Lian reduced the speed of the Windrunner Strider, the closer he got to the point the book of treasure was showing, the stronger a strange feeling became inside him.
The book was still open, its golden pages were glowing softly, and the red-black point on the map was getting darker moment by moment.
And curiosity grew more and more inside him, what could it be?
What could cause such a reaction from the book?
At the same time, the sound of roars could be heard from a distance, at first he thought there were only one or two monsters.
It was not unusual, in the Ruined Realm, the roaring of monsters was almost considered a part of nature.
But the further he went, the more the sounds increased, roar after roar, harsh screams, the sound of metal hitting metal.
The sound of breaking rocks, and he soon realized he had been mistaken, this was not the sound of a few monsters, something much bigger was waiting for him, and instead of moving directly, he changed his path.
He passed through the rocks, climbed the high slopes, and tried to get close to the area without attracting attention.
He did not know what he was going to face, the threat level of the book of treasure had shown that it was very high, and he takes such warnings seriously.
Especially when yesterday the Medium threat warning was a level 27 monster that even had a berserk state.
So God knew how dangerous a High threat level really was, definitely at a level where he would have no chance of winning alone.
A few minutes later, he finally reached a point where he had a good view of the surroundings, when he looked down from the edge of the cliff, for a moment he was truly silent.
At the bottom of the valley, a massive river was flowing, its width maybe reaching a hundred meters, its dark and deep water was moving at high speed.
But what really caught the attention was not the river.
But its two sides.
Hundreds of nests, hundreds of caves, dozens of natural tunnels, rocks that had been perforated by digging, and among all of them...
Ironfang Ravagers.
Everywhere he looked, monsters could be seen, some were resting, some were eating the carcasses of their prey, and some were fighting each other.
And some were just wandering around the river.
It took Lian a few seconds to understand their real numbers, with just one look he could see hundreds of monsters.
Hundreds.
This number alone was enough to force any sensible hunter to retreat.
But the matter did not end there, when he focused on some of them, system notifications appeared.
[ Ironfang Ravager ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level 25 ]
[ Ironfang Ravager ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level 27 ]
[ Ironfang Ravager ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level 29 ]
[ Ironfang Ravager ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level 30 ]
Lian’s eyes narrowed, dozens of monsters were in this same area, dozens of creatures whose levels were between twenty-five and thirty.
He understood at that moment why the government had personally gotten involved, this was no longer a herd, it was an army.
Even with his current power, facing such a number of high-level monsters was impossible.
Maybe he could kill one, but he had no chance against two, let alone more, when dozens of monsters attacked at the same time, the result was already clear.
Even with Kael’s group’s help, they would have no chance here, if they were lucky, they might be able to escape alive.
Then he saw something that made the situation seem even more dangerous than he had imagined.
A few larger creatures, much larger, some of them were five meters tall, some even close to six meters, their bodies covered with black-gold plates.
Their horns were bigger, their claws thicker and sharper, and their presence was clearly heavier than the other members of the herd.
The system notification appeared.
[ Ironfang Ravager ]
[ Rank: Fallen ]
[ Level 23 ]
Lian stared at them without moving for a few seconds.
This was the first time he was seeing several Fallen ones in one place, until today Fallen ones had always been rare creatures.
Even in Frostfallen city there was only one of them, although he is much stronger now, here there were several of them present.
And this matter alone was enough to multiply the danger level of the area several times.
"I have no chance against these, and the book announced the threat level as High?
So what would an Impossible threat level be?"
he whispered to himself.
Before coming here, he thought maybe there would be a few monsters above level 25, but this situation is much worse and more extreme than what he expected.
But still, the most important part of the story was something else.
The book of treasure, all this time the book was still pointing to the river, not to the monsters, not to the nests, not to the Fallen ones, but to the river itself.
What could be in that river that the book valued so highly?
Lian examined the environment for a full few minutes, then finally he saw something.
In the depths of the water, at a point near the center of the river, a faint red light could be seen, at first he thought it was a reflection of sunlight.
But no, the light was not constant, it pulsed every few seconds, like a heartbeat, like something alive, like something waiting to awaken.
Lian took a deep breath and started analyzing the situation.
First, the treasure was at the bottom of the river.
Second, the monsters had gathered around it in an unusual way.
Third, if he acted himself, his chance of death was extremely high.
Even if he managed to kill a few monsters, in the end he would be surrounded by hundreds of monsters.
And this time, even Shadow Skin could not help him, that skill performed excellently against weaker monsters.
But against this number of powerful monsters?
It was not enough at all, he could upgrade it, but it would still not be effective.
He had to consider the risk that there might be a much greater threat to his life inside that river itself, which Shadow Skin had no immunity against.
He was silent for a few minutes.
Then, instead of thinking about a direct attack, his mind went toward a much more logical option.
Using others, the government, guilds, hunters, students, all of them would come here sooner or later, all of them were supposed to attack this nest.
So why should he risk his own life?
They would clear the path, kill the monsters, and he would go straight for the treasure.
It was not a bad idea, in fact it was a great idea, he could also kill a significant number of monsters during that time and obtain extra stats too.
In fact, if he could even kill these Fallen ones with the help of groups, the exp gained should still be enough for him to reach level 15.
But right when he was about to turn back, something else caught his attention.
He followed the path of the river, and realized this nest was not alone, a few kilometers further, another nest could be seen, and a little further from that... a third nest.
Both belonged to different races, the first were creatures like massive armored snakes, their bodies covered with metal spikes.
Every now and then, sparks of lightning passed through the spikes, as if their own bodies were producing electrical energy.
The second were creatures like black crocodiles, but large metal horns had grown on their heads, and from those horns, waves of unknown energy were emitted.
All three nests were located along this same river, all three races had gathered around this same area, and all three seemed unusually powerful.
"So everything starts from this river... whatever is inside it must definitely be important to these monsters," Lian said softly under his breath.
The fact that three different races had built nests next to one river showed that that river was hiding something very important.
Normally, different monsters cannot live together and tolerate each other at all, unless a powerful leader forces them to submit.
Whatever was buried there, its value was much greater than what he had imagined.
He gave one last look at the river, the book of treasure was still warning.
[ Unknown Treasure Detected ]
But this time a new notification appeared.
[ Estimated Distance: 417 meters ]
Lian was silent for a moment.
Only four hundred and seventeen meters, the treasure was almost right under the noses of those monsters, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Good... let them open the rest of the way for me."
Then he pulled the reins of the Windrunner Strider, the riding monster immediately changed its direction.
Lian calmly moved away from the rock, but in his mind there was now only one goal.
Obtaining what even the book of treasures had not been able to identify.
And this goal would be achieved tomorrow.