Noah walked into the Woods with his mates. It would be easier to comb the woods by separating, but that would open them to risks.

With five people they had a fighting and a flight chance.

All of them were experienced people with blood on their hands. They walked cautiously while the hounds smelled the area around them and the birds flew in the sky for any clues.

It wasn't their first time on these sides of the woods, but somehow it felt foreign.

The sounds were missing, meaning the animals were on guard from something or they had all been killed.

Noah doubted that possibility and tried to locate any clues.

It would have been better if the Shadow Jaguar had actually fought the intruder or Intruders, it would have made all their lives easier.

Unfortunately, life was rarely convenient.

The slow crawl of a walk went for hours and the dogs finally picked up something new.

Making sure they didn't make any noise, Noah walked forward with others behind him.

They had seen no smoke or found any signs of human life, so it was most likely a new beast from their observations.

Walking carefully, they finally saw it.

Horror was clear on Noah's face as he laid his eyes on the creature.

Parasitic Giant Wasp

The giant bug was the size of a normal cat and it was extremely silent. It was mix of two colors, yellow and black.

The creature had silent flight attribute, making it even more dangerous.

A lone wasp wasn't a problem, so the problem was that there was never a lone wasp in a region.

The Knights had made sure to destroy any such insects (Giant ants and Bees) from the region or they would grow beyond their control.

Parasitic Wasps were worse than ants and Bees. These creatures were insidious and violent by nature.

These insects would inject their offspring into other beings, which would then grow up and take over until the wasp was ready to get out.

Sometimes the wasp took a liking to the vessel and utilized it till destruction. There were multiple types of Parasitic Wasps.

There was a type that would lay multiple eggs on a host and the children would consume the host.

There was a type that lay eggs on top of other beings.

The one inside the forest was called Takeover Wasp and it was one of the worst kinds of creatures to exist.

The venom injected by the wasp would alter the mind of the host, so that they would never be aware of the abnormalities of their situation and cause the host to consume more for the eggs needs.

'How did it get here?' Noah questioned as these creatures didn't live in the region anymore.

He wanted to know how they got there from the Dark Forest that was extremely far from the Village.

Noah stopped others from attacking it and signaled them to follow it.

He wanted to see how many were in the forest and if there was really a hive or not. Wasps were the pinnacle of animal architects. They constructed hanging nests (hives) from structures or built subterranean combs or ground nests. When wasps built hives, they didn't re-use them from year to year, because they would disintegrate over the winter. This was usually when the nest became noticeable to humans.

That was for normal wasps while the Giant Wasps didn’t have the same problem except the human part. Human beings and other intelligent beings would destroy them before these creatures got out of control.

With that in mind, it was a stressful journey tailing the creature as it was sensitive to changes around it.

Noah had wished that it was just a lone bug, but he knew it was a scout.

They saw more of them as they followed it and finally saw the hive from afar with their Eagle Eyes.

The birds from above had missed it because of the mist covering a large area around it.

Noah knew what the mist meant so he had stopped everyone and hoped his other team mates were alive.

The wasp’s strength was equal to a Ki refining human and they were extremely agile.

But the dangerous part about the species was that that queen was definitely in the foundation realm and it had guards at the same realm.

The hive would at least contain 100 of them and many of them could have Ki refining level.

With such a fighting power and their genetic abilities, the Village would lose a lot fighting them.

Regardless, a fight was unavoidable because the wasps would grow in power and attack humans in the territory.

The easiest method would be to torch the woods but it would burn the whole place down and even spread to the village. They had no way to manage such powerful flames except for Charles.

Charles could keep the flames concentrated in a single area but that would open him to danger.

That would be too risky.

Noah signaled everyone to retreat and the eagle also gave the cry to signal the other team.

It was too dangerous for them to stay so close to the hive for long.

The mist could cause hallucinations and numb the mind.

Retreating successfully, the team returned to the village and Noah went to meet Charles.

Hearing the news, Charles was angered but maintained his cool.

It wasn't just the Woods as Charles had received messages from Nadir and Hymn Village.

There were Wind Ants in the area around Hymn Village and there was a spider problem for Nadir village.

Both beings weren't weak and extremely dangerous, especially the Spiders on the Nadir village side.

Charles hadn't expected such a devious move from his enemies. They moved fast and hit him hard.

It was clear that Baron Jacob wanted to suppress him indirectly.

His loyalty and service seemed to have no worth in the man's eyes as he allowed his neighboring Baron to move around his territory.

All these creatures came from the Dark Forest from the territory of the other Baron. That man would be very happy to get rid of Charles.

Charles had defeated his Knights countless times and caused him shame.

Charles felt that he had been too laid back with his approach. His enemies were truly cunning and now all his pieces were stuck in a quagmire.

All three of them would lose strength by fighting the creatures and the only way to lessen the problem, would be to hire mercenaries.

Though, even that might be problematic as the Baron might use them to cause problems from the inside.

Charles couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous situation. He had been checkmated before the battle even started.

The Baron truly had deep pockets to waste on Knight, Charles thought and felt reinvigorated.

Yes, his opponent was a Baron. He couldn't help but smile as his mind took things in a positive manner.

He was worthy of a Baron to mess with him. Now he just needed to devise a way to get out of the trap.

"Noah prepare for any attacks, I will burn the area down for each of them." Charles decided that it was the best decision. It was something that none would expect him to take, so there might not be enough preparations for it.

He will call the other two Knights and they will burn down the nest of these creatures one by one with quick efficiency to avoid another attack.

"Husband, are you sure about this? It might be a trap." Angelina asked calmly, though she felt agitated by his words. It was too risky.

Even Noah didn't agree with the decision and felt Charles was being reckless because of the stressful situation.

"It is the only way at the moment. If we delay this issue, it will only get worse.

I believe we can take them by surprise by handling it with haste. Even if they have something prepared, we can at least finish off one of these pests."

"The severity of the situation doesn't mean we should discount the possibility of the trap. The cost of this decision is too high and none of us can pay it.

All three of you could get eliminated during the process. Baron Stephan has much wealth and has enchanters in his service, deceptive traps is a surety." Angelina countered and reminded him not to underestimate their enemy.

He was gambling on the enemy being satisfied with these steps.

"That's why we are going to take out the Ants first. But, you are right..." Charles also thought the same thing, though he wanted to believe his enemy wasn't so thorough.

Looking around the room, his eyes landed on the smiling old man."Let me handle it, Charles. I am still good enough to handle this issue." Edward spoke as he tapped the table lightly. He was taking things easy and believed they could get out of the situation.

He was a very positive minded person that didn't get stressed out.

He knew that Charles hated him, but he loved his son in his own way.

"If it is a trap, you won't get out alive with your strength."

"I don't mind."

"My Lord, how about letting me negotiate with the beasts?" Noah could feel that the talk was going nowhere and everyone was convinced that there was a trap.

Even if Charles didn't go, many people would die and that would be a great injury to Charles.

Hearing his words, all of them went silent. Truly, they had forgotten to take into account the residents of the region.

They hadn't communicated before and people wouldn't usually consider talking to them, so it was a unique proposal since none of them was a beast tamer.

"Not a bad proposal. Let's try it out first." Charles muttered after a while as he looked at the others for their opinions.

It seems everyone agreed on it. Charles was cautious but he was also a risk taker. He had the confidence to get out of any trap that could have prepared in this region because a strong required ample preparation.

There had been no movements to indicate such a thing. So, his method wasn't exactly wrong but it could get him injured.

It was the reason he had Angelina by his side. She didn't take chances and avoided any risk.

She was not a risk taker and only went for the sure fire method.

Edward usually didn't give any input but he was also very knowledgeable while Noah thought in a way that was different from all of them.

He was an actual Hunter and knew the best about the terrain and beasts.

"Are you sure about this, Noah? You are very important to us, so we would like to avoid any risky venture." Angelina asked for more details to see if Noah was truly ready for the task.

"It isn't exactly dangerous, Angelina. The beasts understand their position and avoid making trouble with us. We are tolerating each other, so Noah won't get attacked. Isn't that right, Noah?" Charles knew about these things more than his wife and had close encounters with the beasts before. He had even fought them in his younger days.

"Thank you for your care, Madam. But, Charles is right. The beats won't attack me and I am confident that I can communicate with them. Though, they might need something to see our sincerity." Noah was happy to hear the Madam's words and replied with honesty, and reminding them of the fear the beasts would hold.

It wouldn't slip their mind to think that the humans might use the opportunity to get rid of them.

"I will let you handle it and wait for your successful return." Charles smiled in a friendly manner. It was Noah's usefulness beyond combat that had landed him close to Charles and he hadn't regretted that decision.

With Noah handling the beasts, Charles decided to contact the other Knights.