Way of the Knights

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"Hoo!" 

Raven sighed as he flopped down on the ground. He was laughing wryly as he wiped the sweat out of his face.

His clothes were ruined, he had a few bruises on his arms and legs, there were scratches on his face and some wounds here and there. He let out a long breath and accelerated his healing by actively circulating his Chaos Force.

There's at least 10 corpses in front of him. Originally, these corpses were terrifying and deadly beasts but now they were reduced into crushed piles of goo. They completely lost all value, except being a snack for Venus. 

"Still have a long way to go." Raven muttered after healing himself. He stood up and watched as Venus slithered around and swallowed the remains of the beasts he killed. After she was done, Raven beckoned over since they have to leave this place before some other beasts arrive. 

Venus transformed into a white scarf that's wrapped around Raven's neck. He smiled as he noticed that she already had plans to sleep. 

"You spoiled girl." Raven chuckled, "Sleeping after a meal. Tsk, tsk."

Venus ignored him and proceed to have her beauty sleep. Raven moved forward, dusting himself with some concealing powder as he walked.

"Just to be sure that I'm being extra careful." He murmured, "Can't be too careful in this place. I wasn't even expecting to be found by a pack of Silver Fang Greatwolves."

'Well, I did make a huge commotion though. Still, I wasn't expecting them to roam around these areas. From what I can remember they are commonly found deeper into the Red Zone.'

Silver Fang Greatwolves. They will be ranked somewhere between Tier 3 to Tier 4 Demonic Beasts. They are commonly Tier 3 but they rarely go out alone, so if someone meets one, then it's safe to assumed that there's at least a pack of them nearby. Which is why they are deadly enemies that could be considered as Tier 4. 

Currently, Raven is still inside the Great Wilderness. A vast forest that shrouded a decent area of the Grand Ancestral Plane. The Final Haven Kingdom is within this forest. And in order for him to arrive to his destination, he had to leave this place. 

'Still, this brings back a lot of memories.' Raven muttered inwardly as he traversed through the forest carefully. 

'This place taught me how to sleep while remaining alert about my surroundings.' 

It was more like he was forced to learn how to do that since if he didn't, then he will die without knowing how. He had long since lost count on how many sleepless nights he endured before he learned that skill. 

'Here, survival of the fittest is at its finest. Kill or be killed. This place honed my senses and my killing intent.'

Raven could still remember the feeling of walking on a thin wire between life and death in the place. The only reason why he kept on forcing himself to survive is due to his vow of revenge and pursuit of strength. He wanted to make someone pay for the destruction of his home. Which is why he clung onto life like a leech. 

'Hmm? Oh!' Raven suddenly stopped on his tracks and ducked inside a bush. He restrained his aura and even held his breath, concealing his presence as he observed his surroundings. 

'There's a giant gorilla coming through. It's being followed by a bunch of mosquitoes and a giant toad.'

*Hu* *Hu* *Hu*

As watched on, Raven could feel the ground shaking beneath him as a Giant Ape jumped through tree branches. The ape's fur was muddy brown in color, its eyes were bright red and it has a huge nose with wide open nostrils. There were four sharp protruding fangs on its jaw and it's limbs were extremely muscular. The ape was at least 12 foot tall and it certainly has a dense body build. It's already a miracle that the tree branches weren't breaking as the ape swung in them. Then again, even these trees inside the Red Zone aren't normal. 

Following the ape, were at least six mosquitoes that are at least three feet long. Each mosquito has a needle that's about 13 inches, six hairy legs, antennas, and belly sack which appears to be empty for now. 

Following them giant fat toad. Its skin appeared rough and bulky, almost as if it has tumors all over its body. It moved rather slowly, like it was stalking them. It didn't croak nor attacked yet, it seems that it wants to take advantage of what's about to happen. 

*Zzz* *Zzz*

The mosquitoes caught up with the ape, striking it with their needles and began sucking. The Ape would've left these things alone but this mosquitoes didn't just suck its blood. What drink is the ape's blood essence, the very source of its longevity. Making them extremely deadly and annoying to deal with. 

*Roar!*

The Ape became angry, it tried striking at the pests but only end up beating itself since the mosquitoes were quick to evade and suck on a different place. 

'It's no use, you dummy.' Raven shook his head as he watched on, 'Those things won't leave you alone unless they suck you dry.'

'And even if you survive this, there's still that gross looking toad stalking you guys.'

Raven watched as the Ape suffered while the mosquitoes belly sacks became fatter and fatter. After five minutes of unceasing draining, the ape was now a far cry from it's original appearance. In all honesty, it looked no different from a dried corpse. All life was sucked away from it and it could only watched as the mosquitoes fly away slowly as their bellies are now full. 

And just like what Raven predicted, the toad was waiting for this moment. It jumped from its hiding spot and flicked it's tongue out to devour the fat mosquitoes. However, an unexpected development occurred.

Out of nowhere, a white flash flew by and before the tongue of the toad arrived, the mosquitoes were already gone. Raven became amused and searched for the culprit. 

He then saw an Albino Snake which a bulging stomach, flicking its tongue towards the Giant Toad as if provoking it. 

Raven smiled and whispered: "Hey girl, look! I found your twin – wait…"

His eyes constricted as he realized that his scarf was missing.

"Aish! You naughty girl!" Raven exclaimed a little too loud, rising up from his hiding spot as well to glare at Venus. 

Unbeknownst to him, Venus was also watching the scene unfold. It really wasn't her fault to begin with, she had been trying to talk to Raven since she wants to eat those insects. However, Raven was too immersed with watching and was ignoring her so she took the matter with her own jaws. 

Raven was fuming a bit. He stomped towards his disobedient snake and flicked her head multiple times to disciple her. 

"Why did you do that, huh!?" He flicked her head once more, "Don't you know it's dangerous!? What if you got caught by the toad!? Won't you end up as it's additional meal then?"

*Hiss* *Hiss*

"That is not the point!" Raven flicked her head once again, "You just ate the remains of 10 Silver Fang Greatwolves! You were full! Even if I ignored you, that wasn't an excuse for you to recklessly go in! Seriously! I think I'm spoiling you too much, huh!?"

As Raven continued to reprimand his naughty snake, he was totally ignoring the Giant Toad behind them. The Giant Toad was obviously annoyed since not only it was being ignore, its meal was also stolen by a crafty snake who's not even half of its age. 

In its fury, it made a decision to eat the snake and the human in front of it. 

The tongue of the Giant Toad unfurled and flew forward with a blinding speed. As it slithered towards Raven who had his back against it, the toad was already celebrating on it's victory and salivating on it's meal. 

The toad felt its tongue connect, it then pulled its tongue back along with the harvest but it realized that it couldn't. 

It looked forward and saw the human glaring towards its way. A dense killing intent shrouded his whole body as he said: "Can you not? Don't you see that I'm busy disciplining my pet?"

Raven held the toad's tongue with his iron grip. With a forceful tug, he dragged the toad closer to him and leapt towards it. His hammer materialized on his hands, delivering a strong blow that sent the toad flying back. 

"I really hate being interrupted." Raven said in an annoyed tone, "So, I'll take care of you first and deal with my disobedient pet later."

He looked back towards Venus and said: "Don't you dare move away from that spot." Venus shivered and nod her head like a human. 

The toad tried attacking Raven again but it missed. Raven was too fast, and before it could react, the hammer on his hands already punched a huge hole on its stomach. The next thing it saw was a black star descending before it drew it's last breath. 

As Raven finished dealing with the toad, he sent a glare towards Venus and beckoned forward. 

The poor snake could only hung her head low and slowly slither forward.