158: Chapter 158 Inspecting the Territory

Blackwood Forest, a naturally formed forest located to the northwest of the Iron Thorn Territory Branch.

[Writing this, I hope readers will remember our domain name, Taiwan Novel Network, with its extensive collection. Read as you wish at twkan.com]

Originally, it had no name, but after Lister's inspection, he gave it this name.

There are many blackwood trees inside. This type of tree is a common, ordinary wood with a hard texture and great resilience, making it very suitable for building houses.

Especially in the Western Frontier Territory, a place that becomes extremely cold once winter arrives, houses built with blackwood can effectively resist the severe cold.

Furthermore, although Blackwood Forest is not large, its internal resources are unexpectedly abundant, to Lister's surprise.

During his last rough inspection, he discovered many cultivation resources that were not mentioned in the reports. Although they were common types of cultivation resources, it was enough to prove the forest's extraordinariness.

This time, Lister specifically brought Lianna along to search for resources within the forest; as a Green Sprite, this was what she excelled at most.

Following the small path cleared during the last inspection, Lister led Red and seven other knights into the depths of Blackwood Forest.

During his first inspection of Blackwood Forest, Lister had already gained a general understanding of its interior.

The danger inside is not very high; the strongest magical beasts are only at the Silver Mid-Tier, equivalent to Red's surface strength, and they are few in number.

Moreover, Red is an experienced knight whose actual combat power is much stronger than his realm suggests, so he doesn't fear these magical beasts at all.

Furthermore, now that Lister has reached the silver third tier and Sejin has also broken through to silver, with their coordination, these magical beasts would be lucky if they could even run away upon seeing them.

"Awoo~"

"Roar~"

As soon as they entered Blackwood Forest, Lister and the others could hear the cries of various magical beasts and wild animals; some magical beasts were even watching them from the shadows.

Lister and his group ignored these small fry on the outskirts and continued to head deeper into the interior.

After traveling for about half an hour, Lianna, who was tucked inside Lister's chest-level fur coat with a third of her upper body exposed, began to cry out, "Eya, eya!"

""

Lianna: Big brother, big brother, there's a nice scent over there.

Following her direction, Lister did not hesitate and led Red and the others toward the northwest.

A few minutes later, a sapling bearing over a dozen blood spirit fruits appeared before Lister's eyes.

With a slight curl of his lips, Lister reached out and swept the entire sapling, fruit and all, into his storage ring.

Without lingering, the group continued toward their original destination.

The interior of the forest in winter is very cold. Combined with the unmelted snow and water, the humidity in the air is very high, giving one a bone-chilling sensation.

However, for this trip to the Western Frontier Territory, Lister had brought many thick clothes from the Ironthorn Territory, which provided excellent protection against the cold when worn.

Additionally, since they were all knights, they didn't feel particularly cold.

Over the next period, under Lianna's guidance, Lister successively obtained many more cultivation resources.

Although their value wasn't very high, since they were all obtained for free, Lister was quite satisfied.

Half an hour later, the group finally arrived at the core area of Blackwood Forest.

The purpose of this inspection was to deter or directly slay the magical beasts entrenched here.

There was no talk of ecological protection here. Strictly speaking, those magical beasts were more like invasive species that had a significant impact on the local environment.

Thus, Lister eliminating them could be considered a way of protecting the ecological chain.

Just as the group stepped into the core area, three bloodthirsty, murderous beast roars rang out.

Even though Lister didn't understand the beast language, he could sense the meaning behind it. It was nothing more than "You humans have trespassed into our territory, get out!"

Of course, this was only because they were wary of his strength; otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered with words and would have attacked directly.

However, everyone's goal was the same: you don't like me, and I don't like you either.

Without hesitation, Lister swung the longsword in his hand, and three slashes formed of white Dou Qi Energy instantly shot toward the three magical beasts not far away.

This action immediately enraged the three magical beasts. They truly hadn't expected Lister to be so unscrupulous, launching an attack without even a word of introduction.

Accompanied by three intimidating beast roars, the three giant magical beasts simultaneously unleashed their magic skills, and energy orbs of three different attributes shot forth.

With a "Boom!", the Dou Qi Energy and magic elemental energy collided, instantly exploding like bombs and sending a powerful shockwave spreading in all directions.

The surrounding blackwood trees, unable to withstand the massive impact, snapped one after another.

Before the swirling dust could settle, three cold glints suddenly charged out from the haze, heading straight for the three magical beasts.

The speed was so great that the beasts hesitated for two seconds before reacting to defend themselves.

The three magical beasts were the overlords of the core area. The strongest among them had Silver Sixth Rank strength, while the other two were at the Silver Fourth Rank and silver third tier respectively.

On the surface, their overall strength was quite a bit higher than Lister's side, but a realm is a realm, and combat power is combat power.

Relying on his three mastery realm Arts and skills, Lister had no problem killing enemies above his level, so he charged directly at the magical beast with Silver Fourth Rank strength.

Meanwhile, Red faced the Silver Sixth Rank, and Sejin faced the silver third tier.

In an instant, the grand battle between the two sides commenced, while Aier and the other five knights stood by to provide support.

Intimidated by their powerful auras, the surrounding hidden magical beasts did not dare to act rashly.

Boom, boom, boom! Clang, clang, clang!

Accompanied by the sounds of explosions and metallic collisions, large amounts of Dou Qi Energy and magic energy fought fiercely in the air.

The combat power of the three magical beasts was not weak, but the combat power of Lister's trio was even stronger.

Except for Red, both Lister and Sejin were fighting above their levels, and Sejin was even fighting an opponent two tiers higher.

However, neither of them was at a disadvantage. Lister, in particular, kept his spear whistling through the air with constant booms.

The Silver Fourth Rank magical beast he was fighting was a speed-type beast with much weaker defense, so its combat technique focused on counter-attacking.

But Lister's own speed was not slow, and with the attribute bonuses from Wizardry, he actually held the upper hand in terms of speed as well.

Not only that, Lister's spear technique had already approached the mastery realm, and his combat skills far exceeded those of the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast.

In terms of strength, speed, and technique, the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast held no advantage at all; instead, it was quite a bit weaker.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the scales of victory had completely tipped toward Lister.

"Roar—!"

Accompanied by successive shrill roars, the body of the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast was carved with horrific wounds by Lister's spear, and blood stained most of its body.

The more blood it lost, the more the beast's stamina was depleted. Feeling the changes within its body, a hint of fear gradually appeared in the beast's angry eyes.

When meeting on a narrow path, the brave shall prevail!

In a life-and-death struggle, showing fear is a very dangerous mistake.

Lister naturally would not let this good opportunity pass. He swept his spear horizontally, knocking back the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast.

Immediately after, driven by his spiritual power, the violent wind element energy in the air gathered and fused with the Dou Qi Energy attached to the spear's body.

In an instant, a violent energy storm condensed. Lister did not hesitate for a second and swung his spear. Suddenly, a powerful energy body resembling a storm dragon swept toward the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast opposite him.

The ground was overturned wherever it passed, and a "Zzz-zzz" sound of air exploding rang out, like a sign of the coming apocalypse.

From the moment Lister unleashed the "Storm Spear Technique" to the moment the storm energy body appeared before the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast's eyes.

Everything happened so fast that the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast had no chance to react at all.

"Roar—!"

With a shrill roar that echoed through the sky, the massive body of the Silver Fourth Rank magical beast was mercilessly swallowed by the storm dragon.

The terrifying storm energy was like a meat grinder, crazily shredding the beast's body.

Ten or so seconds later, after the storm had completely dissipated, the beast's massive body looked as if it had undergone a free weight-loss program; only a small amount of flesh and its skeletal frame remained.

After sensing and confirming its complete death, Lister turned and shot toward Sejin's direction.

Compared to his easy kill, Sejin and his opponent were still in a stalemate.

Although Lister felt there was a high probability Sejin would eventually win, they still needed to inspect the Tianping Mountain Range.

Furthermore, there was an important person waiting for him at the Tianping Mountain Range.

And in his perception, more and more magical beasts were watching from the shadows, including two silver-level magical beasts.

So, to avoid any accidents or injuries, he had to interrupt Sejin's fun and help him finish it off.

A few minutes later, accompanied by two desperate beast roars in quick succession, the Silver Sixth Rank magical beast Red was fighting and the silver third tier magical beast Sejin was fighting were both killed on the spot.

Midway through, the two magical beasts had once shown signs of wanting to flee, but they were firmly suppressed by Lister's trio, who gave them no chance at all.

Pulling out the long spear embedded in the beast's body, Lister scanned the dark surroundings, radiating a powerful aura and bloodthirsty killing intent.

This caused all the magical beasts watching from the shadows to show eyes of wariness and quickly disappear into the darkness.

This battle served as an excellent deterrent to the magical beasts within Blackwood Forest.

During this cold winter, as long as the Serfs in the territory didn't go looking for trouble, the beasts probably wouldn't take the initiative to provoke them either.

After quickly cleaning up the battlefield, Lister and his group rushed toward the Tianping Mountain Range.

Drip, drop~

"Huff, huff~"

Inside a pitch-black, damp cave, the sound of water dripping from the sharp tips of rocks and the breathing of a man were clearly audible in the darkness.

Five men dressed in fur coats sat slumped against the stone wall on the ground.

From late last night until this evening, Kuro and the others had been fleeing with all their might, and they were already physically and mentally exhausted.

Especially Kuro; he was only twelve years old and hadn't been practicing the tribe's totem cultivation for very long. His stamina was much worse than that of the warriors protecting him.

Of course, what affected him most was the death of his relatives; the fear it brought him kept his nerves—

In a state of high tension.

If this string snapped, he would likely never recover, and that would be true despair.

At this time, the warrior Hicks looked at Kuro and said, "Young Master Kuro, we have now fled to the territory of the Pedan Kingdom, within the range of the Western Frontier Territory."

"Although I don't know whose territory we are currently in, if we want to escape from that traitor Art, we can only rely on the strength of the local lord."

"The local lord?" Kuro's exhausted expression showed a hint of hesitation as he asked, "Haven't our tribes always had a bad relationship with the frontier lords of the Pedan Kingdom? Would they be willing to help us?"

"And I've heard that those lords are all very cunning and not people who can be trusted."

After a series of tribal upheavals, Kuro now found it difficult to trust anyone except the four warriors by his side.

"Young Master Kuro, you are right; those lords are indeed very cunning."

Hicks nodded and said, "But currently, we have no other choice but to seek the help of the local lord, even if it means paying a huge price."

"The Chief's death was caused by that traitor Art, and Lord Pierce also died in battle for you."

"So no matter what, we must protect you and ensure your survival; otherwise, we will have failed the Chief and Lord Pierce's kindness in raising us."

"Hicks—" Kuro was moved, but more than that, he felt guilt.

If it weren't for him, so many of the warriors protecting him while escaping the tribe wouldn't have died, and it would have been impossible for Pierce to be killed by Art.

Why is my strength so weak?

Yeah—

Isn't this normal?

Since childhood, he had always lived under the protection of his father, mother, and other elders. Even his cultivation of Totem Power started much later than his peers.

If he had started cultivating earlier, his current strength would certainly not be this weak, and he wouldn't have become a burden that caused others harm.

A multitude of thoughts flashed through Kuro's mind, and a deep sense of self-blame gradually filled his heart.

Just as the tense string in his mind was about to snap, Hicks's expression suddenly changed, and he said, "Everyone, on alert! It seems like there's movement outside."

As his voice fell, the other three warriors quickly picked up the battle-axes beside them and looked toward the cave entrance with wary expressions.

And Kuro's self-blame was also directly interrupted by this, as he likewise picked up his weapon and went on alert.

On the small path not far outside the cave, Art and his group were braving the cold wind, searching the area on horseback.

Although Pierce's delay had indeed bought time for Kuro and the others to escape, as people who grew up in the tribe from childhood, their tracking abilities were extraordinary.

Not to mention, the hoofprints left in the snow became an excellent target for them to track.

It was only after they reached the rugged mountain roads and Kuro's group abandoned their warhorses that Art and his group's tracking slowed down significantly.

But even so, Art and his group still followed closely behind Kuro's party, without the slightest deviation in direction.

Regarding this, Kuro had some inkling in his heart and felt it was very strange.