After the battle ended, the corpse of the demonized creature lay at their feet.
Kant pulled out his knight’s sword.
Black blood mixed with grayish-brown brain matter dripped from the tip of the sword.
Black blood and brain matter also flowed out from the wound in the ear hole. The demonized creature was no longer twitching. It was clear that Kant’s decisive strike had directly pierced through the eardrum and ear bone of the demonized creature. The sword penetrated deep into its head and destroyed its brain, killing it within a short period of time.
“There are no casualties,”, the Sarrandian horseman reported.
“Well done.”, Kant nodded.
The horsemen pulled out their spears from the corpse of the black bear liked demonized creature. Fortunately, the 30 spears had evenly distributed the impact, so none of the spears were bent or any or broken.
They all frowned as they looked at the corpse on the ground.
There were pitch-black scales all over the body’s fur, just like the scales of a snake.
However, most of the scales were concentrated on the chest, shoulders, and arms. As for the neck, back, and limbs, there were not many of it. It was as if they were wearing simple animal scales.
If their expectations were correct.
This was the first time they saw a demonized creature.
Even Kant was the same.
He only seen similar illustrations in the books of the academy. Looking at its polar bear-sized gigantic body, its body that was nearly three meters long and its fat was still exposed under its scales, he thought of the scientific name of this demonized creature.
“Demonized black bear.”
Kant frowned. This was undoubtedly one of the more troublesome types of demonized creatures.
It was a demonized creature that was originated from a black bear.
Similarly, there were other types of demonized creatures, but most of them were based on carnivores. For example, demonized black bears, demonized wolves, and demonized lions were the most common.
But their destructive power was not weak at all.
If ordinary people encountered them, it would be a one-sided massacre.
Only elite footmen led by knights could gather their troops to surround and hunt down these creatures. Otherwise, just relying on the weak hunting bows of the hunters would not be able to kill these sturdy, fast, and fearless demonized creatures. They were crazy demonized creatures after all.
It would be bad if they encountered a stronger demonized creature.
It was similar to the demonized wolf that was hung in the reception room by Baron Dylan. That wolf had reached the grand knight-level treat, they paid the price with many elite footmen’s lives and severe injuries of the two vassal knights in order to kill it.
Demonized creatures were divided into ordinary species and savage species.
The ordinary species was the demonized black bear that Kant had encountered. Its combat strength was nearly twice that of an ordinary black bear.
And when it encountered savage species…
These creatures were the true terror. Even the records of the academy regarding demonized creatures claimed that if a troop encountered a savage demonized creature, if there were no grand knights, mages, or a certain number of elite troops and knights, then it was suggested to retreat immediately. Even some of them were left to die to stall for time, but it was better than all of them completely annihilated.
However, these demonized creatures also had weaknesses.
For example, they did not have the brains of humans, and they were far less intelligent and cunning as normal animals. They only relied on their strengthened bodies to fight fearlessly.
Most importantly, it was absolutely impossible for different kinds of demonized creatures to join forces. If they encountered one, they would even kill each other. Even if they were the same kind of demonized creatures, not many of them would join forces together. As for the demonized creatures that did live in a pack, most of them were demonized wolves that used to group battle. As for the demonized black bear and demonized lion, most of them lived in solitary.
However, even if they were solitary , their strengthened bodies were still much stronger than an ordinary troop class. In Kant’s opinion, they were equivalent to or even higher than a level-5 troop class.
Thirty Sarrandian horsemen seemed to be able to kill this demonized black bear easily.
However, if there were only five of them, it might ended up differently.
“No wonder they say that the Senwaya Range is like a natural barrier. It seems that not only is the environment complicated and the difficult mountain paths, it is also due to these mass demonized creatures.”
Kant sighed in his heart.
He lowered his head and pulled out two arrows from the demonized black bear’s body. He looked at the wound, especially the chest. Although the scales were shattered, it was only stuck in between the flesh and bones of the chest. It did not penetrate too deep.
It did not cause any fatal injuries at all.
“Are the arrows ineffective?”, Kant frowned slightly.
When he thought about the ordinary bow in his hands and the archery skills that had not undergone much strengthening, he thought to himself, “It should be because my skills are not good enough.”
The system only strengthened him with the body of a knight.
In terms of skills.
It strengthened the riding skills, close combat skills, long-pole weapons, one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, and so on.
As for archery skills…
Kant learned it when he was a young noble in the Castle of Leo as his interest in hunting.
His skills could not be considered strong.
This battle bow from Baron Dylan was only used by ordinary archers.
If a Ravenstern ranger held a heavy bow and used a cone arrow that could pierce armor, it would be a piece of cake for him to fight in this complicated and dangerous mountainous environment.
After all, the Ravenstern Kingdom was also guarding at the mountainous environment.
The Misty Mountain was even more complicated than the Senwaya Range!
“Right.”, Kant was about to lead the team deeper into the mountain range and advance along the route given by the system. But he suddenly thought of something, he turned his head and instructed the Sarrandian horseman behind him, “Use the scimitar to peel open the heart of this demonized black bear. There might be something special inside.”
“Understood.”, one of the Sarrandian horsemen nodded.
He immediately pulled out the elite scimitar from his waist and aimed it at the ribs of the demonized black bear.
As the pitch-black blood flowed out, a thick stench of blood spread in the air. The surrounding warhorse became even more restless. They shook their heads as if they were resisting this smell.
Sarrandian horseman took off his gloves and reached into the wound to feel for the heart.
He quickly found the heart and pulled it out with a slight frown. His hand was dripping with blood, as if it was stained with a large number of stones. His companion beside him quickly handed him a piece of linen and asked him to wipe clean his arm and the black gemstone in his hand, the black gemstone was the size of an egg.
It was wiped clean very quickly.
Sarrandian horseman handed the black gemstone to Kant.
“This is it.”, Kant frowned.
In the book, it was recorded that there would be such a black gemstone in the heart of a demonized creature. If the demonized creature was killed, the black gemstone obtained from the corpse could be sold at a high price because of the mysterious mages in the Mage Tower. They would buy these things in large quantities, and they had no limit on purchasing it at all. The more they sold, the more reward they would get from these mages.
But Kant thought of the elemental gemstone he obtained when he killed the elemental giant.
Then he looked at the black gemstone now.
There was a hunch in his heart, but he did not know how to say it.
Perhaps this was related to extraordinary power.
“We’ll talk about it later.”
Kant shook his head. This was not the time to think about this.
On his retina, the route given by the system was still clear. Along the edge of the mountain forest, there was a path that could barely pass through by people, extending into the depths of the Senwaya Range.
The destination seemed to be the top of a huge mountain.
He raised his head and looked at the sky.
The sun had already reached the top of his head, and it was close to noon.
“Let’s keep walking.”
He did not stop. Instead, he urged the Sarrandian horsemen behind him, “Everyone, be alert. We might encounter new demonized creatures at any time. Stay alert!”
“Understood.”, the Sarrandian horsemen replied in a deep voice.
The team continued to move forward.
They went deep into the mountain range. Fortunately, they did not encounter any more demonized creatures.
When Kant climbed over the mountain and walked on the rugged, complicated mountain path again and again, the route given by the system was about to reach an end. It was at the top of the mountain, right at the peak of the mountain.
“Howl –”
From a far distance deep in the Senwaya Range, a faint howl of a wolf could be heard.
Kant was not surprised.
It was a brutal howl of a wolf and it sounded full of energy. It was definitely a demonized wolf.
However, judging from the faint sound, Kant knew that it was very far away from them.
It would take a time to reach them so there was no danger yet. Kant turned his head to look at the sparse woodland and shrubs around him. There were many rabbits, unknown birds, and even pheasants. He felt a little more calm.
At least it was quiet here.
“Let’s settle our lunch here and rest for an hour before we set off again.”
Kant instructed the Sarrandian horsemen and arranged all sorts of miscellaneous tasks.
Soon, the horseman cleared out an empty space and found dried wood. They lit it with fire sickles and lit a bonfire. They also made a grill in the shortest time possible.
Two other Sarrandian horsemen walked into the forest with bows and arrows.
Soon, with a mess of birds flying, each of the two Sarrandian horsemen came back with six pheasants. The other horsemen quickly bled and plucked the pheasants. The pheasants were placed on the bonfire and roasted quite neatly.
As the meat turned golden, it was sprinkled with white salt and spices. The taste was excellent.
They had a good lunch.
The resources in the mountain area were much more abundant than those in the desert.
Without the threat of the demonized creatures, the resources in the Senwaya Range would be enough to make the Stone Pass rich. After all, the fur of the wild beasts in the forest and other forest resources were all ready-made silver coins.
If they found minerals, they would be able to make even more money!
“It’s dangerous.”
Kant looked up at the destination at the peak of the mountain and sighed slightly.
He was also a little worried about setting up the village here.
Kant had experienced the weakness of the village level before. Even the low-level Jackalan could pose a threat to the village. If he had not fought with his life and walked out a bloody path, he would have become the white bones of the Oasis Lookout.
Where would he be today?
He took a deep breath.
Kant could only make the decision. He would first transfer troops from the Oasis Lookout to assist in defense.
Especially those Ravenstern Rangers and Ravenstern Wardens. They were the archers who were good at fighting in the mountains were definitely more suitable for the environment here. After all, the Vaegirs archers were more suitable defending in the vast desert, while the Vaegir marksman’s rain of arrows had a better effect in a large scale warfare.
“Time’s up.”
Kant used the soil under his feet to kick out the bonfire.
After tidying up his clothes and equipment, he turned to the Sarrandian horsemen and said, “Let’s continue on our journey.”