Rise of the Blood Sovereign

74  Apes

The caravan resumed their journey and before long, the sun rose above the horizon and shone brightly on the mountain and forest around it. The adventurers and mercenaries were pleased to see the sun and they were finally able to stop using the lanterns that did not give them that much light.

Still, the atmosphere was not all cheerful as they all knew that the journey would be entering its most dangerous part right now.

Not only would they have to face more powerful monsters, but they would also be entering the forest in the evening, making it very easy for predators that loved to lurk in the shadows to attack them.

Nobody wanted what happened before with the panther to repeat, and people were quite alarmed after that had happened. The Bronze Knight that had kept guard all night and made sure that no monster could catch them off guard had entered one of the carriages to rest as he would be needed more during the night.

Amongst all the Bronze Knights present, he was the most powerful one, although there were 2 with similar strength as him.

Both of them were equipped with large shields and a mace, which made them perfect as a tank, but it would be nearly impossible for the two burly men to reach anyone in time to save them.

Lyle and Adam had taken up night duty which allowed the other two long-range combatants on top of the carriage to take a nap and rest. Thanks to their bloodline, neither Lyle nor Adam really needed to sleep that much, and they could actually function normally even without sleeping for 2 or 3 days.

Plus, their eyesight during the night was much better compared to anyone present, perhaps being beaten by the three Silver Knights. The duo made sure to keep watch and alarm people if they were to see monsters, but there were none appeared.

The situation perplexed Lyle as he knew that caravans, even those as large as this one, would face more resistance when passing through this path, but they had barely fought any dangerous battles and the whole trip was quite uneventful so far.

The monsters arrived in fewer numbers than expected, and although they had heard roars and the screams of some monsters from the forest below, it was still not as much as it usually would.

Lyle knew that it definitely had something to do with the system and its arrival on the planet, but it was the opposite of what had happened in the previous forest he was in, which made him quite interested in the forest and whatever it was that was happening inside of it.

During the day, it was Lyle and Adam's turn to rest, and although the two didn't really need it, they still thanked the two adventurers that were on the carriage with them and laid down to take a nap.

Not sleeping for a long period of time and not showing any change in their behavior would be very suspicious, so Lyle and Adam were practically forced to do so in order to avoid any suspicion.

Lyle wasn't a heavy sleeper and a part of his consciousness was always active in order to alarm him of any danger around him, Adam had inherited that from Lyle, and although he was not as good as Lyle when it comes to keeping a part of his consciousness awake and active during his sleep, he would still wake up pretty easily if any danger was present.

The two slept soundly for about 4 hours before waking up. In the four hours they had been sleeping, the caravan hadn't come across any monsters on the road, none at all. The two that were on the carriage urged the two to sleep a bit more since the two of them were able to get almost 6 hours of sleep last night, but Lyle simply thanked them before saying that this much was enough and that the two of them were used to functioning with little sleep.

He didn't want to go back to sleeping now.

The four hours they had gotten were actually plenty for Lyle and Adam and would allow them to perform at their peak for the next 2 days.

Lyle was more interested in finding out what was happening in the forest, but he was unable to do so since he was after all a member of the escort and couldn't simply wander off anywhere.

'For monsters not to arrive, and the forest to actually be so quiet, either a lot of them were killed recently, which led to many fleeing the area and there simply not being many monsters left here, or another, much more disturbing reason.' Lyle gulped as he thought of the second reason of why the monsters were not present.

'A new king of the forest has risen, which means that the forest now possesses a Golden Core monster, a monster that should not be present in this area.'

'If that turns out to be true, then none of us present can survive, such a monster is enough to wipe us out, even the three Silver Knights will only be able to stall it for a few seconds.' Lyle's eyes constricted as he tried to calculate the possibility of such a thing happening, but thanks to the system's arrival, nothing he previously knew of the forest and different monsters could be applied since everything has changed.

The increase in mana throughout the world made it easier for everyone to improve themselves, but it was more beneficial for monsters who were able to naturally gather mana and improve themselves The battle didn't even finish before more apes arrived. This time, there were 20 of them, and Lyle 12:30

could hear movement and the roaring of apes from a distance as well, which meant that a third wave even during their sleep.

Lyle had no idea whether the system was useful for the monsters as well, if they could also gain soul power from the ones they killed, then a Golden Core monster being born here was a possibility that was far from impossible.

The more he thought about it, the more he was certain that he was right.

'Dammit, I can't even get away thanks to us being a part of the caravan, the moment I try to do so, the other Bronze Knights might go after me and Adam, not to mention the fact that the forest itself is too dangerous for only the two of us to wander through.' Lyle grit his teeth before looking around him.

'I guess I have to leave it up to fate, huh?' Lyle suddenly smirked before calming down.

'What the hell is the matter with you Lyle, it's not as if there's a Golden Core monster right in front of you, even though the possibility of such a monster appearing here was not low, it wasn't a fact either, it might very well be that nothing of the sort has happened.'

'For now, the only thing I can do is continue helping out the caravan and hoping for the best.' Lyle told himself before suddenly looking to the side.

"Monsters, right above us!" He yelled out as the other adventurers and mercenaries looked up, only to find multiple apes staring down at them.

There were about 13 apes present, and most of them were Bronze Core monsters.

"Bronze Knights, get ready, they're coming!" One person yelled out as the apes started beating their chests before charging down and attacking the caravan.

There were many more Bronze Knights present in the caravan compared to the apes, which made the threat of the apes quite low and they were quickly met with resistance and forced to stop with their charge.

Lyle and the other long-range attackers provided support and attacked the apes that were below Tier I, while the Tier I long-range attackers aimed at the Bronze Core apes and rained down their arrows at them.

The battle didn't even finish before more apes arrived. This time, there were 20 of them, and Lyle could hear movement and the roaring of apes from a distance as well, which meant that a third wave was coming soon as well.

'Damn it, this is not a good place for us, there's too many of them coming from the caves on the side of the mountain.' Lyle cursed as he stared at the apes.

There were multiple cave systems in the mountain, and nobody knew exactly why they were made, or how they were made.

Monsters used the caves as nests occasionally, but that was mostly done by weaker monsters and since the apes were amongst the most powerful ones present, they would very rarely be seen here.

The third wave not only had more apes, but a Silver Core ape was also present among them.

The doors of one carriage opened as the three Silver Knights suddenly made their appearance.

They briefly spoke before the axe-wielding Silver Knight charged at the Silver Core ape together with the sword and shield-wielding one.

The two could take on and defeat the ape without any issue, while the final Silver Knight stayed back in order to help out the Bronze Knights with the rest of the apes.