Hearing Jack say the words Boss, could only mean one thing. That the person Eve had just called a boy, was their Guild leader. Mike and Eve quickly noticed that just like Jack and Gary, Ray also had an F Rank tag.

While Eve and Mike where busy thinking about just who Ray was, Lilly and Lenny were speechless at what they had just seen. Ray had appeared out of thin air. It wasn't a skill like the shadow steps the black sash knights used, it was clearly a magical spell.

The reasons why Lenny and Lilly were the most shocked about this was because they both knew a lot about magic. Even Lenny with his countless forbidden and lost arts, couldn't use teleportation magic. It was a skill that only the very top mages could use.

The more Lenny was learning about the strange boy with red hair, the more interested he was in his background. The boy looked to be 20 at most yet he had skills that took years to learn. Perhaps he was using a spell to make him look younger Lenny thought.

If that was the case then Lenny would want to learn his secret even more. Even Lenny could at most look 40 while being over the age of a hundred.

Before the group set off, Lilly had provided each person with a horse of their own. The hunting ground chosen was quite far away from the city. This was done on purpose just in case anything was to happen.

The group headed off into the forest that would eventually lead them to an old abandoned town. The town was once vibrant and busy with people but a war between the Allure kingdom and the Bently kingdom had caused the town to go in ruin.

When the Shadow plague arrived and the treaty was signed and the war stopped but the town was never rebuilt. In the end, beasts took over it and created nests in the area making it now one of Kelberg's hunting grounds.

On their way to the hunting ground, they had to past through a forest. The group was following along the trail. Berg took the lead with Lilly, Ark and Lenny slightly behind him. Then there was the little pond guild and their archers and finally Ray, Jack and Gary.

"Everyone stay on alert.

" Lilly said,

"I do not believe the shadow plague will be as honourable as they claim, there is a high chance of ambush.

"

Eve and the other members of the guild Gulped. They couldn't help but constantly look around them, tense as if waiting for something to pop out at any second.

Duels were actually not that uncommon in times of war. If two armies were of equal strength and the two leaders knew this, instead of sacrificing a load of their soldiers, each kingdom would put up their best fighter. If the war continued after anyway, the team that one the duel would often get a huge morale boost after defeating the enemy's best fighter.

But there were unwritten rules when these duels happened. No one was to get involved in the fight between two warriors. What the demon had suggested is one of these duels but the question on everyone's mind was, would a minion of the Shadow plague be able to keep their word.

"Hey Ray, you can use your eye thing right?

" Gary asked.

"So can't you tell us if they're hiding or not.

"

"I'm afraid that it only works for low tier creatures, for example when we were down below, the Slime Snake had managed to hide its presence from me. I'm afraid the stronger the beast is, the harder it is to find them.

"

Rays word didn't bring Gary any confidence. While walking through the forest he too felt like something was watching them. Gary placed his hand on his trusty black sword. The hilt part had been wrapped around in cloth. This way Ray wouldn't know it was the same black sword that was meant to be kept away at Avrion.

Although Gary knew Ray wasn't stupid, if Gary used the sword once most likely Ray would know straight away what it was and take it off him. Gary would only use it this time if their very lives depended on it.

As the group continued the venture forward eventually, they ran into a thick fog. Each member was only able to see the man in front of them and the footpath below. Then Gary glimpsed something in a grove of pines about 20 meters away.

An unknown that appeared to be a shadow. The shadow itself looked like it had many smaller shadows on itself moving about. The distance was far and Gary couldn't quite make out what it was.

"There's something up ahead!

" Ray shouted.

Although Ray's dragon eyes weren't able to spot the creature, his eyesight was a little better than Gary's.

"Get in formation,

" Lilly shouted.

The group then huddled together and formed a circle making sure they were protected from all sides. Berg made sure that Lilly stayed behind him. He would do his best to protect Lilly at all costs, it was his mission after all.

"What do you see?

" Lilly asked.

Ray pointed in the direction of the figure in the fog.

"I don't know, I'm not sure what it is, the fog is too thick.

"

The group then started to move together slowly towards where Ray pointed. Eventually, the others could see the same shadowy figure but when they got closer, the figure quickly had disappeared.

"It looks like it ran away,

" Eve said.

"Do you think it was here for us?

" Mike asked.

"Most likely,

" Lenny replied,

" possibly a scout for the others, even this fog is strangely thick.

"

The company rode on. Allowing the horses to set the pace. The group started to relax a little as they hadn't experienced any encounters like the one before. Eventually, the forest path started to lead downwards downhill. There was a stretch of a long trail that led to a more open area.

But as they neared the bottom of the path something emerged from the mist and blocked their path. It was a human-shaped figure but resembled nothing of a human itself.

It was a beast that looked like it had been mashed up together with other beasts. Eyes all over its body varying in sizes and shapes. Multiple Limbs from different part of an animal.

��Everyone stop!

" Lenny shouted,

"Don't move, if anyone moves we will die.

"

****

Special notice, the next two chapters are Privilege chapters. This has now become a site requirement for new contracted authors. Although I don't want my fans to miss out on the chapters so I have set the Price at 1 coin for two chapters.

If you don't know what Privilege is then please read a special chapter that I will create, Chapter 0 called Privilege chapters.