Chapter 572 Cleaning Out the Woods

‘Looks like it is time to get going.’

Standing up Marcus looked out over the horizon as the sun began to rise.

He had been watching over Norr village from the top of the tower that Dagwood had been using through the entire night.

Luckily everything had remained quiet, and no other beasts or monsters attacked the village.

Jumping out of the tower he cast his iron wings of the archangel spell and began flying to the west.

Speeding over the land that was completely white from snow, it was not long until he saw the outline of his home village.

As he got closer, he could see people rushing around and getting prepared, as today was going to be busy and harrowing..

Stopping right above the center of the village Marcus dropped down out of the sky and landed.

Many of Andrea’s tribe were surprised by his sudden appearance and jumped into a defensive posture until they noticed that it was Marcus.

When they saw it was him, they all relaxed and happily went to greet him.

After what he had done for them by healing their injured, other than Davion and those closest to him, everyone else in Andrea’s tribe really appreciated Marcus.

Once he had finished talking to those that were in the center of the village, he began making his way to the village’s main hall, where he had been told Andrea and Dagwood were waiting.

When he arrived, he saw the two of them were talking to each other with serious expressions.

“Is something the matter?” Marcus asked.

Looking over to him, the two of them had definitely been talking about some conundrum they were having.

“Yes, there could be. From what Dagwood just told me there is a level fifty-six seven-headed cryohydra that has made its new home in the largest lake in the lower Great Gome Woods. That is an unfathomably strong monster. Do you honestly think you can take it?” Andrea said with a look of worry in her eyes.

Even if her entire tribe were to attack a monster like that, they would lose without being able to do much of anything.

Hydras were very strong creatures with numerous heads that could unleash breath attacks. Not to mention they have incredible regenerative abilities that could normally only be stopped by fire or acid.

Though a strong enough darkness magic could also work as long as the corroding properties were stronger than the hydra’s regeneration.

“Yeah, I should be able to win. I was given a special item to use that packs a punch, and it should be the perfect creature to try it out on.”

Holding up his left-hand Marcus allowed Andre and Dagwood to see the blaze glove that the deputy king had lent him.

Looking at it in awe they could tell it was a powerful magical item from the amount of mana that was stored inside it.

“Well, if you are confident, then we will not stop you. But until you deal with that thing we will be staying out of the area.” Andrea said, letting Marcus know she would not risk her tribe.

Pulling out his map of the area he asked Andrea and Dawood to circle the areas they knew had the most powerful beasts and monsters.

‘That is a bit more than I thought.’

Looking at his map he now had seventeen circles, each indicating a beast or monster that was level forty-seven or higher.

Of course, these were just the ones these two knew about from their exploration of the woods, and really there was no way to know if it was still accurate.

“Okay there are still a couple of hours left before we begin so let me go over the plan with you both.” Marcus said.

He then told them that he had broken the lower area of the woods that bordered the kingdom’s settlements into a grid.

There were a number of these grids and they needed to clear out at least a few miles deep into the woods, while also covering the hundreds of miles that stretched out between each village.

“So, Andrea, I want you to break your tribe up into five groups. You know them best and I will leave who you want in each group to you. As for you Dagwood, do you think that you can work on your own?”

Nodding his head Dagwood said, “Yes, I can fight on my own. Just assign me and area and I will try to clear it out.”

“Okay then you will start here, and I will need you to handle these five areas.” Marcus said to him.

He then assigned the areas to each of the squads that Andrea’s tribe would be broken into, giving the most dangerous area to the elite squad that Andrea was going to be leading herself.

Once that was wrapped up and Marcus was sure that Andrea and Dagwood knew the plan, he said, “I will be heading out now and get a head start. I’ll make sure that anything too tough for you all to handle is dealt with in your starting areas. Oh, and Andrea make sure to tell everyone to prioritize their lives. There is no need to try and fight something they cannot beat.”

Taking his leave after that, Marcus exited the building leaving Andrea to command her tribe, while he went to exterminate the strongest creature that had been amassing in the lower woods.

‘Roxene, do you have a scent?’

‘Yeah, there is a strong beast around four miles from here. That is the closest one. But I smell at least another six within the range of my nose.’ Roxene told Marcus.

‘Got it. I guess let us get started. Lead me to the nearest one.’

Rushing through the woods Roxene tracked the scent of one of the strongest beasts in the forest and led Marcus right to it.

Quickly they arrived in the vicinity of this beast’s territory, and there they saw a large twelve-foot-tall, thirty-foot long armadillo curled up and asleep.