Chapter 256 - From Falcon City, Sanders Household
Chapter 256 - From Falcon City, Sanders Household
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
The sound of crunching echoed on Ban's ears as he, Eva and Tria happily munched on the crunchy skin of the Mild Tempered Crocodile.
The taste was a bit salty but was to his liking. Eva and Tria seemed to like it as well, seeing that Eva's mouth was stuffed, while Tria did not stop biting even for a second.
The meat, especially the inner part, was so packed with flavors, that they could not get enough of it.
In only a matter of 15 minutes, half of the half of the Mild Tempered Crocodile's body were already consumed by then.
One must know that the body of the crocodile was truly massive, one could only imagine where the food they consumed went.
Due to their increase in rank and energy consumption, Ban and Eva would need to eat a lot to replenish their energy. However, due the Absorber Ability's function of recovering their energy after killing their enemy, this requirement was void, so technically, the two of them could still eat in normal sizes.
However, their body still needs nutrients to grow as well, so they still need to eat more than normal people or Beasts or Monsters.
Tria also needs it but due to her being only on the X-Mortal Rank and still on the Mortal Grade, she needs less, and hence, she was the first one to get full.
Ban smiled and stored her inside the Beast Tattoo so that she could rest properly. Eating other Beasts, especially those that were of a higher rank and grade could also help other Beasts, Monsters and even Summoners to get stronger.
Although the crocodile was only an X-Mortal, it was still an Elite Grade Beast so it would definitely help Tria a lot. Eating the Purmi Fruit earlier would also help her in tandem with the meat, so he was looking forward to Tria's progress tomorrow.
After another 15 minutes, Ban and Eva were now fully stuffed.
Ban thought that it was a pity that there was still another half part remaining and thought that it would be quite a waste to throw them so he intended to store them inside the Dimensional Storage Earring later.
However, just as he was about to store it away, he suddenly heard a commotion outside of the tree encirclement.
Ban and Eva glanced at each other and as if they understood each other immediately, they immediately stopped what they were doing and proceeded to take a look outside after Ban took out all of the glowing stones as well as the fire that might have given their location away.
After that, Eva jumped towards his shoulder, while he climbed above the tree to take a better look outside.
Ban looked around and noticed some people, holding flashlights powered with glowing stones, from the distance.
He stayed where he was and was planning to do so until the end, as he was wary about them.
The people seemed to be searching for something, and they also looked like they were in a hurry.
The direction they were going was fortunately not in the same direction as that of the tree encirclement so he had nothing to worry about them as long as they would go on their way.
He heaved a sigh of relief seeing that they were already far away from him, and just as he was about to go down, one of the people, the one in the front, suddenly halted, and turned around towards his direction.
Ban still did not move, and was not planning to do so, as it might give away his location.
A while later, the group of people arrived near the tree encirclement, and Ban was finally able to see their appearance clearly.
Four men, one old, three middle-aged, and then one woman who seemed to be an important person, seeing that she was kept in the middle of their formation.
Ban still thought they did not see him yet so he and Eva sat still above the branch.
Unfortunately, it seems that his thinking was quite wishful as the next second, the old man in front looked up to where he and Eva were and said with a smile, "We don't mean no harm young friend, if you don't mind we would like to rest for the day here."
Ban was quite surprised, and actually, not only him.
The three men, as well as the women were also surprised by the fact that the old man suddenly talked out of nowhere while staring above them.
The four of them also looked up, only to see nothing, but darkness. They used the glowing stone flashlight and still found nothing.
The old man waved his hand and said, "Don't be rude and lower those flashlights."
He then looked up again and said with yet another smile, "Is it okay for us to use this spot, young friend?"
"Sure!"
Ban responded with his child-like voice, startling the woman and the three men. Only now did they realize that there was truly someone up in there, hiding from their sight and they did not even know it.
They immediately became on guard, except the woman.
However, this action only infuriated the old man. With a scrutinized brow he said, "You guys are already dead, it's too late getting your guard up now. But well, better late than never."
"However, no need to worry as we are not here for trouble."
The three of them felt ashamed and instantly lowered their respective weapons, their summons relaxed as well as per their order.
"Thank you, young friend… Do you mind coming down a bit for a chat?"
Ban thought for a moment before agreeing.
The old man was obviously stronger than him, by a huge margin.
Although not as strong as the Elder Red Panda and Kuys, he would also be a force to be reckoned with, given his strength alone. He guessed that the old man might be a genuine D-Master Rank or higher.
He did not sense hostility from the other party so he agreed to come down a while later.
He also secretly used the Echo Hearing earlier and noticed someone arrived in the distance at the edge of the range of his Echo Hearing Skill. Based on her body structure, he guessed that it must be the woman who wanted to catch him while falling earlier.
He also guessed that she was the person tasked by Kuys to protect him. The person who will come if he used that item that Kuys handed to him before he left the Kuys Bar.
The woman was heaving upside down, clearly exhausted. However, even with that, Ban could tell from his hearing that she was actually quite composed at the moment and seemed to be vigilant on the surroundings, and more precisely, to the group of people below him.
Ban now felt reassured that she was here. He took a glance at his Skills and items as he plans on escaping if the old man suddenly attacked.
After he thought that he prepared everything, he replied calmly, "Sure!"
He then slowly climbed down from the highest branch, before jumping down a few meters away from the old man.
"It's always good to be vigilant, young friend…" the old man nodded to him as a greeting.
Ban nodded in return as a response.
"You guys go and prepare our tent. Spread some Beast repelling powder around us as well so that no Beast can disturbed our rest!" The old man ordered, and instantly, the three men immediately moved, taking out some items from the Storage Pouches tied on their waist.
The woman remained stationary, while still looking at Ban curiously. It further confirmed that she was truly an important person protected by the group.
"Please sit here, young friend!" the old man gestured towards a fallen log in the distance.
Ban nodded his head and sat down there. The old man also followed suit and as there were no other fallen logs around, he instead went towards a small tree and cut it with lightning speed using his sword.
Ban scoffed at that as he thought the old man was trying to boast about his 'impressive' Skills in front of him.
The old man placed the tree he cut opposite to Ban. He then sat down slowly, and then the woman sat down beside him calmly.
"I forgot to introduce myself, this old man's name is Yakob, while this one beside me is our Young Miss, Ciera. Those three won't join our little chat so I won't introduce them one by one but basically, they are my students."
"We came from Falcon City, from the Sanders household to be precise. We came here in search of a particular Beast that could cure the illness of our Lord."
The two of them then nodded towards Ban politely. While the Young Miss was surprised that the Elder revealed it easily, she did not think that he slipped up, so she did not say anything unnecessary.
Ban was surprised to know that they were actually from the Falcon City, the neighbouring city of Eagle City. He thought that they were also from Eagle City just like him.
However, even though he was surprised, he still managed to hold it in, acting as if he was actually calm and did not care about their background act.
"How about you, young friend? How should we address you?"
"Eagle City, De-"
Ban halted and thought for a moment. The other party was very honest earlier even though it was clear that they were stronger and could probably defeat and kill him in a fight easily.
He thought they were already giving him much face so lying to them about his name might actually be a bad idea.
So instead of lying, he ended up saying his real name.
"Eagle City, Ban…"