"[Innate Skill: Serpent Roots!]" King's hand transformed into multiple serpent like roots. The roots went to bite or bind the mutant hawks that attacked him. Too bad the hawks' are very agile and they all dodged his attacks

Although he was aware that his journey would be filled with danger but it was not even an hour since he left the forest. His enemies are all only in the early stage of Knight Rank aside from their leader that is in the mid stage but their numbers and their ability to fly made it hard for him

The flock of hawks numbered around twenty including the leader. Even if he was already at the mid stage of Knight Rank and was more powerful than others at his rank because he comprehended the basic of cultivation. Still, his enemies outnumbered him by twenty times!

Ten of the hawks flew down from the air while their claws glowed with metallic luster. King's serpent shape roots met the claws causing root debris to flew everywhere but this made him barely block all their attacks

However, at this time ten balls of air were made by the other hawks and they all aimed ay him. King run to dodge since blocking them all was almost impossible for him and will just consume more of his energy

Even though he manage to dodge most of them there were still three that he can't dodge, specially the one that the hawk's leader made

Without a choice King used his newly regenerated serpent roots to block. The ball of air destroyed his roots causing King to flew back a few meters while some blood was dripping from his mouth

It would be better for him if his enemies are land based creatures, but flying type ones are troublesome to deal with.

King took a Rune from Cesar on his pocket and put it on his chest. The rune was immediately activated and coated Cesar with a thin layer of light green energy. This was Cesar's Energy Skin Rune. All of them has reserves of Runes with them to protect theirselves. King took another one and activated it too, with this dual protection it will last a bit from his enemies' attacks

King's vision landed on the hawks that attack from the distance, specially the mid stage hawk. He transformed his left arm into a long root with sharp end and used his other hand to break it. Holding the sharp root on his hand, King looked coldly at the hawks

He infused the root with energy and threw it like a javelin to one of the hawks that has long distance skills. King only aimed at the early stage ones because the leader has a high chance to dodge it. If that happened that would only be a waste of his energy

The root javelin cut through the air with King's arm strenght coupled with the energy he injected it with. The speed become so fast that the hawk was not able to dodge and was cruelly pierced by the root. It didn't end there though, King waved his hand to control the remaining energy on the root and it managed to kill another hawk before using up all of its energy

The hawks become enraged and cried loudly before aggressively attacking King. He ignored the attacks coming to him and once again made another root with a sharp end on his left arm and break it with his right hand. King infused the root with his energy again but at this time the hawks finally reached him and used their metallic claws to kill him.

Instead of attacking the long range attackers King used the root on his hand to impale one of the hawks in front of him. The hawk with its simple mind thought that King will continue attacking the hawks at the back and didn't thought that King would choose to attack him

The hawk closed it eyes as the root pierced him on his heart causing blood to gush out. King ignored the blood for now and waved the root on his hand to removed the now dead hawk. The other hawk's attack landed on his body but the Energy Skin Rune successfully blocked it for him with the cause of energy expenditure. The energy coating his body dimmed and was already on the verge of collapsing, after all nine Knight Rank creatures attack landed on it directly

King used the root on his hand to kill another hawk before retreating back

"[Innate Skill: Leaf Barrage!]" Hundred of leaves were generated around King to protect him from the balls of air that he can't dodge. The air ball can easily destroy the leaves but it gave King the time he needed to dodge

Using the leaves to block his enemies' vision that he learned from his Lord, Kence he infuse more of his energy on the root on his hand and threw it with all the strength he could muster. The root once again cut the air and successfully killed another long range attacker hawk who just finished its attack and was not able to react on time

King just like before control the sharp root to continue attacking another hawk. He intended to do this to diminish their number if needed be. Fortunately, seeing that six of his subordinates died without much of a progress the leader hawk let out a bird cry and the remaining birds flew away

This made King sigh in relief, although he can kill all the hawks using his Rune reserves and the blue fruits on his backpack but his supplies are limited. It wasn't even a full hour since he left the forest and he was already forced to use two Runes

King decided to find a secluded place first before resuming his journey, he need to replenish the energy he used and he don't want to use the blue fruits as much as possible. It was fortunate that he saw an abandoned gas station and decided to rest on the convenience store on it, thankfully there were only a few fallens locked inside. The fallens are only in the early stage of Warrior Rank, might be because since the apocalypse they were always inside the store

The store was locked from the outside and he needed to destroy the door to enter, probably someone locked the door so that the fallens will not be able to go out. King found that the food on the store was not yet ransacked by anyone looking for supplies. He found chocolates and candies and decided if he has a chance he will go back here to get all the chocolates and candies for his son

Meanwhile, he opened a pack of flavored biscuit and started eating. This was one of the rare occasions that he can eat something, he wont waste this chance

After eating, he closed his eyes and focus on absorbing plant type or nature type energy particles on the surrounding. Maybe, it was because he just fought but the process of cultivating was smoother than before and it took less time to replenish all of his eneegy

After some time he was back to top condition and was ready to continue on his journey. However at this time King heard some foot steps and Supernaturals wearing military uniforms entered the store

Instead of carrying guns and bullets these Supernaturals instead has different weapons on them. Some are carrying swords, daggers, bow etc. But all of them has a fierce expression on their face, clearly they are people who was baptized by rivers of blood and has a lot of experience when it comes to killing

The two sides looked at each other with narrowed eyes, but the military side didn't show any fear clearly confident by their number

"Why did you stop?" A stern voice said and the soldier made way. A man also wearing military uniform entered the scene, however unlike the other Supernaturals he has a Book badge on his chest.

"Commander!" All the soldiers said at the same time while saluting

When the soldiers looked at this man it was clear that they fear and respected this man. After all from the city they came from a Commander was only a Rank below the Major Commander who was the most powerful. If not for the Major Commander fearing he will rise in power above him this Commander wouldn't only have normal Supernaturals as subordinates. This also made him to be always being dispatched in a place far from the base

"A Mystic?" The man asked seeing the features of King that didn't belong to any human and King nodded at the man's word

"The military base was far from here and will took a few days to travel. If you want you can join our base as you are a Mystic" no matter if it was a city run by government, military or self proclaimed ruler a Mystic will always be a valuable asset!

This can be seen at how the Commander and his subordinates didn't immediately become hostile. King shook his head "I appreciate the offer but I already have someone I am serving"

The Commander sighed in disappointment "That's a pity then" the Commander looked at the store with almost no things that was touched

"However, we need to take all the supplies here. We have a lot of people on our base to feed" for some the supplies here might be many but for the citizens on their city it wouldn't even be able to fill a portion of them

Naturally, King wouldn't fight with a group of soldiers over these supplies. They don't actually need to eat after all, it was better to give it to those who are starving. But his son was still a kid. "I don't mind but can I get a few candies and chocolates for my son?" Although Calter matured early because of the environment but King still wanted his son to at least have some childish aspects on him

Fortunately, the commander was kind-hearted and was not someone that is hard to talk to. The Commander nodded "Okay, but please don't take too much. We have many mouths to feed"

"Thank you" King thanked them before grabbing a pack of cookies and cream flavored chocolates that Calter liked eating before the apocalypse. He also took a bag of candy, he only need this two. He might not actively help those in need but this simple thing he can do for other people

"Wait!!" Suddenly, someone shouted and soldier with a Book Badge on his chest entered the scene wearing an arrogant face

Just like the Commander this soldier was also a Mage but was only at the peak of Warrior Rank while the commander was a mid stage Knight. The disparity in cultivation talent can be seen with this

"Commander, how can you give our supplies to an outsider?" Evem though he was just a peak warrior but his tone when talking to a mid stage Knight was full of arrogance as if the other party cannot do anything about it

The Commander's face darkened "Vice-Commander, it was just a few chocolates and candy can't you just let it go?"

The Vice-Commander shook his head "This is our supplies Kennedy, what will you say to the Major Commander when he learned of this?" The Commander address the soldier with his Rank but the latter actually addresses him by his name. This show just how disrespectful the man is

The Commander balled his fist in anger, the soldier was Kenneth. A spy that the Major Commander left on his squad. His status as a spy was actually not a secret as eveyone knows that it was to monitor the commander and to not let him grew too powerful. Kenneth was backed by the top leader of the army and since the leader hates him the Commander cannot do anything to this Kenneth

The other soldiers around stared angrily at Kenneth but they cannot do anything about it

"Kenneth, this Mystic was the first one to discover this store and he only took two items. Why don't we just let him have it? We can't be too unreasonable" since Kenneth didn't respect his position might as well call him with his name

"So what if he discover it first? What can he do? We are stronger than him!" Kenneth looked at King with arrogance which made the latter looked back with anger

He was just a puny peak Warrior Rank Supernatural, how can he look down at someone who reached the mid stage of Knight Rank?