Forsha Village

Reaching the other end of the city, the three saw a few carriages parked on the side of the exit, waiting to be used.

A middle-aged man was snoring soundly on a carriage, enjoying his deep sleep. His ears twitched as he thought someone was calling him.

"-me!"

"-xcuse me!!"

"EXCUSE ME!!!"

The middle-aged man instantly sat up straight with wide open eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Wait, wha-"

He saw three young men in front of him, who had disturbed his sleep. Twitching his eyebrows in annoyance from getting his sleep disturbed, he irritatingly said, "What do you want?"

"Can you tell us where Forsha Village is?" Ray asked.

"You woke me up for that? Just follow the exit path and you'll find the village. It's not that far off." The middle-aged man waved his hand and went back to sleep.

Ray said with a twitching smile, "Thank you."

The three passed through the bystanders and just came out of the exit gate but Ash stopped them.

"What's up, Ash?" Ray asked.

"Do you guys fancy a race?" Ash smirked.

Bryan chuckled and said, "I was wondering when you were gonna bring it up."

"Ugh, sure, why not?" Ray shrugged.

The three stood inline and waited for Ash to start the countdown. While they were doing this, the guard at the exit gate watched the three young men stop in their tracks, blocking the road.

"Hey, don't blo-"

"Go!"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Three consecutive shockwaves shot out from the three young men as they disappeared in front of the guard, leaving a gust of wind in their place.

The guard simply sighed and went back to his post.

"I'm too old for this shit."

Meanwhile, the three were speeding through the path, leaving a trail of blur. They nimbly avoided hitting or crashing into any civilians or carriages on the road.

The people could only see three blurs passing by them and shrugged it off since it was not the first time, they watched the cultivators do something unusual.

"Haha, this is fun." Ash laughed, echoing in the wind.

"We're so fucking fast!!" Bryan smiled in glee.

'This feels exciting.' Ray thought with a smile as he nimbly rushed through the road.

"Why don't we pick up the pace?" Ray smirked as he burst forth with an exhilarating pace, gradually leaving the other two in the dust.

Ray could sense his body feeding him with even more speed which he assumed to be due to his bloodline and his passive skills.

'This power and speed…it feels fucking awesome!' Ray beamed as his eyes flashed with lightning arcs.

The other two saw Ray leaving a gap between them due to his insane speed. They were astonished and happy for him, reluctantly.

Not before long, they stopped before a sign post and a village, called the Forsha Village.

There were no guards at the entrance, so they freely entered the village. It was a small village, with several houses stretched across the land.

Weirdly enough, they saw no one in the vicinity and were confused themselves.

"Were we late?" Ash said and turned grim all of a sudden.

They walked for a bit before they saw an old man step out of the center house with a walking cane. The three hurriedly walked towards the old man.

The old man spoke first in his aged voice, "Welcome to Forsha Village, young men. You must be wondering why the village is empty?"

The three nodded and the old man beckoned them to follow him into his house.

They entered his house and figured out why the outside was empty. It was because the old man's house was filled with the people of the village, old and young.

The people had fear and worry etched into their faces, as if they had experienced something life threatening. The children had a somewhat mature look to their faces due to their current situation. It was to the point where the appearance of the three young men didn't evoke much from them apart from slight hope filling their eyes.

"What's going on, old man?" Bryan asked the old man.

*Sigh*

"We don't know why but the beasts from the forest have run rampant. For the past few days, they attacked our village and two good men of our village died trying to protect us."

The three saw two adult women with children holding in their tears amongst the people and figured they were the wives of the deceased.

"Why hasn't everyone left the village?" Ash asked but then he realized it was a stupid question.

"And go where, son? This is our only home and our place of origin." The old man shook his head and continued, "We've all gathered here because the beasts avoid my house for unknown reasons."

Ray perked his eyebrow and mentally asked the system, 'System, do you know why the beasts avoid the old man's house?'

[Observing…]

[According to the system's examination, there is a low-level array formed around the house, barring from any magical beasts from entering.]

'A low-level array…?'

A small boy around the age of 7 walked up to the them and innocently asked, "Are you going to protect us?"

Ash smiled and crouched down to the small boy. He rubbed the boy's head and said for the boy and everyone else to hear, "We're here to protect the village and more importantly, eradicate the beasts and make sure the village is safe in the future."

The old man and everyone else was stunned and elated. The small boy let out a brilliant smile at Ash.

The old man carefully asked them, "Who are you three?"

"I apologize for not introducing ourselves earlier on. We're the disciples of the Celestial Nirvana Sect and we're here on a mission." Ray answered.

That sentence alone shocked them. They weren't expecting three disciples of the most powerful sect in the world to help them. The children had literal stars on their eyes and the slight hope that was budding amongst the group, bloomed to its max.

"Thank you for helping us, young heroes!" The old man said with a trembling voice. The last few days put a heavy toll in his mind considering he was the Village Chief and he couldn't do anything to help the village. The rest of the villagers also hurriedly thanked them and the atmospheric mood livened up a bit.

"You don't have to thank us. It is after all our duty to help and protect the innocent." Bryan said, which made Ash roll his eyes at his chivalry.

"Since we're here, we need some details about the attacks and the beasts." Ray said.

There were a total of three attacks in the span of the three days. One attack occurred each day and it always took place around the mid-afternoon.

Two beasts would simultaneously attack the village, wrecking their houses and trashing the crops. One of the beasts was a large 2-ish metre in length, three-eyed green panther. The other beast was of similar size, being a black bear-like creature with two pairs of red eyes.

"Based on the descriptions, they sound like Rank 2 magical beasts. Anyways, we won't know how exactly strong they are unless we fight them." Ray frowned.

Magical beasts are the natural contenders to the human race in Planet Verna. They are distinguished based on their ranks.

There are a total of nine ranks to distinguish a magical beast from one another. Usually, Rank 1 beasts aren't considered magical beasts due to their inability to harness natural energy. Only when they reach Rank 2 and further, will they be considered a magical beast.

The ranks are a direct correspondence to the cultivation realms of the humans. At times, most of the magical beasts have an advantage due to their body toughness and innate wildness compared to humans.

Even amongst the magical beasts in each rank, there are differences between the weak and strong due to bloodlines and innate skills. There is no exact differentiation but a cultivator can get a rough clue when they fight one.

"Ray, me and Ash will go outside and fight with the beasts. Meanwhile, you can stay here with the villagers and protect them if any unforeseen situation arises." Bryan proposed.

"Sounds good but be careful, you two. This is not a game!" Ray warned them.

"We'll be fine. We have to get used to it, anyways." Ash assured Ray and the two left the house.

It was almost reaching mid-afternoon, so they knew the attack would occur soon. Ray stood by with the villagers while the other two patrolled the village.

Bryan was walking along the fence, scouting ahead for any signs of the magical beasts.

*Grrrrr*

He stopped in his tracks as he heard a threatening growl behind him. He turned around just in time and saw a green silhouette pouncing at him. He quickly ducked and rolled under the silhouette, barely dodging the attack.

'Holy fuck, this fucker is sneaky.' Bryan almost his head due to his carelessness. He should've spread his sense even further and maybe he would've noticed the green panther earlier.

Bryan donned a serious face and attacked the panther, giving it no time to recover from its sneak attack. He threw a heavy punch at the panther's face, knocking the beast a few metres back.

The panther was furious and saw the human following up with another attack. The panther growled lightly before disappearing from its place. Bryan's punch landed on nothing and he was confused, but he didn't let his guard down.

He heard the wind whistle from his right side and saw sharp claws striking at him from the corner of his eyes. Bryan widened his eyes and sidestepped as he narrowly dodged the sharp claws, leaving a line of blood on his cheek.

"That was a close call." Bryan muttered.

The panther disappeared again and this time, Bryan was on full alert, spreading his senses to the limit and waited for any minute changes.

*Woosh*

This time the attack came from above him. Although, Bryan was duly prepared and jumped away from the attack. He saw the panther land on the ground and before it could do its weird attack again, Bryan used the Gaze of Bane at it.

He felt the natural energy in his body stir in excitement as it moved to his eyes. The panther saw the human's eyes glow a bright red before it shot a crimson ray of light at it. The panther felt its entire body shudder in trepidation and froze in shock.

Using this window of opportunity, Bryan jumped up and aimed both his fists, sending out a vague image of a giant fist made of formless energy at the panther's body.

*Bang*

The panther couldn't do anything as the giant fist ruthlessly slammed into its body, creating a small crater and sending dirt everywhere in the area.

The panther still was standing despite the attack but Bryan didn't give the panther a chance to recover and used the Phantasmal Fist again.

*Bang*

This time, the panther was on the ground laying on its side, breathing heavily. Bryan landed next to the panther and saw the panther's bloodied body. It growled quite weakly and Bryan knew it was far from dead, despite its heavy injury.

Bryan eyes faltered a bit and he sighed before quickly regaining a focused and a determined look. He stepped towards the panther and held its head in a chokehold before quickly snapping its neck, delivering a swift and quick death to the panther.

While this was going on, Ash met the other magical beast. The beast had the body of a huge bear and there were two huge arched horns on its head. Its black claws were long and sharp and its four scarlet red eyes donned an evil look.

Ash wondered whether the beast was the literal spawn of the devil considering its devilish appearance. Nevertheless, he didn't let the terrifying appearance of the beast deter him in any way.

"You'll be my first fight in this world, Mr. Beast." Ash narrowed his eyes.

*ROOAAARRRR*