Chapter 145: March
At precisely 8 A.M., the expedition team led by Count Alden departed from the campsite.
The Radiant Walkers took the lead, quiet and focused, eyes flicking toward the thick forest stretching out ahead.
At the center of the long convoy walked the Expert Knights, the three Expert Wizards from the Wizard Alliance, and Count Alden himself. Servants, junior guards, and other Radiant Walkers followed from behind, guarding the supply. Though most items were stored in spatial rings, a few items, like armors, swords, and a day's worth of food, were carried by a few Radiant knights in case of emergency.
The forest path was uneven and occasionally blocked by low-hanging branches or thick vines, but their pace remained consistent.
By late morning, around 10 A.M., a pack of War Hyenas burst out from the shrubs. Their eyes were red with hunger, and they didn't bother with warning—just snarled and charged, teeth bared like knives.
But the Radiant Walkers at the front barely flinched.
Steel met fur, spells cracked through the air, and in less than a minute, the beasts were down, one by one. Their corpses were dragged to the sides, left as a warning to other lurking creatures.
Of course, they extracted the elemental stones from the beasts and stored the valuable body parts before discarding them.
Next came the Bloodthirsty Bulls, rushing from a rocky slope. Their red hides shimmered under the sun, and their roars shook the nearby leaves.
Again, the Radiant Walkers handled it calmly. Nobody even flinched.
The heat weighed on the team by noon, and the terrain grew rougher. Even so, they pressed forward. Then, around 3 P.M., the atmosphere changed.
It began with distant rustling.
Shadows flickered through the trees, and just like that, they were surrounded.
It was the Wild Apes—nearly a hundred of them.
Snarling, screeching, baring their fangs, they launched themselves from trees and bushes. Most were Rank-1 magical beasts, but their sheer number created chaos. At the center of the mob stood a giant ape nearly twice the size of the rest, clearly a Rank-2.
Some apes were agile and used stones to attack from a distance.
Screams echoed as several guards and servants were pulled to the ground.
One poor man didn't even get a scream out before an ape tore his head clean off.
Two others screamed in agony, their arms mauled and bleeding.
Panic erupted in a matter of seconds.
Some servants dropped what they were carrying and fled in terror. Others froze. Even trained soldiers hesitated under the wave of apes.
But a few held their ground.
Raven remained calm, his sharp gaze scanning the battlefield. Beside him, Jovie narrowed her eyes and calmly asserted the situation.
Then came the boom of armored footsteps.
Nash stepped forward in new armor—emerald green, almost too shiny—and raised his sword without a word. Sunlight bounced off the polished plates as he raised his sword and made a slash.
It was a single strike.
The blade whistled through the air, fast as lightning—and the ape's head was gone.
The ape's head spun through the air, a grotesque blur silhouetted against the branches.
The horde paused, screeched, then began to scatter. Within minutes, the remaining apes were either slain or had fled into the deeper forest.
But it came at a price.
The dirt was slick with blood. One was dead, two were severely wounded, and the others were shaken.
By 4 P.M., just as the convoy caught their breath, Raven's shapeshifting started wearing off.
Acting quickly, Raven approached Wizard Ariel and quietly borrowed a helmet and armor for protection. The wizard didn't question him. By dusk, Raven had entirely hidden his identity once more.
As night fell, the team stopped beneath a towering tree with thick branches that offered some protection. They also saw a small stream passing nearby and began setting up camp.
Tents were raised, fires lit. The smell of cooked meat filled the air once more.
Inside the small tent beneath the towering tree, Raven sat cross-legged on the mat, his body aching slightly from the long march and earlier chaos.
'I can stay without resting for days, though.'
"Wait… this spell weakened my strength?" He realized the reason behind the body ache.
Across from him, Jovie leaned back against the inner canvas wall, eyes half-lidded in thought.
"You need rest," Jovie said, not unkindly. "Things'll only get worse tomorrow."
Raven nodded slightly, rubbing his chin. "How many expeditions have you participated in before?"
"Not many," Jovie replied, brushing aside a loose strand of hair.
"Five or so," she said with a shrug. "Couple with mercs. Nobles ran the others."
"And?" Raven asked, curious.
She gave a wry smile.
"Didn't matter who led 'em," she added. "The wyverns tore through everyone."
Raven fell silent, her words weighing heavily on his mind.
'With my current strength, I can barely stand a chance against a Rank-2 Magical Beast.' Even that would be possible thanks to his unique spells and trump cards.
"So even if we somehow get past the wyvern settlement, there's a high chance we might encounter more Rank-3 magical beasts before reaching the ruins, huh?" he asked with a frown.
"That's right," Jovie said. "Lucas Thornevale is sending his seventh son to lead the next expedition in a week."
Raven narrowed his eyes. "The Thornevale household? Are you saying this expenditure will be a failure, too?"
Jovie smiled. "90%. But the next expenditure will succeed. If I'm not wrong, Lucas's seventh son is said to be a genius of his generation and has great military achievements. He is already a Mystic Walker."
Raven's eyes flickered.
'A Mystic Walker… someone above the Expert rank. That explained why the next team might succeed.'
But something else had been bothering him.
"Why are mercenaries and nobles showing this much interest in the ruins anyway?" he asked.
Jovie's expression turned thoughtful. "The Mystic Cauldron displayed a rare specimen at the Royal Exhibition three years ago. A new variety of magical beast that has not been seen in this world's beast encyclopedia. It caught the attention of every Wizard there. Mainly the ones from the Wizard Alliance."
"A specimen?"
"Yes," she continued. "Afterward, the Wizards sponsored multiple mercenary teams to search the Agith ruins. But strangely, magical beasts appeared more frequently near Bloodstone City around the same time."
Raven's eyes narrowed.
'Rare specimen? Is it the Mind Worm I sold to Anastasia?'
His thoughts darkened.
'So… I was the cause, huh?'
He let out a long sigh.
Jovie didn't notice the shift in his mood. She lay down, turning her back toward him slightly.
The lantern light inside the tent dimmed.
After a while, Raven followed suit. Although he felt uncomfortable sleeping beside a woman, exhaustion dragged him down quickly.
Before long, the small tent fell into silence, save for the soft rustling of leaves outside and the distant howls of beasts in the dark.
Morning arrived in silence, broken only by the soft crackle of the rekindled campfire and the muffled rustling of tents. The air carried a faint chill, brushing past the trees and fluttering the loose canvas.
Raven was the first to wake, quietly shifting out of the tent. Jovie followed moments later, stretching her limbs before gathering ingredients.
Together with the other two attendants, they resumed their roles, preparing the morning meal. Raven chopped vegetables in practiced motions while Jovie stirred the thick broth, her gaze occasionally flickering toward the rest of the camp.
The knights, meanwhile, were busy near the water stream. They washed off the grime and blood from yesterday's battles, cleaned their armor, and sharpened their weapons. Sparks flew with each strike of the whetstone against the blade, as the metallic sounds mingled with the bubbling of the water nearby.
The severely wounded soldiers were sitting closer to the fire. Most were quietly sipping healing potions they had purchased from potion shops in the capital. The color had returned to their pale faces as their wounds were already sealed.
By 8 A.M., the convoy began moving again.
Just like Jovie had warned, they didn't go far before encountering their next challenge.
A group of foxes with glinting eyes darted from the underbrush and encircled the front line. A majestic Rank-2 Red Fox stood at their head, its fur blazing like embers and its movements swift as wind.
The Radiant Walkers engaged the beasts immediately.
The fight was fierce.
Although individually weak, the foxes moved with deadly coordination, weaving between spells and weapons to strike exposed limbs and joints. But the Radiant Walkers stood their ground, gritting their teeth through every slash and claw.
Nash alone stepped forward to confront the Red Fox.
He unsheathed his longsword and lunged forward, deflecting the fox's first attack. The Red Fox was cunning and swift, its tail splitting into two and attacking from different directions.
Still, Nash didn't falter.
Within seconds, the fox collapsed with a clean strike through the chest.
None of the Expert Walkers or Wizards had moved during the battle, choosing instead to watch silently.
Unlike yesterday's disaster with the Wild Apes, today's skirmish ended with no casualties. Not even a serious injury.
Satisfied, Count Alden gave a short nod.
"Collect the magic stones and the important materials of the corpses. I heard that heart, blood, and its fur are more valuable," he ordered.
Nash saluted and gave the task to a few Radiant Walkers, who dragged the foxes' bodies to the side, extracted the valuable materials, and preserved them in spatial rings.
The march resumed.
But barely a kilometer had passed before another obstacle loomed.
Armored Salamanders.
Each stood over a meter tall and stretched over three meters in length. Their thick, rock-like scales reflected sunlight, and their eyes glowed with hostility.
There were many of them.
And among them were four Rank-2 Magical Beasts.
"Enemy ahead!" a guard shouted.
This time, the Expert Walkers unsheathed their weapons without waiting for orders.
Without hesitation, they charged into the battle.
Flashes of metal and bursts of magic filled the air. The salamanders retaliated with lava-spit and heavy tail whips, but they didn't last long against the well-coordinated team of Expert Walkers.
Within minutes, the battle ended.
The expedition pushed forward again, their path quieter now. A few wild beasts appeared in the shadows, but none dared approach.
Soon, the group arrived at a wide, valley-like area surrounded by dense cliffs and sharp rocks.