Before he could even unleash his Extraordinary Rank magic to counterattack, Ninike and three other companions leaped out from behind the rocky cliff, four pure Extraordinary Rank pressures crashing down on him simultaneously!
“I-Impossible! How did you break through your species rank limit...”
“Idiot, times have changed!”
Ninike let out a delicate snort as a sharp arrow pierced his heart at point-blank range.
“This one is pretty good. It's completely intact, so Master should be pleased.”
The bird girls of the White Feather Clan cleaned up Erik's blood, carried his body as they flew low to the ground, and immediately brought him to Qimeng.
And this lure-and-kill hunt turned into a nightmare for the Thunder Eagle Clan over the next two days.
In the southern part of the Flourishing Forest, there was an underground junction. It was an ancient forest so dense that it blotted out the sky. The entrance was a massive tree hollow.
Deep inside lay a sprawling underground market that branched out in all directions. Aside from normal trade, it featured black markets for fencing stolen goods, slave trades, and underground gambling dens—making it a favorite haven for outlaws of all kinds.
Today, the outskirts of this neutral camp were far from quiet.
The guard captain and vice-captain of the Thunder Eagle Clan, both Mid-tier Extraordinary Rank powerhouses, had just won a few rounds at an underground casino. Their minds were thoroughly addled by alcohol and lust. As soon as these two lecherous fiends stepped out of the tree hollow, they set their eyes on the demi-human women on the outskirts.
By sheer coincidence, Ninike and another White Feather girl happened to pass right before them. Playing the part of weak, frightened wanderers perfectly, they fled in panic toward the dark, dense forest.
Without a second thought, the two perverts ditched their main group and eagerly lunged after them.
“Hehehe, little girls, let's see where you can run...”
Before they could finish, a chilling wave of killing intent erupted right in front of them! Shortswords spinning with wind blades pierced through their protective magic and stabbed directly into their eye sockets!
Powerful wind elements of the Extraordinary Rank exploded inside their skulls, shredding their brains to mush and killing them instantly.
The bird girls of the White Feather Clan, who had been lying in ambush, took to the air and dragged the two corpses up into the sky.
By the time the rest of the guard force realized something was wrong and rushed to the scene, nothing remained but a smear of blood on the ground.
The next victim was the Second Elder, Barto, who wore his heavy thunder-steel armor even when bathing. Aside from his explosive temper, he believed that as long as his armor never left his body, his defense was absolute.
“You're telling me Gerris and Erik have gone missing?!”
“Useless! You're all a bunch of useless trash!”
“Follow this elder! We're going to turn that swamp upside down!”
The furious Barto led thirty heavy-armored guards, rampaging all the way. They immediately encountered Ninike and the others. These girls were acting incredibly suspicious, and the moment they saw the guards, they fled toward the swamp.
Suspicious. Extremely suspicious!
“Where do you think you're running!”
Activating his thunder armor, he roared and charged straight in.
Unfortunately, this heavy-armor maniac didn't notice that the muddy swamp was filled with highly concentrated flammable swamp gas and paralyzing magic herbs. The moment his proud lightning barrier surged in the center of the swamp...
Boom!!
A spectacular chain explosion erupted across the swamp! That heavy thunder-steel armor instantly turned into a conductive iron coffin worn on his body.
By the time Barto, roasted crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, crawled ashore with only a breath left, he was met by four Extraordinary Rank powerhouses of the White Feather Clan, who promptly sent him on his way.
Having lost their Extraordinary Rank leader, the remaining thirty heavy-armored guards stood no chance and were completely wiped out.
The heavy thunder-steel armor was ridiculously heavy, so ten bird girls had to tie thick vines around Second Elder Barto's ankles. They struggled all the way, half-carrying and half-dragging him back to the herb-gathering path.
“Master... this guy is so heavy.”
Qimeng, who was carefully rinsing the mud and sand off some herbs by the stream, turned her head and glanced at the mud-covered hunk of metal. She lightly flicked her finger.
Devour All Things activated!
Wind and thunder magic elements flooded into her meridians.
Pfft, pfft. Two soft sounds echoed. Qimeng and the Demon Tree broke through at the same time!
Mid-tier Extraordinary Rank!
Qimeng narrowed her beautiful eyes, brushing her fingers through her hair.
“Hmm... although he looks terrible, his magic power is quite substantial. Not bad. Keep up this pace~”
“Yes!”
Inside a temple on the outskirts of the Wind-Thunder Mountains, the Grand Priest of the Thunder Eagle Clan, who had an astonishing appetite, had just swallowed a piece of young beast meat when his torso was impaled by a wind spear from Feifeier, who had infiltrated the temple through a secret passage.
His eyes widened as he tried to launch a desperate counterattack, but a barrage of wind arrows followed immediately, shredding his heart and sending him crashing to the floor, dead.
As for Ares, the Wind-Thunder Wild Eagle, who was the younger brother of the Thunder Eagle Clan's Chief and widely known as the most cowardly member of the clan, he wished he could bring an entire personal legion with him whenever he went out. However, after being lured into a deep mountain canyon by fake intelligence about a rare magic herb, he crashed headfirst into a wind barrier pre-arranged by the White Feather Clan.
In his panic of being completely cut off from the outside world, the entire combat force of the White Feather Clan mobilized!
It was a tactical beatdown with no suspense.
Even with all his life-saving methods and trump cards played, Ares was heavily injured and trampled underfoot by the dual advantages of the White Feather Clan's numbers and combat strength, becoming their seventh experience pack.
Over a hundred elite warriors of the Thunder Eagle Clan perished alongside him, a devastating blow that shook the very foundation of the clan.
Of course, even with four Extraordinary Rank combatants and dozens of Advanced Rank elites participating, the White Feather Clan suffered their first casualties against such a stubbornly resisting personal guard.
Yet, compared to their humble past where they might not even win a three-on-one fight, a one-to-ten casualty ratio was an unprecedented, resounding victory! The White Feather Clan had achieved an incredibly satisfying and historic triumph!
In just three short days, from the initial disappearance of Elder Gerris to the evaporation of the Chief's younger brother, Ares, the seventh experience pack, a total of seven Extraordinary Rank powerhouses standing at the top of the food chain in this corner of the forest had vanished without leaving so much as a bone fragment behind!
The Thunder Eagle Clan finally realized the gravity of the situation. If nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected had definitely happened.
Inside the conference hall of the Thunder Eagle Clan's headquarters, the upper echelons were furious.
“Who on earth is it?!”
“Who is daring to oppose our Thunder Eagle Clan?!”
The Chief of the Thunder Eagle Clan roared inside his castle. His out-of-control wind and thunder magic blasted the carpets and decorations into a complete mess.
Three days! It had only been three days!
Out of the clan's ten core Extraordinary Rank combatants, only he and two old codgers guarding the house were left in the blink of an eye!
This was an absolutely unbelievable mystery!
Not even a single distress signal had been sent out. Could it be that the First Young Master of the Black Bone Territory wanted to burn bridges after crossing?! Otherwise, who else could possibly possess such strength?!
“Go arrest them! Grab all the goblins, ratmen, and other demi-humans nearby, pin them to the ground, and interrogate them!!”
Thunder erupted around the Thunder Eagle Clan's Chief like a wild beast that had lost its mind.
“If you can't squeeze any clues out of them, tear them all to pieces!”
For a time, the entire forest was thrown into chaos, and the humble demi-human villages suffered terribly.
Eventually, under brutal torture, a ratman intelligence broker, whose bones were entirely shattered, lay in a pool of blood and wailed his confession.
“I'll talk! I'll talk! The White Feather Clan... over the past few days, the White Feather Clan has been asking about the itineraries of those missing lords! It's only them!”
“The White Feather Clan?!!”
The Thunder Eagle Chief froze for a moment, then burst into wild laughter as if he had just heard the biggest joke in the world.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”
“Their entire clan doesn't even have a single Extraordinary Rank among them! How could they possibly kill Ares?! You dead rat, how dare you mock this chief with such absurd lies?!”
Boom!!
Before his voice could fade, the furious Thunder Eagle Chief struck out with his palm, his lightning directly blasting the truth-telling ratman into a fine mist!
Rate on N.U.
