Vinel City (3)

Four hours had passed after Rio took a chance to rest. At that time, the alpha himself moved and take and investigate the event happening inside the forest.

The first place the alpha visited was the grassland. The grassland they rest for years turned into a susceptible nest of Redrayot beast. It is the first place that came to its mind when thinking about the source of the flood of Redrayots in the forest.

To the alpha's surprise, he saw thousands of class 5 Redrayot soldiers loitering hundreds of meters away from the grassland. Although his pack has class six and seven elites, it's not enough to fight thousands of beasts that are only considered as small fry on the ranks of Redrayots.

The alpha also fought after encountering more Redrayot soldiers, killing them on the spot to reduce the chance of being discovered. But when he noticed that hundreds of elite soldiers moved, the alpha retreated to the forest once again.

Another hour passed before the alpha made a decision. It called all of the pack members and told them the situation.

(You MoFos hear me out! Get your ass off the ground! We will those pests to sate our anger before leaving! Cut their head and scatter their body!) Alpha Black Maned Wolf

(Awooo!) Black Maned Wolves in howl in chorus

Their movements shook the forest and woke up every living being that is in their slumber. They spread fear as they howl warning anyone who has a desire to fight them to back off.

Rio woke up as soon as he heard the howl. For some reason, he could feel the sheer fighting spirit the wolves have run all over his body. He looked around and saw the pack of wolves started running on the forest with Storm Dash activated.

They look like racing cars racing over the desert as they produce dust all over the place.

Rever and Rebecca who were resting next to their shed ran to Rio's shed while trembling.

"W-what's happening? S-sir Rio, l-let's run, we'll die for sure if we are caught on their shit!" Rever Mantu

"Relax, senior. And please, stop calling with such lame honorifics." Rio Magus

Rio stretched his body then took out the spears of his dimensional pouch then look at bluch who woke up at the same time as him. Bluch body aches resulted from him running like he never did before so he is still on the ground, trying his best not to faint out of fear.

"Senior Sister, would you mind letting olive carry him? We need to leave now. Those battle junkies are going to stir some trouble for sure. Senior brother, please take care of Matt Volt for me. I need to be alert so we can travel with ease." Rio Magus

(Mister. Worry, not, for, Matt Volt, run, fine. Matt Volt, rest good, speak, me.) ???

Rio glanced at the beast behind Rever as he processed what he just said. Amaya's words were quite hard to understand. She might be one of the younger generations of elites and have limited knowledge of Universal Language.

"Universal language... I can only hear you growling as a normal wolf would do, but I could understand some of your words. Also, when did we learn Universal Language?" Rio Magus

"Now that you ask... N-Nah! That's topic can be discussed at the later date. What we need is to escape from here! Rebs, take fatty with your Olive. Amaya, let's go!" Rever Mantu

(Yes~!) Amaya

"I see, so Amaya followed senior Rever not because of his strength, ha?" Rio Magus

"What do you mean by that?" Rebecca Frostlight

"I mean, look at her follows him happily even after senior acted so cowardly. Anyway, let's go. Let's hope we'll reach the safe zone before the sun's down.

"Hey! Senior Brother, that's the wrong way! You'll end up encountering a hoard of Redrayots there!" Rio

Rever flinched and halted after hearing Rio's warning. He looked back and saw Rio and the rest started moving in a different direction. With Rever's real self is slowly showing up, their group's future might end up in the wrong direction even before they pass the test.

Rio shook his head then dragged Bluch, throw him at Matt Volt's back. He moved his hands in the air then use the skill Trinket Vision to put a vision ward on the ground before he started running.

The sun's about to set, and staying in the forest is not a good idea. Also, with the fear caused by the pack of black-maned wolves, they don't need to worry about beast sneaking to attack them.

Rever and Rebecca mounted their pets and activated Storm Dash in sync, increasing their speed. Rio ran along Matt Volt instead of mounting him since bluch is already in his back.

But despite the fact that they did not activate the skill in sync, they are still able to outrun the others and needed to slow down to match their speed. Rio received 80% of Matt Volt's abilities making his abilities which explains one of the reasons he was capable of running on par with wolves.

They meet countless beasts on their way but did not dare to approach their small group because of the presence of their pets. Olive and Amaya also played for a bit and grabbed small beasts and ate them on the spot to restore their energy.

Soon, the world they currently in started to close its eyes, its dark mantle covered the sky, and the countless eyes in the sky began to shine.

The night neither bad nor good. The beasts at night are way more aggressive than the day and they're on the hunt all night. On the other hand, Rio and Matt Volt had the skill Shadow Hide.

———

Active Skill: Storm Dash: Summon a current of wind and made a storm as the user dash. Increase the speed by 20%-200% in the span of ten seconds. Once interrupted, the skill will be canceled.

Active Skill: Slash: attack using a sharp blade or claws infused with maximum force possible in a single slash.

Passive Skill: Shadow Hide: All attributes will increase exponentially the darker your surroundings are.

Passive Skill: Terror Stare: A stare that is capable of paralyzing an individual with lower strength/will than the caster.

Racial Skill: Haste: After activation, agility and dexterity will increase by 1000% in the next 10 seconds. The skill won't be usable for the next three minutes from the backlash after a tremendous increase in speed.

Racial Skill: Swift and Silent: Jumps over the target around two meters around the caster without disturbing the environment.

———

The skill Shadow Hide made Rio stronger in the darkness as long as Matt Volt is in his side, alive and kicking.

An hour has passed and they realized how helpful the darkness was. They managed to pass encampments made by some examinees to hunt beasts.

These encampments were temporary settlements setted-up since entering the safety zone need them to pay ten class one to three beast or one higher class one per individual.

Luckily, Rio managed to kill some class five beasts who tried to harm him and doesn't need to worry about getting inside the safety zone.

After a few minutes, they saw a twenty-meter-tall wall with torches decorated on top of it. There are some encampments outside the wall too as it is the safest place at night.

"Stop! This is the territory of Vinel City!" A tall pigeon-faced muscular individual wearing leather armor made from some spiky beast shouted as he spotted Rio's group charging on the city.

Rio and his group noticed the man and decided to cancel the Storm Dash. Their speed dropped as stopped in front of the guard. The guard looked so small when they are still far from him, but they can't help but gasp as they got near him.

The guard is a four-meter tall giant that can easily stomp them to death if it wanted to do so.

"We are examinees! We want to enter the safety zone and spend a night inside since we are exhausted. Do we need to pay or something to get inside?" Rio Magus looked up to meet the giant's eyes and asked in a straightforward manner.

The giant looked at them with suspicion before letting out a deep sigh. The man lifted his hand and took out a scroll. "ten whole body from a class one to three beasts or one class four and higher per individual! Each submission is only effective for a whole day! What's your choice?"

Rio looked calm as he took his pouch out and throw a total of 52 class five beasts on the ground creating a scene. "There are Fifty-two class five beasts in total, I guess this is enough if we want to stay for thirteen days, right?"

"The giant crossed his arms then look at Rio with shock. He calmed himself down before shaking his head in disagreement. "No! You have seven in your group. A living being is considered as an individual no matter what race they are. Killing your mounts is another will not only reduce the toll but will also make you pass the test. Decide now!"

Rio furrowed his brows when he heard the suggestion of the giant pigeon. He took his dimensional pouch once again and took out another thirty-nine class five monster's carcasses. "Well then, we want to rest already. This should be enough for the next thirteen days, right? Also, if possible, please lend us a guide to the nearest inn. If possible, the one with a place for mounts. We still have hundreds of class five beast, we'll pay if we needed."

The giant's beaks shook as if he wants to say something, but he held it back instead and turn around. He left his post and enter the city for a few seconds, the next moment he appeared, he was inside a giant wagon pulled by giant crimson-colored mastiff dogs.

The wagon stopped in front of Rio as the giant pigeon-headed person step down of it. "Two class five body for a ride. The Inn that you'll be escorted to asks one per examinee and five for tamed beasts."

"Thank you. If you excuse us, my companions need to rest." Rio said then hopped into the wagon. The mastiff is an intelligent being and when it noticed that his passengers are already inside, it started pulling the wagon.

They quickly reached a twenty-story inn designed to fit even a giant. The Inn is made of logs but and it's considered the most luxurious Inn in the city. The Inn's guard is another giant with a rooster head, but a little smaller than the guard they met earlier.

The rooster-headed giant stepped forward and bow. Unlike the brute pigeon-headed giant earlier, this guy exudes elegance in his movements.

"Another talent this early in the competition, ha? How rare. Please held into this." The giant took four tokens and pass them over to Rio who was still inside the wagon. "These tokens are the sign of your participation in the next test, please don't lose them."

"Thank you." Rio bowed slightly to show appreciation and took the tokens. He handed the tokens to their owner then went out of the wagon. "We want three rooms if possible, Bluch's going to stay with me."

"Are you serious?" Rever who was hiding behind his pet asked in shock. "I thought you hate him. Now you want to be a buddy-buddy with him and stay in the same room?"

"It can't be helped, we can't let him go alone when he is the only one without a fighting ability. I can't let him stay with Senior Rebecca since she is still considered a girl." Rio said and noticed that Rebecca is glaring daggers at him. He ignored her and continue talking. "I can't let him stay with you either, you'll probably leave him if danger approaches you.

"W-What do you mean?! I'm not a coward!" Rever said feeling wronged but the next moment, he became silent after remembering what happened earlier.

"Fufufu! That settles then? Please leave your mounts in our care. We promise that they will be fed and treated well." The rooster-headed giant waved his hands and three well-dressed individuals walked out of the building. They are not one of the Giants. That for sure. Each of them looks similar to the participants Rio saw earlier, the only difference is they are much domineering.

The rooster-headed giant smiled then stepped back to let Rio and his group step out of the wagon. "This way, please."