The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren tried to smooth things over. ”Youʼre being humble. The way I see it, the four of you are at least worth two houses...”

Vivian quickly hit him on the back and quietly said to him, ”If you donʼt know what to say, donʼt say anything.”

The knights and the rest were now a little confused; the Orb of the Holy Synod, which had been missing for months was finally found and even the four masters, who were declared martyrs were now standing right in front of them. They found everything so surreal. The professional knights later came to their senses as their leader turned around and gave his right-hand man some orders, ”Launch the signal. Summon a few teams to escort the sacred orb back to town!”

His right-hand man then shot a flare into the sky. As the flare exploded, their leader suddenly realised something as he looked at the mountains of black rocks, dumbfounded. He turned to Big Beardy and felt a sense of awe. ”Master, a group of rock monsters were here... Were the four of you the ones who cleaned them up?”

Big Beardy pointed at Hao Ren and said frankly, ”He was the one.”

The knight swallowed. He was already stunned enough when he found the bits and pieces of the rock monsters. He would not have connected it to the mercenaries. He would have rather believed that it was the ascetics who had done the incredible thing. But, the ascetics had given all credit to the mediocre mercenary. He found it even more incredible. ”Him? Alone?”

”They killed about two on average.” Hao Ren smiled wryly as he pointed to the others. ”I killed 122.”

The knightʼs jaw completely dropped to the ground this time. He almost could not believe his ears. ”... Are all sorcerers from the Northern Empire monsters?”

Hao Ren stood with his arms crossed, feeling proud. The MDT vibrated in his pocket, buzzing directly into his mind. ”Yeah, keep pretending. Besides running a few rounds and burning some calories, what have you actually done? Even Becky had higher DPS than you!”

The knight knew nothing about what actually happened. Nonetheless, Hao Ren was already a monster in his eyes. He was just a lower-ranking officer, so he did not ask too much. Realising that the air had been cleared, Yʼzaks stepped forward and asked, ”What happened earlier? Were the rock monsters being chased here? We saw the outpost at the lakeside. What happened?”

The knight saw the two-and-a-half-metre giant and he could not help holding on to his helmet. ”Donʼt you know already? Where have you been for the past half month?”

”Weʼve been with them. Not in the Beinz Blood Lake.” Hao Ren pointed at Big Beardy. ”We just came here by teleportation. It was about the Orb and itʼs classified. Weʼll tell the bishop when we see him. Why donʼt you tell us what happened here?”

Using the Orb of the Holy Synod as an excuse worked. The knight was not suspicious of him anymore, and began to relate what had happened as he sighed. ”The rock monsters came from Dragonspine Ridge... You do know, right? Good. About half a month ago, the rock monsters began to multiply in great number and they breached the Leyton defense. There was an ancient route at the side of the mountain range. They penetrated the Gnarled Grove through this path and travelled all the way to this area. We were ordered to round up and terminate these monsters. We had been tracing them for two days, two nights and we successfully cornered them here until you guys finished them all. The lakeside outpost fell a few days ago. Other outposts around the sacred lake have been attacked almost on a daily base. These are not classified intel, so you can ask around and find out. Many mercenaries are guarding the outer lines of defense to prevent the rock monsters from entering the kingdom.”

”How is the situation in Leyton?” Hao Ren asked.

”It has been retaken. Marshal Ophra is guarding the town now. You guys can put up there,” the knight said with a smile as he shrugged. ”But, I cannot guarantee that youʼll get a good nightʼs sleep because of the trembling earth when those rocks run. There have been a few landslides in the nearby mountains as well.”

Suddenly, Big Beardy asked nervously, ”What about the sacred lake? What do the rock monsters want, coming to the sacred lake? Did they spoil the lakewater?”