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“Calm down, I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

The two hooded men then discussed their thoughts about this Iron Territory they had recently entered for the first time.

As the two men chatted, a figure emerged from the surrounding trees. The more impatient man chuckled, “Finally, you’re here. It took you long enough. What do you have to inform us?”

“Do you have my payment?”

“Of course,” laughed the second man, who tossed a bag of gold to the ground. “Is that enough?”

“And you promise that you won’t target my clan or my son?”

.....

“Sure, why not. Now, give us the information you’ve promised us,” stated the impatient man.

“Yes, yes,” nodded the figure as he stored the gold in his recently acquired void choker. “The students and the instructors have already entered the jungle to the northeast. There the students are training while the instructors can guarantee their safety.”

“Hmmm... interesting. What about the leopard?” asked the second man.

“He’s not there. Since the territory ruler had to leave to make the territorial offering, the leopard decided it was best to stay in town to prevent any possible disasters.”

“Ohhh, that’s annoying,” grumbled the impatient man. “And here I was wanting to attack the town. I guess we’ll have to settle for the students in the jungle.”

“But remember not to target my son, he’s there too.”

“We know, don’t worry. Since you’ve been a big help, we wouldn’t dare try something like that,” explained the second man. “Besides, we’ll want your continued help in the future. So there’s no reason for us to do something so foolish as to offend you.”

“Good...”

“So what are the teachers like? Anyone we should be wary of?” The first man showed a cruel smile under his hood.

“All four of them are gorillas. There are two peak elders and two early perennials. I’m not sure what their abilities are though since I’ve never seen them fight anyone.”

Still smiling, the man chuckled, “That’s more than enough. With that in mind, it sounds like the plan should work without a hitch.”

“Can I ask what you guys plan to do?”

The second man also chuckled, “What do you think we’re going to do? We’ll be interfering with the school trip and will be targeting some of the more promising youth. It’d be best if we can cripple the territory’s growth, especially the gorilla clan.”

“Oh, so you’re after Oli.”

“Yeah, but that’s quite obvious. Considering the talent he’s shown, we can’t let the gorilla clan grow thanks to him. No matter what, he’ll have to go, even if all else fails.”

“Is there anything else you need from me? I could always use mare gold.”

“For now, we’ve gotten enough information. We’ll contact you in time when we plan to make our next move,” laughed the first man. “Let’s go, we’ve got some distance to cover and we need to explain the plan to the men.”

“Right.” The second man then bowed. “Thank you for your cooperation, and we look forward to your continued support.”

“Of course.” With that said, the figure quickly fled and disappeared into the forest.

“Are we really not going to target anyone from his clan?” asked the first man.

“That would be best since we still need his help in the future.”

With a groan, the impatient man frowned. “Fiiine... we’ll keep our word, for now. Once we’re don’t need help, then we’ll forget our past promises. To think we’d make a deal with someone weaker than us.”

“What else can we do? For now, we need to follow orders and get rid of that brat gorilla. Then we’ll move on to the next phase of our plan,” explained the second man. “It’s also a good thing that the oaf gorilla leader is already being taken care of. That makes our job a bit easier.”

“But we do need to be careful of that leopard.”

“Oh, so you agree that he’s hard to deal with,” laughed the second man.

The first man nodded. “He’s an assassin. Those are the worst type of enemies. If we attack him and can’t finish him off before he escapes, then there’s no telling what would happen to us. It would be impossible to live peacefully.”

“True... Neither of us wants that happening,” agreed the second man. “Then we’ll have to hurry up and explain everything to the men. Let’s hurry to jungle and do our job before the leopard knows any better.”

“Agreed.”

Both men bolted into the distance, going the opposite direction as the figure that they spoke to.

*****

After their rest, Oli’s group continued searching the area. Now they went further toward the jungle’s center. Though they were sure that the beasts would get stronger, they wanted to learn just how far they could go without finding a low adept beast.

They traveled another twenty minutes before they sensed a beast even stronger than the ones they had already fought.

Slowing down, the group crept through the jungle and were startled by what they found.

Two beasts were already fighting. Both of them were stronger than anything they fought earlier, but one of the beasts was dominating the other. It definitely had a higher cultivation than the other.

“Are those low and mid adept beasts?” whispered Netra, hesitant to show her face.

“I think so,” replied Oli, watching the battle closely. “Everyone be quiet. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

The group was almost ten krin away from the beasts. It was easy for them to hear the pained cries of the large insect-like beast as the forest Python strangled it to death.

As the insect lost its life, a shout was heard that surprised everyone.

“You’re mine, you stupid python!”

Oli and his friends recognized that voice. They looked to find a frog and a lynx charging toward the python.

As the lynx led with a lightning covered claw, the frog launched a ball of water at the python and his kill.

With ease, the python dodged the water and hissed at the two incoming youth.

It dropped the dead body of the insect and barreled toward the lynx, showing no fear against either of its two opponents.

“Die!” shouted the lynx, reaching to hit the python’s head.

But he never made contact. Instead, the python dodged the blow and wrapped itself around the lynx’s arm, rendering him immobile. And with a single bite, a snap was heard as the lynx’s arm went limp and could no longer fight the snake constricting around it.

“Hey!” shouted the frog as he hurried to the lynx’s side, but was stopped by the python’s tail, almost getting caught himself.

“Those idiots...” sighed Oli. “Netra, let’s help them.”

“Okay.”

“You two, stay here just in case we need you to pull that idiot away from the snake. I’ll distract this guy while Netra goes for the kill,” explained Oli.

The young ape ran from his hiding spot and shouted, “Out of the way!”

When the frog saw Oli, he had conflicting feelings. He was happy that Oli was there to help, but it also made him feel even weaker and less confident in himself.

As the python noticed the large hammer in Oli’s hands, it stared at Oli. It changed targets and allowed the frog to escape in order to focus on Oli, protecting it’s newest prey.

The essence covered tail whipped against Oli’s biggest hammer, neither proving stronger than the other.

Angry that he couldn’t overpower Oli with his tail, the python slithered closer and wrapped the lynx’s body with his tail. With his head free to attack and debilitate, the python was confident as it licked its lips.

Suddenly, the snake felt a threat against its life and dropped its neck to the ground. But it was too late to fully avoid Netra’s attack.

She managed to strike the python’s neck, tearing at its flesh and slowing the movements of its head.

Finally feeling threatened, the python tried to retreat.

Sadly for the python, Oli swung his hammer and forced the python to focus on him. If it dared underestimate that hammer, it would take some serious damage.

With Oli and Netra tag-teaming the beast, the python had no choice but to release the weak lynx.

Then, Yeter dashed forward to drill his hoove into the snake’s side and let Karos carry the other lynx away.

Thanks to Netra’s surprise attack, the group spent the next hour grinding down the python’s strength and eventually finishing it off with a hammer to the head and an electric claw to the throat.

They all took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground. Exhausted and proud, the four novices relished in their victory.

“Hey that was our kill!” shouted the lynx from the distance. “We called it–”

“Shut up!” shouted the frog, startling the lynx. “They saved your life. You should thanks them, not yell at them.”

“He’s right.”

Everyone looked to the side and noticed Hurdo watching them carefully.

The perennial gorilla smiled. “You guys are much deeper than we expected. Try not to come this deep anymore and focus on the early adepts.”

“As for you two...” Hurdo turned to the two former bullies. “Don’t underestimate beasts just because you’re fighting in pairs. Only fight if you’re certain you’ll win, otherwise, you might die. That’s the way the world works.”

Without another word, Hurdo turned and left.

The lynx grumbled but soon bowed with the frog. They spoke in unison, “Thanks.” Then, they left.

Those peak novices all laughed and sighed, not worrying anymore. They wanted to rest before heading back.

.....