Chapter 64

Chapter 64

The outpost serves another function besides guarding the edge of the Black Forest: it acquires the spoils of adventurers' hunts within the forest.

Here, adventurers can sell their hunted prey directly.

The final price might be ten to twenty percent lower than if they were to drag the prey back to the city for detailed processing and sale, but it is more convenient, faster, and saves time.

After all, walking from here to the city takes two days even without stopping.

The cost of this time is something many cannot afford, so the outpost's business has always been good.

Lancelot glanced at Silem and did not make a decision himself. "Silem, this is Little Eight's hunting achievement, which is essentially yours. How do you want to handle it?"

Silem was about to speak when he suddenly seemed to sense something, hesitating as he looked at Little Eight with a momentary blank expression. "Um, Little Eight wants to take this guy back and show Little Yi and the others to make them envious..."

Upon hearing this, everyone present exchanged puzzled looks.

Was the child talking as if the Crystal Ice Flame Hound was communicating with him?

Perhaps he’s had a mental breakdown!

Even Simon looked at his brother with concern.

"How do you know what it's thinking?" Lancelot frowned at Silem.

"I, I don't know. I just feel that Little Eight is thinking that way," Silem said, looking bewildered at Lancelot, his eyes filled with genuine confusion.

He didn’t know why he had such a feeling.

It was just that in that instant, when he met Little Eight's gaze, a sudden intuition arose in his mind.

He felt certain that Little Eight was thinking exactly that.

Even though Silem couldn't provide any evidence.

"Alright, I understand." Lancelot nodded. "Go inside and rest. Later tonight, I will bring you and your prey back."

Lancelot did not intend to let Silem return to the Animal Pet Shop alone; he would personally escort him back. Otherwise, if anything happened on the way, Lancelot wouldn’t be able to face Lorant.

Stephanie walked over to the Black Gold Ironclad Python and gently touched its massive scales.

As her fingers made contact, a wave of magic spread from her fingertips onto the corpse.

The knights pulling the corpse suddenly found their burden significantly lighter. Although the corpse still dragged on the ground, it was much easier to pull now.

After casting the levitation spell, Stephanie patted the large, iridescent black scale beneath her hand. "Alright, go out through the front gate of the outpost. Do not linger inside and disrupt the order!"

With the ownership of the creature established, the Black Gold Yew Squad formally took charge of the corpse as representatives of Silem.

Naturally, Stephanie took on the miscellaneous tasks that Lancelot would never do, leading the outpost's knights inside.

The beast tide had not yet appeared, and the adventuring teams who saw the signal had gathered at the outpost's entrance.

Outpost Five systematically escorted each team of adventurers out of the outpost.

In such situations, the presence of adventuring teams provides little help and instead disrupts the outpost's order.

Once the beast tide situation stabilizes, these adventuring teams will return to the frontline of the Black Forest under the outpost's guidance to hunt down the beasts attempting to breach human defenses.

Even the Knight Regiment alone could not directly confront a Level One beast tide.

Until dusk, the sentries’ view remained eerily silent.

The resident mages and several mages from the Mauplan Mage Association, who had arrived upon notification, dispatched their Mage Eyes throughout the Black Forest to monitor its movements.

Unfortunately, due to the complex terrain, they had not yet pinpointed the source of the beast tide.

With the arrival of the first batch of reinforcements from the Knight Regiment, Lancelot's team ended their first day of duty, handed over to another team, and left the outpost to rest at their quarters.

The beast tide would not end overnight, and keeping high-level combatants constantly engaged was impractical. The Knight Regiment would not make such a foolish mistake.

When the Black Gold Yew Squad returned to the Animal Pet Shop with Silem and the enormous Black Gold Ironclad Python, Lorant had just finished making dumplings.

He had prepared too much filling earlier. After calming down in the afternoon, Lorant found himself restless and unable to focus, even making mistakes twice during breeding simulations. He decided to finish the filling by himself to calm his nerves through repetitive work.

"Brother!" Silem, now safe, was incredibly excited. In the outpost, he couldn't get enough of examining the Black Gold Ironclad Python that Little Eight had hunted, and he couldn't wait to call out as they approached the Animal Pet Shop.

Lorant, hearing his brother's voice, rushed out and saw eleven Crystal Ice Flame Hounds standing in a row before the fence, staring seriously at the outside of the shop.

Lorant reached for the door, but the White-Haired Knight beat him to it, stepping in front of him with long strides.

"The security system is active. Don't come out. Turn off the protective shield first, and then we'll come in," Lancelot promptly stopped Lorant. "Exiting from the inside causes some wear on the system, although minimal. Better to be cautious."

"Oh, okay, give me a moment."

Lorant ran back to deactivate the security system. When he came out again, everyone had already entered the backyard.

In the backyard of the Animal Pet Shop lay a massive beast corpse, resembling a wall.

Lorant stood in the corridor, stunned.

"This..."

In his haste to go out, he hadn't taken the time to look closely, barely noticing the imposing size of the creature.

The giant black snake's scales shimmered with an ethereal rainbow glow under the moonlight, exuding an eerie beauty.

The lifeless body still retained the imposing presence of a seventh-level beast.

The massive snake head was placed on a cart, but even though it was the largest cart the outpost could find, the head still extended well beyond it, with only one-third of it actually on the cart.

The terrifying wound in the center of its forehead and the eye that had become a black hole told everyone about the intensity of the battle.