A day quickly passed. Five minutes to the end of the countdown, a notification popped up in front of Leon’s eyes, a warning that he should prepare.
Crack~
Leon stood up and stretched his stiff bones, producing cracking sounds as he did so. “Alright, guys. It’s about to start, prepare yourselves.” He told Nedra, Kaladin, and Nero. The three of them were his most powerful companions, and he had made them remain with him in the clearing, while the rest of his summons was spread out around the clearing. He quickly called back the rest of the summons to make a tighter circle around the clearing, that way, nothing could sneak up on them.
When the last minute finally ticked by, a loud sound rang out, and an invisible wave seemed to pass through everyone present.
[Divinity’s Bout shall begin!] A much larger notification screen than Leon had ever seen popped up in front of him, lasting for only a couple of seconds before vanishing.
“Nedra, now!” Leon exclaimed, and Nedra immediately turned around and began climbing the tree. The golden glow around it remained, but there was no violent reaction from before, allowing Nedra to climb the tree without disturbance.
That did not last, however, as Leon soon heard a sound that definitely did not come from his millipedes.
“Oooo!” It sounded like some kind of moan, but Leon could vaguely piece the sound together. He did not know what creature created that sound, however.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
It sounded as if something was making its way closer to the clearing with every passing moment, and from the sound of its footfalls, Leon could tell that it was a large creature. He quickly skimmed through the minds of all his summons, sharing their vision for a moment.
A few seconds passed before one of the summons, a simple Undead Millipede, spotted something pushing its way through the trees. Thick, furry legs that were as thick as Leon stomped on the ground as the massive creature stepped forward. Leon could see that its back was slightly hunched, and it possessed a thin, curly tail. It’s thick, lumbering body was covered in a fine layer of blue fur, and its face possessed two jutting fangs.
‘A monkey?’ Leon thought when the creature’s full stature came into view.
Bright red eyes snapped in the direction of the Undead Millipede, and it opened its mouth wide.
“ROOOARRR!”
A guttural roar of a predator bellowed out of its wide chest, shaking the trees and bushes around it.
Whoosh!
It’s large fist shot forward, making the air give way. Before it could even touch the millipede, the massive force that it sent forward was already enough to turn Leon’s summon into black smoke.
‘What? Peak C rank?’ Leon thought in amazement. He did not bother reviving the killed summon in that area. Instead, he recalled it, and redirected a fair amount of his stronger summons in that direction. ‘Let me probe it a bit. The mana here is quite rich, so I don’t need to worry about running out as long as I don’t overdo it.’
While about fifty Undead Millipede Soldiers and a dozen Royals rushed to the location of the monkey, most of the others remained where they were, waiting for any other threat to pop out. When it did, Leon was surprised.
“These three? What are they doing here?” Leon frowned as he saw the adventurer trio that consisted of Adrian, Bella, and Malaki make their way through the forest. The Undead Millipede Soldier he was watching through remained hidden underneath a dense bush a dozen meters away.
He watched them approach slowly, and from their certain movements, he was able to figure out that they knew where they were going.
‘They are coming for the tree.’ He thought, his bony face emotionless. He turned around to look at Nedra who was already more than halfway up the massive tree. She was fast.
But the adventurer trio was not all. Over the next minute, Leon spotted a few more people and creatures coming his way.
‘Wait, are those…’ Leon’s empty eye sockets glowed as he spied another strange race that he had known of, but never seen. A team of human-like beings that were led by a lady made their way through the forest. Fair skin, light hair and eyes, and pointy ears. ‘…Elves!’
As Leon took in the fascinating sight of Elves, he was suddenly alarmed by a loud screech. It sounded like a monkey, but much different form what he had heard from the massive simian. Quickly sifting through the feeds of his summons, he soon came across the alarming sight of dozens of human sized simians that held varying weapons in their grasps. Wooden clubs, wooden spears, and other things were all held in their grasp as they assaulted Leon’s millipedes in a wide range.
“They must be coming in a large number!” Leon could not help but exclaim. His mind quickly spun as he thought of what to do. From the little he had seen, the monkeys were definitely large in number, above fifty at the very least, which was not a good thing. If he recalled all his summons to fight them, then he would have too little eyes on the field to watch for any approaching threats.
“Does it matter? If Nedra gets the fruits, I can just run back to the little base I built.” He rubbed his black, bony chin. He had left half a dozen Undead Millipedes to watch over the sight, and so far, nothing had come close to that area, so he was sure it was safe.
He turned around again, and was glad to see that Nedra had finally reached the large, golden fruits. There were seven of them, and she had her legs around two of them already.
Just as she was about to pluck the third one, the ground before Leon’s feet rumbled, and his eyes widened as he realized he forgot about a crucial point.
“Oh, shit.”