Chapter 101: Being Targeted

  The next morning.

  Art Rayo woke up a few people, although he was also drunk last night, but as the top-level beast hunter in the area of the gods' tomb, he must always be on high alert, even if he is drunk, and will not oversleep.

  "Are you going to squat and capture the seventh-level demonic beast again?" Li Xie still had a packet of Dream Fragrance, perhaps he could capture another group of Thunder War Horses or other demonic beasts.

  "Let's see, the commotion we made yesterday may have attracted some attention from magical beasts. What I'm afraid of is that they'll take a liking to us. If they do, we must leave immediately."

  "Do we need to be so cautious?" Li Xie thought that with three super experts here, dealing with over a hundred seventh-tier magical beasts would at most result in some injuries, but it shouldn't require them to leave as soon as they were targeted.

  "Third brother, you don't understand. Why are there so few high-level demons on the market? And why are there so few mercenary groups that capture demons? You haven't truly grasped the danger involved. We can only be extremely careful to survive in the Gods' Graveyard; otherwise, no matter how strong our lineup is, if we're targeted by a demon, the most likely outcome is total annihilation. Don't think I'm joking. Simply put, if a seventh-level demon targets us, it won't attack us directly but will spread the word about our whereabouts, which might attract an eighth-level demon. Each of us can defeat three eighth-level demons, but what about when there are many? This isn't even the most dangerous part; the most dangerous part is that some higher-level demons might come to take revenge on us due to their hatred for humans. If a tenth-level demon comes, I'm afraid we won't be able to escape! My Thunderbolt Mercenary Group has survived until now not because of our strength but because of our caution."

  "Alright, big brother, I'll listen to you." Li Xie felt that he didn't know much and just needed to ask a few questions, the overall direction was still best left to the professional, Aite Reiyao. Otherwise, being ignorant yet pretending to be clever would not only harm himself but also others.

  "Go take a look at the setup I did last night and then we'll decide on our actions for today."

  Several people came out of the cave, led by Arte Rayo, to inspect the traps and alarms he had set up last night. After a thorough search, Arte Rayo's face grew increasingly solemn.

  Li Xie saw this and asked: "The alarm traps haven't been triggered, what's big brother worried about?"

  Yat Lei Yao squatted down to the ground, his hand on the ground pinched up a layer of fine gray sand, and said: "This gray scale sand was scattered by me last night. Have you noticed that there are signs of blowing on the gray scale sand?"

  "What's going on?" Li Xie was completely baffled.

  Yat Reyao explained: "The gray scales are very heavy and won't be blown away by a gentle breeze. We sprinkle them on the ground, not to be discovered by magical beasts, but to serve as an alarm. When magical beasts run fast, they create strong winds and like to stick close to tree clusters, often blowing the gray scales around and leaving footprints. However, I found that none of the gray scales I placed had any footprints on them, which means that the magical beast nearby was careful not to leave any traces. In other words, we have already been targeted by a magical beast. Moreover, the magical beast that targeted us did not trigger any other alarms and only accidentally blew away the gray scales, suggesting that the magical beast targeting us may be an eighth-tier magical beast."

  Brad Pitt's expression also turned serious: "How many?"

  "It's not clear, but they're being so cautious, and didn't attack last night either. This shows that they know we have an alarm system, and if they were to attack, even if we're in the cave, we'll still have a chance to react and escape. So their goal is very clear: they're gathering strength until they're completely sure, then they'll find an opportunity to kill us all off. This time it's really dangerous!" Arte Rayo stood up with a smile on his face, speaking softly, "Everyone pretend you didn't notice, we continue deeper. Zein, if there's danger later, take care of your brother, and remember the escape route is still south, don't go back the way we came."

  Li Xie followed with a smile on his face, but was somewhat puzzled and asked: "Isn't it more dangerous the deeper you go?"

  "In theory, yes, but high-level demon beasts have strong territoriality and they have their own territories. Eighth-level demon beasts will also gather in groups, while ninth- and tenth-level demon beasts are mostly solitary or come in pairs. If we were to enter the territory of a ninth-level demon beast, an eighth-level demon beast wouldn't dare to enter. With our current formation, what we're afraid of isn't two or three ninth-level demon beasts, but rather a large number of eighth-level demon beasts. Let's continue deeper, everyone can chat freely."

  "Hmm!" Li Xie nodded slightly, his eyes fixed intently on the surroundings, and saw that thirty meters away, behind several clusters of trees and rocks, there were five red glows.

  That red glow represents the existence of blood energy. Under Li Xie's super-sensitive perception, each cluster of blood energy has 60,000 points.

  This indicates that there are five powerful eighth-tier demonic beasts in the surrounding area!

  Li Xie walked up to Ya Te Lei Yao and said in a low voice, "Brother Lei Yao, I have a special method that allows me to sense demonic beasts within about 50 meters around us. There are five eighth-grade demonic beasts surrounding us, what should we do?"

  "Indeed! This time it's big trouble!" Arte Rayo narrowed his eyes: "There are only five magical beasts staring at us, but the others preparing to ambush us, there are probably around twenty. Everyone listen up, we have no way to retreat now. When I shout 'run', everyone runs immediately, heading south, and absolutely do not fall behind alone!"

  "Run!"

  Yat Yiu shouted loudly and several people immediately ran away quickly.

  Li Xie was afraid that he would run slowly, so he opened the wings of his sword, and with the help of both wings, his running speed was actually the fastest among several people, only slightly slower than Xiao Miao.

  Those five-headed demonic beasts saw a few people fleeing, and they all jumped out from their hiding places to chase them quickly. They also let out loud roars one after another, apparently calling for their companions.

  Li Xie turned his head and glanced at those few magical beasts.

  That is a two-meter-tall, ape-like magical beast with four limbs and arms, and hair like flames. It is recorded in Scamode's notes on magical beasts as the 8th-tier Four-Armed Inferno Ape. Although it cannot launch long-range magic attacks, its defense is extremely strong, its strength is boundless, and its attacks carry 8th-tier flame damage. It is an extremely powerful close combat magical beast.

  The speed of the four-armed fierce ape was not fast, but it was obviously more adapted to running in the mountains and forests. Although Li Xie's side was faster than them by a margin, they were unable to shake them off.

  "Hurry! Once we pass that volcano up ahead, we'll be in the territory of the 9th-tier demonic beast!" Arte shouted as he ran.

  Li Xie and others have already run out of the mountain forest, coming to a vast area where the ground is covered with red stones. In front of them, there is a three-meter-high earth pit, with smoke rising from the middle section, which should be the mouth of an underground volcano eruption.

  The four-armed fierce fire ape that was chasing from behind had increased from five to ten, and when Li Xie and the others ran to the vicinity of the volcanic mouth, another ten fierce fire apes jumped out from inside the volcanic mouth, attacking from both front and back, leaving Li Xie and the others with nowhere to escape.

  Yate Lei Yao stopped, and Li Xie and the others followed suit. The twenty eighth-tier magic beasts finally surrounded Li Xie and the others in the middle.

  "It's a trap! It seems they don't want us to go to the 9th floor of the Magic Beast area!" Arte Rayo looked around and saw that there was no way to continue escaping, or else they would be easily scattered by the Flame Ape and killed one by one. He took down the golden thread from his neck and grasped it in his hand: "We can only fight now, Brad, Zein, be careful of their fists, their aura defense is very high, the weak point is under their crotch."

  "Twenty eighth-level magic beasts!" Brad Pitt pulled out two long knives as long as his body, with the tips of the knives pointing upwards, and a golden aura spread all over his body. His face was filled with a fierce smile: "We may not be easy to swallow yet!"

  Zain remained expressionless and cold, but his fists were already clenched, with golden light swirling around them.

  Li Xie's twin wings stretched out straight, his five fingers spread open, and the tips of his fingers extended a foot-long sharp blade: "If you want to do it, just do it!"

  Next to the little cat, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws, its fur standing on end, let out two loud meows. Then, it suddenly pulled out a small white flag from who-knows-where, waved it twice, and with great shamelessness, jumped onto Li Xie's head, circling his body in an instant, transforming into a fur hat adorned with a white flag.

  "Shameless!" Li Xie cursed in a bad temper.

  "Don't let them scatter, twenty eighth-tier magic beasts, we still have a chance of winning. Remember, whatever you do, don't fly into the air!" Arte Yurei said one more thing before shouting in a low voice: "Armorize!"

  He saw the golden thread on his hand turn into a golden light, merging onto Yat Rayo's body. He then saw that his entire body was covered in a layer of golden scales, like wearing golden leather. Then he saw him swing his arm, and immediately there was an additional ten-meter-long whip in his hand, about the thickness of a finger. The long whip twisted on its own, as if it were alive.

  The four of them were all set for battle, back to back, facing in all directions, but they didn't launch an attack. The twenty Four-Armed Flame Apes surrounding them were also panting heavily, showing no intention of attacking either.

  "Lei Yao big brother, what's going on?" Li Xie felt something was off.

  Yat's eyes gleamed with a fierce light: "Hmph, they want to lure more magical beasts. Dammit, when did the Lava Ape become so clever? Can't wait for other magical beasts to come! Kill!"

  Art's words had barely fallen when he launched the first attack, his long whip cracking with blue electricity as it struck one of the Flame Apes. This blow finally opened the curtain on the battle, all the Flame Apes pounding their chests and roaring in anger as flames of a bloody color erupted from their bodies. Three of them leapt high into the air, coming down towards Brad Pitt like a crushing mountain, while three others charged towards Zinedine with flaming fists.

  "Welcome!" Brad Pitt raised his twin blades, crossing them to slash out a pair of intersecting crescent moons: "Cross Kill!"

  "Watch out around me." Zayn Nad left a sentence and rushed straight towards the three-headed Flame Ape that was charging at him.

  Li Xie hastily followed Zayn Nadir in the charge, he knew his own combat strength was ordinary, but if he got the opportunity, the ten sharp blades in his hands could also cut through gold and iron.

  Four people entered the war group, but the most comfortable one was the little cat on Li Xie's head, the little cat with a white flag.