Chapter 5: The Strange Girl

Tak!

Rao Wu landed on a tree branch, and his brows furrowed in thought as he observed the chaotic scene. A bunch of humans was fighting against the enraged Wild Warthogs. It seemed the Wild Warthogs had sensed the death of their leader and had gone on a retaliatory rampage.

Unfortunately, these humans got caught up in their vengeance.

This was not Rao Wu's first-time seeing humans in the forest. Every couple of months, he would spot humans challenging soul monsters into becoming their pets. However, following Uncle Twilight's warning, Rao Wu always kept his distance. This time was supposed to be no different, but then he spotted a small girl hiding behind the humanoid tree. Rao Wu recognized that soul monster. It was a Soldier Battle Tree. This Battle Tree had the ability to grow plant and wood life to control battlefields.

Just as Rao Wu guessed, the Soldier Battle Tree drove its hands into the ground, and five massive vines popped out. Five Vines! Rao Wu's eyes lit up. That meant this was a 5th Phase Soldier Battle Tree. It seemed this wasn't an ordinary company.

Thwack! Thwack! The vines indiscriminately smashed around the girl, clearing away any incoming boars. Unfortunately, despite the Soldier Battle Trees efforts, there were too many Wild Warthogs. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before one broke through.

Rao Wu's eyes narrowed as he observed the group. There were four uniformed men accompanying the girl. The men had already summoned three soul pets each, revealing they were soul masters. Four soul masters should have been enough to clear out these herd, but, unfortunately, they were forced on the defensive to protect the little girl at their center. If even one defending soul monster went missing, then the monsters that broke through would be too much for the Soldier Battle Tree to handle.

The soldiers wanted to cry. Why were the typically timid Wild Warthogs so angry today? So much so that they were willing to trade their lives just to kill their young mistress? That's right. It was obvious that the Wild Warthogs had designated the little girl as a must-kill target. The soldiers could not figure out what the mistress could have possibly done to antagonize these bottom-feeders!

"Aish, isn't this my fault?" Rao Wu muttered with a furrowed brows. Death and Life were constant trades in the jungle. He did not care if the Wild Warthogs killed the humans, or if the humans slaughtered the Wild Warthogs. But, this time, he was partial―er, no solely responsible for the humans' predicament. The Wild Warthogs in their limited intelligence evidently could not tell the difference between Rao Wu and that small girl. She was small and in the forest. That was enough to capture the Wild Warthog's vengeance.

"Argh, I can't leave this alone!" Rao Wu sighed and then clenched his bone spear.

"Guoo~"

Rao Wu chuckled and patted Loudy's robust arm. "Don't worry. I'll be careful." With those words, Rao Wu took out a cloth from his spatial ring. Recalling Uncle Twilight's warning, he wrapped the cloth around his head, revealing only his eyes. In the event he felt the need to interfere in the affairs of humans, he had to ensure he kept his identity hidden.

"Wait here. I'll be back!" Rao Wu jumped and then swung on a vine towards the battle. He then carefully skipped across several branches until he was just over the little girl and the Soldier Battle Tree.

"Hnghh!"

"Your Highness!"

A guard screamed in terror when two Wild Warthogs broke through the Soldier Battle Tree's defense and then rushed at the little girl. The Wild Warthogs soon descended on the little girl, their terrifying frothing mouths filling her vision.

Puchi! Boom!

But just when the little girl lost her mind to fear, a calamitous force crashed into one of the Wild Warthog. The wild beast collapsed instantly, and before anyone could react, the assailant rammed his elbow into the second Wild Warthog.

Bam!

The second Wild Warthog coughed up blood from the force, but before it could recover and retaliate, the assailant grabbed his spear and then stabbed through its brain. The guards and the little girl stared in shock at the newcomer as he retrieved his spear. His body and stature suggested he could not be more than ten years old, but his calm gray eyes amidst the flowing blood did not belong to a child.

The guards, realizing their charge was in mortal danger, harshly shouted in fear. "Who are you!?"

"It's fine if she's not in danger, right?" Rao Wu ignored their question as he proposed. "I'll protect her. Order your soul monsters to quickly exterminate the Warthogs. The big guys will soon be here."

"You-" A guard wanted to scream, but another grabbed his arm and shook his head.

The second guard, who seemed to be the captain, looked at Rao Wu. "Why are you helping us?"

Rao Wu scratched his head and let out an embarrassed laugh. "This is kinda my fault. I'll have nightmares if you guys die because of me. But, if you waste time, I'll run away. I don't want to be here when the big guys get here."

A third guard examined the boy with concern. "Captain, we don't know his identity."

"I know. But we don't have a choice." The captain's eyes narrowed. Although the masked figure's body was ambiguous, his voice definitely belonged to a child. The captain did not want to believe they had the unfortunate luck of running into an extremely rare child assassin. Plus, regardless of the masked figure's intentions, one thing was certain. The blood from this fight would definitely attract many predators. They needed to end the battle quickly and flee the scene! And, so, gritting his teeth, he ordered the soldiers to send their soul monsters on the offensive.

Puchi! Splatch!

Blood rained down as the guards' soul monsters reveled in the freedom to slaughter. The soul monsters excelled in full frontal combat anyway. Without the passivity of defense, the Wild Warthog's numbers drastically dropped. Unfortunately, in exchange for the quick killing speed, more Wild Warthogs broke through the formation, and soon, even the Soldier Battle Tree was overwhelmed.

Soon, the Soldier Battle Tree could no longer hold the horde back. One Wild Warthog broke through and then charged at Rao Wu with red eyes. Rao Wu, in reply, grinned and brandished his spear.

Vwoosh.

Rao Wu danced around the Wild Warthog's angry charge, and then easily drove his spear through its gullet.

Thud!

The guards' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets! They assumed, that like them, this figure was a soul trainer. But, what was this? He was fighting against a soul monster head-on? This was unheard of!

Humans contracted soul monsters to fight for them. Humans could then choose to learn spells and techniques to support their soul monsters in battle. However, no matter what, it was monsters in front, and humans behind. Who had ever had of a human going to fight a monster? It had to be understood that a single monster claw to tear a human in half!

Rao Wu, oblivious to the shock and identity crisis he was causing these poor soldiers, grinned as he withdrew his spear from the Wild Warthog's corpse. As expected, the 2nd Phase Servant-ranked Wild Warthogs were a million times easier than the 4th Phase Warrior-ranked Berserk Wild Warthog.

Reveling in his improvement, Rao Wu shouted at the Soldier Battle Tree. "Let two or three past at a time. I'll handle them!"

The Soldier Battle Tree hesitated and glanced at the captain. The captain blankly nodded. Indeed, if the Battle Soldier could let two or three past, then the pressure would greatly reduce. Upon receiving its trainer's permission, the Soldier Battle Tree released the pressure on two Wild Warthogs, allowing them to charge at the masked man.

"Ha!" This time, Rao Wu charged at the Wild Warthogs. Then, when he was but a meter away, he suddenly stomped on the ground and then launched into a somersault over the soul monsters. "Twin Venom!"

Psh! Psh!

Rao Wu's spear rapidly stabbed down twice like a cobra. The strikes were so quick that it seemed like he grew an extra arm and stabbed two spears at once. Puchi! The Wild Warthogs crashed to the ground as blood poured out of their skulls.

Silence.

The soldiers stared at Rao Wu in shock. The first time could have been attributed to a surprise attack, but the second was a full-frontal slaughter. What was even more surprising was the ease with which Rao Wu carried out the slaughter. No movement was wasted in that kill. From beginning to end it was one fluid movement.

"Du-du-du."

Rao Wu chuckled as he looked at the Soldier Battle Tree. "Yeah, you can let them through. I'll handle it."

"Du-du" The Soldier Battle Trees eyes blinked in appreciation and then began freeing Warthogs to attack the masked man.

Rao Wu, meanwhile, happily accepted the challenge and began slaughtering every monster that passed through. The battle lasted for just under thirty minutes, and by the end, there was a small mountain next to a heavily exhausted Rao Wu.

The young man gulped for air as he warily examined the surroundings. The Wild Warthogs were completely eradicated. He counted hundreds of badly mutilated corpses scattered around the perimeter. Rao Wu shook his head. Indeed, the soul monsters of a Soul Master were mighty.

Be that as it may, it was time to skedaddle. Rao Wu estimated they only had about ten minutes before this place was overrun by hungry predators. Plus, he did not trust these human guards. What if they took him, prisoner?

Rao Wu decidedly turned to leave, but he suddenly felt a tug on his shorts. Rao Wu turned with incredulous eyes to look at the young girl who was holding on to his shorts. "You..." Rao Wu had completely forgotten about this little girl that had been as quiet as a mouse during the entire fight.

Now that the fight was over, Rao Wu had time to carefully examine her. Like he initially guessed, she appeared to be around his age. Like most people in the Hua Kingdom, the little girl had a beautiful honeyed skin tone with beautiful, fluffy fiery-red hair that bounced on her shoulders. Warm, imploring gold eyes wetted as she looked at Rao Wu. Rao Wu frowned. By holding him, she was putting him at increased risk. "What do you want?"

"I-I..."

Rao Wu's frown deepened. He did not have time to entertain her shyness. "If it's not important, I'll be leaving." With those words, Rao Wu jumped into the tree before the guards could return.

Fearing that he would leave forever, the little girl mustered up her courage and shouted, "Thank you for saving me! My name is Aeriole Von Basten. I shall repay this favor one day."

Rao Wu's brows shot up. "Aeriole? Weird name." However, pleased by her gratitude, he mindfully added, "I don't know why you're here, but you should probably get out of this forest. Even I can smell the blood on you. You'll attract too many predators."

The captain stepped forward and asked, "My apologies, benefactor, but could you please point us in the direction of Jiandao. Our guide, unfortunately, lost his life to poison and we lost our way."

Rao Wu scratched his head. "I don't know about any Jiandao, but there's a HUUGE city just over the hills that way." Rao Wu pointed the way with his hand and then added, "Uncle said I would have to go there soon, so he showed me the way."

The captain smiled and then nodded. "Thank you very much. May we have benefactor's name so we can offer rewards later?"

Rao Wu shook his head. "Uncle said I shouldn't give my name to strangers."

"Strange―" The captain nearly choked. If he wasn't sure before, now he was. The masked man was actually a masked child. What the hell? Did this make sense? What was a child doing in the jungle? No, this would not do. This child was most likely lost. He could not leave him here alone. "Child, where are your parents? I'll take―" The captain froze when he realized the child had disappeared from the tree. "What? Where did he go?"

The other guards pointed deep into the forest. "Should we pursue? That kid looked weird."

The captain hesitated. He stared deep into the forest, and then at the young mistress. Eventually, he shook his head and came to a decision. "No, we should make haste to Jiangdao. The child was right. The blood will attract many beasts. We can't waste any more time."

With those words, he summoned a horse-like soul monster with blue flames burning on its manes and legs. This soul monster was called a Winderfarer Colt and was a beloved choice for long trips. The captain gently carried the little girl Aeriole, and then mounted his Colt.

Then with an order, he and the other guards who had likewise summoned their travel mounts, quickly charged out of the bloody field, headed for the safety of the city walls. Aeriole peaked over the guard's shoulder and was stunned to see the strange boy standing at the center of the field watching their retreat. She wanted to open her mouth to say something, but the Windfarer Colt burst through dense thickets, thus obstructing the child from view.

And so, this was how the first meeting between Rao Wu and Aeriole Von Basten came to a strange conclusion.

Several minutes later, an exhausted Rao Wu and Loudy walked out of the forest into a familiar clearing.

"Aowuuu..."

"Ah! No!" Rao Wu laughed and begged as a Dusklight Wolf suddenly tackled him to the ground, and then started licking his face. "Argh, stop Mo Five! Ah, I'm injured!"

Loudy walked past the chaotic scene like he was used to it. Carrying the Berserk Warthog's corpse, he headed to a flattened boulder which was strangely dyed red. On the way, he passed by quite a few Dusklight Wolves who first regarded him with hostility, but upon confirming his smell, let him past and then charged towards Rao Wu with excited yelps.

Loudy remembered his father talking about the great massacre of Midnight's Dusklight tribe. Some thought it would be the end of her, but the allure of a Monarch-ranked monster was too much to resist. Many Dusklight packs upon hearing of her loss, quickly migrated to join her pack. Before long, Midnight's pack was more than double its original size! If it wasn't for the fact that Midnight did not want too many Dusklight Wolves around her, that number might have even tripled.

"Guu." Loudy groaned as he dumped the Warthog on the boulder and then let out a relieved breath while twisting his arms to assuage the dull pain. Afterward, he picked up a large tooth bone that was placed on the boulder and then sat down.

Splurtch!

With practiced movements, Loudy used the tooth bone to tear open the Warthog's corpse and then began removing its innards. This was something Rao Wu and Loudy learned from Uncle Twilight. How to properly disembowel and preserve meat so it could be consumed later on rather than wasted. Loudy once saw Rao Wu practicing, and decided to join. Before long, he took over the job of preparing the meat whenever they were done.

Clank!

Loudy's eyes narrowed when the tooth bone struck something hard in the Warthog's abdomen. If it was the abdomen, then that was where the core should be. But monster cores were squishy, not hard. Suddenly, Loudy's eyes widened as he recalled something he heard from his father. All monsters had monster cores at a certain part of their body. It was the development of this core that allowed them to cast spells and techniques. Monsters usually ate each other's' soul cores to improve their attributes.

The Berserk Warthog should have had a pure beast-type core that would strengthen Loudy's own beast attribute. However, the existence of something hard alluded to something else. Something a thousand times better than any soul core.

Loudy excitedly stuck his hand in the Berserk Warthog's abdomen, and then pulled out a shiny yellow crystal.

"A soul crystal!"

Rao Wu's excited shout came from the side as he stared at the shiny crystal in Loudy's hands. "Loudy, we hit it big!"

"Guooo!"