Chapter 435

Caius was a warrior who had awakened aura and had a certain level of attainment.

It meant that he could skip the interview and become a priest if he went to the Temple of Glory.

It was not impossible for him to directly become a priest if he went to some remote place that lacked manpower.

However, that kind of stable job also meant that the salary was not very high, and the daily life was boring.

For Caius, who had awakened aura, it was clearly not the life he wanted.

Most people would become arrogant after they obtained supernatural powers. They would not be satisfied with their current situation and would crave for an exciting and fresh life of adventure. They would fantasize about becoming rich overnight by exploring ruins or hunting monsters.

It was the same for Caius.

As for the most popular place for exploration, it was undoubtedly the northern border of the Valla Empire.

There was the mysterious church that had a profound background and great power that could hold a grand event like the Twin City Cup; the wood elves that had vanished for a long time but had mysteriously begun to show themselves; the Undead Dragons that could shake mountains and earth had mysteriously appeared and vanished; the murloc island that was said to have descended from the skies; the Bode giants that were as tall as mountains that easily crushed an entire army; and the rumors of a city of dreams that floated in the skies that had only recently begun to spread …

Every single rumor seemed to contain the word 'treasure', enough to stir the nerves of adventurers and fill them with yearning towards the northern borders of the Valla Empire, all of them heading there.

And yet, for some reason, magical creatures were flourishing around the borders of the Valla Empire … no, the entire Valla Empire and its surroundings.

A large number of adventurers who were lacking in ability were thus dissuaded, with some even becoming snacks for magical creatures before they even set foot in the Valla Empire.

Even so, the danger did not stop the adventurers, and instead made them even more fervent.

The reason was simple:

There wasn't even a single magical creature blocking their way, and you dare claim that there's a treasure there?

That was why the adventurers who were confident in their own abilities swarmed towards the Valla Empire, leaving the Valla Empire's border guards nervous for a while, believing that the neighboring countries could not hold back and were about to invade the Empire while it was in turmoil …

Caius was one of the adventurers who swarmed towards the Valla Empire.

While there was still a considerable gap between him and Extraordinary individuals, he was quite good in terms of combat ability, and was naturally confident in his own skills.

— — The treasures that adventurers pursued were never guaranteed to be obtained by the strongest person. Mobility, observation, and luck were all crucial.

And the most important thing was the confidence that no one else could surpass him!

That was why Caius was about to die.

"Why would there be a group of scorpion-tailed apes in a place like this?!"

Although the Scorpion-Tailed Ape sounded like a monkey, it was actually a hellish creature with a demonic bloodline. It looked like a giant lizard standing on its hind legs. It was about 1.2 meters tall, and its body was covered in black spiky scales. Its tail was twice as long as its body, and at the end of its tail was a dark red organ that looked like a scorpion's poisonous pincer.

However, since they were not as dangerous as most of the hell creatures, there were no churches that specifically hunted them. That was why they were distributed in the more remote areas of the continent.

The problem was that while the scorpion-tailed apes were low-class monsters and might not even be able to defeat the Dragonfang, which was categorized as a beast, they lived in packs.

The biggest reason they were categorized as' monsters' was that the stinger on their tails could shoot out venomous stingers. The stingers were not solid and were essentially a spell-like ability. Since they were not particularly toxic, prey of a human's size would only be paralyzed for a moment even if they were shot.

Even so, the smallest group of scorpion-tailed apes had more than five of them (anything less would easily be wiped out by stronger beasts and monsters), and sometimes there would be up to a hundred of them!

A single scorpion-tailed ape's venomous stingers were weak, but it was a problem when there were too many of them.

Just like the saying on Earth, 'To talk about toxicity without dosage is to act like a hooligan', once the dosage increased, even boiling water would kill you …

As a warrior who had awakened his aura, Caius would have a fifty-fifty chance against three to five scorpion-tailed apes. However, the group he encountered was a medium-sized one, with around thirty to fifty of them.

It would be his death if they closed in and surrounded him — even if the lizard monkeys left him with both hands and feet, he would still be shot to death by their stingers.

"Oh no, there's a cliff up ahead!"

Caius, who had lost his way in the forest suddenly realized that there was no way to escape. "Those damned lizard monkeys! They knew this was a cliff, and that's why they chased me here!"

He turned to face the scorpion-tailed apes that had surrounded him, his face ashen.

Just as the scorpion-tailed apes' tails glowed with dark red radiance and were about to kill Caius with a barrage of stingers, a dog suddenly dashed out of the forest and pounced on one of the scorpion-tailed apes, throwing them into disarray.

Then, a streak of blue light shot out from the depths of the forest and landed on the ground. The silhouette of a sea beast that resembled a sea lion appeared, knocking and biting the surrounding scorpion-tailed apes into a complete mess.

The venomous stingers that the scorpion-tailed apes were so proud of had no effect on the sea beast's silhouette. Instead, the sea beast appeared even more excited.

Seeing that their momentum was lost, the scorpion-tailed apes turned to run, but it was already too late!

A sword-wielding youth leapt out of the bushes, shouting 'Demacia' before slashing wildly at the terrified scorpion-tailed apes.

Putting aside its power for the time being, at least its aura was sufficient.

In no time at all, the scorpion-tailed apes were all put down by the man and the dog.

It was only then that Caius realized that he had been saved, and he could not help asking the young swordsman, "Thank you for your help, young man … who are you?"

But before he could approach the youth, both the huge sea beast silhouette and the old dog had locked onto him, and he dared not act recklessly.

"Just a Player passing by," the youth replied nonchalantly.

"To be precise …" That was when a youth dressed as a mage appeared from the bushes. "Two."

"What do you want?" Caius could not help gulping as he stared at the sea beast silhouette that was glaring at him and remembered how they had easily killed a dozen scorpion-tailed apes. "Let's talk this out …"

"Don't panic, we're not good guys … Bah, we're not bad guys. We just have something to ask you."

The young mage smiled. "After all, we want to get more exploration points and fight for a spot in the next season's Pioneer Seat."