Far away from the peaceful atmosphere of the Red Star Royal Academy.
A group of five people could be seen walking past the base of a mountain. On one side was a huge mountain, while on the other side lay a large open field of short grass that ended in a thick forest in the distance.
The sun was scorching hot, creating visible heatwaves, and not even a gentle gust of wind could be felt.
"I wonder why hunters keep going missing around here, there are clearly no magic beasts here." One of the five people spoke up while pulling on the neck of his shirt, the heat was almost unbearable!
"Could be a magic beast that no one has discovered, a powerful one at that. Teams of Level 2 and Level 3 hunters keep disappearing, there’s definitely something in the three-zone region." Another person said.
"That’s why the Hunters Union raised the danger level of this mission and only hunter groups with members above the Level 4 warrior rank can accept them."
"Honestly, I feel that sending Level 4 warriors on an investigation mission is just too much. This feels embarrassing!"
"No need to complain, the three-zone region will soon become a forbidden area if we don’t investigate why groups of hunters keep disappearing.
Besides, the pay is the same as normal missions fit for our ranks. It almost feels like free money."
"Focus, there must be something dangerous out here. The four of you should be on the lookout instead of chatting like you’re on a vacation." The person in front voiced out, he seemed to be the leader of this group as the other four figures followed behind him.
"Come on, don’t be so uptight. We’re all at the Level 4 warrior rank, even a magic beast as strong as a level 5 warrior wouldn’t be a problem for us." Someone laughed from behind.
The man in front of the group sighed and said nothing else, the group kept moving.
The three-zone region was a usually peaceful area outside the Okoh continent as many hunter groups would often gather here to rest or form more teammates for difficult missions.
Its name, the three-zone region, was given to it because the place was made up of a forest, a vast field, and a mountain range in the same location.
Some years ago, fewer hunters were being spotted in the three-zone area. Many people just assumed that fewer people were visiting and didn’t think much of it. Since it was normal for hunters to go on missions for several years, no one thought it was strange that most of the hunters who appeared in the three-zone region couldn’t be found when they returned to the cities.
It took them years to realise that something was wrong, those hunters had simply gone missing!
After a long period of investigation, it was discovered that their last sighting was in the three-zone region; they were never seen again after that.
With this information, the Hunters Union started posting missions for hunters to go out and investigate.
At first, the mission was available to hunter groups with members at the Level 2 warrior rank and the reward was quite high.
However, several hunter groups headed to the three-zone region but were never heard from again.
They had also gone missing!
The Hunters Union had then increased the danger level of this mission and only those at the Level 3 warrior rank could accept it.
Even then, nothing changed as the same thing repeated itself. All the hunter groups at the Level 3 warrior rank also went missing after accepting the mission.
Left without a choice, the Hunters Union had called back all the hunter groups with members at the Level 4 warrior rank.
One had to know that the Level 4 warrior rank was very close to the pinnacle of strength that humanity could reach. Anyone who reached this rank was an absolute powerhouse and could become whatever they desired.
Not many of them were willing to join the Hunters Union and listen to orders when they could easily become the lord of a small town and start building a noble family of their own.
For this reason, there were very few hunter groups with members of this rank.
This group that was currently walking through the three-zone region was actually the only hunter group with such strength from their city. They had been sent there by the Hunters Union HQ of the Okoh continent as their city was the closest to the three-zone region, even though the two places were thousands of kilometres away from each other.
The five of them had been walking for hours but had yet to find anything suspicious. Such as signs of battles or anything that might belong to one of the missing people, the place looked very normal.
After a while, they stopped walking. In front of them was the last area of the three-zone region, the forest. Once they finished investigating the forest, it would mean the end of their mission.
"Whatever is making hunters disappear must be inside here," a middle-aged woman said, her gaze piercing through the forest.
"Stay close, keep your eyes wide." The leader of the group said seriously. A sharp look could be seen in his eyes as he stared at the forest, he was getting a tingling feeling for some reason.
The rest of the group nodded with carefree expressions as they followed their group leader into the forest.
On top of the first tree that they walked past, a strange creature that looked like a mixed breed of a monkey and crocodile was watching them while perfectly blending in with the branches of the tree.
The eyes of the creature gleamed with a red light as its gaze followed the five people without them noticing anything.
Time passed slowly.
The forest was silent except for the sounds their feet made when they stepped on dried leaves on the ground. The temperature was cool as the tree branches blocked the harsh sunlight and only let tiny rays pierce through the gaps between their leaves.
It had barely been thirty minutes since the group entered the forest yet it felt like it had been several hours.
The forest felt so...wrong. Even the four who were previously carefree about this mission had noticed this too.
The forest was too quiet!
"Hello,"
At this moment, a calm voice suddenly called out from the side, startling the five people. They flinched and turned in the direction of the voice. They did not expect to encounter other people here so that voice had caught them totally by surprise.
However, their shock only deepened after they saw who the owner of the voice was.
It wasn’t a human!
Standing not too far from them was a creature covered entirely in green scales like a snake but with the physique of a human and a very human-like face. However, compared to humans, this creature had four arms.
The creature was currently smiling at them while waving one of its arms, a very human-like behaviour. This made the group very uncomfortable.
"It can speak?!" A shocked voice sounded after seeing what could be considered a magic beast instead of a person.
"What’s that, I’ve never seen this type of magic beast before." Someone voiced out in a low tone.
"L-level 5, it’s as strong as a Level 5 warrior!" Someone else exclaimed after quickly sensing the gap in strength between themselves and this strange creature.
"What should we do now?" Another person asked while looking at their leader.
It was only then that they realised that their leader had frozen in place and was looking at this creature with his mouth hanging open.
Noticing the frozen expression on the human’s face, the creature stopped waving and showed a curious expression.
"Did I shock you too much? I believe this was the most normal way to get your attention." It said slowly.
The other four also looked at their leader. They were not rookies, their leader must know something about this strange creature for him to react like that.
After some time, words finally came out of the mouth of the leader.
"It’s...it’s them! But they killed all of them," He mumbled as if in a daze as his memories replayed a scene that happened seventeen years ago.
At that time, he was only at the Level 3 warrior rank but his hometown was in the area where the fight had taken place. Almost everyone in his village was wiped out in that clash before help arrived and the intruders were taken care of.
Although the emperor had ordered everyone to keep the matter a secret and never make it public, he could never forget the horror that just a few of these creatures had caused to a large army of humans.
And they called themselves...Skrivaloks!
The creature currently in front of them was a member of the Skrivalok race!