Chapter 1

In the desolate mountains of the northern part of the Yilan continent, the midday sun shone on the land covered with shrubs, making the gentle spring breeze feel lazy. In the breeze, a cavalry of about 200 people was slowly making its way. Baron Rank was the leader of this group. According to the customs of the Yilan continent, he was also called a hero, leading his team on a journey across the continent.

Of course, this was all just his own perception; in reality, it was far from the truth. True heroes cherished their reputations greatly. Almost all of them were from noble families and placed a high value on their family's reputation. When they traveled across the continent, they did good deeds, such as eliminating monsters that harassed villages or defeating evil creatures. Through these battles, they could gain a good reputation and valuable treasures. Once their reputation was sufficient, they would not only attract the attention of beautiful women but could even be rewarded by the king. Why would anyone not want to do this?

However, Baron Rank was not like that. His way of making money was through slave hunting. To be precise, he was outwardly a respected hero but in reality, a notorious slave trader. At this moment, he was deep in the heart of the Beast Kingdom, and three days ago, he had just raided a significant Fox Tribe, killing most of the people and capturing the young women alive.

Baron Rank believed that because he had acted swiftly and killed all the witnesses, it would take the Beast Kingdom several days to discover the incident, by which time he would already be out of the kingdom.

In fact, this was not the first time such an event had occurred. Baron Rank had come here several times to capture slaves, and the people of the Beast Kingdom had long hated him, but they had no good way to deal with him. However, it was not surprising that the Beast Kingdom was powerless, as the situation forced their hand.

The total area of the Beast Kingdom was over 7 million square kilometers, but its total population was only about 10 million, with less than two people per square kilometer on average. The terrain within the kingdom was very complex, mostly mountainous and hilly, making it extremely suitable for infiltration. In such a situation, even if 20,000 people entered, it might not be noticed.

To prevent the intrusion of slave traders, the Beast Kingdom had made some arrangements. They placed the powerful combat races on the borders and moved the non-combat races to the heart of the kingdom. This somewhat curbed the activities of human slave traders.

However, for Baron Rank, this arrangement was not very effective because his specialty was finding routes. Baron Rank was very skilled at choosing marching routes and could always find unexpected small paths to bypass the guards on the borders of the Beast Kingdom, allowing him to enter the heart of the kingdom multiple times without incident.

For example, this time, he had successfully made a big haul: about ten beautiful Fox Tribe women, each worth 200 gold coins, plus some furs and magic cores from the tribe, and a gemstone ring from the tribal leader. The total value of this haul was about 5,000 gold coins. For Baron Rank, this was a huge sum. The investment for his 200-person team, including people, horses, and equipment, was only 2,000 gold coins, and the annual expenses were just a few hundred gold coins.

However, for Baron Rank, how to sell the loot was still a headache. After all, the relationship between the human kingdom and the Beast Kingdom was good, and both had explicitly forbidden the sale of slaves from the other side. Of course, this was just a surface phenomenon. In reality, whether it was human nobles or Beast Kingdom leaders, who didn't have a few female slaves from the other side? Where did these female slaves come from? They were all transported by slave traders. When humans raided the Beast Kingdom, the so-called heroes of the Beast Kingdom also wreaked havoc in human-controlled areas. Everyone was equally guilty.

Thus, these female slaves could only be sold on the black market, which was not very safe. His previous partner had run off with his goods, nearly bankrupting him, so he had to be careful this time. As Baron Rank was thinking about how to sell the loot, his deputy, Lotti, suddenly ran over in a panic.

"Sir, things are not good!" Lotti said anxiously.

"What's wrong?" Baron Rank asked, puzzled.

"Our griffin riders haven't returned yet, and they're already an hour late!" Lotti said worriedly. "Could something have happened?"

Baron Rank's heart sank when he heard this. Although he had 200 warriors, their combat strength was not strong. Half of them were ordinary spear soldiers who had only been trained for a few months, barely better than peasants. The rest were not particularly skilled, and the only ones who stood out were about 20 heavily armored infantry. These people could easily bully the Fox Tribe, but if they faced the combat races of the Beast Kingdom, it would be suicide. Even a small group of minotaur warriors could easily cut them to pieces with their battle axes.

Therefore, Baron Rank had spent a lot of money to equip everyone with horses, so they could escape if they encountered enemies. The griffin rider in the team was also hired by Baron Rank to serve as an aerial scout, reporting back at specific times. It was unprecedented for them to be an hour late.

"Could they have been shot down?" Lotti speculated.

"That's impossible. There are no Beast Kingdom air forces or even tribes nearby. This is a completely desolate area, just rocks and grass, not even monsters come here. How could there be a threat to the griffin riders?" Baron Rank shook his head.

Just as the two were puzzled, the ground began to tremble slightly, as if a well-trained cavalry was approaching. However, neither Lotti nor Baron Rank would be foolish enough to think it was a cavalry. On hilly terrain, cavalry could not possibly make such整齐的步伐. As the footsteps drew closer, they soon saw the owner of the footsteps in shock.

On the top of a small hill about a hundred meters to their side, a huge head slowly rose. It was a head with a blood-red mouth, with sharp teeth at least one or two feet long. When it opened its mouth, it could easily swallow a whole warhorse. Although only the head was visible, the terrifying aura already made everyone present freeze in fear.

As the monster's body climbed to the top of the hill, a terrifyingly muscular creature appeared before everyone. Although it moved on all fours like a gorilla, even in this position, it was over ten meters tall. Its thick forearms were about three meters in diameter, and its outstretched palms had extremely sharp claws. No one doubted its power; even a dragon's scales would be easily torn apart by these claws.

It stopped at the top of the hill and let out a huge roar, a visible shockwave erupting from its mouth, causing sand and stones to fly and the sound to reverberate for miles. All the warhorses in Baron Rank's team fell to the ground, defecating and urinating in fear. The terrifying presence of the king of beasts was evident.

"B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B