Sunset Forest

"If I had known he was so arrogant, I shouldn't have let you go, Caesar."

"I've wronged you." Nina looked at Caesar with a face full of apology.

"It's fine. Even if you hadn't said anything, there was still a high probability I would have gone. After all, meeting young geniuses, getting to know them, and winning them over is a required course for us family descendants. Things like today aren't the first time this has happened." Caesar gave a carefree smile.

"Besides, geniuses like him who don't understand social graces are only a tiny minority. There's no need to ruin our mood over this."

"Boss, your temper is just too good! That's why some people who don't know their place dare to put on airs in front of you." The fatty stood up for Caesar.

The Thin Monkey, who was silently wiping his long blade nearby, also spoke up abruptly. "Who isn't a genius if they can come to the Sunset Forest before the age of twenty? If we meet such idiots who think they're talented and look down on others in the Sunset Forest, don't let us run into them. A single slash will teach them to behave."

"No need... no need to cause conflict because of me." Caesar patted the Thin Monkey on the shoulder.

"It was just a few words. I won't lose a piece of flesh over it."

"The boss is just too gentle!" another young female mage said.

Just as the five were talking, in a dense forest a hundred meters ahead of them, several men dressed in green tactical gear with camouflage paint on their faces stared coldly at the approaching Xiao Yan and the group of five led by Nina.

Seeing Xiao Yan walk into their attack range first, the ambushing men pulled their longbows into full moons. Just as they were about to fire, the middle-aged man in the lead suddenly spoke up. "Let this one pass, target the five behind!" The middle-aged man stared at Xiao Yan's youthful face, a hint of gravity flashing in his eyes.

"What the hell, that guy definitely glanced in my direction just now!"

Passing by the dense forest, Xiao Yan looked strange, muttering to himself. "They didn't actually make a move. I was planning on making some extra money, too."

As early as fifty meters away, Xiao Yan, as a level 7 mage, had noticed the anomaly in this dense forest. He had already finished chanting the level 7 magic Dance of the Fire Snake on the way, just waiting for the bandits to show their heads.

(In the original work, Dance of the Fire Snake is a level 8 magic, but it summons seven fire snakes at once. In this book, the level 7 Dance of the Fire Snake is set to have four fewer snakes compared to the level 8 version.)

Seeing that the bandits in the forest did not make a move, Xiao Yan silently canceled the spell.

Not long after Xiao Yan left, Nina and the other four walked in front of the dense forest. Seeing this, the middle-aged man in ambush moved his lips and began to chant a magic spell.

The longbow in his hand was pulled into a full moon, and he fired suddenly.

The arrow streaked across the distance of several dozen meters at an extremely fast speed, passing directly through Caesar's body from the front.

"Whoosh!"

Caesar, who was targeted by the middle-aged man, felt the hair on his entire body stand on end in an instant, and a sharp pain appeared at his throat.

"Ugh..." Caesar clutched his throat, blood overflowing from between his fingers. He made an incoherent sound, his eyes wide open. The eyes that were once full of confidence were now filled with a desperate longing for life.

Soon, Caesar's eyes dimmed rapidly, and he lost all signs of life, crashing to the ground.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"... Following the middle-aged man's lead, the other men in green also fired their arrows. More than a dozen cold glints carrying endless killing intent pierced through the crowd.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"... Nina, the mage, and the unknown young girl were both struck in vital areas, losing their lives one after another as they fell to the ground.

As for the warrior Thin Monkey and the fatty, they managed to survive thanks to their superior physical control.

"No! Boss, Lily, Nina, ah..." The fatty, holding a spiked club, looked at the tragic deaths of everyone around him. His eyes turned red instantly, and thin battle qi emerged from his skin. He rushed recklessly toward the front into the rain of arrows, intending to avenge his companions.

The middle-aged man hiding in the distant forest saw this scene, a cold, sharp glint flashing in his eyes. He pulled his longbow again and continued to chant a magic spell.

"Whoosh!" The fatty roared as he charged halfway, but before he could react, the arrow had already arrived in front of him. He hurriedly controlled his spiked club to block it, but it was ultimately a step too late.

"Pfft—"

The arrow pierced through the fatty's brain and embedded itself into a rock a hundred meters away.

Until the moment of his death, the fatty had an expression of disbelief, as if he couldn't understand how he had died so easily.

"Idiot!" The middle-aged man sneered.

"Whoosh!" Behind the dead fatty, a black shadow suddenly darted rapidly toward the rear.

It was the young man known as Thin Monkey from Caesar's five-man team. Compared to the reckless fatty, Thin Monkey was much shrewder. He had hidden behind the armored corpse of Caesar the moment the arrows appeared.

After dodging the first round of arrows, while the fatty was charging, Thin Monkey took the opportunity to dash toward the rear, running over a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye.

"Still trying to run? Chase him!"

The middle-aged man waved his hand, and several figures instantly rushed out of the dense forest, chasing in the direction of Thin Monkey.

On the hillside, Xiao Yan witnessed the entire process of the ambush.

He did not choose to intervene or save them. After all, the person standing here right now was not Lynn, who had once met Nina, but Xiao Yan from the Starfire Kingdom.

The two sides were not only strangers but also came from two hostile empires; naturally, Xiao Yan would not offer any help.

Turning around to continue his journey, Xiao Yan relied on his speed as a level 7 warrior, and before long, the Sunset Forest appeared in his line of sight.

It was a vast, boundless forest. Stepping into it, ancient trees hundreds or thousands of years old could be seen everywhere. Weeds were everywhere, thorns were overgrown, and the sound of wriggling could be heard from time to time under the withered fallen leaves. Stepping on them produced a "rustle" sound.

"In the seemingly safe weed patches, a wild beast might be hiding. Under the thick fallen leaves on the ground, there might be a python. In such deep, uninhabited mountains and forests, the terrain is complex, and one must be careful at all times," Xiao Yan thought to himself.

Only by truly stepping into the Sunset Forest could one realize its vastness. Even Xiao Yan, who was already a level 7 warrior, had to keep his spirits up at all times. After all, a high-level magical beast might be lurking in the dozen-meter-high weed patches around him.

Xiao Yan carried his heavy ruler to clear the path, looking around with a vigilant expression as he moved forward slowly.

Along the way, almost every hundred meters, he could see one or two level 1 or 2 magical beasts. Generally, as long as they didn't attack him, Xiao Yan would choose to let them live. After all, for the current Xiao Yan, these low-level magical beasts were nothing more than a matter of an instant-cast spell and provided no training value.

"Splash!" "Splash!" Suddenly, the sound of flowing river water came from not far ahead of Xiao Yan.

In the world of Magical Beasts, rivers are incredibly dangerous, as they often serve as hunting grounds for high-level Magical Beasts.

Hearing the sound of water, Xiao Yan's expression brightened, and he quickened his pace as he walked forward.

"Roar—"

"A tiger's roar, it's a tiger-type Magical Beast!" Recognizing the source of the roar, Xiao Yan's face filled with excitement.

Tiger-type Magical Beasts are mostly level seven or eight, which makes them just right for the current Xiao Yan.