“How far can you spread your [Observation]?” Wukong asked as the falcon hovered above the clouds so as not to alert the soldiers below to their arrival.
“A kilometre and a half,” Ace answered honestly.
“Can you sense any magical beasts?” Wukong asked, ignoring the shock of Ace’s ridiculous range of perception.
“No, none,” Ace replied.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Ace asked, not understanding Wukong’s frown.
“A beast tide is a pretty regular occurrence around here. Once or twice a year, the Forest of darkness over there will become overpopulated with beasts. As a result, the stronger beasts in the depths of the forest force the weaker ones to attack the human settlements that touch the borders of the forest.
It's not usually too hard to withstand, though, as the strongest beasts that come out tend to be of the seventh or eighth ranks, with there rarely being beasts of the ninth rank.
But the most important thing to remember is that a beast tide operates almost like that of a ripple. Whether it’s a seventh, eighth or even ninth rank beast leading the tide, until those stronger beasts reach the periphery of the forest, the weaker beasts that generally reside there would still be there.”
“So where are the weaker beasts now?” Ace asked, still not completely understanding the problem.
Wukong didn’t seem to hear Ace as he silently gazed at the forest of darkness with a dignified expression. “Take us down.”
Hearing Wukong’s order, the giant falcon descended slowly.
Ace’s body tensed, thinking that the archers standing on the walls might fire at them, thinking the falcon was part of the beast tide, but it seemed he was overthinking. In fact, it almost looked as if the archers felt relief when they saw the bird.
“Here, take this to first brother and hurry!” Wukong ordered the bird as he tossed it a note to catch with its beak before lifting Ace with one arm and jumping off its back, landing outside a large manor stationed in the centre of the city.
“Would it have killed you to give me a heads-up before doing that?” Ace asked, clearly not a fan of being manhandled like that.
But before Wukong could respond, Ace sensed the emergence of several powerful individuals exiting the large manor.
‘Five Warriors and two mages, but all of them are at least of the sixth rank, and one’s actually at the eighth rank like Wukong.’ Ace noted.
“Ahh, thank God you made it in time!” The man in the centre of the group said in relief.
It wasn’t hard for Ace to guess that he was the one in charge. Not only because he was the strongest but also due to the looks of respect he got from the others.
The man had long sandy brown hair tied in a ponytail and emerald-green eyes that shone with an innate confidence that was hard to fake. He was dressed in a simple, lightweight silver armour that only seemed to add a layer of elegance to his valiant aura.
“Haha, how is this king’s favourite Brother-In-Law?” Wukong asked as he gave the man a bear hug.
“Put me down, you brat. You’ll ruin my image in front of my people.” Even though he said that, from where Ace stood, it looked as if there was nothing the man could say or do that would make the others even begin to think any less of him.
“And who do we have here?” He asked whilst looking at Ace.
“Ahh yeah, Ace, this is Venerin Lilt, also known as Lord Silverlight. An epithet he got because flashing lights of silver are all you see when his sword moves.” Wukong introduced.
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“When an expert like you says that, it only feels like you’re mocking me!” Venerin interjected with a wry smile.
“Haha, you think too much!” Wukong replied. “Ooh, and this is Ace, one of the talents this king recruited to join the Pavilion.”
“To be called a talent by little Kong, you must really be quite the talent,” Venerin said as he extended his hand to shake the Ace’s.
“Little Kong?” Ace asked, looking back with a mischievous smile.
“Don’t even think about it, you snot-nosed brat!” Wukong said as he glared at Ace.
Ace smirked slightly but didn’t say anything more on the topic. Instead, he raised his hands to meet the handsome city lords. “Nice to meet you too.”
Venerin nodded at the boy before turning back to Wukong. “But why did you bring him here? This is no place for a child!”
“He’s here because this is his opportunity to prove himself,” Wukong explained.
Ace merely snorted, thinking Wukong was mockingly referring to his approaching deadline to comprehend one with the glaive. Still, the city lord looked wide-eyed at the child, then back at his brother-in-law, seeming to have understood something.
Before he could say anything on the matter, Venerin’s gaze turned serious as he spun his head to face the gates where the sound of a gong being hit originated.
Venerin and his men ran in the direction of the wall, with Wukong and Ace following beside them.
“How much do you know?” Wukong asked.
“I know that the weaker magical beasts that used to roam the periphery of the forest of darkness seem to have disappeared,” Venerin replied. “Something like this has only happened once before.
I can’t be sure, but the last time it happened, it was because a saint-level magical beast was leading them.”
“Saint?!” Ace blurted out in shock.
Seeing Ace’s shock, Wukong decided to explain. “Magical beasts have lower levels of intelligence than humans, but their intelligence increases with every rank. By the time they reach the seventh rank, their intelligence already matches that of the average child, but as saints, their intelligence is no worse than an adult human.
Typically the beasts would just charge at the human settlements in masse, hoping to crush it, but if a saint-level magical beast were to take control, with their mental dexterity, they’d be able to implement tactics to make the tide far more dangerous.”
“And that’s ignoring the fact that we don’t even have a saint of our own,” Venerin added. “Do you know if Matthias will be able to make it?”
“I gave a note to Elsie to get to him, so hopefully, he should be able to make it in time,” Wukong replied.
“Good, that’s very good!” Venerin said with a hint of hope and relief in his voice.
When they made it to the wall, the archers and soldiers stationed there immediately bowed and moved out of the way of Venerin and his party.
“What’s the latest?” Venerin asked a man Ace could sense was a mage of the fifth rank.
“Milord, I just got back from doing a preliminary scout, and using the spell Windscout, I could sense the emergence of magical beasts. There were too many for me to count, so I came back.” The mage explained.
Having heard that, Wukong glanced at Ace, who merely nodded what Wukong wanted. Within seconds the ape-like warrior saw the genuine shock on Ace’s face.
“There are a few hundred beasts about a kilometre out, all between the second and sixth ranks. None of them are moving; they just seem to be waiting for something.” Ace quietly explained so only Wukong could hear.
Wukong understood that Ace wanted to keep his abilities private for now, and he respected his decision, but the most crucial issue right now was the magical beasts. ‘It looks like I might’ve been right.’
“OPEN THE GATES!” Venerin roared.
As the gates opened, hundreds of warriors swarmed out in a surprisingly orderly fashion before taking position in front of the walls.
He didn’t know if it was because they were about to battle with an army of magical beasts or if they knew something more was coming, but Ace could sense the fear exuding from the soldiers below.
“Every year we face the beast tide, and every year we remain standing.” With his battle qi, Venerin, who wasn’t speaking particularly loudly, could be heard clearly even by the soldier’s standing furthest away as if he was right beside them. “This will likely be our toughest challenge to date, but I promise that tomorrow…
SILVERLIGHT CITY WILL STILL STAND!”
One of the rank seven warriors who had been following Venerin since they left the manor, a large lance-wielding woman, stepped forward and roared. “FOR SILVERLIGHT CITY!”
“FOR SILVERLIGHT CITY!” Without fail, every foot soldier, mage, and archer all roared back in unison.
And just like that, the nerves and fear the soldiers were feeling were reduced drastically. Every soldier stood with their backs straight and eyes blazing with an unwavering will.
“Sometimes a good leader is more important than a strong one,” Wukong said as he watched that scene with admiration.
Hearing that, the image of a certain muscular back came to mind. It was a back that radiated an indomitable aura, a back that made his enemies cower but brought strength to his allies.
“You’re right about that!” Ace said as a wistful smile suffused his lips.
His reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Wukong but now was neither the time nor the place to get distracted.