Chapter 289: This Border Is Indeed Dangerous!

"My lord, the rabbit meat is roasted and ready; please enjoy!"

"Hmm!" Japas nodded in satisfaction, took the roasted rabbit meat handed to him by his subordinate, and could not help but feel his mouth water.

Of course, he immediately remembered that this roasted rabbit had been purchased with money in Wheatfield Town.

Japas ground his teeth again.

"Hmm? There's movement!"

But just at this moment, the two Silver Knights beside him suddenly became alert.

"What is it, Lian, Sent?" Japas asked, somewhat puzzled.

And to speak of it, their luck was simply bad; for the convenience of cooking, they had chosen to rest temporarily by the riverbank.

If it were an ordinary day, there certainly would not have been many problems.

But now, some movements in the distance happened to be covered by the splashing sound of the river water.

"My lord, we seem to have heard some movement."

"Could it be a mishearing? Is it just the sound of splashing water? It's broad daylight!" Japas was not too worried.

No bandit would be foolish enough to attack a convoy like his, especially during the day.

"It is not the sound of the river!" The two Silver Knights were not famous without reason; they possessed the necessary professionalism.

Immediately, they stood up and looked warily in the direction from which the sound came.

Japas now realized the situation was wrong. "Is it cavalry?"

"My lord, it should not be horses; it sounds more like animals running. Moreover, it is not coming from the main road, but from the forest over there."

"The sound of animals running?" Japas breathed a sigh of relief.

This is within the Kingdom's borders; there is no possibility of a beast tide or anything like that.

Splash! Splash!

Just then, movement came from the bushes nearby.

This caused all the knights who had been eating to stand up and draw the long swords at their waists.

However, what puzzled them was that the movement, which seemed about to burst out of the forest, suddenly stopped the very next moment.

"What is going on?"

This inexplicable situation left the group both surprised and tense.

Of course, what they did not know was that the reason for this was that the two Iron-Clad Fire Lizards, which were about to burst out of the forest, had stopped their charge, bitten through the ropes binding the wild beast carcasses on their bodies, and then fled.

"Go up and check!"

The Silver Knights exchanged a glance and gave an order to their subordinates beside them.

Although the subordinates were unwilling, they could only steel themselves and move forward.

Immediately, the five of them cautiously approached the edge of the forest, then used their swords to push aside the bushes, yet naturally they found nothing.

Because the two strings of wild beast carcasses were entirely concealed by the dense grass.

While these three felt relieved, they began to turn around.

"My lord, there is nothing..."

Splash!

Plop!

Just as the few were about to report, a black shadow suddenly shot out from behind them.

The black shadow moved with extreme speed; after bursting out of the bushes, it directly collided with a knight, piercing his body, and a large amount of blood splattered out.

This knight did not even have time to scream; his eyes widened, he looked down at the bloody claw piercing through his chest, then his head tilted to the side, and he immediately lost his breath.

"This..."

Everyone in the scene was stunned for a moment.

Roar!

Plop!

As if enjoying the shock and fear of these creatures before him, the Bloodthirsty Dark Leopard raised its paw and directly smashed the head of the knight in front of him, sending it flying.

Immediately, blood flowers sprayed in all directions; the knight's head flew out at least five or six meters, rolling on the ground two or three times before stopping.

"Dark... Dark creatures!"

"D-damn it, run... run quickly!"

The few knights responsible for scouting shivered and finally reacted.

They began to run desperately toward the direction of the main group.

Roar!

Unfortunately, their speed was no match for the Bloodthirsty Leopard.

With another flying leap and a "plop" sound, the second knight was also knocked to the ground by the flying leap, and his chest was pierced by the sharp claws.

After dealing with the second knight, the Bloodthirsty Leopard did not delay; it immediately locked onto the third target!

"Damn it!" The two Silver Knights could not help but curse loudly.

These knights had all been selected after several years of training.

Therefore, the death of each one meant that the investment of His Highness had gone down the drain.

The two immediately prepared to draw their swords and deal with this Bloodthirsty Leopard.

Obviously, the two of them still had not realized the true severity of the situation.

Splash! Splash!

Just after they moved forward two or three steps, more movement came from the forest ahead.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The next moment, the two witnessed the most thrilling scene of their lives.

They saw more dark creatures suddenly burst out from within the forest.

One after another, dense and countless!

"This... this... damn it, run!"

This time, even the two Silver Knights were cowed and started shouting to flee!

Because the number and quality of these dark creatures had already become an existence they could not withstand.

For instance, the dozens of second-tier dark creatures at the forefront were already enough to give them and their subordinates a hard time.

Of course, this was not over yet.

Roar, roar, roar!

The next moment, four more massive figures appeared.

They were two black giant pythons, each eight or nine meters long, and two blood-red giant wolves, each over two and a half meters in size.

Unsurprisingly, these four big fellows were definitely third-tier dark creatures.

It was also their bad luck that the river water had concealed the movements of the approaching dark creatures.

Besides, the reason the dark creatures they encountered were able to escape the pursuit of their own kind was due to their own agility and speed.

Otherwise, if it had been some larger, clumsier creatures, such as giant lizards or black bears, they would have spotted them much earlier.

Unlike now, where they were directly surrounded by dark creatures on the riverbank.

The ensuing battle was fierce; although some knights went to untie the reins bound to the tree stumps, wanting to spur their horses and escape, they were quickly pounced upon by the dark creatures.

Because the only small path leading away from the riverbank back to the Kingdom's main road was also blocked by the dark creatures.

Facing dozens of second and third-tier dark creatures, although these knights resisted fiercely, unable to utilize their cavalry advantage, they could only die in regret in the end.

The two Silver Knights also resisted fiercely, but one Silver Knight could at most hold off one third-tier magical beast.

So, facing an assault equivalent to three third-tier magical beasts, the two were injured before long and could only make a final struggle.

"My lord Steward, you swim across the river quickly! We little ones will hold them off for a while!"

"This..." Japas looked at the surging river water; even if he could swim, it would be extremely difficult.

"My lord Steward, if we don't run now, it will be too late! These dark creatures are too strong; we can't hold out for long!"

"Good!" Hearing this, Japas finally gritted his teeth, grabbed a piece of dry wood, and jumped into the river.

This was originally firewood his subordinates had found and not yet used; unexpectedly, it saved his life at this critical moment.

Relying on the buoyancy of the dry wood, Japas quickly surfaced from the turbulent water and rapidly drifted downstream along the river.

At this moment, he happened to hear screams coming from behind him.

Glancing with his peripheral vision, he saw that one of the Silver Knights had originally wanted to jump into the river to escape as well, but was quickly bitten on the body by a third-tier giant python in the water.

This giant python could actually swim?

Terrified out of his wits, Japas dared not delay any longer; immediately using both hands and feet, he began to paddle, struggling desperately toward the opposite bank.

He did not know how long had passed; the previous riverbank was long ago blocked by forests and heavy mountains, and Japas finally swam to the opposite bank at a section of the river where the current was slightly slower.

Throwing away the dry wood, Japas climbed onto the riverbank using both hands and feet.

With a splash, exhausted, he simply lay flat on his back.

This place should be considered safe.

Recalling that thrilling scene just now, he still felt a lingering fear in his heart.

"Damn it, this border is indeed dangerous, especially this ghost place, Storm Territory! Dark creatures just appear out of nowhere! Luckily, I have good luck; after returning this time, I will never come to this ghost place again in my life!"

Having slightly recovered his strength, Japas still dared not stay long; he rolled over, propped his hands on the ground, and prepared to stand up.

However, the instant he propped himself up, he suddenly discovered several pairs of feet had appeared in front of him.

Slowly raising his head along the legs and feet, Japas shuddered, "It... it's you?!"