The deeper Kyran went into the Valley of Morte, the bigger and thicker the trees became. The leaves also got bigger and lusher, blocking what little light the stars and the moon brought to the surroundings. Different night sounds mingled around him, that it became complicated to distinguish the distance between each.
Kyran already activated the Cloaking Array, and he had seen two mutated forest beasts; a mutated Bigfoot and a Four-tailed Fox.
A regular Bigfoot with the same gorilla features, albeit larger and more robust, had dark brown fur and black eyes. It could also grow up to four meters. On the other hand, the mutated form had silver-gray fur and dark red eyes. Its size was also twice the regular adult Bigfoot.
Twin-tailed Fox was a common small-sized forest beast seen around Meliora forests. Kyran even had a chance to hunt one when he was eight. It had the same feature as mountain foxes with reddish-brown fur and amber eyes. However, the mutated form had four tails, with a size similar to a Wolvern, at least a meter tall. The four-tailed fox’s fur was still dominated by reddish-brown color. But it had a gold streak that ran from the tip of its nose up to two of its four-tails in the middle. Its amber eyes had a tinge of red.
Kyran did not know how to call them, so he gave them temporary names as the Silver Bigfoot and the Four-tailed Fox.
Simple and straightforward.
Because these two beasts did not possess heat sensors, Kyran successfully steered clear of their radars. He did not sense any malicious aura from them, so he did not make any pre-emptive attack. Besides, they were not his target.
Kyran took out the map of the Valley of Morte that Hugh gave him.
Looking at the crude lines and symbols, it was not hard to guess that this was a hand-drawn map.
Kyran did not mind. He knew there was no official map of the Valley of Morte. Because of its dangerous and mysterious nature, exploration of the Valley of Morte was slow. Exploration also cost a fortune with little return because most exploration teams could only explore the valley during the day when it was relatively safe.
Kyran remembered the ruins Byron told him.
The ruins were located deep into the valley, and the Blue Lotus planned to build a temporary camp there. At the moment, construction was still underway, and they could only work during the day.
Byron explained that they had already completed a small defensive array to keep any mutated forest beasts away from the site where the camp would be constructed. And to make up for the time, they hired more people to do the construction during the day.
Still, Kyran was not optimistic about the Blue Lotus’s plan. In his opinion, he would focus on excavating the spirit stones and build a makeshift camp inside the excavation site, then create a transportation array to transport all mined spirit stones. He would not waste his time making a camp outside that could be discovered by the army or other factions. Besides, there was no guarantee that their supposed defensive array could really hold against the mutated forest beasts. What if that mutated Basilisk ventured around that place? Kyran had a feeling that the mutated Basilisk’s shockwave attack could quickly destroy their defensive array and kill off most of their people.
Kyran shook his head, trying to return his focus on the matter at hand.
The Blue Lotus’s matter was not his business after all. Of course, once he took over the whole organization, that would be a different story.
Looking at the map in his hand, Kyran studied it for a while. The map had small drawings of forest beasts in some areas. These drawings served as markers of the forest beasts that were frequently seen in the area.
He checked the marker for the Bigfoot, and his brow twitched a little seeing how cute the monkey drawing was. He suddenly felt a little sorry for the Silver Bigfoot being portrayed as a cute monkey. Even the illustration for the Four-tailed Fox looked like an adorable puppy with four wriggling lines on its back.
‘I’d like to meet the person who drew this map,’ Kyran thought with a slight smile.
After confirming the landmarks and the Silver Bigfoot and Four-tailed Fox location coincided with his current position, Kyran returned the map on his pouch before jumping down the tree to head west, where the Theihorns were frequently spotted.
A sudden chill ran up his spine as he went west. If he remembered correctly, the ruin Byron mentioned was located west of the valley.
‘This mysterious nature of this valley is pretty similar to the Misty Forest. I wonder if the ruin that has a connection with my predecessor is the reason for the forest beasts’ mutation.’ Kyran wondered.
Suddenly.
AHH-WOOOO~!
Kyran abruptly stopped and hid behind a tree.
The howl just now was pretty close to his location. He activated the Regis Blessing, turning his eyes to silver before he peeked and scanned the area up ahead.
About forty meters ahead, one mutated Stag, with huge antlers and eagle-like wings on its back, was blocked by two Theihorns. A huge tree blocked the mutated Stag’s back while the two Theihorns blocked its escape route in front.
The two Theihorns growled menacingly as they crouched, waiting for a chance to pounce the mutated Stag.
The mutated Stag flapped its wings as it stomped its front legs toward the small gap between the two Theihorns. However, the Theihorn on the left snapped at the mutated Stag’s legs as if to scare it, which made the mutated Stag stagger back.
Kyran’s heart pounded in his chest.
Finally, he found his target. And he was lucky enough to encounter two. The howl earlier also meant they called for reinforcement.
Taking a deep breath, Kyran pondered how to proceed. He had a choice to strike and take down these two first and ambush their reinforcements. But with the Theihorn’s enhanced sense of smell, once they smell blood, it would alert them and might lie in wait to ambush him instead. He could also wait for the reinforcements to arrive and strike while they were busy dealing with the mutated Stag.
The last option was better, but if their numbers were outside Kyran’s estimation, he would have a hard time dealing with all of them.
Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he could not help but chuckle at himself.
His train of thought was similar to how he dealt with forest beasts when he was still an ‘average’ person!
He had been too cautious in using his Void Magic that he reverted to his old habit in dealing with forest beasts.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he pushed the Regis Blessing to the limits and knelt on the ground. He placed his ears on the ground and strained his ears for any incoming sounds.
‘Two? No, three incoming.’ Kyran estimated after hearing pounding sounds from at least two hundred meters.
He straightened his back and looked at the situation of the two Theihorns and the mutated Stag.
The mutated Stag was still trying to look for a way to get past the two Theihorns while they prevented it by snapping at its legs now and then.
‘Let’s go with the third option. Deal with the three incoming Theihorns,’ Kyran decided and stood up to intercept the three Theihorns.
If he was successful, then he did not have to deal with these two.
Kyran deftly avoided the scene up ahead and sprinted in the direction of the incoming Theihorns.
He tapped on his pouch, and one obsidian-made sword appeared on his left hand. He did not mold a void weapon because the Theihorns might sense his approach through his magic.
Unfortunately, the Cloaking Array could only hide his presence, not his magic aura.
Kyran jumped from tree branch after tree branch. His eyes glinted silver as he saw the first Theihorn up ahead.
‘Takedown the first one in one strike,’ he thought.
The muscles on his left arm constricted as he raised his hand while flipping the sword upward, so the blade was aimed correctly at the Theihorn in front.
Kyran pulled back his arm and arched his back to provide additional momentum before releasing the sword.
WOOOSH!
The oblivious Theihorn ahead jumped and was about to land on a huge boulder when the black obsidian sword appeared in front, easily piercing its chest and penetrating its heart.
While the Theihorn’s had thick, sturdy scales, Kyran’s obsidian sword could pierce anything, even diamonds, because right now, it was enhanced with the Regis Body Tempering Technique.
The Theihorn whimpered and was thrown back from the sword’s momentum.
Seeing one of their own getting attacked, the two Theihorns behind stopped and growled in the direction where the sword came from. However, they did not see anything ahead.
Crackle!
A fissure appeared above the Theihorn on the left, and Kyran descended with his left arm poised to strike. Since he had already exposed himself, he no longer needed to hide his magic.
A Void Long Sword formed on his right hand as he struck the Theihorn’s neck.
The Theihorn could not even whimper as its head fell on the ground, dark red blood sprayed out from its severed neck.
However, the last Theihorn did not only watch the scene unfold. Although it failed to react to Kyran’s second attack, it did not plan to run nor die without a fight.
AHH-WOOOO~!
It howled, and at the same time, its eyes turned gold, and a whirlwind enveloped it, which grew in radius by the second, destroying everything it touched.
Kyran’s silver eyes narrowed. If he did not finish this Theihorn in time, that whirlwind would destroy the bodies of the two Theihorns.
‘Let’s try that,’ Kyran decided as he jumped in front of the second Theihorn’s corpse.
Releasing the Void Long Sword, he lifted both his arms, his palms facing the approaching whirlwind. His silver eyes turned reddish-purple as a huge round fissure appeared in front of him.
The air around Kyran crackled as he unleashed his magic in full.
When the whirlwind was only a foot away, it seemed to be attracted to the fissure.
‘Ergh,’ Kyran gritted his teeth as he felt the whirlwind’s force enter the fissure.