After the talk with Mahaansh, Ben went to sleep. He wanted to start his patrolling & resource gathering tomorrow again.
Starting from the next day Ben went out alone. He patrolled the assigned area, avoiding the lairs of lord class creatures. Ben even apprehended some smugglers & poachers. Unknowingly he had become considerably stronger than beginner level knights. Azurbaan, who would stand straight even in front of an entity, had become much more amicable towards Ben. It could feel the latent strength emanating from him.
This continued for about 14 days. No big incident happened. Some of the smugglers & poachers had bounty on their heads, which promptly went to Ben. Silock had also come during this time. All these pushed Ben's savings to about 7.5 million mudras. Now he was really rich. Even with the debt & expenses for his martial arts purchase he would have some money.
Now he only had 9 days in Aatva. During this time he could sense the auras of the 3 Monarch level beasts. One of them was like a candle flickering in wind. He could also sense another aura rising, something other than the 3 monarchs. Out of the 3 monarchs, 2 of them were emitting really malicious auras.
The animals in the forest as well as the people could feel. Any time chaos might start. Some dreaded about it. A few were in anticipation of this chaos.
While Ben was patrolling on the 15th day, with barely 7 more days for Aatva mission to get over, he felt a sudden dread followed by a huge sound & a shockwave. Ben was pushed back a few meters, barely avoiding some rocks, trees & debris flying at him.
After it was settled Ben looked at the direction where the sound came from. There he saw a large lightening flashes on one side & some large tree trunks & a curtain of leaves. Amidst the lightning Ben could make out the silhouette of a large bird in the air. On the wood & one of the tree trunks he could faintly see the form of a large lupus bearing its fangs in an aggressive demeanor. The lightning & the wood were clashing violently. The shockwaves of the battle was rippling through the forest. Two monarchs were ripping the forest apart. The atmosphere of the forest was being ripped through due to the heat produced by the lighting. The land was becoming arid due to the spontaneous growth of trees and plants. Nutrients were being sucked from it. If this continued, it would cause severe damage to the ecosystem and that could cause permanent damage to the forest. As if sensing that & the fear of harming their fellow clans/animals, the two stopped. But the damage was already done. Ben could see that the balance of the forest was disturbed. It was not just on the surface, but deep underground as well.
This came as a blessing in disguise for many 'guardians' like Ben stationed around Aatva. The extensive growth of trees and plants made the roots to go deeper thereby literally tilling all the soil. Many precious metals & minerals surfaced or came close to the surface. Extensive release of energy by the two monarchs caused some plants to produce fruits early. This was especially true for plants that required lot of nitrogen and for plants with medicinal properties. Also many more smugglers & poachers tried to come in, who were easily apprehended. Ben also captured a few of them with bounties pushing his savings to 8 million mudras. When he saw the number on his device, he nearly fainted.
Though Vishok or Mahaansh did not ask about the amount of money, all of them had earned quite substantially. So Mahaansh reminded Ben, "Be careful. Money comes & goes really fast in martial journey. Also don't tell anyone of your bank balance. It can be quite a problem!"
Ben was not going to tell even his parents anyway. He was also happy that neither Mahaansh nor Vishok were interested in his money.
Time trickled by & soon it was the 28th day of the mission. By this time the tension in the forest was palpable. It was also expected that the monarch rank Loxodonta might pass away any time. Also the ascendance of the overlord rank Loxodonta was also above the horizon. There were signs of that in the atmosphere. But the other monarchs will not allow that & would disrupt.
One could hear the cries of loxodontas which were actually wailing about the monarch rank matriarch. Vishok even said that Azurbaan could sense that some male loxodontas which are actually the children and grandchildren of the matriarch being upset and causing a huge ruckus around the forest. Male loxodontas are normally kicked out of the group when they reach maturity. They will only come in when mating season starts, after which they are kicked out again. These male loxodontas were actually quite strong. Combined with their aggressive behaviour, they were a force to be reckoned with. This was also a reason why the other monarchs wanted the loxodontas gone.
But the government would intervene to prevent that. Before that all the weak had to leave the forest. Any martial artist below overlord rank was useless. This is what the government wanted to prevent. But before intervening all the people below overlord rank needed to be out of the forest.
As Ben was conducting the regular patrol, he came across some signs of someone passing. There have been attempts to erase footprints, but some branches were broken. Shrubs were trampled upon. Ben sensed that someone must be nearby. He began to sense & look his surroundings. He slowly moved towards what he thought was the location of the person. As he was moving his foot touched on a string. The next second Ben heard a crashing sound. Turning to his left he saw a large tree trunk coming towards him.
Ben quickly jumped to dodge it. While he was in the air he was hit with a rock. Luckily, he guarded his face. If not, he would have been injured. Ben quickly gained his footing and looked for his opponent. He did not see anyone in his front. Suddenly his senses screamed of danger. He dodged to the side again & escaped. When he looked, a person with a lean build & average height, & his face covered, was standing with one of his feet deeply buried on the ground.
Stranger: "Good reflexes, you dodged it."
Ben: Who are you? Don't you know that this is a restricted area. We are in charge here.
Stranger: If I wanted people to know who I am, I wouldn't bother putting a mask, right? And all I see is a little boy strutting around pretending to be a martial.
Ben: And that strutting boy will kick your ass if you don't surrender.