The next day, after breakfast, Gray left the castle with the dry rations, water, and other tools that he had prepared the day before.
He rode an ordinary horse at the horse farm and headed straight for the Red Leaf Forest.
Two hours later, he arrived at the edge of the Red Leaf Forest.
He found a remote place to tie up the horse, carried a leather backpack, and walked into the Red Leaf Forest.
Puff, puff, puff!
After all, this was the outer area, and he would only encounter some ordinary beasts. He did not hide his tracks at all and headed in the direction of the Imperial Ruins in his memory.
Along the way, he was attacked by beasts from time to time. In response, he only needed to swing his sword to cut the attacking beast in half.
Avoiding the splattering blood, he moved forward at a constant speed. Killing beasts that were not even at the level of a low-level Blood Warrior was as easy as chopping vegetables for him now.
"Woo —"
A black bear's feet left the ground, and its huge paw slammed toward Gray.
Its whole body was covered in black fur. Compared to its peers, it was taller and had already reached three meters. In its open mouth, its teeth were huge and sharp, and there was also a pungent stench.
Swoosh!
The moment its huge paw slammed toward Gray, Gray stomped lightly on the ground, and his speed suddenly increased. In an instant, he passed by the black bear.
The black bear paw stopped in mid-air, as if it had forgotten to slam down. Its ferocious head maintained its open mouth, but it did not close again.
Splat!
A red line of blood appeared at its waist, and blood rained down. Then, its huge body was suddenly cut in two and fell heavily to the ground.
In front of it, where the blood could not splash, Gray stopped and turned back to look at its corpse.
"I'm afraid it's already comparable to a low-level Blood Warrior!"
Among humans, even without a bloodline implant, there were people who could raise their strength to a low-level Blood Warrior through arduous training.
Among the beasts, there were obviously such unusual existences, and this black bear was one of them.
Shaking his head, Gray withdrew his gaze and continued forward.
Even if a middle-level Blood Warrior had combat strength comparable to a low-level Blood Warrior, there would not be any difference under his sword. He would still be killed in one strike.
After all, he was now a Ferocious Blood Warrior, and not an ordinary one at that.
Traveling in a straight line, his speed was naturally extremely fast. Very soon, he had already entered the depths of the Red Leaf Forest, a relatively inner region.
Compared to the last time he came here with Viscount Fergus and Bernal, he spent even less time.
After all, Viscount Fergus couldn't display his speed when he and Bernal were present. But this time, he was a Ferocious Warrior, so his speed was naturally extremely fast.
After arriving here, he became much more cautious in his actions.
He activated the infrared perception ability he had obtained from the Shadow Snake to its most sensitive state.
Within a radius of a few dozen meters, all the animals hiding in the forest had nowhere to hide and were clearly visible to him.
Because he had gathered the most powerful characteristics and abilities of three types of blood fiends, he was not afraid of ordinary murderous level blood fiends. Only those murderous level blood fiends that could be used to deduce "special blood techniques" could make him wary.
However, he had come this time to explore the remains of the empire, not to hunt blood fiends. Naturally, it would be best if he did not encounter any.
Of course, if he really did encounter one, he would not mind fighting it. He would treat it as training to increase his combat experience.
After bypassing a few areas with traces of blood fiend activity, he finally arrived in front of a canyon.
The canyon was a few hundred meters wide, with flat mountain walls on both sides and a dense forest in the middle. It was already autumn, and the forest in the canyon was slowly turning red.
This was also a place where a murderous-level blood fiend might exist. No, it was not a possibility, but a certainty.
Last time, when he returned from this canyon with Viscount Fergus and Bernal, he had heard the terrifying roar of a powerful blood fiend.
Moreover, the corpse of the Shadow Serpent that they had killed had also been dragged into this canyon.
All signs pointed to the existence of a blood fiend in this canyon.
"It's been so long, I wonder if it has left?"
Without much hesitation, Gray stepped into the canyon. This was a place he had to pass through. Whether he was willing or not, he had to pass through here unless he wanted to take a long detour.
Furthermore, he was no longer the middle-level blood warrior he had been before. He was now a murderous-blood warrior with extraordinary strength.
If he really encountered one, he would not mind fighting it. Even if he was no match for it, he would be able to escape with the speed of the Wind Wolf.
Furthermore, it had the ability to hide in the shadows, so the other party might not be able to detect him.
Most of the trees in the canyon were red-leafed trees, but there were other types of trees as well. Among them, Gray saw wild apple trees full of pink apples and banana trees with yellow bananas sparsely hanging from them.
Awooo —
Just as he had walked for more than a mile and was about to reach the middle of the canyon …
An ape-like roar sounded like a sonic bomb. Wave after wave, it spread throughout the entire canyon, reverberating back and forth.
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
At the same time, it was accompanied by the sound of tree branches shaking violently.
"Did I really encounter it?"
He looked up and saw that the red-leafed trees in the distance were shaking non-stop, as if something was rapidly approaching him.
Rustle, rustle!
Accompanied by the rustling of leaves, not long after, a gigantic creature was moving between the trees and rushing toward him.
It was a gigantic ape-type blood fiend.
Its entire body was covered in thick black hair, and its body was tall and sturdy. As it stood on a branch, the branch could not bear the weight and bent downward. One could not help but worry that the branch would be trampled and broken.
The most unique thing about it was its two arms. They were extremely thick, even thicker than its two legs. The black hair on them was also thicker than the rest of its body.
Standing on the branch of the red-leafed tree, it looked down and sized up the place where Gray had been standing.
When it did not see the prey it had imagined, its ape-like face was filled with doubt.
Previously, when it had been resting on a tree, it had coincidentally seen a prey appear in this direction and had immediately rushed over excitedly.
But now, it did not see the prey.
Huff, huff!
It sniffed the remaining scent in the air, but after all, it was not a wild beast that was good at tracking by scent, so it could not find the direction in which the prey had escaped.
Vexed, it moved around the surrounding trees a few times before finally leaving.
Not long after the giant ape had left, Gray stepped out from under the shadow of a tree.
He glanced in the direction that the giant ape had left, slightly sidestepped, and continued to walk toward the other side of the canyon.
Although he was not afraid, he was not here to hunt blood fiends. Hence, he chose to hide in the shadows to avoid the giant ape.
The shadow ability was indeed an excellent ability for sneak attacks and evasion. In the dense forest, there were shadows everywhere. With the shadow ability, he was like a fish in water and easily found a place to hide.
After passing through the canyon and walking a few more miles, surrounded by red-leafed trees, a cluster of buildings that extended for thousands of meters appeared in front of him.
Desolate, secluded, and cold, it was as if the world had abandoned it.
This was naturally the ruins of the Empire.
He walked into the ruins and found the entrance to the secret room with ease. He took out a simple rune lamp and carefully passed through the tunnel that might still have some remaining mechanisms. He entered the underground space that was more than a thousand square meters in size.
The underground space was the same as the last time he had been here. It was extremely spacious. The rune lamp above his head was still emitting light, and the metal giant that had been cut into two was still in its original position.
He walked straight to the room on the right wall where the gold coins were. His eyes were filled with anticipation and apprehension.
The few people before them had already given up on the gold coins of the Empire. This was only his guess, and now it was time to verify this guess.
He looked inside, and the next moment, his face was filled with extreme joy.
"I guessed right — —"