"Alright, let's go," Kayal whispered. They had already obtained the information, so there was no need to confront such a monster head-on, especially with two children nearby.
Even the initially tough Atoris couldn't keep up his bravado. He nodded obediently and slowly retreated, but Kayal's expression changed, and he shouted, "Go!"
Only then did Gawain, no longer able to hide his panic, cry out and spur his horse to a gallop.
The three horses had long been trembling with fear, and at this moment, they could no longer suppress their terror, letting out loud whinnies.
Despite their rapid acceleration, the giant ape's roar still echoed from behind. The ground trembled with its angry roar as the three horses galloped swiftly towards the edge of the forest.
Behind them, the giant ape continuously charged and roared, perhaps believing its territory had been invaded, or perhaps it hadn't eaten enough, chasing them with great fury.
"Damn it," Gawain spurred his horse, his whole body bouncing as if he had a stroke. Atoris was no better off. Their horses were not suited for the mountainous terrain of the forest, falling far behind the little Unicorn.
"You two go first!" Kayal suddenly patted the Unicorn and charged towards the giant ape.
Although the little Unicorn was terrified, it still trusted the command of its owner, whose scent was comforting, and charged towards the giant ape.
"Hey! Kay!" Gawain, galloping on his horse, turned his head sharply and shouted.
"Damn it!!" Atoris was even more decisive, pulling on the reins to turn back and charge.
Both of them simultaneously witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives—
Kayal, counter-charging the giant ape, quickly approached it.
The giant ape's reaction was also swift. Seeing this little ant dare to charge at it, although it didn't know who Don Quixote was, it didn't prevent the giant ape from having the resolve to crush the little ant into a patty.
It raised its arm high and then brought it down like a heavy hammer. Kayal could guarantee that the force contained in this blow was absolutely no less than that of a demolition machine's single strike! In fact, the power generated by its bones and muscles might even exceed it!
But Kayal was not surprised in the least.
"Protection!!" A white shield instantly blocked the blow, but it also became like a rain curtain, swaying precariously.
"Reflex!!" The Recoil force immediately bounced the giant ape's force completely back, causing the giant ape to sit down on the ground.
"Go back! Go! Go!" Kayal looked at Atoris, who was riding towards him, and sharply patted the little Unicorn's neck, causing it to bolt forward.
He grabbed Atoris and threw him onto his back, ignoring the small horse. Kayal knew the giant beast's target was them, not the small horse.
Despite carrying two people, the little Unicorn still moved like the wind, quickly catching up to Gawain.
"Speed!" Kayal added speed to Gawain's pony and shouted loudly. The two horses shot forward.
"So scary." By a small pond, Gawain kept washing his face with lingering fear. His hands were still trembling, and he could only relieve the twitching muscles in his face by repeatedly splashing water on it.
"It's alright," Kayal said calmly. "If applied to war... it would be invincible." Kayal didn't get lost in panic; instead, he began to calmly consider.
He considered whether this giant beast could be tamed.
Kayal then gave up.
Not to mention how much effort it would take to tame this giant beast, just its daily consumption would be an astronomical figure, making it very uneconomical.
Kayal abandoned the idea and jumped off the Unicorn. It was only then that Kayal realized Atoris was still clinging tightly to him, having not let go at all.
The two immediately tumbled into the pond like rolling gourds.
Shaking the water from his face, Kayal looked at the short-haired little boy with a cowlick emerging from the pond, shook his head, stood up, and walked step by step towards the shore.
"I... I will definitely charge forward next time," Atoris said, his face flushed red, feeling deeply ashamed of his behavior of fleeing in battle.
"It's alright," Kayal waved his hand and began to take off his clothes. "When facing an unbeatable force, you avoid it, then use the power of wisdom to defeat an enemy that cannot be defeated by brute force. That's what combat is, isn't it? The primary objective is to defeat the enemy; that's what combat is." Kayal was naked in a flash. Since they were all boys here, there was no need to be afraid of being bare-assed.
Atoris's face instantly burned red. Looking at Kayal's fair skin, he shouted, "Im, im, impolite! How impolite! To, to, to strip so completely in front of a, a lady...! It's too impolite! Put your clothes back on immediately!"
Kayal completely missed the word Atoris suddenly whispered in the middle, simply hanging his clothes on a branch to dry. "What's wrong? You should take yours off too. Even though it's summer, you'll catch a cold with wet clothes on."
"Did you also learn your medical skills from Merlin?" One must know that in this world, medical skills were still at the most basic level of witch doctors. Although they didn't revere ghosts and gods, they didn't even know what cleanliness was in medicine, so for ordinary people, birth, old age, sickness, and death, sickness and death were linked together.
Someone who could cure diseases was no less than snatching people from the hands of Death, a very rare skill.
Kayal shook his head, suddenly realizing he had a lot to do in the future. Not only did he need to establish intelligence agencies, medical systems, and various logistics... Oh, and he also needed to teach mathematics and language, music and painting. Rome wasn't built in a day. Kayal would be doing well if he could establish an empire as prosperous as Rome in this lifetime.
After hanging up his clothes, Kayal jumped into the water and began to swim.
He surfaced, only to find Atoris still in the water, his face flushed red, not knowing if he was angry or something else. Kayal said, "Atoris, go hang your clothes there. Catch a few fish from the bottom of the water, and we'll have lunch sorted."
"Kay, don't you have a magic that can instantly dry clothes?" Atoris asked, his face blushing.
"There's no such thing," Kayal shook his head and called out to Gawain, "Hey, Gawain, give me a short sword."
"Oh!" Gawain threw the short sword over from afar.
Seeing Kayal and Gawain, Atoris seemed to make up his mind, his face red, biting his lip as he said, "I'm going to change clothes."
Watching Atoris hide far away in the bushes, Kayal shook his head in confusion, but trusting his strength, he didn't stop him. He dived underwater and speared five or six fish, throwing them all onto the bank.
Gawain, who had started a fire and was grilling fish from the very first one, had already prepared a dagger to skin and gut the fish, then threaded them onto wooden sticks.
Feeling that it was about time, Kayal threw the short sword to Gawain and walked towards the bushes.
"Hey, Atoris, time to eat. We'll have to hit the road right after..." Kayal froze, looking at Atoris, who had suddenly turned his head, and suddenly couldn't say anything...