Duan Da was cultivating in the only watch tower in the fortress, he likes sitting in places of high altitude, they give him a feeling of security.

All of a sudden! He opened his eyes with a shocked expression because one of his main subordinates died. The worst part is, this subordinate just left the fort a while ago, which means he died near the camp!

He only felt that because he paid a high price to get their life imprints, this way the moment they die he would know and thus be prepared.

He felt uneasy! He's a very cowardly person by nature, the moment he feels the slightest bit of danger he runs away.

He stood up and looked in the direction they went in earlier, only to see a sword light illuminating everything it passes by rushing towards the camp.

He grabbed a long black sword with a dark red handle as if from thin air and jumped towards the northern wall of the fortress.

He sensed the energy emanating from the sword light and he figured that it wasn't something that would make him fearful which made him more courageous.

As the sword light got closer, he was shocked to find out that it was one of his subordinates Zhen ZhenKang.

He couldn't even recognize him at first, the technique he was using wasn't something he was familiar with. Everyone had their trump cards, and there was no loyalty between bandits coupled with the fact that they've never been forced into a near-death situation it made sense.

He thought for a while then a cold glint appeared in his eyes, then he rushed towards it.

Just as the two were about to clash, the leader brandished his sword and sent very strong hot wind currents towards the word light completely dissipating all of the energy it had, thus stopping it.

*Thud*

Zhen Zhenkang dropped to the ground with his saber in hand, vomiting blood all over the place.

The leader quickly materialized a small wooden bottle from thin air, opening it he grabbed a pink rounded pill and fed it to him.

It didn't take long for the pill to show its miraculous effects, the open wound at his side started closing in quickly and the same thing happened to the open wound on his elbow, though his arm didn't regenrate. It appeared that the pill wasn't that extraordinary for it to regrow limbs back.

Zhen Zhenkang's eyelids started moving then he slowly opened his eyes, he started looking around. At first he was terrified as if he has just woken up from some terrible nightmare. However, when he saw the leader he felt a bit of relief.

"Boss... everyone died, even Luo Lim... a monster attacked us"

Seeing his sorry state the leader felt a bit apprehensive, but he didn't show it. He hurriedly said with a confident face, "Zhenkang tell me quickly what happened? Who killed Luo Lim?"

Zhen Zhenkang started breathing heavily and said with a fearful voice, "Boss it was a demon beast, an eagle. Our food was running low so we needed to hunt some game, but just as we were walking in the woods it appeared behind us. At first, it used a terrifying spiritual attack and killed Luo Lim in one shot. I couldn't even think at that point but fortunately, due to all the pain I only thought of running so I used a secret technique using my blood essence to run"

Hearing this the leader started thinking, "An eagle? How did it look exactly?" he asked.

Zhen Zhenkang was not someone who cared to learn about the differences between demon beasts, he only knew that some should be avoided at all costs and others are easy to deal with mostly. After thinking for a while he said, "It was pitch black all over, golden eyes, it was big around 2 meters tall. It had spiritual attack skills, wind blades, and maybe stealth skills because we could not even sense it before it attacked."

Duan Da hearing this started thinking, according to the description he got from Zhenkang he couldn't say for sure. There were a lot of monsters with the same description of spiritual attacks, wind blades, and stealth skills. The closest would be the Umbra Storm Eagles, but they don't usually inhabit the Still Hollow Forest but The Cursed Shadowed Forest. It should be a monster close to it.

After thinking for a while, he decided to go check it out. He needed to eliminate it so that it wouldn't kill any of his subordinates when they go hunting. It could also be just passing by which would be even better. From the information he got, he didn't think it was that dangerous. After all, if it was at his level Zhenkang wouldn't be able to run away.

A certain monster in Zhenkang's shadow had no clue what these guys are talking about, it was a language he never heard before in his life. It just sounded like gibberish. However, seeing as the leader didn't notice him, he figured that it'd be better to wait. He still needed to regenerate the mana and spiritual power he used in the fight just a while ago and with his overpowered regenerative abilities it wouldn't take long.

"Wait here", Duan Da spoke while walking in the direction of the fortress.

After he arrived he easily jumped over the 10 meters wall and went towards one of the wooden houses. It was a house just like the one he was in earlier, but this one was a bit smaller. It was the house of his remaining Foundation Establishment subordinate Wu Yong.

As for the others they were staying in huts that were positioned all over the camp, in the middle there was a big pit in which they cook their food.

There was the sound of muffled screaming in the house, Duan Da just stopped in front of the door and didn't say anything, soon the sound of screaming stopped only for a young man to open the door.

He had silver hair tied in a ponytail, he looked especially young compared to the others around 20 years old.

He had an average build and even looked a bit on the thinner side. However, his body radiated immense strength!

Duan Da looked behind the silver haired youth only to see a naked woman tied up, blindfolded, her mouth was also filled with a cloth to prevent the sound of screaming from traveling far, and her back was covered with scars that were still spilling out with blood.

"Hey boss, you're looking for me?", Wu Yong said with an innocent smile on his face.

"I see you're enjoying yourself like always, come with me there is a monster nearby that we should get rid of." Duan Da spoke with a smirk.

Hearing this Wu Yong also smiled and said, "Yes indeed boss, though the batch we brought this time isn't really high quality, you took the only good one" after putting his clothes on and getting out he said, "So what kind of monster?"

"It's nothing big, just an avian bird that specializes in stealth skills and wind magic, but it did kill Luo Lim," he said as a matter of fact.

"What??", hearing this Wu Yong felt a bit scared even though he was the strongest second only to the leader a monster that is capable of killing a Foundation Establishment isn't something that should be messed with that easily. "What if it's a Mid rank monster Boss?" he said worriedly while looking at Duan Da's expression.

"Don't worry Zhenkang was also with him and he managed to escape, it shouldn't be too difficult we just have to bait it and then kill it in one fell swoop", the leader replied with a nonchalant expression. Even though he spoke very confidently and he even believed in his analysis, he was still cautious and would take countermeasures.

As for the dead Luo Lim no one mentioned it, they are very much aware that their relationship is only one of benefits. All of them were expendables including the leader, and he also knows that.

Hearing this Wu Yong felt a bit relieved, but then he thought of another issue. Who would be the bait?, 'There is no way I would bait for him, if he dares to force me I'll just use a secret technique and run away, probably.

I hope it doesn't come to that, I'm enjoying it here' he thought. He wanted to ask him but seeing that the leader was walking forward, he chose not to bring up this difficult question. 'I have more value than Zhenkang so he would definitely be the one to be used as bait even though he's injured'.

"Zhenkang lead the way" after returning to where Zhenkang was resting the leader waited for a while for him to recover and get a bit of his strength back then he ordered him with a commanding tone after all he was still the leader and they have a strict hierarchy nonetheless.

He looked at him and stood up while saying "Alright follow me, it's not too far from here just about a mile north", as he was guiding them he turned around and said, "What's the plan boss? Do you think he'll still be there?"

Duan Da thought for a while and said, "We'll see, if it's still there we will bait it, if not we'll look around for a while then return"

Hearing this he was shocked! He felt terrified at the thought of seeing that monster once again.

Seeing his expression the leader tried to make him feel at ease, "Don't worry it's just a low-rank demon beast, it couldn't be that intelligent. Those monsters can be a bit tricky due to their stealth and escape skills, I just need you to draw it out, the moment it makes any kind of move I will kill it in one strike."

He did feel a bit more secure after hearing his words. After all, he's very well aware of how strong the boss is, as for that monster it couldn't even catch up to him much less escape from the leader.