Many roars echoed within the forest.

"TORKUNS!" A woman in the group let out a shrill scream, her face covered in panic.

"Humph. They are just apes." The leader scoffed as he released his aura.

*Boom!* the ground beneath his feet cracked.

Joe and Arlo's pupils turned into thin slits as they both spoke out simultaneously:

"A mid-stage advanced mage."

That wasn't all though, as the old man also walked beside the leader, his aura also exploding out.

"An early-stage advanced mage." Joe fell on his rear in horror as he kept muttering:

"We are finished…we are finished…we are finished..."

Arlo on the other hand quickly regained his calm. However, a grave expression remained on his face.

'There is no way we can escape from this group.' They both simultaneously came to this conclusion.

*Whoosh.*

*Whoosh.*

The wind whistled loudly.

The whole group simultaneously raised their heads to gaze at the top branches of the faraway trees.

Tens of Torkuns were jumping toward them as they let out angry roars.

"Humph." the leader still remained unfazed at this sight when suddenly...

A Torkun roaring at the group suddenly had its head forced down by a huge hand from behind it.

A huge monster about 5m high appeared behind the Torkun, the bone spikes on his back reaching up to his head to form some kind of bone crown.

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It opened its huge mouth and let out a deep roar:

*ROOOOOAR!*

The leader's expression finally changed as the aura around this monster didn't pale in comparison to his at all.

In response to this deep roar, three angry roars echoed out from three different directions of the marching Torkuns.

*ROOOAR!*

*ROOOAR!*

*ROOOAR!*

Three Torkuns of about 4m high appeared amongst the group.

Finally, the leader's face became completely pale, and he screamed at the top of his lungs:

"RUN!"

He didn't wait for the others as he immediately turned around and grabbed both Joe and Arlo under both his armpits, and sped off into the distance.

The others finally regained their bearing, and they immediately ran for dear life.

What was surprising was that the wooden cart was left behind.

Poor brothers...

…..

The leader and the old man ran out of the forest.

It wasn't even up to five breaths later that four enormous Torkuns appeared at the edge of the forest and let out angry roars at the fleeing duo; if Joe and Arlo are not counted.

Surprisingly, the Torkuns just continued to let out roars, but they didn't leave the forest.

After covering a distance of thousands of meters from the forest, the duo finally stopped.

The leader's face was pale, and his expression was unsightly.

Every member of his group aside from him and the old man had perished in that forest.

In his anger, he threw Arlo and Joe roughly on the ground.

He was just about to let out a bit of his anger on these two little brats when the old man beside him suddenly said with a trembling voice.

"Lea-leader, all our food rations and water were with Max."

The leader stood stunned on the spot before he let out an angry roar at the crimson sky.

"AAAAAH!"

After a while, something suddenly flashed in the mind of the old man.

"Leader, shouldn't there be a small pond not far from the forest?"

"Huh?" the leader was stunned once more for a while before he suddenly spoke in a hopeful voice:

"Yes, yes. There should be one, and it shouldn't be that far. At most, it would take an hour to walk there." He let out a breath of relief.

Looking at the endless red plain before them that was devoid of any life, he didn't dare imagine how they would survive with no food and water especially after they used up most of their energy to escape from the Torkuns.

Turning his eyes to the little brats, he thought in his mind:

'We can't eat these brats, they are our life fortune, especially the human.'

They were at the edge of the central continent and it would take them three days to reach the northern continent ruled by the royal vampires.

Thinking of the fortune he would soon receive, an expectant smile appeared on his face as he said:

"Let us find that lake first before we go to the northern continent."

Both Arlo and Joe's bodies trembled heavily. Though it was for different reasons, their faces both became pale as they thought silently:

'Hope it is not that lake.'

'The nor-northern continent? We are doomed!'

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