I took the wine in his hand and drank a big mouthful of it. “Can soldiers drink wine? I remembered that the armies from the three kingdoms are restricted from drinking.”
Ke Er Lan Di laughed. “I know this better than you do. However, this type of wine doesn’t have much impact, and aren’t I secretly drinking it now? My brother subordinates were influenced by me and love this wine as well, so they won’t report me.” He grabbed the wine bottle in my hands and drank a mouthful. The blood red wine seeped out from the sides of his mouth. His heroic spirit momentarily affected the crowd as they started to drink too.
This type of feeling wasn’t bad—sitting in front of a fire, eating delicacies and drinking good wine, it was really nice! The gentle breeze caused the leaves to rustle as it blew through the clearing. In addition to chirping of insects, it gave me a rather calm feeling.
After everyone had their fill, only four knights were on watch duty and everyone else started to rest.
Ke Er Lan Di lay side by side with me in watching the stars. He said, “Eighteen, this isn’t the first time you rode a horse, right?”
I smiled wryly. “You could see that? It can’t be counted as my first because I’ve ridden a couple of times before in my childhood.” When I mentioned about my childhood, I started to think about my parents at the faraway Aixia. I didn’t know how were they now. I hadn’t been back for such a long time already. They must be missing me greatly, but I really couldn’t head back now as there were too many things that I needed to settle. Moreover, I had such a ghastly appearance. I wondered if they could still recognise me.
Ke Er Lan Di smiled. “I’ve been a soldier for many years. If I couldn’t figure this out, I would have wasted all my years of training. I could tell from the posture when you rode the horse. You’re already not bad. If it was an ordinary mage, they would just fall forwards. Learning to ride a horse isn’t something you do in one or two days.”
I withdrew my thoughts. “If you were to continue bringing me along, it’ll definitely affect your speed. How about you head back first? We can still meet up in the future.”
Ke Er Lan Di said, “It doesn’t matter. Since we embarked together, we should reach our destination together. It’s alright to be a bit slow, currently the three Human kingdoms, Demons, and Beasts have successfully reconciled. Moreover, there’s the man made rift made by the God’s Envoys. There shouldn’t be any problem.”
The temporary peace might not be something good because the Monster Race were plotting in the dark. They might start to massacre the various races when they reemerged.
Just as I wanted to speak, the sky darkened. It seemed that a sinister cloud had covered the clear night. Ke Er Lan Di also noticed. “Hmm? It can’t be that it’s going to rain, right? There’s no shelter here. If it were to rain, it will be terrible.”
The power of the Holy Sword at my chest suddenly surged. My entire body tensed up. I knew what that cloud was. It was the Holy Sword’s alert that immediately made me become wary. I said seriously, “Ke Er, that’s not right. It doesn’t seem to be clouds. Quickly, have everyone on alert. This atmosphere isn’t right.”
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Volume 11: Chapter 11 - Monster Traces Suddenly Appear
Ke Er Lan Di was stunned. “What’s wrong? It can’t be—there’s nothing wrong here.”
My bad premonition was growing; there was a sinister chill coming from nearby. I waved my hand, casting a low grade water spell to put out the fire at the camp. I grabbed Sukrad’s staff and stood up as I could clearly feel the Monster race’s aura. I knew the demonic aura so well that I couldn’t be more familiar with them. Why had they appeared here?
Ke Er Lan Di stood with me, but he seemed to be unable to discover anything amiss. He frowned. “Eighteen, are you serious? Why can’t I feel anything then?”
I whispered, “Quickly, get everyone up. Our surroundings are filled with a terrifying power. We must be prepared.”
Ke Er Lan Di nodded. He was a well trained soldier with a lot of experience after all. He was good at adapting to sudden situations. His subordinates were really remarkable as they had already gathered without making a single sound.
The sinister aura in the sky thickened. Ke Er Lan Di also felt something was wrong at this moment. “What’s that? It looks sinister.”
I said seriously, “If I haven’t guessed wrong, it should be the Monster race.”
“Monster Race? Ke Er Lan Di cried out, “There’s really a Monster race?”
I looked at him and shook my head helplessly. “There’s a lot of people in the continent that have the same mindset as you do. I can tell you now that they really exist as I’ve fought against them. You shouldn’t ask anything for the moment as we should deal with the situation at hand. Everyone follow me to see what’s happening.”
Upon saying that, I used my senses to walk deep into the forest.
It was easy to differentiate the Monster race’s deathly aura. I just moved towards where the aura was at its thickest. This should find them. Ke Er Lan Di brought his 18 subordinates to follow me closely, without making a single sound.
The deathly aura was getting increasingly thick. It was so thick that it emitted a strong pressure.
Finally, when we walked into the depths of the forest, I found the source of the deathly aura. It was a clearing within the forest. The clearing didn’t have any trace of life. The grey land meant that they weren’t any creatures, and the grass in the surroundings showed signs of withering. There was a pit about 16 metres wide at the center of the clearing. It was impossible to see what was in it from our viewpoint. Faint red light came out from that hole, giving it an exceptionally sinister feeling.
Ke Er Lan Di said, “Is this the den of the Monster race?”
I nodded slightly. “It’s very possible. Let’s just wait and see.” This hole was much smaller than the one beside our base that Big Brother Zhang Hu and the rest of us had eliminated. There weren’t any monsters appearing, but I was certain that this was another sinister spawning ground for the Monster race. I had to kill them while they were spawning. Otherwise, it would bring an unknown number of losses.
The sky was still as gloomy. The centre of the sinister looking clouds was above this hole.
Rustling sounds could be heard from the hole. I hastily gave a ‘Be careful’ eye signal towards Ke Er Lan Di as I no longer tried to keep my identity a secret. I stealthily took out Sukrad’s staff from the cloth. I activated the fusion power in my body to sustain my peak state. While I was preparing, the rustling sound got stronger.
‘Rustle! Rustle!’ Ten black figures shot out from the hole and landed on the ground. I had seen those disgusting and horrifying monsters before. They seemed to sense a human’s aura as their glimmering red eyes shot in our direction.
I whispered, “Everyone, take care of yourself.” I definitely wouldn’t show mercy to that sinister race. After confirming my thoughts, I decided to annihilate them at lightning speed.
After activating my body’s powers, I didn’t care about Ke Er Lan Di’s surprised gaze and leapt out. The Sukrad’s staff brought a white light with it. A 10m white light ray shot towards the monsters in front of us.
After a loud explosion, a few of the monsters were instantly annihilated from being engulfed with the light element’s purifying power, like a spring wind that swept past. However, I didn’t relax as more monsters were rapidly flowing out of the hole.
“Light elements! My great friends, I plead to you to use your power to form limitless light rays to form light stars and to eliminate the enemies before you.—Bright Star’s Shine!”