He began walking towards the area where the sound came from, but before he could even take a step forward, his vision turned dark.
His headless body fell on the ground...
The guard couldn't even scream as he died. There was no noise or sound.
In another location of the camp, a different guard was guarding that section.
Tired of walking, he sat down on a stone and started eating the fruit he was carrying.
A shadow silently appeared behind him just as he was about to take the second bite of the fruit. As his teeth touched the fruit, another pair of teeth touched his neck.
A light noise of someone falling came as his lifeless body fell to the ground.
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"Are you asleep ?" Zhiqing said as she glanced at Mingyu to her side, who had her eyes closed.
"Yes," Mingyu said lightly without opening her eyes.
"I can't sleep..." Zhiqing again said as she looked bored.
"I can," Mingyu said as she shifted her head to the other side.
"Hmmph..." Zhiqing pouted as she shifted her gaze. She opened the curtains to her side of the window and started looking out.
She looked slightly up as she glanced at the moon that was shining in its full glory. After admiring its beauty for a brief moment, she turned her gaze down.
She looked around the camp that was visibly through her window, out of sheer boredom.
She saw the silent camp that was almost empty. There were only two guards in the near proximity that were looking in the opposite direction. She was about to take her eyes off of them when she noticed a shadow passing through their back.
"What was that? It was so fast that all I could see was a glimpse of a shadow!" Zhiqing exclaimed abruptly as soon as she noticed it.
"Hmm?" Mingyu opened her eyes slowly as she looked towards Zhiqing.
"What happened?" She asked Zhiqing with curiosity.
"I... I think I saw something... it was so fast that I could only catch a glimpse of it... it couldn't be someone from our Kingdom... who was it?" Zhiqing thought with a worried look on her face as she kept staring at the guards with concern.
"Must've been a misconception... You need some sleep" Mingyu said as she lightly shook her head.
"Hmm... maybe," Zhiqing said lightly. She began having doubts. She was about to shift her gaze when that shadow appeared again.
This time she was able to clearly see what that thing looked like as it stopped for a brief second when it opened its big mouth and cut the neck of the guard before it disappeared again.
"It's the Killer of the night…. The Devil Hunter beast!!!" Zhiqing screamed as soon as she saw what the beast looked like.
The beast looked like a wolf, but it was many times bigger than a normal wolf on earth. It had pitch black fur covering its whole body. It had blood-red eyes that made it look even more threatening.
The Devil Hunter beast was around one meter tall. There were two tooths coming out of his mouth just like a sabertooth. Matched with his steel-like claws, it looked quite unique.
"Hmm? devil hunter beast?" Mingyu exclaimed as she moved. She stood up a little as she moved towards the window of Zhiqing's side. She bent forward in such a manner that her hands rested in between Zhiqing and Long Chen, while her thighs touched Long Chen's legs.
She gazed out the window and noticed the body lying on the ground.
"That does look like the attack of the devil hunter beast. They don't attack cultivators because they are hungry, they hunt because they feel the urge to hunt. That's why they just kill, but never take the body of their hunt. Also, they love to go for the neck of their hunts." Mingyu said lightly as she observed the body.
The other guard finally noticed the body of his comrade as he turned back.
"Wake up!!! We are under attack!!!!" He screamed loudly as he ran towards the body of the other guard. He called out again and again as he tried to wake people up and warn the other guards.
"Were you able to observe its strength?" Mingyu inquired without shifting her focus from outside.
"I...I wasn't able..." Before she could complete her sentence, she saw that the shadow appeared again. The guard who had just reached near the body of his dead partner was amidst his screaming when the devil hunter beast attacked him.
He fell to the ground lifeless, while the beast disappeared.
"It's a 9th rank Gold Realm Devil Hunter beast... No one other than your General Yao can fight it as the cultivators of the Gold Core realm are simply too weak in front of it. You don't have to worry though, your General can defeat it," Mingyu let out as she saw the Devil Hunter beast. She was an Earth Realm cultivator, thus she easily was able to see the movements of Devil Hunter beast.
"We are quite unlucky though. A wild devil hunter beast is quite rare to find where I live. The rare few, that were found, had already been tamed by the beast tamers." Mingyu said as she informed Zhiqing.
"They are quite rare here as well. It's my first time seeing one. I've read quite a bit about them though. They are said to be quite dangerous, especially at night." Zhiqing said with a worried look on her face.
"Yea, the wild devil hunter beasts live in hiding, most of the time as they feed on wild beasts. They don't attack a human unprovoked. It's only on their birthdays, that they feel the urge to hunt humans. Looks like it's his birthday today, it's our bad luck that we had to be here at this time." Mingyu said as she shook her head lightly.
Zhiqing had her head down as she worried about her people.
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The guard's screaming worked as now everyone was out of their camp. All the guards had their weapons out as they looked around for the enemy.
General Yao had come out of his camp as well. He stood with Princess Maia and Prince Estelin. He kept both of them behind his back to protect them in case of anything unexpected.
He walked forward as he saw two dead bodies lying in close proximity. He stopped in front of the bodies as he observed the wounds on the body.
"Everyone stay alert!! There is a beast in our camp!! It might even be a group of them, so stay alert and be ready to kill!!!" General Yao said loudly as he warned the guards.
"Master Yao, there's a body here as well!!" One of the guards exclaimed loudly as he found a body in another part of the camp.
"There's one here as well!" Another guard let out as he discovered the 4th body.
"Here is another one!!" The voices of guards kept coming as they found more and more bodies.
Soon, they had discovered over 7 dead bodies. They had 23 guards previously, but now there only remained 16.
"It's here!!! The beast killed one right now!! " One of the guards called out loudly as he saw a guard killed in front of him.
General Yao and the other guards reached there and saw another body.
"Did you see the beast? What did it look like?" General Yao asked with a grave look on his face
"I...I couldn't see it's figure!!! It was too fast!" The guard said as he tried to control his trembling.
"It's alright. Everyone! Get in groups of five. Look for the beast and watch out for your partners!" General Yao ordered everyone.
"You two must stay with me!" General Yao said lightly as he glanced at Maia and Estelin.
Princess Zhiqing looked at General Yao and her niece and nephew as she worried about their safety.
"Don't worry, they are with an Earth Realm Cultivator. Your family will be safe. As for the guards... that's a whole different matter." As soon as Mingyu finished saying her sentence, a scream resounded on the outside as another guard was killed.
Even after making teams, the guards kept dying. They previously had three teams of 5 people each, but now none of them had their original count.
One team had 4 people, while the other two had only three remaining members.
Dingxin kingdom's people heard the commotion as well. They were able to hear screams of Huanji guards.
"They are probably under attack by a group of beasts. Should we go help them?" Royal Tutor Wang said as he looked at Prince Lan.
"Well, we tried going for their help last time out of concern... but it was unneeded. Though this time I'm sure that they are really in trouble. Let's go help them... It's a good chance to impress Princess Maia. Also, That group of beasts will definitely attack us after they are finished with Huanji. We should join up with them." Prince Lan said with a slight smile on his face.
"Good thinking..." Royal Tutor chuckled as he glanced towards Huanji Camp.