With the fight between Shemsu and Ryan finally done, the party continued on with their grind. With their weapon enhanced, the level 5 and 6 goblins were a piece of cake. Seeing that grinding would be too inefficient if they continued farming in these low-level regions, they dived deeper into the forest.

After a few minutes of running, they entered the fox territory.

Fox

HP: 300/300

The foxes that the trio encountered were level 7 and 8. It took around half an hour for Shesmu to make that final step from level 9 to 10.

After looting the foxes for their pelt, Shesmu took out the Cambion Blade and equipped it. Dark energy flowed from the weapon to Shesmu's body. It gathered in his stomach, and Shesmu could feel it changing something inside him.

A dark aura surrounded Shesmu's body for a few second before it dissipated. However, Shesmu knew that it was only hiding in his body, waiting for the moment he summons it.

After equipping the sword, the party continued on with their journey towards the tower.

It was midnight when the party finally stopped. In the distance, one could hear the sound of roaring and howling intertwining together. A battle was taking place.

Shesmu looked at his mini map and saw that they were at the edge of the red zone. He looked in front of him and a scene straight out of fantasy unfolded.

Two camps, two armies split the forest. On the right, there were the goblins sharpening their weapons. A quick inspect told you their level, it was an astonishing 15. In the middle of their camp stood a green humanoid monster, fully clad with black and red armor. It was a Goblin General, and its level was 25.

In the right stood the foxes, baring their claws. Their levels didn't lose out to the goblins one bit, ranging from 14 to 17. In their midst stood a magnificent large Firefox. Its paws and sides were crimson red, while its fur was snow white. A quick Inspect told tales about its strength. It was a Fox king, a level 30 monster that evolved into a firefox.

The party hid under the bushes afraid to make any sound. Every now and then Leo would raise his head to peek from between the bushes and go back to report.

"None of them made a move until now. Just what are they waiting for? We've been sitting here for 15 minutes already and they still haven't even gotten close to each other yet."

"Yeah, I'm with Leo on this one," Ryan added. "In the first place, what are we even sitting here waiting for?"

"I mean, since we got to see such a rare sight, I thought that it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to be the third dog. But from the looks of it, this is going to take all night. It's a shame that we miss out on the loot of that firefox. Guess we have no choice."

With these concluding words from Shesmu, the party crawled their way out of the hills, so as to not be seen by the two monster armies. They took a long detour around the battlefield before finally reaching safety.

Really, this forest is full of surprises. To think that a rare variant such as firefox existed here. If I had a firefox pet, even without me doing anything, I would still be one of the strongest in this game, or at least this country until level 40.

Shesmu was deep in thought when he suddenly remembered something. Wait, if I remember right, didn't that guy tame his firefox in the Forest of Beginning. In the first place, firefoxes are very rare. At the very least, there shouldn't be more than one Forest of Beginning hosting them. So, it had to have had something to do with that big guy over there. Thinking these words, Shesmu looked back at the battlefield in the distance. Maybe it was its child?

War cries emanated from the distance, howls and roars permeated the air. Shesmu slowed down his steps to a halt and turned to look at the direction of the war. Well, no matter what happens there, it's all going to reset once the live game goes up. Once that happens, I'll go and get my share of the pie. Sorry about that, Shaman.

"Hey Shes, we need to up the pace, else we'll be even later than we already are," Leo reminded.

"Yeah, let's get going."

Shesmu then looked at the tower in the distance illuminated by the moonlight, and glimpsed at his minimap. They were about two kilometers away from their destination, and the way was filled with danger.

Clashing metal and anguished wails orchestrated a requiem of death. Goblins, fully clad in metal armor, clashed swords with the paws of their foes. Foxes lunged at goblins and bit their throats off.

Blood painted the battlefield red and the gore decorated it. In the midst of this armageddon, the goblin general was howling out orders.

"First battalion, flank from the right! Second battalion, to the left! Third battalion, retreat!"

The General was one of the few goblins that could speak the human language. However, even though the other goblins couldn't speak it, they were able to understand.

The Goblin General stood proudly, with a red helmet covering his face, and black and red plate armor protecting his body. The metal shined in the middle of the night, showing that his set of equipment was new. It was specifically made for him, one of the ten generals of the goblin clan.

The casualties of the war were even on both sides, and this bugged the General a lot. His grunt facial expression showed his worry and impatience. He kept tapping the ground with his right foot, waiting for something.

"General Chrome, the trap is ready."

A goblin soldier came in and stood on one knee before reporting to the Goblin General.

Chrome, once he heard these news stopped tapping the ground with his foot. His worried expression turned immediately into an excited one.

"Good," Chrome responded. His smile turned into a malevolent grin before he continued, "With this, the king of the foxes is dead."

While the battle between the two armies was raging, Shesmu and his party were making their way to the tower.

Wolf

Hp: 700/700

"Ryan, take care of the wolves at the left. Leo, the right. I will take care of the middle one then rotate."

The duo nodded, accepting Shesmu's orders. The party spread out, each of them heading towards his target.

Leo was the first to reach the pack of wolves, making him their biggest focus. However, before the whole pack could aggro to him, Ryan came from the side and stabbed two wolves successfully, stopping them dead in their tracks.

With perfect synchronization, the wolves have been divided between the members of the party. Ryan took hold of the monsters on the left, evasion tanking them using his superior reflexes and high agility. Leo kept hold of the aggro of the wolves at the right by attacking them and blocking their strikes using his new swords, damping their damage.

Ryan is one thing, but Leo really became better after all the fights he has been a part of. As expected, you only become better through trial of fire and blood.

Shesmu unsheathed his sword from his back and looked at the wolf in front of him. It was confused on who to attack between Leo and Ryan. Well, let's test out the power of this Cambione Blade. With these thoughts, Shesmu raised his weapon and performed an Empowered Slash Cancel.

400

702

Overkill was an understatement. With the passive of the Cambione Blade, Demon Ki, Shesmu's Empowered Slash was enhanced further. The poor wolf had his head decapitated with one strike.

After dealing with his target, Shesmu turned to look left. Ryan was able to effortlessly handle his opponents. He would slip in a stab, and before the wolf would even raise his paw, Ryan would dodge the attack. Good, he is starting to learn. Predicting attacks is much more useful than just reacting to them.

Deciding that Ryan wouldn't need his help any time soon, Shesmu decided to focus on Leo. While the latter was holding his ground against his enemies, countering with a slash or two of his own after any intense barrage of hits, his health was still being chipped at little by little. He was already down a quarter of his HP.

Shesmu looked at the situation and decided that it was as good of a time as any to test his other skill that came with the Cambion Blade: Demon's Slash. Shesmu activated his skill and raised his sword. Energy flowed from inside his stomach to the blade of his sword. The blade took a dark shade and glinted under the moonlight.

Shesmu slashed at the air and a black crescent was formed, heading directly towards the two wolves Leo was facing.

1464

1464

The black crescent of energy went through the two monsters and split them in half. Blood and gore littered the ground and painted Leo's face red. The latter just cleaned off his face with minimum disgust.

"Thanks for the help, you saved me there."

"You're welcome. But forget that, let's help Ryan."

As if they practiced this scene multiple times, both Leo and Shesmu used Dash at the same time. Each of them appeared behind one of the wolves Ryan was fighting. With one slash to the neck, both monsters were decapitated.