The five of them had some cloth bags strapped from the shoulder to their waist carrying some food, water and clothing necessary for the travel. Though Ming Shin did not need it, he had to pretend like others to not expose his spatial treasure.
They cannot carry much weight too to hinder their speed and stamina. They have been taking fewer breaks while mostly on the journey during the day. It has been four days, but there are no monster beasts in sight.
Ming Shin swept his consciousness and his limit hit 400m and he finally found some claw marks on a tree which seems fresh about a day or so. With his foresight, the team quickly continued their journey without losing the trail. They also started limiting their rations and finding fruits along the way.
After another ten days, just when their ration are completely running out, they have sighted an outline of a wave of monster beasts. With Ming Shin's eyesight, he found that there seem to be human population fighting them off.
The other four were surprised to find other humans so far off in the jungle apart from them. After all, during usual times there exist many level 4 and level 5 beasts along the way and there is no way for the scouting teams to come so far and with almost precision route.
In fact, Li Kui did not want to venture and contact other humans. Otherwise there was no point in the Magic clan retreating in such a remote place.
Going more forward, they came to a halt as going any further means withing the detection range of the nearest level 4 beast in the wave. Ming Shin could remember from his foggy memory that there was such a border at Chen village.
Having found the motive of the mission accomplished, they just wanted to stay behind for some time and capture any details possible. But Ming Shin couldn't sit still. If this was the case with Chen village, then it should be the same for Juuko and Pitu.
Well there is father in Juuko, but it looks like he doesn't want to use his full strength. There is still Meng Kai, Du Baoji and lot of common villagers. He became anxious while his breathing was a bit rapid.
Noticing his change, Han Shuang asked " Brother Hai, are you okay?".
"I'm sorry you guys. After all, I cannot stand fellow human beings killed in front of me" he apologized and rushed forward.
The others were too late to stop him, as his sudden action suddenly attracted enough attention from the level 4 beast. With Ming Shin's strength, he could kill a level 3 beast but with a level 4 beast, he can escape even if he cannot kill it.
The beast was in the shape of a two meter tall kangaroo but has well developed limbs and strong muscles. It's mouth was jagged with sharp teeth and claws shining in the light.
There was only one level 4 beast in the entire herd and it is not attacking the village. It seems to just monitor the situation and give orders. It seems to be placed just to maintain order within the group.
Generally, a level 4 beast can contend with humans in Foundation stage. Except a strong man in the middle to upper realm can win with it, but may not possibly be able to kill it as their instincts are sharpened as the level increases.
Fruitless battles won't be fought by them. Even though the kangaroo could sense that Ming Shin's cultivation is not up to par, it has a sense of foreboding. Knowing it was a troublesome enemy, but cannot keep itself away from the post.
The level 4 beast growled in an intimidating manner while also notifying the other level 3 monsters to collectively attack him first. Three of the level 3 monsters nearby rushed to him upon hearing the growl. The monsters below them were just scared stiff to face such a strong enemy from behind.
Among them was a white and grey spotted wolf which was petrified after seeing Ming Shin. The last time was four years ago and it seems to remember a child who caused such doomed fate upon it's fellow folk. Even if did not possess much intelligence, fear started kicking in like instinct.
Without any hesitation, it suddenly made its way out to escape far away from Ming Shin's direction. As Ming Shin was attracting attention, the other four were still not detected. Seeing only a single monster beast fleeing away with such speed baffled them.
'What's up? It is acting strange' they thought.
Ming Shin was also able to capture this. With his consciousness sweep, he identified it as one of the four monster beasts who escaped last time too. Not caring too much about it, he lunged forward to slice open the first level 3 monster with his sword.
The other two were no fools and instantly halted and became vigilant. Meanwhile the kangaroo growled angrily at the fleeing wolf.
At the border of Chen village, Mu Shen(Village chief) and few strong men around him can see some commotion at the rear end of the wave. But, there is too much noise and too far away to see clearly. With their strength, they can cope up with level 2 monsters but level 3 and that too around twenty of them would be alarming.
Every five years, the strength of the monster beast attack seems to increase, especially in the last ten years. Mu Shen could not figure out why Juuko was not attacked last time and they had to bear the brunt of the other wave too.
Meanwhile there is no attack on Juuko this time again. The people are rejoicing while Meng Haotian (village chief) was discussing with his officials to send help to the adjacent Chen village. Ming Jian did not hold much opinion regarding these. His duty was only to keep the Holy Tree safe.
Soon it was decided that forty strong men in Bone Forging along with Meng Haotian shall go to their aid. Pitu village was also facing a huge attack and this is the first time with Rin Meihun witnessing the monster beast attack.
'I have heard of the beast attack, but what is this with such low level monster beasts attacking such a remote place? Are they just looking to kill savagely? if so, why is it they do not attack with more strength?'
'It's more like, they want to destroy the village but do not want to attract great attention. Which means, a monster beast or something of high level intelligence is behind this deployment. Then, is there something intended in these attacks?'
'Do these villages or this place got something that attracts that being's attention? If so, what is it? Here I am planning to take these three villages under the Rin clan with the level 2 weapons and armor which I made the clan make with great cost and influence' he sighed looking at the large quantity of the fighting equipment in the store room.
'After taking these villages, should I still always keep defending them again and again every five years? No, I need to quickly figure out the ordeal of this whole thing. I'll hold sending any of my guards to fight them off even though Tai Peng has been requesting support for a while now'.
Tai Peng was also finding it hard to cope up with so many level three monsters. And there is still a level 4 monster beast which looks like a very strong pig. Only this time, he did not get the strong guards around Rin Clan's young master help yet.
Suddenly a messenger reported that a carriage full of weapons and armor was just delivered from Hei pavilion. As he looked at the package, he was joyful but also a tad bit disappointed that he did not received any strong human support.
Immediately he called a few strong men to get equipped. With these, dealing with level 3 has become manageable and can be killed in the long run with more manpower. Quantity makes up for quality.
Meanwhile somewhere in this battlefield, Ming Shin finally slayed the last of the level 3 beasts surrounding him and pounced towards the level 4 beast. Disrupting its control might actually let few other monster beasts to flee which lessens the burden for the villagers.
"Why is junior brother Hai still insisting on it?" Si Juan sighed.
"Hmph, he dared to violate the rules. Anyway, we have completed our mission" Rei Shi remarked.
"Yes, we should retreat and let the clan know the news as soon as possible" Han Shuang also thoughtfully said.
"What about Ju Hai? He is too deep into the wave and he can only move forward" Si Juan asked.
"Leave it to me. I will bring him back at the earliest. You three should go back" Yue Nai sounded and disappeared again.
'This woman' Rei Shi felt trepidations from her. For a moment, he just wanted to abandon this guy who was so arrogant to not join his unit despite so many invites. But Yue Nai and Li Wei (commander of Strategic unit) gives him the creeps.
Soon the other three agreed as Yue Nai took responsibility to stay back.