Chapter 60: Just as I thought…

“General! A Rank III monster is attacking us!”

For a brief moment, no one spoke.

The silence that followed was strange… heavy.

The knights around the table looked at each other in confusion. Those words did not fit the situation.

Darion’s army was far from the main front line, withdrawn to reorganize after the clash with Arkham’s forces.

A Rank III monster shouldn’t appear there.

Darion didn’t say anything at first either.

His eyes slowly descended to his hand.

The viscous substance that had fallen on it was still sticking to his fingers.

A faint smell… almost imperceptible.

The general’s brow slowly furrowed.

Then he looked up.

“Where did the attack come from?”

The soldier swallowed hard.

“F-from the forest, General… it appeared from the forest.”

Several gentlemen exchanged tense glances.

The camp had been set up near a small stream to supply the soldiers. No one had considered that place a possible danger spot.

After all, scouts had checked the area.

Darion let out a short exhale through his nose.

His eyes narrowed.

Now he understood.

Before he could say anything else, a deep roar pierced the camp.

The sound was so powerful that it made the tent poles vibrate.

Some knights tensed instantly.

The soldier who had brought the report took a step back, almost stumbling.

“It’s… It’s destroying the outer tents!”

Darion stood up abruptly.

The map table shook violently as his hands slammed down on it.

“Gentlemen.”

His voice was now completely devoid of irritation.

“Prepare for battle.”

The men around the table reacted immediately, putting on their helmets and gripping their weapons.

Outside, chaos was beginning to spread.

The soldiers’ screams mingled with the noise of collapsing structures and the creature’s roar.

Darion left the tent.

The air outside was thick with dust… and panic.

About fifty meters away, a huge creature dragged its heavy body across the damp earth.

Its skin was covered with dark, thick scales, like iron plates. Its long, misshapen jaws opened to reveal several rows of sharp teeth.

A monster.

A huge demonic crocodile.

Its eyes glowed with savage fury as it destroyed the tents with violent swipes of its tail.

Soldiers ran in all directions.

Some tried to organize defensive formations.

Others fled.

The monster opened its mouth.

A brutal roar shook the air.

Then it charged.

Its enormous body lunged at a line of soldiers, dragging earth and wood in its wake. The impact sent men flying through the air like rag dolls.

Darion watched the scene coldly.

His jaw tightened.

Now it all made sense.

The viscous substance.

Someone had deliberately provoked the creature.

And only one person was cunning enough… and cruel enough to do it.

Adam’s name popped into his mind.

Darion’s lips slowly curled into a smile filled with rage.

“So that damn bastard…”

His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

“Gentlemen.”

His men’s gazes focused on him.

“Attack formation.”

The monster had just torn through another tent when Darion took his first step forward.

The ground shook with every movement of the beast.

But the general did not stop.

His cloak fluttered in the wind as he drew his sword.

The steel glinted in the moonlight.

“It’s only a rank III.”

His aura began to expand slowly.

Then he advanced directly toward the monster.

Behind him, the knights followed.

And the entire camp became a battlefield.

…

From the top of a tree standing on a thick branch, Adam watched the enemy camp.

The distance was enough to make the human figures look small, almost insignificant… but the chaos spreading among them was impossible to ignore.

And in the midst of it all, the monster’s roar echoed like thunder in a storm.

Adam leaned back slightly as he narrowed his eyes.

Even from so far away, he could make out the enormous body of the demon crocodile moving among the camp tents, crushing structures and sending soldiers flying with every violent swing of its tail.

The plan had worked.

A slight smile formed on his lips.

“Just as I thought…”

At his side, several knights watched the scene with tense expressions. Some looked surprised; others, downright uneasy.

One of them couldn’t help but speak up.

“Young master… did you really provoke that monster just by breaking its eggs?”

Adam didn’t respond immediately.

His eyes remained fixed on the camp.

He remembered that creature well.

In its past life, it had caused trouble for weeks before finally being eliminated by a group of knights. It was a territorial monster, extremely aggressive when its nest was disturbed.

“Monsters don’t think like us.”

He said calmly, calmly.

“But they have much simpler instincts… and are much easier to manipulate.”

One of the knights swallowed hard as he watched the giant crocodile knock down a makeshift watchtower.

“What if it kills Darion?”

Adam let out a slight exhale through his nose.

“You’re expecting too much from a rank III monster. If it were that easy to defeat, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

His gaze hardened slightly.

In the center of the camp, a figure in armor advanced toward the creature.

Even from a distance, it was obvious.

The general.

Adam tilted his head slightly.

“There he is.”

For a few seconds, he watched as the figure raised his sword, and mana began to expand around him.

The monster roared.

The soldiers scattered.

The battle was about to begin.

Adam closed his eyes for a moment.

“We have to move and take advantage of the chaos to weaken them even more.”

Then he climbed down from the tree and began giving orders to the fifty knights who accompanied him. As he spoke to them, he couldn’t help but remember the days when he fought under the command of the crown prince.

How different it is now not to have a master to serve.

Without wasting any more time, Adam waved his hand.

The knights immediately sprang into action, moving through the trees like shadows. The murmur of the forest quickly drowned out the sound of their armor.

In a few seconds, the place where they had been gathered was empty again.

Only the slowly moving branches remained… and the feeling that something dangerous was approaching.

The hunt had only just begun.

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