The Fennec Fox

The Demon Blade Legion, one of the world's top three mercenary organizations, was led by a Japanese man who had lived before the Great Nirvana.

During the Great Nirvana Period, Japan was an island nation, and its people had previously caught too many fish. After the sea monsters mutated, they gathered into an army and attacked the island of Japan.

Monsters from the sea, sky, and land joined forces to attack. The Japanese people could only flee as best they could, eventually ending up in Nassau Base City. Now, only a few million remained, making them a small ethnic group in the world.

Though their population was small, their strength was quite impressive. They had a Beyond War God-level powerhouse—the leader of the Demon Blade Legion—and five War God Rank experts. They still held a place in the world.

In a spacious hall in Nassau Base City, thirteen chairs surrounded a silver table. At that moment, only four figures occupied the seats.

At the head of the table sat a man with East Asian features and a fierce, imposing aura. He was Abe Qinghai, leader of the Demon Blade Legion and Japan's strongest man.

"Heh, fifty billion." Abe Qinghai chuckled. "Beiyuan, Franz, Clark, I'm leaving this mission to the three of you. Beiyuan will lead, and you two will support him. Make sure you complete it."

A yellow-skinned man below him straightened his back and shouted, "Hai!"

"Yes."

"Yes," the two brown-skinned men replied in unison.

Abe Qinghai continued, "All right, the three of you may go and prepare."

Beiyuan and the others answered, then left the hall.

As soon as they were outside, Clark spoke up. "The target of this mission is only a War General Rank. Franz and I could take care of him easily. Is there any need to send all three of us?"

He and Franz were both Elementary War Gods. Dealing with someone at War General Rank would be easy, while Beiyuan Gang was an Intermediate War God. Sending them after a War General Rank target seemed like massive overkill.

Franz said casually, "It's fifty billion! Maybe the leader's worried about the dangers of the Sahara Desert itself, or he's considered that some of the highest-ranked students might interfere. They're not to be underestimated either!"

Clark nodded, reluctantly accepting the explanation, though he still felt a little puzzled.

On a flat stretch of sand behind a dune, more than a hundred kilometers from the starting point, Su You and Zhang Yue were hiding inside a tent made to provide shade.

The daytime temperature in the desert was extremely high, and even the monsters generally preferred not to come out during the day. So most people who ventured here chose to travel by night and rest by day. That helped conserve energy and made it easier to track the monsters.

Most of the monsters in the Sahara Desert were small and lived in groups. They usually made their homes beneath the sand, making them difficult to spot. If adventurers let their guard down, they could be ambushed.

Furthermore, since many monsters hid underground, adventurers could easily wander into the territory of a high-level monster if they weren't careful.

For these two reasons, the Sahara Desert had surpassed the Australian Continent and the Amazon Forest to become the foremost of the Three Great Forbidden Lands.

At dusk, Su You and Zhang Yue packed away the tent and hurried across the endless wasteland.

Along the way, they saw quite a few Beast Soldier Rank monsters emerge from underground, but none were worth bothering with. The two moved so quickly that they didn't even disturb them.

Two days later, Su You and Zhang Yue stood behind a dune, gazing at a patch of Red Willow Forest in the distance.

Su You leaned close to Zhang Yue's ear and said, "This Red Willow Forest is where the Fennec Foxes live. They have very keen hearing. During the day, they hide underground and only come out at night."

Zhang Yue discreetly shifted one step to the left and whispered, "The leader of this group of Fennec Foxes should be an Elementary Lord. Do you think we can take it?"

Su You shook his head. "Lord-level Monsters are easy to defeat, but killing one is much harder. Fennec Foxes aren't especially powerful, but they're fast and can burrow underground. I'd say I have only a twenty or thirty percent chance."

Over the past two days, they had found five Elementary Lord-level monsters, but hadn't managed to kill a single one.

Every Lord-level Monster was extremely clever. The moment things went badly, it would have the other monsters in its group hold them back while it escaped. There was simply no way to catch up.

Su You and Zhang Yue hid behind the dune and waited patiently. More than an hour later, the sky gradually darkened. Before long, one by one, monsters with drooping, adorable ears crawled out of holes in the ground beneath the Red Willow Forest.

They were Fennec Foxes. This monster had borne the same name even before the Great Nirvana, and it had been extremely cute. But after mutating during the Great Nirvana, the Fennec Foxes had become much more ferocious, and their bodies had grown several times larger.

Among the fox-type monsters of today, Fennec Foxes ranked in the top five.

Su You leaned close to Zhang Yue's ear and said, "Get ready. Once that Elementary Lord-level Fennec Fox comes out, we'll make some noise and draw them over."

They waited a few more minutes before a giant fox with pure white fur crawled out of the sand. It was over five meters long and nearly two meters tall—an entirely different species from the Fennec Fox of the pre-Nirvana era.

"I'll kill the two Advanced Beast General-level Fennec Foxes first. You'll have to face the others, so be careful," Su You warned her.

There were two Advanced Beast General-level Fennec Foxes in the group. He had to take them both out before he could fight the Lord. Otherwise, Zhang Yue wouldn't last long against two Advanced Beast General-level monsters and a whole swarm of Intermediate and Elementary Beast Generals.

Zhang Yue nodded and handed him a Flying Dagger.

Su You took it and darted out at once, whipping his arm sideways. The Flying Dagger shot toward an Advanced Beast General-level monster with a sonic boom.

A flash of white shot past. Its tail whipped out and knocked the Flying Dagger aside.

But Su You wasn't surprised in the slightest. That sideways throw had only been meant to draw the group's attention. He'd never expected to kill an Advanced Beast General with a single Flying Dagger.

"Eek! Eek!" A series of shrill cries rang out, and the entire group of Fennec Foxes erupted into a frenzy.

The white-haired giant fox kicked off with its hind legs and leaped straight toward him. Behind it, the two Advanced Beast Generals and a large number of Intermediate Beast Generals charged after Su You.

Without hesitation, Su You ran to the side. He was only slightly faster than the two Advanced Beast General-level Fennec Foxes, and nowhere near as fast as the white-haired giant fox.

A fierce gust swept in from behind. The white-haired giant fox quickly caught up with Su You, then swung an enormous paw toward the back of his head.

Su You smiled. His body swayed in an odd, fluid motion, and he dodged the giant fox's blow. Then he planted a foot against its back and used the force to propel himself backward, straight toward the two Advanced Beast General-level monsters charging at him.

Five successive surges of hidden force flooded his arms. The swords in Su You's hands sped up dramatically. Before the two Advanced Beast General-level Fennec Foxes could react, the blades had already reached their throats.

"Pfft!" Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously. The heads of the two Advanced Beast General-level Fennec Foxes flew free of their bodies. Blood sprayed everywhere as their bodies continued rushing forward on momentum.