I'm The supreme Fairy King

"That area isn't any safer than the rest of the forest," the first Banshee disciple said.

"But that's only during the night," the second Banshee kid said, "and we have the blood of the ancient Krakens. You know they fear the blood of ancient beasts."

The other disciple nodded and waited for the main team to catch up.

"So you also got a way to defend yourselves there," Jim was surprised when he heard these words. "I have to get my hands on that blood."

He now realized how his enemies were much more prepared than his side. "They know each part of the forest, and also have many counters to the deadly risks lying in darkness at each corner... they have higher odds than us."

'That's not necessarily true,' the old man simply said, 'I bet older disciples already have the same amount of info as them.'

"But I'm not an older disciple yet," Jim sighed, "at least they have a way to go into one of those caves and sleep there for the entire night without worrying about anything."

'They won't live through the day to stay there at night,' the old man laughed, 'the other wave of monsters are drawing closer.'

Jim turned his head and saw the second wave coming fast towards this place. This wave was different from the monkey monsters, as they kept crushing some trees along their advance.

"They are... rhinoceroses!" Jim said in surprise while noticing one or two of these monsters from the gaps created by smashed trees. "And their number isn't that high."

'Don't belittle them,' the old man warned, 'having such giant bodies and thick armor, they are really invincible and would take much time and effort to fall.'

"Then i should keep hiding," Jim found it more alluring to avoid all that and close his eyes on this upcoming brutal fight.

'I don't think you can,' the old man said, 'after all those monkeys can feel your presence and can reach your place.'

This startled Jim for a moment before thinking back of the place he was in. "This is the demon forest after all," he muttered before holding his sword scabbard tightly in one hand, "if they want to come, then I should gladly strike up a big party for them."

Jim's mind was now filled with such a crazy idea that he decided not to use until the bitter end. 'You shouldn't provoke the anger of something you can't afford its wrath,' the old man warned.

"I won't choose this path except if I would be about to get killed."

Jim saw how easy this solution was, but the fact that no one tried it up till now made him realize there must be grave consequences for doing that.

And so he decided to wait and not use that plan until the very end.

"Roar!"

The incoming wave of monsters arrived faster than Jim expected. "They are gaining speed the more they run!" he was surprised to see this off logic fact in front of his eyes.

"Watch out!"

"They are the wild rhinoceropards!"

"Spread out!"

"Don't stick around!"

All of sudden chaos erupted the moment the ground disciples noticed the incoming monsters. "Wild rhinceropards?" Jim muttered and the next moment he got the answer. "They had leopard legs! Damn! How can these things carry off such gigantic weight?"

'It's their muscles,' the old man said before suddenly laughing, 'It's your lucky day boy, the meat of these monsters are really delicious.'

Jim glanced at the giant bodies of these monsters, each was at least a ton in weight or even more. "I suppose they got a lot of meat in them, right?" he smirked while his saliva started running.

And the next moment his abdomen cried out again.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The monsters were much faster than the disciples. The moment they reached the area around the tree, they didn't stop or decrease their speed.

Instead they charge directly to hit the disciples around, sending each one off the ground while crying out in deep pain.

Even some lost their consciousness at this moment, including one Banshee kid.

The hits were so severe and intense that each caused an explosive loud bang. The other team were alarmed by this and Jim noticed the monkeys chasing them to grow hesitant.

"What is going on?" he couldn't help but ask when he spotted most of the monkeys stopping and even some turned around and started running away.

'Each monster here is an enemy to the disciples,' the old man said, 'but that's only in the times of expeditions and personal adventures. Rest of time, or to be frank most of the time, they were challenging each other for territory and resources.'

"You mean... they are already enemies?"

'Indeed,' the old man confirmed his guess, 'and they are as deadly to each other as they are to you.'

Jim watched the large number of monkeys drawing back slowly while the rhinceropards kept charging forward fast.

"How can they escape like this?" he didn't understand this, "they have the number and altitude advantage here."

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

Just before the old man could say anything, Jim watched the rhinceropards hitting the disciples before they continued to hit trees until they reached the ones some of the foolish monkeys remained on top of.

And the next thing happened was for these trees to fall, taking down with them the monkeys. The rhinoceropards weren't polite, moved at once to crush the fallen and strangely stupefied monkeys before turning around.

Then a strange thing happened in front of Jim's eyes.

"They... are eating their cores!!" This sudden realization hit him and now he realized why each monster considered the other a deadly foe for him.

They weren't fighting for dominance, but survival and getting stronger.

'Each monster core contains a good deal of energy that can help any monster to grow stronger and might even evolve its core,' the old man said.

"Then why didn't those monkeys move away the moment their trees fell to the ground?" This was something that puzzled Jim.