Chapter 22: Battle for the Forest

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Twenty-four days had passed since Rao Wu first arrived in the strange forest. In that short period, the little rascal obliterated the delicate balance held between the various Bugbear tribes, resulting in never-before-seen chaos. With each new corpse discovered, the limited Bugbears warred even harder, some for revenge, but many more for the welcome excuse to eat real meat.

Several small tribes were wiped out due to the unprecedented war, and even the top two tribes had been whittled down to just over a hundred members each. The leaders of these two tribes had already begun preparations for one final battle to determine the master of the forest.

While the two large tribes geared up for war, the instigator of this mass genocide, Rao Wu, cheered from a tree branch as he watched Xian Da battle a 1st Phase Stage Nine Bugbear Lord.

The past two weeks had completely transformed Xian Da from the clueless little cub into a ruthless killing machine. The cub's naivety had been burned clean in the fierce fires of countless battle, his resolve tempered by numerous near-death encounters.

It was not just Xian Da's resolve that grew in the past two weeks. A closer look revealed that Xian Da had miraculously grown to 1st Phase Stage Nine soul monster! This was only possible because of the endless battles and supply of soul cores that came as a reward. Furthermore, due to the Eternal Spring Water, Xian Da did not have to waste time recuperating like most humans and soul monsters.

This was the time for explosive growth!

"Show him what's worth!" Rao Wu shouted, as Xian Da deftly dodged the Bugbear Lord's club by a hair's breadth. The Bugbear Lord looked worse for the wear. Its body was covered in small but bleeding cuts from the Dusklight Wolf cub's claws. Its swings were now wide and filled with exhaustion after having been toyed with for several minutes.

Xian Da, seizing the microsecond when the club struck the ground, jumped onto, and then dashed up the Bugbear Lord's club. Without needing Rao Wu's prompt, he leaped off the club and then drew a red line across the exhausted Bugbear Lord's throat.

The Bugbear Lord clutched its throat as it collapsed to the ground. Its eyes almost held relief as it embraced the sweet freedom of death.

"Hey, hey. You're getting better. He didn't even touch you once," Rao Wu praised Xian Da as he hopped off the tree.

"That was the final medium tribe," reported the Dryad as she too stepped out from among the trees. Her eyes watered with relief and happiness as she gazed at Rao Wu. "All that's left are the two large tribes." The Dryad could not believe her eyes. If someone had told her that 75% of the Bugbear population would be wiped out in a manner of weeks, she would have laughed them off. Yet the reality was as such before her eyes.

"Hehe," Rao Wu chuckled as he rubbed his nose. "That went better than I expected." Smiling, he looked at the Dryad and whistled, "At this rate, we just might finish up before the 30-day mark. Then you'll be able to join me when I leave."

"Join you?" The Dryad cocked her head to the side. "You already have your third soul pact?"

"Close!" Rao Wu proudly thumped his chest. Xian Da was not the only one to benefit from his rapid growth. As Xian Da's soul trainer, Rao Wu's soul strength grew stronger in tandem with Xian Da and Ju Tu's. "I'm a Stage 8 Soul Apprentice. Just a little more, and I'll break through to Stage 9!" Of course, even though he said just a little more, Rao Wu knew it would not be so simple. Climbing ranks was much more complicated than crossing through stages. It was the same for humans and soul monsters.

"Oh, wow" The Dryad stared at Rao Wu with conflicted emotions. All of a sudden, she wasn't sure whether she wanted him to succeed or not. However, she could not deny the fact that her heartbeat quickened just a little when he said he was a Stage 9 Apprentice. 'Do I really want to go with him?'

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