The Record of Unusual Creatures

Not long after the dust had just settled, there was loud shouts coming from the Gnarled Grove. It sounded like the movement of brigade marching in the forest. Torches glowed like fireflies began to gather in the forest. Lily summoned her Frostfire Claws instinctively while others were on their guards.     

A group of knights emerged from the shadow of the forest amid the rushes of the hooves. They were riding on tall warhorses, draped in armour, marking them as Knights of the Church with a sacred gown printed with the blaze of the Disciples of Glory on the outside. Each of them was wielding a sword shining in a magical glow, as if they were going to war. Behind these knights was a group of mage soldiers who also rode out on horses.     

More soldiers had come out of the jungle on their horses. The latter groups of people were obviously members of the Royal Knights. They scampered to the open beach on the lakeside, but they were dumbfounded to find only black boulders all over the place, and a small group of unknown stranger. The 'prey' that they had been chasing was gone.     

"Halt—"     

There was a shout and the knights stopped. Several captain-like soldiers trod their horses up before Hao Ren. They did not dismount, but clenched their swords cautiously. "Who are you guys? Why are you at the Sacred Lake?"     

Hao Ren was a bit worried and did not know what the situation was like, but he could still told the familiar narrative that he had memorised beforehand. "We are travelling magicians from the northern empire, a mercenary group registered in Holletta. We came to look for the Orb of the Holy Synod."     

He was not sure where these knights came from, so he had only mentioned that they were a mercenary group searching for Orb of the Holy Synod but not mentioned that the Orb had already been found. The middle-aged knight, presumably the captain, became more cautious when he heard the explanation. "Orb? The search operation was called off two weeks ago! You..."     

Just as Hao Ren realised that the situation had changed and began to wonder how he would flip his story, Big Beardy suddenly came up from behind. "Is this the Knight of the Church? Which parish? We are the ascetics carrying the mission of the goddess."     

Big Beardy and the other three ascetics were all wearing tattered grey robes. They usually had a low sense of presence; no one would pay attention to them when they remained quiet. The Knight captain had initially thought that the four grey-robed men were just some desponded mercenaries; but he quickly recognised the grey robe was actually symbol of the ascetics of the Church. He looked at the ascetic when he spoke. Big Beardy drew out a shiny piece of metal from his bosom and waved it before the Knight's eyes. The latter carefully identified it and alighted from his horse. "Ascetic? How is it that you are here? We haven't heard that the Church has sent ascetics here…"     

It seemed that the captain was very cautious; even if he had seen the 'identity proof', he was still convinced. After all, ascetics were a very special group of people among the Disciples of Glory, they were not regular troops, but an elite force only the pope and the goddess had authority over; a small group of ascetics appearing in this place was indeed looked suspicious. Big Beardy carefully examined the insignia of the officer before he removed his hood. "You are the senior knight of Bishop Gelton. You should have seen us four months ago at the Reception Ceremony."     

Reception Ceremony was held just a few months ago when the Orb of the Holy Synod arrived in the Beinz Diocese. When the captain heard the ascetic mentioning about the Orb, he immediately sized up Big Beardy and the other three beside him. He looked shocked. "You...you were the ascetics guarding the Orb of the Holy Synod? How could you be here?"     

Becky now jumped out before them, pretending as leader. "You're asking the obvious! Of course, we found the Orb of the Holy Synod and the four masters. I just don't know how much extra money I can get in return for the four masters other than a manor..."     

Hao Ren quickly dragged back to the big-mouthed mercenary maiden. In fact, there was nothing wrong with Becky, just that when it came to money matter, she would get overly excited. Listening to her words, those in the know knew that the masters had been found, for those not in the know, it almost sounded like she had kidnapped them…     

Big Beardy glanced over his shoulder at Becky emotionlessly. "We may not as precious as the Orb, but we should be worth a few fine horses."     

Hao Ren quickly smoothed it over by saying, "You are too humble, master. People like you, if get kidnapped, should be at least two-unit house worth of ransom money..."     

Vivian punch Hao Ren in the back. "Don't say anything if you don't know how!     

The captain of the knights and the other team leaders were still confused at this time. The Orb of the Holy Synod that had been missing for several months were suddenly found, and even the four masters who were initially listed as 'martyrs' were intact and standing before them. This sudden change of event made them feel unreal. However, these professional soldiers had quickly come to grips with reality. The knight captain suddenly turned to the adjutant behind him. "Send my words! Call the other team members! Escort the sacred object back to town!"     

An aide-de-camp immediately shot a flare into the sky. After the flare exploded in the air, a thought suddenly crossed the knight captain's mind. He looked at the piles of black rocks at the scene in amazement and then at Big Beardy unbelievably. "Master, just now there was a group of rock giants here... Did you cleanse them?"     

Big Beardy pointed at Hao Ren honestly. "He was the one who finished them off."     

The knight captain swallowed. He was already shocked when he first saw the remains of the rock giants on the beach. He looked at the few mercenaries; he was certainly not going to believe that these mercenaries had killed more than a hundred rock-giants singlehandedly. At the most, he could be barely convinced that the powerful ascetics had created this miracle. But now the ascetic had admitted that the credit should go to the unassuming mercenary, which made him feel a little bit unbelievable. "He? Alone?"     

"Each of them killed two on average," Hao Ren smiled and pointed at those around him. "I got the other one hundred and twenty-two."     

The knight captain was wide-mouthed for a long moment before he finally uttered, "Are all magicians of the Northern Empire monsters?"     

With arms crossed, Hao Ren was trying to look master. The MDT vibrated in his pocket and spoke directly into his mind. "Keep bragging! Other than running around and burning some calories, what have you actually done? Even Becky's DSP is way better than yours!"     

The knight captain did not know what had actually happened, but he already treated Hao Ren as a monster. However, he was just an order-taking, low-ranking officer; he would not pursue the details. As there was no more misunderstanding, Y'zaks stepped forward and asked, "What is going on here? Did you drive the rock giants out here? We also passed by the sentry post at the lakeside. What happened over there?"     

The knight captain stared at the two-and-a-half-metre-tall giant, instinctively held his helmet. "You don't know? Where were you all these two weeks?"     

 "I was with them, not in the Beinz area," Hao Ren pointed at Big Beardy. "We just came here through the portal. It is about the Orb. It's confidential. We can only reveal it when we see the bishop. You just explained to us what has been going on here."     

The 'Orb of the Holy Synod' excuse worked. The captain of the knights was not suspicious of him now. He sighed. "The rock giants came from the Dragonspine Ridge... Do you know this? Well, the basic situation is that the number of rock giants had suddenly surged a few months ago. They had once breached the line of defence in Leyton, and an ancient mountain pass had appeared on the mountain flank, allowing many monsters to infiltrate this forest right up to the area around the sacred lake. We were ordered to raid those monsters tonight as we had been tracking them for two days and two nights, and we had successfully driven them to the encirclement this evening. But little did I expect that you have already finished them off. As for the lakeside sentry post, it had fallen a few days ago. The few sentry posts around the sacred lake have been under attack almost every day... These are not really secrets. You would know when you get back. Many mercenaries are now guarding the perimeter to prevent the rock giants from entering into the interior of the Kingdom."     

"What happened to the town of Leyton?" Hao Ren asked casually.     

"Marshal Ophra is there guarding the town. It has been recaptured. You can rest there," said the captain of the knights, shrugging and smiling. "I just can't guarantee you a good night's sleep because the earth will shake when those big monsters are on the move. And the nearby mountains have been cracking open several times a day."     

Big Beardy suddenly asked nervously, "How about the sacred lake? What did the monsters really want to do with the sacred lake? Did they damage the lake?"