Chapter 181: Observing Neerak Axutar and The Three Soldiers' Capabilities!

"Officer! Officer! Please wait for us!" Neerak Axutar cried as he and the village soldiers chased after Pedro.

However, Pedro was already 'taking' care of a few monsters, thus, he could only steal a glance towards Neerak and the three village soldiers before slicing his Faithpursuer Katana once again—creating a lustrous golden arc.

Neerak Axutar and the three village soldiers could not help but stop on their tracks. Their jaws went agape as they watched Pedro sliced several monsters into half, in one swing. On top of that, Pedro kept advancing forward with no signs of fatigue—as if he was casually swinging a stick to kill the monsters.

"What are you guys waiting for? Stay behind me if you do not want to become the lunch of these monsters!" Pedro said, coldly.

This made Neerak Axutar return to his senses. He simply forced out a smile and ran behind Pedro, saying, "Yes, respected officer!"

Reactively, the three soldiers followed behind them. However, they saw a few monsters coming from behind just when they were able to catch up to Pedro. They can't help but force out a smile and say, "R-Respected Officer! M-Monsters are charging behind us! They were the nearby monsters that did not reach your range earlier!"

"Can you handle them?" Pedro asked, coldly, as he stole a glance to his back.

'One, two, three… Disposing of the wild mountain wolves would be an easy task for my pen-knife. But… I want to test these soldiers' combat abilities. It would be great if they can handle, even a monster each. It means that I could leave the kid's safety to them, in case we encounter a strong enemy. It would be problematic to protect them in case I needed to fight a strong enemy. Better not be too complacent!' Pedro thought whilst waiting for the three soldiers to respond.

After a few seconds of pondering—weighing the pros and cons, the three village soldiers nodded to each other as if they had come to a consensus. They gripped the swords tightly—that was sheathed to the side of their waists, and said, "We'll take care of them!"

Pedro stole a glance towards the three village soldiers and smirked—in satisfaction, as the three village soldiers drew their swords and sliced towards the wild mountain wolves that just pounced towards them.

Unfortunately, Unlike Pedro, Mathew, Yojiro, or Yuson, they were not able to split the monsters perfectly into half. Instead, they were able to cut a few inches deep into the monsters' bodies and consequently made the monsters cry in pain as they crash to the ground.

Then, the three village soldiers gripped their swords once again and swung their sword at full force—aiming for the wild mountain wolves' legs to immobilize them. Since the wild mountain wolves were immobilized, the three village soldiers did not waste another second and rushed after Pedro and Neerak Axutar. They did not want to be left far away from Pedro, thus, they had no choice but to opt for this strategy instead.

On the other hand, Pedro could not help but force out a smile. His pen-knife shot out from the sleeve of his overcoat and circled around—aiming for the heads of the immobilized wild mountain wolves.

'Not bad…' Pedro chuckled deep inside. 'Their attack was simple… But the attacks of these three village soldiers were perfectly in unison—as if the other two were clones of the one that was in the middle and did the exact same attacks like the one in the middle did. Well… I am yet to know their identities. I could only assume that the village of Axutar teaches its soldier the same attack patterns… or should I say techniques. In any case… Immobilizing the enemies instead of killing them… it's not bad! They know that our priority is to 'chase after someone'. So, they stopped the monsters from attacking—by immobilizing them, while making sure that they won't fall behind that far and slow our advance. Just by that… I know that Village Chief Meerak was sincere and he did send some of his best soldiers to me.'

At this moment, Pedro's pen-knife pierced through the heads of the wild mountain wolves like a needle piercing easily through a cloth. Of course, it sucked the blood of its targets dry—making the faces of Neerak Axutar and the three villages turn sour.

They watched the pen-knife circle around them in amazement. It flew as if it was a guided arrow—flying straight… to its targets!

However, what made them fear it was the 'after-effect' that it caused to its targets. Its targets went dry as if their body did not have any liquid in them. And as it weaves through the monsters like a needle weaving through a cloth, they can't help but look at Pedro with greater respect and fear.

'No wonder father respected him so much…' Neerak Axutar forced out a smile deep inside. 'His weapon alone could annihilate the whole village! Fortunately, He is on our side. I could not imagine what would have happened to us if we were his enemy.'

Pedro caught a glimpse of their reaction and simply smirked. Then, he said, "I'll take care of the monsters. Just make sure that you keep up with me. We are about to enter the Baliu Forest and head to the Baliu Mountain of the East."

"Yes, officer!" Everyone cried in response.

Pedro simply shook his head and said, "Just call me Aron! I am not used to being called an officer."

The three village soldiers glanced at each other—confused whether they should obey Pedro or not and call him in an informal way. That said, Neerak simply sighed and said, "I understand, sir Aron."

Pedro smiled in response and said, "That's better!"

Minutes passed and they had already entered the Baliu Forest—a few kilometers to the east of the village of Axutar. At this moment, Neerak had started to feel the exhaustion and wished deep inside that they would, at the least, have a break. It was the same for the three village soldiers.

It was not because the three village soldiers were very exhausted from running. It was just that they came from their duty in the Axutar Village—fighting monsters that attacks the village, and immediately followed Pedro—running for almost an hour without any rest.

Of course, Pedro noticed their fatigue. In fact, even Pedro started to get exhausted. His hands started to feel numb after making hundreds of strikes or swings, ever since he left Axutar Village.

That said, he did not dare complain nor halt. He was trying to gouge out the NPCs limit, after all. He wanted to know the limits of their stamina, so that he could have an overall grasp of their capabilities and, consequently, so that he would be able to properly assign tasks to them and avoid putting their lives into danger—like what happened to Lony and Roval, especially that Neerak and the three village soldiers were NPCs.

Thus, having a hunch that they won't be taking any rest soon, Neerak Axutar glanced to Pedro and asked, "Sir Aron, forgive me for asking but… Can I know why we are heading towards the Baliu Mountain? Won't it be ideal to circle around it instead? And based on my experience, it would take us until noon--tomorrow, to arrive at Baliu Village. Won't it be ideal to prepare a camp, for us to stay for the night instead?"

"You are wise, young man!" Pedro said. Then, he bluffed, "But… We need to get to the Baliu Village before that bastard monster does! An hour… No! Even if we were just a few minutes late, the Baliu Village would definitely fall! I know that you guys are tired and you guys wanted to rest, but… I cannot risk the lives of the people in Baliu Village! I hope that you understand the importance of our mission, young man!"

Neerak Axutar could only bit his lips and muster all of his strength to keep running behind Pedro. The village soldiers were in a better state but they had the same bitter expression as Neerak. They had no choice but to follow Pedro even if their feet were already feeling numb.

At this moment, the monsters they were able to encounter had started to decrease in numbers drastically—to the point that Pedro's pen-knife was more than enough to take of them. The NPCs also noticed it, but they did not give that much care about it.

On the other hand, Pedro can't help but frown and slow down on his advance. His face wore a frown as he thought, 'What's going on? The continental quest is still ongoing. I did not end it! But… Why are the number of monsters gets lesser as we get deeper into the forest? Sabrina is on standby… So does her pen-knives! Plus… The werewolf is in our hands! Only a handful of monsters? At dawn on top of that! It's impossible for this to happen! Unless…"

Pedro finally halted after hours of non-stop travel and said, "There are Adventurers nearby…"