Danger?

Along the way, they did not come across any beasts, Raymond was the first to notice this anomaly.

"Hey! Is it just me, or do you guys feel like the wildlife here is trying to avoid us?"

Raymond asked curiously.

Sasha and Jasmine too, come to have realisation as they nodded in silent agreement.

Raymond had his curiosity piqued by what was happening around him as he felt the magical beasts far stronger than those present at the outer perimeter scurrying around as soon as he sensed them with his sharp senses.

'Are they feeling threatened by me?'

Raymond recalled, having heard that the higher the level of magical beasts, the more intelligent they become.

'Is that why they are running away from me? I am sure I haven't done anything to threaten their life.'

What Raymond didn't know was that the animals here were having the same reaction upon seeing him as Sasha had when she first saw him.

Except that these animals weren't as freakish as Sasha— to go seeking death willingly. So they completely avoided Raymond like the plague.

The trio walked in silence as they felt the forest getting quieter the more they walked inside. They soon came across a creek running through the entire length of the forest which seemed to have cut the forest in two.

"Seems like this is where the inner region starts." Raymond voiced out his thoughts.

"Yeah, we still have time to turn back. Are you sure you want to go inside?"

Sasha asked, feeling apprehensive about going further. Even the usually headstrong Sasha was finding the forest creepy.

"Miss Sasha, if you don't want to go inside then you are free to wait here, same goes for you too, Jasmine."

Raymond said, if they really didn't want to come inside then he wouldn't force them.

Jasmine tightly wrapped her hands around his arm.

"No, I am coming with you, Ray."

"Alright, what about you, Miss Sasha?"

"Urghh, fuck it. I am coming too."

Sasha grunted after deciding to go along with them. If she died inside the forest then she didn't have to marry that guy.

They crossed the creek and set foot on the inner region. They could immediately notice the eerie atmosphere of this region.

Their surroundings were deathly quiet, the occasional chirping of birds and insects wasn't present in this part of the forest. Even the wind blew here soundlessly as if it was scared of something.

Raymond found an obscure trail on the grassy ground that was going inside a dense pack of trees. He signalled Jasmine and Sasha to follow him silently as he went along the trail.

Trees in this part of the forest were taller and sturdier than the outer perimeter. Thick branches and dense packs of leaves spread out from the sky reaching trees— making it hard for the sunlight to seep into the forest. Even though it was daytime, the forest seemed to be in a world of its own as the trio found it more enveloped in darkness the more they ventured inside.

The eerily quiet atmosphere made it seem like the forest was alive and devouring the sound and light that should have been ever present in the forest.

Jasmine grasped Raymond's hand tightly in trepidation, even Sasha— who was starting to feel cold all over her body— seemed to be moving closer to him, almost touching his body. Raymond was getting more and more interested in seeing what was inside the forest.

They soon saw a clearing in the forest which was illuminated by the warm sun rays. Sasha, who was in desperate need of warmth, ran towards the clearing.

"Hey! Wait."

Raymond shouted, but those words fell on deaf ears as she sprinted happily towards the clearing. But as soon as she stepped into that region of warmth, the sun rays disappeared abruptly and the ground vanished to reveal a giant sinkhole.

"NOOOO!!!"

Sasha screamed as she felt herself falling into the pit. Raymond bolted from his spot and jumped into the sinkhole.

"NOOO! MASTER!!"

Jasmine screamed in horror as she saw him jumping in.

Sasha felt her brain freezing at the sight of a giant maw of a beast opened wide with rows of sharp teeth and a blood red tongue rolling inside in anticipation of its meal.

She acted hurriedly and tried to form a pair of fire wings to fly away but to her utter horror, she found herself unable to draw her mana. She closed her eyes in despair as she found her escape talisman useless without mana. That's right, she had an escape talisman that would send her away from her current location to one of the safe houses in the Imperial Palace Grounds.

It was extremely rare and her father Emperor had given it to her when she became a mercenary. Even the previously stored mana inside it seemed to be frozen solid in the face of this great beast as it was unable to activate on its own.

-Swish!

She felt the rush of wind beside her and opened her eyes to see Raymond heading for the maw at breakneck speed.

Raymond flipped in the air before he brought his leg down on the snout of the beast in an axe kick.

-Screech!

The beast screeched loudly as it was slammed into the ground by the force of his kick. Raymond— using the momentum of the kick— pushed himself up flying towards Sasha. He grabbed her by the thighs as she was falling headfirst into the hole and flew out of the sinkhole.

Sasha found herself on Raymond's shoulder with his hands wrapped around her thighs as she saw the beast getting back up in anger.

-Roarrr!

The beast roared in anger causing her to flinch, but she soon heard Raymond's voice.

"Err? Miss Sasha, do you know how to fly?"

"Eh?"

Only now she realised that she was outside the sinkhole flying towards the sky. She shook herself awake and formed fiery wings on her back.

Raymond pulled her by the hips to his front and hugged her waist tightly as she flew towards Jasmine. They were face to face in this situation and Sasha found herself drowning in his black eyes.

Just as they reached the ground where Jasmine was standing they heard another roar of the beast, which pulled Sasha out of her daze.

-Roarrr!

Then they saw it. Saw the beast for what it actually was.

Wind surged erratically as it flapped its dark wings and flew out of the sinkhole.

It was an obsidian wyvern of enormous proportion. Its pitch black reptilian body stretched more than 60 metres long and ended in a spiky tail with a massive wingspan of nearly 120 metres. Inky black smoke swirled around the length of its body.

"T-that's demonic."

Jasmine uttered with disbelief and fear etched across her features.

𝘗𝘶𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘦?

It narrowed its bloody eyes on Raymond and spoke with a deep guttural voice.

Raymond snorted, feeling absolutely safe in front of this gigantic creature. He had casually kicked its mouth which caused it to slam into the ground, that pretty much assured him that he could defeat this wyvern.

Sasha barfed feeling the dark miasma of the wyvern assaulting her senses. As a descendant of a pure creature like phoenix, she was highly sensitive to dark magic.

The wyvern seemed to be enraged—being laughed at— as it opened its mouth. Mana surged to its mouth as it shot out a thick ray of black light towards the trio.

Raymond sensing the danger to his clothes and his companions grabbed their hands and escaped from the path of that destructive light.

Trees and ground disappeared for miles as a deep chasm formed in the direction they were standing in previously.

"Oy, oy, stupid lizard. Stop destroying the forest."

Raymond taunted in his smug voice causing the wyvern's temper to shoot through the roof.

-Roarrr!

It roared furiously and snapped its mouth towards Raymond intending to swallow him whole.

This time Raymond didn't run, instead punched the wyvern in its teeth. It winced in pain when the shattered teeth were embedded into the soft part of its mouth and tongue.

"It's a level 9 demonic beast, and YOU! You destroyed its teeth so easily?"

Sasha fell on her butt in disbelief. Level 9 beast was equal to someone at the Martial Monarch realm not to mention this wyvern was demonic. It was far stronger than those who followed the orthodox way of cultivation.

Only now she realised the true terror of this brute, he was not someone who should exist in this world according to the norm of this world.

A Martial Minor who could fight a Martial Monarch— others would call her a lunatic and delusional if she told what was happening here.

Wyvern thrashed its tail around in pain as it tried to form the dark ray of light. It shot its pointy tail towards Raymond. Its eyes were bloodshot as it lost its sanity due to the pain.

Raymond sidestepped and grabbed its tail by wrapping his arms around it. He lifted the tail along with the wyvern and flipped it on its back.

Wyvern rolled on the ground to stand on its legs and flapped its wings causing innumerable gigantic black spikes to shoot towards Raymond.

Raymond quickly grabbed Sasha and Jasmine and appeared behind the wyvern. It swivelled its head around to see Raymond standing behind it with a mocking smile on his face.

It roared in anger and completely ignored the pain as it started gathering mana to form a dark ball of miasma that crackled with black lightning.

'Time to end this.'

Raymond thought as he jumped towards its head. He pulled back his elbow and clenched his fist. Space trembled around his fist as he punched the wyvern on the head.

-Roarrr!

It roared in pain as it felt its skull shattering by the force and its long neck swayed left and right before falling to the ground lifelessly.

But the dark ball of miasma kept drawing mana from its body as it grew bigger and bigger in size with black lighting around it getting thicker by the minute.

Raymond appeared behind dumbfounded Jasmine and Sasha as he grabbed them by the scruff of their neck and ran towards the outer perimeter of the forest.

As soon as they arrived outside of the forest they heard a deafening sound of a blast. Raymond ran back inside the forest after dumping them on the ground and making sure both of them were safe.

He quickly ran to the creek that divided the forest only to find it half evaporated. The entire inner region was covered in miasma. Raymond narrowed his eyes to see inside and found nothing but a barren ground devoid of any life. Even the rocks had disappeared from the inner region.

'Holy shit! My dress would have disappeared if I had stayed inside.'

From that day onwards the mysterious forest outside the capital city had its mysterious part removed out of the picture which only made it more mysterious.