23 Fierce Beasts

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East Unit.

The group of people that are assigned into this unit are dispatched on to the east gate where the concentration of the monsters are immense. Maybe it was because the City Lord and the rest are expecting large amount of beast that will come from the Dark Bamboo forest , and since the east gate is facing the forest, most of the people that was sent onto this unit are people that 9th step and above. All this was not discovered yet by Sieg upon coming here.

"Hey kid! Step back, this place is for the sect tournament participants, civilians can't enter." A man suddenly blocked Sieg's path, this motion didn't offended him at all, all Sieg did was to flash a letter in front of the man and he was granted access right away.

This letter was handed to him before he was dispatched by the tall and dark-skinned man. He said that he only need to show them the letter and he would be granted access. As soon as he entered the place, a solemn atmosphere greeted him. It was maybe because of the strength of the people who came here and the uneasy feeling that they had about being sent here, which created this intense atmosphere.

Sieg was of course a little bit affected by this, even though he went under a rigorous training under his master and was brought up to be a warrior, he was after all, a teenager. He could even bet that he was the youngest person in here, even if you put a veteran in this place of atmosphere, he/she would feel pressure. Nevertheless, Sieg calmed himself down, he waited for the following instructions and just sat down meditating.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon that a clamoring happened in front of these people, once again the tall and dark-skinned man showed up with the city guards behind him. And just like before, they were standing tall like a spear and releasing and an aura of veterans around them.

"Attention!" The tall and dark-skinned man spoke, all of the ears are on him now. And then he continued; "My name is Long Hao, I am a general under the orders of the City Lord. I will also take command of the this East Unit."

"You all should already have an uneasy feeling because of this arrangements. I will admit that this year's arrangements for the Sect Recruitments are a bit different, so in behalf of the Head Directors of the Four Sects and the City Lord himself, I would now tell you the contents for the first half of the Sect Recruitment Selections."

"The first task, is for you to slay at least 200 beasts in the upcoming beast horde." As Lon Hao's voice fell, the eyes of the contestants dilated. They we're shocked to know that the uneasy feeling that they had was coming from a beast horde. Fraction of those shock was knowing that they needed to kill 2o0 beasts just to pass.

Long Hao didn't care about the other shock and continued saying; "Tonight, as soon as midnight falls, we are expecting a beast horde about the size of 100,000." And just like that, he dropped another information bomb right away.

This time, even Sieg's eyes dilated. 100,000 beasts attacking such a small city is a bit of an overkill. Hesitation was also appearing in his eyes but then he steeled his resolve and decided to go.

"So this is why the raised the cultivation base requirements this time. Those who are at the 7th step of awakening would only throw away lives participating in this type of challenge."

"100,000 beasts? Would the city hold out?"

"Even us at the 8th step of awakening are in danger facing that many."

"Can I still backout?"

"This is impossible!"

Whispers among the people in the area started. Some people began to lose confidence upon the informations they received, it didn't matter if they had battle experience or not, whether they came from a prestigious clan or not, each of them are doubting if they wanted to continue to participate. Of course, there's also those people who are unperturbed by this information and just silently listened to what Long Hao has to say.

Long Hao on the on the other hand sighed in disappointment and said: "If you still want to back out, I will give you five minutes to do so. But before you go, you must know that if you decided to retreat from this, you are not allowed to join the next Yearly Sect Recruitment."

He gave the people their own choices, and whatever they chose, they must shoulder the responsibilities that would come after.

When some of the people heard this, they turned around and left without hesitation. Screw the next yearly sect recruitment, they can always join the next one after that anyway since it happens twice a year. For them keeping their lives is more important rather than being accepted in a sect. There's also some people who are hesitating and just bidding some time before making a decision.

And as soon as the five minutes passed, the number of the remaining people from the East Unit dwindled by a fourth of it's original size. Long Hao could only sigh in disappointment seeing those retreating people. He wasn't sighing because he felt that they might be defeated or killed defending the city with such a small numbers, he was sighing because of their stupidity.

'There's no path of retreat for them anyways... at least until the beast horde is over.'

Long Hao's gaze roamed through the people who decided to stay, his eyes landed on Sieg and his lips unknowingly curled up a bit. 'This young man...' he thought.

"For those who stayed, I, on behalf of the Four Sect Directors and the City lord, offer my sincerest gratitude for lending a hand for the defence of the city. If any of you here unfortunately die, we will give a huge amount of resources for you family and a period of protection. This is a promise made by the City Lord in combination of the Four Sect Directors."

"Holy shit..." some people involuntarily exclaimed. They never knew that Long Hao would drop such a bomb of rewards right after those people left. The solemn atmosphere from before was already dissipated by a bit.

"Not only that. If you managed to kill 200 beast according to the requirements, you would receive 10 gold, a medium grade Cleansing Pill and would automatically be accepted to any sect of your choice to be a Service Disciple."

"What the fuck!?" Even the calmest people in the group couldn't help but exclaim as they heard these extravagant rewards. In fact, Long Hao already had Sieg when he said 10 gold, but then as he continued, Sieg's eyes sparkled with much more intensity.

"Cleansing Pill? Isn't that a pill that was said to remove impurities on the body which could enhance our cultivation speed? Not only that it was a medium grade! Only titled alchemists could refine those things!" One random man said with passion.

"Slaying 200 beast to be a Service Disciple? Easy!" Another man said.

These types of mutters occur inside the area where the East Unit was camping. In fact, this scenario was also happening inside other camps, the previously solemn atmosphere was completely gone and was replaced by a fiery passion and eagerness to succeed.

Service Disciples, it was the lowest status that one can get upon joining a sect. Just like the term itself, these disciples are the busiest type of people in a sect. They would be handed a mission every week from the core disciples and they needed to finish those task or else there would be some punishments. They also needed to find time and raise their cultivation so that they can get rid of this status. Even though this might sound ugly, being a Service Disciple for a branch sect of a Holy Land level sect is not bad. Really not bad to the fact they are willing to sell all of their belongings just for a chance.

Now that they can be a Service Disciple just by slaying 200 beasts, how can they remain calm? There was even an assurance from the people above.

Sieg was dazzled by this rewards but he remained level headed, he felt that it can't be too easy. There must be a catch if the rewards are these high.

'Slaying 200 beasts is going to be easy for me, I've finished slaying 1000 when I was at a lower realm so this shouldn't be a problems...unless..."

Sieg's eyes focused onto Long Hao who was expressionless, even though he wasn't showing any emotions there is a heavy and suffocating killing intent being released involuntarily around him, he looked incredibly alert, so much so that if an explosion happened, he would respond like a thunder.

Sieg found out just from his expression, his face also became a bit more solemn.

'We're not fighting Dire Beasts aren't we?'

***

*Weng* *Weng* *Weng*

A loud sound of alarm disrupted the resting Sieg, his gazed roamed around and found Long Hao who was gesturing the East Unit to march towards the East Gate in hurry. Sieg's face became blank, his nerves were taut and his focus sharpened. His presence also vanished from where he was before, this was because he activated the 'Walk of Innocence' right away. He silently slipped through and between people like a ghost and grabbed a badge that would record the number of beasts he killed.

As soon as he stepped outside the East Gate he was greeted by a heavy atmosphere, there was at least few thousand people who are crowded just outside the city gate and on top of the city walls. Sieg gazed onto the horizon, he felt the ground beneath him quaked a bit and as time passed the reactions intensified.

He saw a tall ape, it was roaring with red eyes and had a silver fur all over, it was about 8 foot tall and was emitting a strong presence.

'Silver Moon Ape, strong during day, stronger at night.'

He saw another beast, it had three dog heads, a metal-like collar on it's neck and was about a five meters wide and 4 foot tall.

'Cerberus, first head blasts fire, second head blasts ice, and third one blasts poison. It also have an incredible physique.'

He saw a snake that had three eyes that were colored purple, it would flick its three-colored tongue from time to time and whenever it does, a black patch of smoke would come out.

'Three Miasmas Snake, this one is an adult since it's about 12 meters long. If it succeeded it's evolution then it would be a 9 Poisons Snake. Tsk.'

'6 Winged Vulture, a territorial sky tyrant amongst birds, why is it here?'

'Winged Liger, troublesome.'

'Mountain Toad'

'Steel Beetles'

...

"Just like what I expected. There are no Dire Beasts amongst these and were all Fierce Beasts, I can even faintly feel some scary shit way in the back, that must be the boss, a Demonic Beasts and not just one of them..."

Sieg could now totally understand why the City Lord and Four Sect Directors offered extravagant rewards, it was because they won't be facing normal beasts at all.

It had to known that Dire Beasts are just stronger versions of the regular beasts out there. Fierce beasts however are beasts that experienced mutations, whether in their bloodline, evolution of their cultivations as well, which resulted to them having these weird appearances and traits. And Fierce beasts are the only ones that can be a demonic beast.

The only thing that was weird for Sieg is that, based on what he read, there must a some dire beasts on any size hordes, why can't he find one here? Sieg hoped that he was just over thinking but an itchy feeling was irritating him. It was like something is not right.

"Archers prepare!" Long Hao shouted on top of his lungs, he raised his right hand and waited for the archers to finish assembling.

"Fire!" As soon as he noticed they were finished, he shouted once more and dropped his right hand. A huge volley of arrows rained down towards the beasts, there were no visible damage to the beasts when the volley ended but the arrows had other purpose.

Disruption.

"East Unit! Move according to the plan, thin out the horde as much as you can! Move!" Long Hao waved and sent the East Unit towards the disrupted enemy front lines. Sieg's expression blanked out and he weaved in like ghost. He didn't started to attack right away since he had other plans.

He moved to a place where there are less people and deactivated the 'Walk of Innocence', and just like that the passing beasts noticed him and started to crowd him over. Sieg only smiled at this and said:

"Major Completion of Gentle River Blade, here I come..."