Chapter 111: Greyfang Jackals

The farmers and workers worked throughout the night to clean the mess that the raid brought upon them. It was a lot of work. Fortunately for them, they had robot farmhands to assist with the cleanup.

Adam and Aurelius were informed to rest upon their return, as theirs was not farm work, but to solve a problem. The village chief had only revealed a knowing smile when she saw them return so quickly.

When morning came, the duo went to find the village chief. Both had been unable to sleep with everything that had transpired. The chief had wanted to get them breakfast before they took off again, but Adam and Aurelius turned down the offer, stating they had eaten already.

With nothing else to offer them except to wish them luck, the duo took off once more, this time running at a relatively slower speed to conserve stamina. Several minutes later, they were back at the mountain pass, staring into the forest before them. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"I still can’t believe there is this massive forest just beside the settlement," Adam remarked, taking in the scene yet again.

"Places like this in the Federation are actually common," Aurelius explained. "The only reason people don’t care too much about the beasts within them is that most of them are in the lower realms."

"That makes sense." Adam nodded and then glanced at the beast master.

The two exchanged a nod and then jumped down, dashing into the forest. They still maintained a relatively slower speed as they manoeuvred the vegetation and trees in their path.

Adam and Aurelius looked around vigilantly as they moved forward, jumping over uneven ground, logs and rocks lying on the forest floor. Reaching them were the distant sounds of chirping birds and the occasional roars and snarls of beasts within the forest.

"Look alive, Aurelius." Adam suddenly said after several minutes of running, his head whipping to his right. "We have multiple incoming."

His passive hearing and enhanced perception had picked up several footsteps speedily approaching their position. He looked over to Aurelius, who nodded with a serious expression on his face.

The beast master pulled out the sword strapped to his back without hesitation. Adam, on the other hand, held back from taking out his guns, choosing to see the incoming beasts first.

The snarls of the incoming beasts became more pronounced. Past the blurring trees and vegetation, Adam caught a glimpse of the beasts after them. The creatures were fast, their speed beyond the First Realm.

"It’s a pack of Greyfang Jackals," Adam warned, taking out one of his guns from his holster. "Get ready!"

Unlike jackals of the old world, these creatures were massive, their height easily reaching a meter. A quick read of their realms placed a few of them at the mid-tiers of the Second Realm, the rest at the early stages of the same realm.

The pack of twenty Greyfang Jackals flashed past them, intercepting them from the front. They formed a curved enclosure and charged at them, bearing their fangs.

"I’ll take point!"

Aurelius swept past Adam as he went on the offensive, his sword flashing. With a wide swing, he cut through a jackal that lunged forward with its fangs wide. He spun and executed an acrobatic manoeuvre, his sword flashing once more.

Two more jackals fell to the ground, blood spraying.

The beast master did not dally around, swiftly backstepping and flashing back when a couple more jackals lunged at him. He never stayed at one position for more than a split second, constantly moving about to evade.

Releasing Ranger did not cross his mind, as the beasts were not that many to begin with. He and Adam were more than enough to handle them. And as much as he wanted to deny the reality, Adam was stronger despite his lower realm.

The guy was a freak of nature with just his dual affinities. Aurelius glanced in Adam’s direction to see what he was doing.

Adam had drifted to the left, keeping his distance from the lunging jackals. Executing a couple of acrobatic and efficient moves, he evaded and dodged the claws and fangs, becoming airborne for a moment, his feet in the sky. He aimed and fired his nearly silent Desert Eagles without hesitation, the bullet tearing through the throat of a jackal with a bang.

Landing with a soft thud, he pulled out his second gun and swiftly spun, evading a couple of lunges. The guns in his hands spun as he readjusted and fired five shots in tandem.

Five more jackals dropped to the ground, holes blown into their heads. He never needed more than one bullet to end a beast; his precision deadly accurate.

Sensing another jackal lunging at him from the back, Adam crouched and flashed to the side, the jackal flying overhead. Three more jackals fell to the ground before that jackal even landed, his hand never resting. He locked gaze with the beast.

The jackal was one of the few in the mid-tiers of the Second Realm, possessing more speed and power. As soon as it landed, the beast wasted no time, snarling and charging at Adam once more.

Adam flashed forward and met the jackal mid-lunge, delivering a bone-shattering kick to the beast’s head. It crashed into a nearby tree with a yelp, a bullet finding its way into its head a split second later.

Looking around, he realised the fighting had come to an end. The bodies of the jackals lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath them.

"Let’s not linger for too long."

Aurelius said as he swung his sword to dispel the blood. He sheathed his sword and turned to Adam and smirked. "Unless, of course, you haven’t had enough."

He watched as Adam slowly approached him while putting his guns away.

"That will be a waste of time," Adam replied as he gave one last glance at the dead jackals. "Fighting will only eat into our stamina. And we don’t know how long we’ll be in this forest."

The duo took off once more, having mentally marked their position before the fight even began. It would take a lot more than a few jackals to make them lose their sense of direction.