32 Chapter 32: Into the Wildlands II

She couldn't help but see faces or figures from the shadows that had been cast by the trees. For safety measures, she moved a little closer toward Herbert.

All of a sudden, she heard Herbert's footsteps stop. As she looked upwards, she saw Herbert raising his hand to motion for their group to stop. Feeling the tension in the air, Princess Amelia took in a big gulp of air and looked around in panic.

She then heard a soft rustling among the leaves, at first, she tried to discern where the noise was coming from, but she realized that it was impossible as the noise was echoing around them which made it hard to recognize where it originated from.

"Raise your weapons. We're surrounded."

At Herbert's command, the surrounding guards took out their swords in preparation for the incoming enemy.

All of a sudden, a gray blur jumped out from the nearby thickets and collided with a nearby guard who was a member of the escort guards that Princess Amelia had brought along for this trip.

Once others got a better look at it, they saw its features, it was a snake-like creature whose head was as big as a fist with a body as thick as a full-grown man's leg. Its scales were a mixture of gray with occasional black stripes.

It also had ruby-like red eyes that were like beautiful gems. However, the most terrifying thing about its appearance was its two heads that swayed every now and then. Looking at its appearance reminded them of its name, the Two-Headed Snake.

With its mouths wide open, the Two-Headed Snake proceeded to spit out an acidic breath that the guard had subconsciously blocked with his left arm. Feeling the sensation of burning pain, the guard screamed in agony before his pain receptors lost their sense of pain in the skin of his left arm. A rancid odor started to emanate from his flesh wound.

In an instant, the monster proceeded to tangle with the guard before directly squeezing him out, this time it was ready to pour out more of its acid breath directly at the poor guard's face. But before the guard had been delivered to heaven, a gust of wind exploded as if something swift had come and hacked at the grayish creature with two heads dismembering it into two halves. The next thing that the nearly strangled guard saw was the body of the monster riddled with black feathers.

"It- It's a rank 8 monster!"

The voice of the guard sounded a little too loud. He was previously just under the clutches of death but upon seeing that he was still safe, he couldn't help but exclaim loudly.

However, unbeknownst to him, this was just the beginning.

The moment that the monster dropped dead signaled the loud horns of war. Thirty or more so snakes started to slither their way out from the trees and bushes.

Once they got close enough, they would start to pounce on whoever was close to them. With Princess Amelia and Lady Elena being at the center of the group, they managed to stay relatively safe throughout the entire ordeal.

Facing this sudden tribulation, Herbert felt that it was a waste that he could not get rid of Princess Amelia's guards completely. Despite his wish for them to disappear, he could not kill them for now as doing that would only raise unnecessary suspicions which he did not need at the moment.

The entire time, Princess Amelia had been looking at Herbert. She knew that if there was someone who could leave the Wildlands unscathed then it would be him, and she wasn't wrong.

As the Two-Headed Snakes started to pour out from the surroundings, black feathers started to materialize around Herbert.

Due to the origin of the Ravenmoon family's bloodline, Herbert's powers had the characteristics of sharpness, speed, and flight. Originally, only those who are of the Transcendent rank could fly, but due to the nature of the Ravenmoon family's Raven bloodline, Herbert had gotten a chance to utilize this power without even reaching the Transcendent rank.

With a wave of his hand, countless black feathers started to fly toward their targets. The black feathered rain had started to heavily pelt the Two-Headed Snakes.

The battle was swift yet dangerous. One wrong mistake and an ally could die instantly. However, Herbert had sufficient control and only managed to hit his targets. Not one hit was missed.

"We're winning! Keep it up!"

When all the Two-Headed Snakes had mostly been eliminated, Princess Amelia's guards breathed a sigh of relief. Their legs had almost given up on them. However, the moment they saw the guards from the Ravenmoon family, they felt surprised.

They did not let down their guards at all. Their weapons were still raised and so were Herbert's black feathers. This time, Herbert lowered his sight and removed his gloves.

After nonchalantly keeping them in his breast pocket, a silver light shone upon Herbert's left hand as his fingertips elongated and formed sharp claws.

All of a sudden, the ground rumbled and the sound of trees falling could be heard. Everybody tensed up, but not Herbert.

The entire time, he was like a death god who was beckoning upon the souls of those snake-type monsters. With another wave of his right hand, the black feathers that he had previously thrown out had been recalled.

The feathers obediently flew back and started to form two black wings on his back while some proceeded to fly towards his right hand forming a black sword.

Because he had just used his feathers as throwing knives to deal damage to the Two-Headed Snakes, it had been covered in blood. This resulted in his wings having the smell of blood.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sounds of trees falling kept on coming closer with each second that passed, the sounds of their heartbeats resonated with the sound of the crashing trees.

Once the black feathers had finished forming Herbert's wings, they stretched out and proceeded to flap once which made the nearby leaves rustle and fall.

In his current state, Herbert was prepared to take on the incoming monster who he assumed is the boss of the Two-Headed Snakes that he had just killed.

With one look, he recognized that it must have been a rank 9 monster who is currently at the ceiling and should be near the Transcendent level.