heard a mix of eerie chirps and squeaks behind the big creature. He narrowed his eyes and saw more than ten smaller beasts with an appearance similar to that of wild dogs. They had large bat-like ears, a colorful patchy coat, and a bushy brown tail with a black tip. These animals were about 1.2 meters tall. Their bodies were small but agile and they moved very quickly.
'Holy sh*t!' Mark cursed in his heart. These creatures weren't supposed to exist in the outskirts of the Enchanted Woodlands. There are only two possibilities. Either something compelled them to escape to the outskirts of the forest or Mark had inadvertently headed near the central parts of the forest. The first possibility was unlikely to happen, which means that the second possibility was more probable.
Thinking about this, Mark cursed the Iron Fist Gang.
'Please don't go here. Please don't go here. Please don't go here!' Mark prayed in his heart while looking nervously at the beasts. He couldn't accurately tell the strength of those beasts, but from how his heart was palpitating, he guessed that they were on the same level as the Black Scaled Boar.
At this moment, the wild dogs had already overtaken the large wildebeest. They simultaneously attacked the bigger creature, making it harder for it to escape.
Loud moaning sounds and explosive snorts were produced by the large beast as it tried to push back its smaller attackers.
The wild dogs seemed to be more excited when they saw the large creature struggling. Their attacks became more frequent and aggressive, sometimes even going as far as biting a huge chunk of its flesh.
More wounds appeared on the body of the large cow-like beast. Its movements slowly became sluggish and its voice sounded weaker. It couldn't even hit the more agile wild dogs.
Eik! Eik! Eik!
Soon, the large beast fell. The wild dogs took the chance to inflict more damage on the beast.
With no strength left in its body, the beast could only emit weak sounds as the wild dogs slowly devoured its flesh.
Looking at the gruesome scene, Mark held his breath. He slowly crawled away while the wild dogs were still busy eating their prey. He didn't want to get involved with those creatures.
Suddenly, he stepped on a twig which produced a snapping sound. 'Crap!' He shouted in his heart.
Mark quickly turned his head and saw the wild dogs looking at him with unfriendly gazes.
Eik! Eik! Eik! Eik!
"What sh*t luck! Dammit!" Mark cursed under his breath. He jumped up and started running away for his life.
He could hear the wild dogs chasing after him and this made him even more scared.
'There are only five of them. Can I handle these damnable dogs?' Mark grabbed the handle of his sword as he thought about this.
Just as the wild dogs were about to overtake him, Mark pulled out his sword and shield.
Shiing!
He glanced coldly at the wild dogs, sweat trickled down his face. "Come at me, you bastards!" He shouted angrily.
As if surprised by his voice, the five wild dogs jumped backwards.
Seeing this, Mark's eyes flashed. It turned out that these creatures were wary of him.
They emitted eerie squeaking noises as they slowly walked towards him as if they were trying to intimidate him.