"First-level monster?" Yuuna immediately changed her expression and jumped down from the cart while holding her bow in her hand.
"We're only five kilometers from the border, how could our luck be so bad?"
The others also began to dismount from their horses, each holding their weapons, and quickly surrounded the cart that Aron was controlling.
With Kim Yoon as the leader, they formed a circular formation, as if to protect Aron. However, in reality, they were protecting the supplies in the cart.
Aron felt the seriousness of the situation and got down from the cart while grabbing his long-barreled weapon. However, as he saw what was approaching them, a chill crept down his back.
About twelve rhinos, three meters tall, with massive bodies and sharp horns nearly a meter long, rushed toward them.
With the roar and vibrations produced by their powerful legs, the sound was like a war drum. Especially as Aron witnessed these rhinos carrying a fierce and wild aura, like ancient beasts completely different from the rhinos in his memory.
"How can rhinos be that big and terrifying!?" Aron muttered nervously, but no one paid him any mind.
Faintly, he heard Kim Yoon's calm voice, "There are three heading toward us. Our goal is not to hunt them, but to avoid them. Get rid of the three rhinos coming our way immediately, and don't worry about the others."
With Kim Yoon's command, they began to prepare for battle. Although the people around him looked serious, their faces showed no panic. Yuuna also began to nock an arrow on her bow.
Just when they were about fifty meters away, the arrow in Yuuna's hand was released, and with the sound of the wind accompanying it, the arrow struck one of the rhino's heads in the middle of the three.
The sound of howling and grunting in pain could be heard from the rhino. However, it was only for a moment and did not stop its charge, continuing toward Aron's group.
Yuuna raised an eyebrow slightly and took an arrow from her back. This time, she quickly grabbed three at once.
In a matter of seconds, three arrows were released from the bow, accompanied by three howls from the rhinos. However, the three rhinos continued to run without stopping, as if they did not care about their wounds.
Aron felt something was off and frowned as he heard everything; were these monsters really that strong?
No one answered Aron's doubts, and now the distance between the rhinos and their line was only thirty meters.
Yuuna shot her arrow for the third time, and all of them hit one eye of each of the rhinos. With that, their movements slowed slightly, but they kept running forward, as if their lives depended on it.
At this moment, Kim Yoon finally realized something was wrong and looked at the other three, "Get rid of them!"
With Kim Yoon's command, the other three immediately moved forward with their weapons in hand. As the battle between the martial artists and the rhinos unfolded, Aron could hardly believe that humans could be that strong.
Perhaps because the three rhinos were already injured, Kim Yoon's three subordinates seemed to have no trouble killing them. However, how did they have the strength to cut through the rhino's body so easily? Even their kicks and punches could push the rhinos, which were estimated to weigh several tons, back several meters.
"Are martial artists really that strong?" Aron muttered in shock and disbelief on his face.
Fortunately, within a few minutes, the three rhinos that had crazily charged toward their group were finally killed and could no longer run. Meanwhile, the other nine rhinos ran in another direction. With that, the crisis that had frightened Aron was finally resolved.
"This is really strange; black rhinos usually live solitary and rarely group together, but why are they coming together and even running in a panic?" Yuuna suddenly said with doubt in her words.
Kim Yoon, who heard this, also felt the same way, but did not speak and only furrowed his brow in thought.
Aron himself was also filled with doubt, but since he was just a beginner in the outside world, he couldn't answer and walked toward the rhino carcass.
Black, hard, and seemingly solid was the skin of this black rhino. With its large and strong body, Aron hesitated slightly and aimed his shot at the carcass's skin. However, he found that the firearm in his hand could not penetrate its skin at all, not even creating a scratch.
"What Yuuna said about firearms not being able to hurt these monsters is indeed true," Aron murmured, and suddenly heard Kim Yoon's hurried voice coming from behind him.
"Hurry and take their monster cores and return to the city."
"Return to the city?" Aside from Yuuna herself, the others were immediately shocked by Kim Yoon's words, and even Aron was confused.
"Leader Kim, with just one hour's journey left, we could reach our destination. Why rush back?" one of them asked, followed by the others.
"Right! We've already traveled more than 55 kilometers and only have 15 kilometers left. Should we go back and be satisfied with just three first-level monster cores?"
"Isn't this a loss?"
Even though Aron did not speak, he was also questioning this in his heart. Looking at Kim Yoon, he was filled with doubt and big questions.
"There's something strange about these rhinos," Kim Yoon said in response, looking at the three carcasses before gazing far into the forest ahead with some consideration.
"Even though they are only first-level monsters, they shouldn't be walking in groups. Moreover, they are running in a panic. Even if Yuuna has seriously injured them, they continue to struggle to run with all their might, as if they are afraid of something. For rhinos, which have an advantage in endurance, to run in panic, I think they are not just ordinary first-level monsters. They might also be second-level monsters or even third-level monsters equivalent to blood purification."
"I agree with Leader Kim," Yuuna nodded in agreement and added, "Even though Leader Kim Yoon is a martial artist of flesh purification level, it would be very dangerous to encounter third-level monsters. Moreover, this is the wild outside the comfort zone."
After hearing Kim Yoon's words and with Yuuna's agreement, Aron and the others finally understood and nodded in agreement. Although there was one person in the group who disagreed, he had to agree because this was the wild.
However, before they could clean up the carcasses of the three rhinos, a deafening sound came from the distance.
The sound came from the front, as if it could penetrate the void, making everyone who heard it fall silent in fear. As martial artists, they knew the power of the sound that was actually the call of a bird.
Even Aron, his face pale with a buzzing head and a tight chest just from hearing it.
"Boom!"
Not long after, with the sound of an explosion, a giant eagle with sharp claws and fangs, the size of a plane, and golden in color, appeared in the sky above everyone's heads.
The majestic aura and tremendous power immediately silenced everything around it. Space and time seemed to freeze, as if the earth had stopped spinning, and everything within a ten-kilometer radius was engulfed in a deadly silence.
"Bird... Golden Wing Roc..." A voice, whose origin was unknown, echoed in his ears, and Aron, now looking like an ant with a pale face and trembling body, could no longer control himself.
But that wasn't all, as another call echoed from the opposite direction, and with that call, the temperature in the sky and earth suddenly rose drastically. As if another sun had appeared in the sky, all the trees and plants that had previously been silent began to burn fiercely.
Impossible... Three-Legged Fire Crow!!" Aron shouted, but no sound was heard.
His entire body was already out of his control, the smell of burning and smoke clouding some of his senses. The only things Aron felt before his consciousness faded to complete darkness were the scream of "Run," the sensation of burning, and the explosions.