136 Attacked in the Forest
The sound of sticks breaking, and the leaves moving with the wind. Unknown sounds of animals they had never seen before, and the approaching night that made everything more tense, dangerous.
It was something they had to do. Food was a problem they needed to solve immediately, or else their dream of building a prosperous settlement would go down the drain.
Arthur took the lead of the group he formed, venturing inside the dense forest, looking for beasts to hunt. The bigger the beast, the better, as it meant more food to feed up all the people he had near that river.
A beast showed up not that long after they went looking for one. It was a black panther with yellow eyes and sharp white teeth. Arthur noticed that the level of that beast wasn’t as high as he thought it would be, only level 15.
If one judged just by the appearance, then surely that beast would rank as a strong one, but Arthur had his system, so he knew better.
All the people with him, Kai, Theo and Bill, had higher levels than that beast, so Arthur opted to move out from the front, and let them hunt the beast, showcasing their abilities.
The weakest of the three was Bill, so Arthur focused most of his attention on him, as he would not let him get in danger. Kai wanted to prove himself, but he could also sense that the beast in front of them wasn’t strong, and that he needed to face something else to impress Arthur.
Still, Kai took the lead, as he was the best in melee combat among the three of them. Theo stood behind to use his ranged spells, and Bill took out a spear from his back, and went to close combat as well.
The black panther wasn’t scared of them, and pounced forward, trying to bite Theo, who was in the back line. It was a smart beast, as it targeted the ranged mage first.
Kai quickly understood the situation, and used his water wings to fly backwards, and his water spear to block the attack from the black panther, sending it away with the impact.
After that, Theo cast his spell, and ice formed in the paws of that beast, locking it in place. Bill and Kai exchanged glances, and both dashed forward with their weapons. The spear in Bill’s hands pierced the chest of the beast, and the water spear of Kai pierced the head.
It was dead after a marvelous team work from the trio. Arthur was happy to see all of them working together so well.
“Theo, you know ice spells?” Arthur said.
“Only 2. My key attribute is water, so I can also use ice, but it is harder to learn these spells, so I don’t know many of them yet.”
Arthur felt Theo was one student that improved the most in the brief span of time since they knew each other. Not only in terms of skill, but he also grew as a person, and was not a scumbag anymore.
Kai also improved a lot, and with his wyvern bloodline, surely he would reach an incredible level of power in the future.
After the fight was over, Arthur grabbed the body of that panther and tossed inside his magical pouch.
“These magical pouches are so useful. I need to learn how to make these.”
It was so much easier to store things with that, especially to store food when hunting. Arthur could get lots of food before having to return. Also, the crates inside his magical pouch that had the carvings which allowed food to not rot were incredible.
They continue forward, killing other beasts, and the deeper they went inside the forest, the stronger the beasts became, until the beasts suddenly stopped showing up, and the atmosphere was strange.
Arthur did not know why, but he sensed something was off, so he used his dragon senses to the utmost, scanning the surrounding area, looking for hidden enemies. He found nothing, that until an arrow shot from behind a bush, hitting his right shoulder, piercing it.
“Everyone, be careful!” Arthur said as he cast a magical barrier around them, blocking the next arrows that came towards them.
He did not know who was attacking them. The two possibilities that crossed his mind were the elves or the humans from the other tribes. Well, his theory wasn’t right, but not completely wrong, either.
What attacked them was dark elves, one of the dark races that were at war against the Dragon Scale Empire, and also the elves, as they were allies of the empire.
How were they inside that forest without the elves realizing it?
They looked similar to elves, but with a darker skin and red eyes. Arthur saw they had the levels between 35 and 40. Not that high, but dark elves were extraordinary with stealth, and they also knew illusion magic. Not that easy to win against them.
Arthur’s first thought was to protect the others with him. Kai was the only person who could take care of himself, but Bill needed protection, and Theo was not that good in melee combat, which meant that he was an easy target for the Elven assassins that were lurking around them.
“We will deal with them at a later time. Let’s leave.” Arthur said.
He grabbed Bill and Theo, one in each arm, and flew away. Kai had his water wings to fly as well, so he followed closely behind.
The dark elves tried their best to take them down, shooting arrows, but these were all blocked by the magical barrier Arthur placed around them.
Arthur flew away, but did not return to his settlement directly after that. He first waited to make sure no one was following them before doing so.
All the people were hungry, and once the hunting groups returned with the food, they made a huge campfire near the river, and cooked all the food they had gathered.
“We have been attacked by dark elves.”
“Dark elves? Around this area? Something isn’t right.” Wisa said.
Arthur gazed at the forest and entered a deep thought.