Chapter 196 - 196: Hunter
"Well, we tried going for their help last time out of concern... but it was unneeded. Though this time I'm sure that they are really in trouble. Let's go help them... It's a good chance to impress Princess Maia. Also, That group of beasts will definitely attack us after they are finished with Huanji. We should join up with them." Prince Lan said with a slight smile on his face.
"Good thinking..." Royal Tutor chuckled as he glanced towards Huanji Camp.
"Guards!! Get ready to face some beasts. Be on the defensive and don't get hurt!! Prince Lan said loudly as he faced all the guards.
To the guards, Prince Lan looked like the epitome of bravery. To them, he looked like a brave general who was ready to face monsters to save the comrades.
"Long live the Prince!!!" One of the guards abruptly shouted out of sheer excitement. All his comrades looked at him before they started chanting the same thing.
"I appreciate your feelings! It's time to show the people of Huanji what real strength looks like!" The Prince said as he boosted the morale of his soldiers.
The guard's moved ahead while Prince Lan and Royal Tutor walked behind them.
"Everyone! Come together!! The beast is smart. He is hunting one by one. I hereby cancel all the teams. Everyone will stay together! " General Yao let out loudly.
The teams of guards that were still looking for the beast finally felt relieved as their search mission was canceled. They walked back to General Yao where they felt safer.
"So they have finally decided to come for help" General Yao muttered as he saw the people of Dongxin coming towards them.
Prince Lan had 25 guards in his team while General Yao had 23 when they began their journey, but now, although Prince Lan still had all his guards, General Yao only had 10 remaining.
"So many dead... such a disaster..." Prince Lan sighed as he reached General Yao.
"We are sorry that we couldn't come in time to help you. But now that we are here, everything will be alright." Prince Lan said with a confident look on his face, though he didn't forget to glance at Princess Maia when he said his last sentence.
"So what's the situation?... What are we facing?" Prince Lan inquired as he saw General Yao not responding.
"We don't know..." General Yao said as he shook his head. He was about to continue when he was interrupted.
"What do you mean that you don't know? More than half your people have died and you still don't know? What kind of an Earth Realm Cultivator are you?" Royal Tutor Wang snorted.
"We don't know if it's a single beast or a group of beasts, but I feel that it should be a single beast. The beast is really fast, as all the guards managed to see were shadows of the beast. It's clever too as it hunts one by one and uses his speed to stealthily attack. " General Yao ignored Royal Tutor Wang's taunts as he continued.
"That does sound like a tricky opponent, and for them to not be able to see how it looks like... It must not be an ordinary beast" Prince Lan said with a thoughtful look on his face.
He was about to continue when they all heard a grunt. They turned back, only to find that a guard of Dongxin Kingdom was already lying dead on the floor.
"We can't leave that beast to the guard. You watch the south and east while I'll watch the North and West. Just focus... attack as soon as you sense the beast..."General Yao let out as the Royal Tutor was looking at their fallen guard.
The Royal Tutor looked back at him as he nodded and said.
"Alright... that does seem like a better option..."
"Everyone! Form a circle in the middle and guard the Royals! " Both of them said at the same time to their guards.
The guard's surrounded Maia, Estelin, and Lan as they blocked every opening. As everyone stood in the center, General Yao stood towards the West of the guards while Royal Tutor Wang stood to the east.
For a long time, there was no movement. Everyone kept their alert as they waited in the scary silence.
"Is the beast gone?" Royal Tutor Wang muttered softly as he waited for any moment.
"It's here!!" General Yao suddenly moved as he attacked to his left. He hurriedly swung his sword which managed to strike the rapidly advancing shadow.
The beast howled in pain as it moved back.
"Now is the time!!!" Royal Tutor Wang said as he moved as well. He took out his blade as he moved towards the Devil Hunter beast. The beast who was howling in pain, retreated as he used his speed.
"Not so fast! " General Yao commanded as he appeared behind the Devil Hunter beast. He swung his sword towards the Devil Hunter beast.
The Devil Hunter beast jumped high in the sky as it attacked General Yao with its claws. His steel-like claws collided with the incoming sword of General Yao.
Sparks were created as soon as the claw and sword collided. General Yao stood in his place but the Devil Hunter beast jumped in the air as it landed to the side.
As soon as the Devil Hunter beast moved, a blade passed through the spot where he was just a brief second ago.
"Damn!! Missed by a little!!! " Royal Tutor Wang said with a disappointed look on his face.
"It's the rare Devil Hunter beast. They are known for their speed... did you expect him to be slow ?" General Yao said as he lightly shook his head.
He followed the Devil Hunter beast, which looked like it had lost its mind, as it glared at Royal Tutor Wang with hate.
"Awoooo!!!" The Devil Hunter beast howled as he looked towards the bright moon.
It opened his mouth as a pitch-black orb of light shot out from its mouth and advanced towards Royal Tutor Wang.
"Move to the side!!" General Yao yelled instantly as he realized the strength of this orb of light.
Royal Tutor Wang felt it as well. Instead of facing the attack head-on, he hurriedly dodged to the side. Although he dodged the blacklight, it managed to graze his robe.
The part of his robe that the black light touched, immediately disintegrated as the black light continued on its path.
The black orb of light landed on the ground and immediately a black mass of smoke expanded in all the direction. The black smoke extended in a radius of 10 meters from the point of impact in a spherical motion. I'm about two seconds, the smoke disappeared completely.
The guards that were watching everything began sweating as they saw the impact of that attack. Even Prince Lan was frowning.
"So that's the strength of the rare Devil Hunter beast... amazing..." Prince Lan muttered softly as he gazed at the Devil Hunter beast.
There was now a 10 meter wide and about 6-meter deep crater in the place where the orb of black light crashed.
"Don't give it the chance to attack again!! Finish it right now!!!" General Yao yelled as he moved towards the Devil Hunter beast using his full speed.
Royal Tutor Wang came out from his daze as he attacked the Devil Hunter beast.
"Blood moon slash!" Royal Tutor Wang slashed with his blade as a bright flash of light escaped from his blade and moved towards the Devil Hunter beast.
The Devil Hunter beast had started bleeding by now and found it hard to maintain his original speed, still, he managed to dodge the attack with only a light graze as he jumped in the air.
"Mountain Penetrating Stab! " Came a noise. The Devil Hunter Beast who had just dodged the attack, couldn't even react when a sword came thrusting at its body.
The Devil Hunter beast wasn't able to dodge as the sword penetrated his body.
General Yao took his bloodied sword out of the Devil Hunter's body. Blood dripped from his sword as the Devil Hunter beast fell to the ground.
"Awoooo" The Devil Hunter beast let out in a low voice as it gazed at the moon. Its roar sounded so weak that it was barely audible to the guards who were standing at around 50 meters distance from the beast.
"Finally!!! Let's see where you run off to now!" Royal Tutor Wang said with a wide smile on his face as he slowly walked towards the beast.
Royal Tutor Wang brought his blade up in the air and swung it down hard as he chopped off its head. The body of the Devil Hunter beast lay there lifelessly.
"Problem solved," Royal Tutor Wang said with a smile.
"It was good that the Devil Hunter beast wasn't at the peak of the Gold Core Realm or despite being earth realm cultivators, we wouldn't be able to face it..." General Yao sighed as he looked at the lifeless body of the Devil Hunter beast.
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"See...I told you that they can take care of the Devil Hunter beast. It was only an initial 9th stage gold realm beast." Mingyu said as she gazed outside.
"Yea... Thank god he was killed..." Zhiqing said as she sighed in relief after seeing that her family was safe.
" Something's happening" Mingyu suddenly said as she noticed something.
She could see the fear on the faces of General Yao and Royal Tutor Wang.
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Only a minute had passed since they had killed the Devil Hunter beast when a loud roar was heard.
"It....it..." Royal Tutor Wang stuttered as he felt the scary aura in that roar.
"It sounds like the roar of the Devil Hunter beast but it's... much stronger..." General Yao let out with a grave expression in his face.