Chapter 394: Territory Bounty - 1

When the fire died out, the scene left behind was barren.

The muddy ground had cracked as the flames evaporated the water at high speed, and the trees and vegetation caught within the fire tornado had turned to cinders.

The entire area carried a mix of scents—burned steam, smoke, and charred leaves. Leo even suspected that if not for the wet environment, the fire would have already spread far beyond control.

But the surprising part was that the Thorncrawler was still alive.

After the fire burned away Leo’s generated vines, it had tightly coiled itself as a preventive measure to shield its vital organs. This also meant its outer bark-like armor had been burned into cinders. And since it was part of its body, the pain was obvious—it writhed across the ground, not even attempting to burrow underground, as that would hurt far worse.

"Let’s put you out of your misery," Leo said calmly, releasing a volley of concentrated wind blades at the beast.

Twak! Slash! Slash! Twak! Slash!

The impact was powerful, slicing straight through the burnt armour that broke like brittle metal and cut cleanly into the flesh. Wounds tore open across the centipede’s body within moments, and the final strike—aimed at its eye—killed it instantly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Damn! No wonder Lily likes using wind blades so much," Leo exclaimed. "These wind blades are highly effective and useful when I don’t want to fight these disgusting beings."

Ding!

Verdant Thorncrawler (Mid 3-star) killed - 20,000 XP

Level 26: 39,500 / 70,850 -> 59,500 / 70,850

Realising he still needed more XP to level up, he promptly looked around for a new target.

He sneered, seeing that all the worms had dug deep into the ground.

Just when the elves and the girls thought the fight was over, Leo pressed his hands against the ground.

Grumble!

The area trembled as the earth began to crack. Leo closed his eyes and focused, sensing the worms through the [Geo Resonance Sense] trait of Howl.

"Hya!"

Thin vines shot through the cracks he had formed, and in the next instant, he yanked countless worms into the air.

Some elves looked visibly repulsed by the sight, but in the very next moment, Leo swiped his hand, precisely slicing each worm mid-air in rapid succession. A few shots missed, but since they were directed toward the sky, no one was harmed.

"Elaris!" he called out to the Low 3-star elf.

She came running at his side quickly at the call. He handed over his academy badge and summoned Nyxa, who had reduced her size to 3 meters.

"Hop on Nyxa and tap this badge over any corpse that Nyxa wouldn’t want to eat. Take another companion who can use wind element to collect beast cores, mana crystals, and soul cores if they appear."

"L-Lord, how can I ride your noble beast..." she stammered. She was the same timid elf with hunter talent who had been caught alongside her sister.

"Because I said so. Now go—and be quick. I’ll be cleaning up the area... even the underground."

Elaris nodded and hesitantly approached Nyxa, but flinched when the beast turned its head to glare at her.

After a moment, Nyxa lowered herself, allowing Elaris to climb on.

Leo watched as Elaris guided Nyxa toward a nearby elf. The second elf stiffened upon seeing her approach, clearly realizing she would be made to ride as well. Under Leo’s gaze, she simply cursed Elaris internally for choosing her and nervously climbed onto Nyxa’s back.

Leo planned to hunt any beast of Mid 3-star or above, like the Thorncrawler. Anything below that wouldn’t grant him experience.

And so he began.

Wherever he sensed movement underground, he split the earth open, dragged the worms out with vines, and killed them.

Leo was surprised to realize there were far too many worms.

At one point, unable to find any appropriate-ranked beasts, he simply dragged worms out and left them on the ground for others to deal with. His only priority was finding a Mid 3-star or higher.

Eventually, Leo grew annoyed and resumed slaughtering the worms indiscriminately.

Just then, Brok came running.

"Boss! Leave some worms for us! I’m sure the credits you get from hunting these are worthless to you, but it’s gold for us. Please leave the rest to us!"

Brok was rather brazen.

Earlier, the three girls had also tried to stop Leo, though their way of reasoning was different—they said that as the territory leader, he shouldn’t be doing such menial work. Clearly indicating for him to leave some beasts for them.

Elves were no problem since they didn’t need credits.

Leo grunted and finally stopped, somewhat frustrated that he hadn’t found a single beast of suitable rank to gain more XP. He had already killed several hundred worms, yet all of them were below Mid 3-star.

It seemed the Thorncrawler had truly been the boss monster.

What Leo didn’t know, however, was that encountering a Mid 3-star beast randomly was already quite rare in protected areas like the academy. Most 3-star and above beasts occupied established zones documented by the academy.

Information about such zones was gathered by informants like Andrew—the same one who had previously told Leo and Kaelion about the Druid’s location.

To hunt higher-ranked beasts, Leo would need to consult Aurelius and pay the appropriate cost for such information. The advantage, however, was that these zones often contained high-quality loot—magic plants, rare fruits, and even natural treasures. But he if was lucky enough, he can encounter such zones without information.

Ting!

Balance: 10.9 M -> 11 M

Leo glanced into the distance. Elaris was still busy tapping his badge over corpses, while the elf behind her used wind magic to collect dropped cores and crystals. Other territory members were occupied killing the worms Leo had dragged out.

Sylrael and Naelith were coordinating the elven forces, efficiently managing the aftermath of the beast attack.

Ting!

>The territory has been successfully protected from a moderate-level beast attack!

>+200 Prosperity Points

>Total Prosperity Points and Prosperity Ranking will be displayed after the Issued Bounty is completed.

Leo put his phone away and walked toward the charred, mutilated corpse of the Verdant Thorncrawler.

"It’s a wood type... should be able to enhance Niri or Treant... oh wait, Lily named it Drycha."

Leo looked at the centipede’s remains once more. The most valuable part—its worm armor—had been completely burned.

Calling Elaris over, he tapped his academy badge and sold the corpse to Aurelius Hall.

He picked up a Beast Core and held it in his hand, deliberating who to enhance.