Arthur's hand holding the bow trembled slightly, not from fear but excitement.

From the reactions of Keynes and the mercenaries, it was clear that the upcoming battle would be anything but simple. Encountering such a battle on his first mission, the young man's heart pounded excitedly.

Soon, Angus's figure appeared in Arthur's field of vision. Angus was running frantically, occasionally looking back.

To Arthur, Angus's running seemed somewhat clumsy, even laughable, but he noticed that Keynes and the surrounding mercenaries all had stern expressions.

"Fight, fight, it's the Biphen!" Angus's voice, almost torn with urgency, came through.

Only then did Arthur see clearly that Angus was fleeing for his life. Behind Angus, wave after wave of grey-white surged crazily after him, as if ready to engulf him at any moment.

These were not waves, but a pack of grey-white beasts!

As they got closer, the ferocious appearance of these creatures called Biphen became clearly imprinted in Arthur's eyes.

The Biphen were slightly smaller than the hunting dogs bred by humans, with mouths full of sharp canine teeth. Their head fur was white, while the fur from the neck down turned grey. What was most peculiar was that these creatures had two fluffy tails like those of foxes. The rapid movement of these two long tails allowed the Biphen to perform short-distance glides close to the ground, making even Angus, a fifth-level warrior, only slightly faster than these beasts.

Biphen were creatures between wild beasts and first-level magical beasts. The reason they couldn't be classified as first-level magical beasts was due to a controversy within the Mage Guild.

The human definition of a magical beast is that the creature must possess innate magical abilities, but Biphen do not have innate magic. However, Biphen possess a bloodthirsty ability, which doubles their vitality and attack power in a bloodthirsty state, relentlessly hunting until death. The mainstream view within the Mage Guild considers bloodthirstiness outside the realm of magic, although many mages regard it as a branch of dark magic. This view, however, is not accepted by the mainstream since the dark magic tradition on the continent has been broken for thousands of years.

Regardless of how the Mage Guild characterizes Biphen, Keynes and the old mercenaries know all too well how terrifying these not-so-large beasts are. Due to their terrifying speed and ferocious nature, a small group of mercenaries encountering a Biphen pack means annihilation.

The Biphen pack was getting closer, with hundreds of them chasing after Angus. Their running was accompanied by a low growling sound that sent chills down one's spine.

"Come on, you little beasts!" Tony cursed under his breath as he pulled the trigger, and with a click, a qi-wrapped crossbow bolt shot out rapidly.

The special steel crossbow of the human army has an effective range of 150 meters. The crossbow bolt flew past Angus, embedding itself in the ground ahead of the Biphen pack.

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Taking a deep breath, Tony calmly shot a second arrow.

A spray of blood erupted among the Biphen pack, and the leading beast fell to the ground.

Far from being deterred by the blood, it completely triggered the Biphen's ferocity, their speed suddenly increasing, and their low growls almost turning into roars.

A drop of blood had put the entire pack into a bloodthirsty state!

"Tony, you bastard, you want to kill me!" Angus cursed loudly. His speed was originally only slightly faster than the pack's, but the Biphen's increased speed quickly caught up to Angus, biting at his buttocks.

Tony rubbed his nose awkwardly, then pulled the trigger again, causing another spray of blood among the pack.

Tony laughed and threw the steel crossbow to the ground, "Shoot, brothers, or Angus's butt won't be saved."

After Tony's three arrows, the pack had charged within the best shooting range of a hundred meters. Following Tony's call, crossbow bolts whistled out one after another.

The mercenaries deliberately avoided Angus, with clusters of blood blossoming behind him, and Biphen after Biphen fell to the ground.

Behind the running man was a burst of blood red, presenting a strangely beautiful scene on the battlefield, which made Arthur feel dazed, forgetting to shoot for a moment.

"Arthur!" Keynes's low roar brought Arthur back to reality.

Arthur blushed and hurriedly shot his first arrow, but it went wildly off target.

The mercenaries fired three volleys of crossbow bolts as quickly as possible, then, like Tony, threw their steel crossbows to the ground, drawing shields, long swords, and axes for close combat.

While the crossbow had the advantages of stronger lethality and higher accuracy, it also had an unavoidable drawback: long reloading time. Even the best steel crossbow could only fire three bolts in succession. After emptying the magazine, the crossbow became useless, with no time to reload on the battlefield.

The mercenaries, lacking Tony's skill to kill with one arrow, managed to kill only a few dozen Biphen in the front with their three volleys. The pack had already charged within fifty meters.

Standing next to Keynes, Arthur fired his second and third arrows, this time not missing by a wide margin. One arrow shot directly into a Biphen's mouth, and another pinned a Biphen to the ground.

Arthur had no chance to shoot a fourth arrow as the vanguard of the beast tide crashed hard into the first line of mercenaries.

The mercenaries did not rashly charge out but stood in formation, swinging their weapons to kill one Biphen after another.

After the goblin camp years ago, Arthur once again experienced up close the combat prowess of the Blue Rose mercenaries, akin to military operations.

The mercenaries lined up, each facing only one Biphen's attack. For Biphen attacking from the side, nearby or behind mercenaries would actively block them.

Angus and Tony, who had retreated into the ranks, moved quickly through the front lines, adding one or two crucial strikes.

First-level Biphen against third-level mercenaries, without the advantage of numbers, no matter how fierce these creatures were, they could not escape being slaughtered. Soon, three or four corpses piled up in front of each mercenary in the first row.

The pack was quickly reduced by half, but these Biphen still charged fearlessly. Even with their abdomens pierced by a sword, they stretched their necks to bite the mercenaries' arms, showing extreme ferocity. Many mercenaries were slightly injured.

The pack also tried to bypass the front-line mercenaries and attack from the sides but were blocked by the prepared mercenaries.

When only a few dozen Biphen were left, having been slaughtered, the remaining beasts finally became afraid and started to flee.

Throughout the process, Keynes, Edlin, and Ilya, hidden in the shadows, did not make a move, and Keynes even stopped the mercenaries from pursuing the remaining beasts.

This victory brought no joy to Keynes. Looking at the bodies scattered on the ground, his brows remained furrowed, "We've just entered the mountains and already encountered a group of magical beasts. It seems this mission is destined not to go smoothly..."