Evolution begins with an ant colony

"It's a fire!" exclaimed a panda beast folk, pointing at the building engulfed in flames, worry and surprise evident in her voice.

"Head towards the streams, everyone! Go get water!" urged a dog beast folk, pointing at the streams in the distance.

Wasting no time, the beast folk tribe's men each quickly grabbed wooden buckets and sprinted for the nearby lakes, all in an attempt to get water to put out the fires that were consuming their homes.

While some of them headed to the streams, others tried to control the fire while salvaging their valuables from the buildings before they were burned down.

As some beast folk approached the stream on the north side, Adrian was explaining the final parts of his plan, "Alright, here they come. Once they get close enough, we'll put our magic swords in the stream just as they are about to fetch the water. Then we'll paralyze them with some lightning magic.

They won't be able to defend themselves, allowing us to get the drop on them, putting their lights out before they even know what hit them."

A knight named Hestria, a woman with blond hair and purple eyes, voiced her concerns about the plan. "As amazing as that sounds, what are the chances all of them will fetch water from the stream at the same time? It would take an incredible amount of luck for that to happen, it's basically impossible."

Adrian then chuckled slightly as he added, "Well, we can only hope Lady Luck smiles upon us. If not, we're toast. Alright, no more talking; time to make this work."

All the knights replied, "Right!" in a hushed tone so as not to alert the approaching beast folk.

Once the beast folk arrived and dipped their buckets into the stream, Adrian gave the signal. "Now!" he exclaimed. At that moment, the knights used their magic swords to channel lightning magic through the water, electrifying the beast folk and paralyzing them.

"What's going on?" One of the beast folk managed to mumble, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"My body stings all over," another added. "I can't move either." They came to realize.

Suddenly, Adrian and his knights emerged from the bushes beyond the stream, walking through it to arrive on the other side where the paralyzed beast folk lay.

Seeing that a couple handfuls of beast folk tribesmen were paralyzed by their spell, Adrian smiled as he said, "Seems lady luck is on our side."

Before the beast folk could make any sense of what was going on, the knights loomed over them, their swords and armor glinting in the moonlight. The eyes of the beast folk widened with fear and confusion, struggling to make sense of their sudden predicament.

Adrian then suddenly added, "Now!" All the knights proceeded to use their swords to stab the chests of the beast folk people, running their swords through their hearts, ending their lives.

Suddenly, Adrian heard the sounds of footsteps in the distance; another group of beast folk approached the stream.

"What do we do now, sir?" one of the male knights asked with a slightly worried tone.

"We head back into the bushes, pull the bodies along with you," he said as he began pulling the beast folk he had stabbed to death.

Another knight asked with a slightly confused and curious tone, "But won't their blood stain the stream if we drag them past?"

"This is flowing water, you idiot. It will just be pushed away. Now pull like your life depends on it, because it does. Only heaven knows what those monsters will do to us if they find out we killed their comrades." Adrian chimed.

The knights all listened and did as they were told, pulling the bodies past the stream and into the bushes. Luckily for them, the fur of the beast folk they killed absorbed most of their blood, preventing any from dripping on the floor.

As the other beast folk group got even closer, Adrian whispered to his knights, "Alright, once they begin to fetch water again, we'll continue with the same process."

"Don't you think you are expecting too much here? I know it worked the first time, but we have to use another approach this time. Lady Luck tends to hate men who act too arrogant," remarked Hestria.@@novelbin@@

Adrian smiled in response, saying, "What are you saying? In reality, Lady Luck is a big fan of bad boys."

Overhearing their petty argument, Riandila chimed in with a hushed tone, "I don't think this is the time for both of you to be arguing. You have to keep quiet; the monsters are getting closer."

"One of the soldiers then chimed in, 'Sir Adrian, what about the cores? When do we extract them?'"

Adrian replied, "We'll do that later; we still have to make sure we execute the plan flawlessly this time."

As the beast folk drew even closer, a few steps from the stream, one of them stopped the rest. "You guys should wait up; I can smell the blood of our tribe's men, from that bush over there."

He was a white tiger with a fairly bulky frame, black stripes, and dazzling blue eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Wearing regular clothing, his name was Kazor.

"What do you mean, Kazor? You are making meow scared," one of the cat-woman beast folk revealed as all of her hair and tail stood on end.

The soldiers peeping out saw what Kazor was doing. Although they didn't exchange words, they all seemed to be aware Kazor was onto them, which increased their heart rate.

Kazor then let out a sigh as he said, "Stay here. I'll go across the stream and find out what the source of the smell is. We can't take any chances; for all we know, that could be an enemy attack."

He then slowly began to approach, stepping into the stream and beginning to cross.

As he approached, Adrian mused inwardly, "This is bad. I completely forgot to take into account their sense of smell. This could get out of hand. I doubt any of us will be a match for this monster head-on. I mean, just look at his sheer size and those muscles. We'll be obliterated in a single move." Beads of sweat streamed down his face.

He clenched his teeth as he mused further, "I have to come up with a plan to get us out of this, and fast. If not, this will be where our mission ends."

As Kazor slowly approached, his shadow looming over the bushes about to do the big reveal, he slowly touched the bushes. Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

As he slowly begins to approach, tension builds up, and the knights exchange glances, wondering what they would do if they were discovered.

Each of his actions only seemed to make the knights increasingly terrified, their heart rates increasing rapidly.

Suddenly, a massive explosion happened in the distance, causing Kazor and the other beast folk to turn their gazes momentarily towards the source.

They saw a building letting out flames that seemed to constantly change color. "What in the name of Zenith is that?" mumbled Kazor as he gazed with fear and confusion.

Suddenly, a voice called out to Kazor, "Kazor! What is taking you guys so long?"

The voice belonged to Yanzi, a fox woman beast folk with bright red and white fur. She then added, "The fire has already spread to where we are keeping the runes that were supposed to be used for the construction, causing a magical reaction and leading to a massive explosion. You guys should hurry up with the water!"

No longer approaching the bushes, Kazor redirected his gaze to Yanzi as he replied, "We'll be right there." Talking to his tribesmen next to him, he said, "Hand me over my bucket; I dropped it over there." They proceeded to do so, filling their buckets with water before heading off.

As the beast folk left, all the knights let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Darn, I thought we were goners," Adrian mumbled as he placed his hand on his enhanced iron chest plate, panting slightly.

Hestria, chimed in, "That was too close for comfort, Adrian. We need to be more careful; these monsters are sharper than we thought."

Adrian, nodded in agreement. "Agreed. We can't afford any more slip-ups. Keep your guard up, everyone. We have a mission to complete."

The other knights exchanged glances, a mix of relief and tension still lingering in the air. They tightened their grips on their weapons, still a bit shaken from the sight of the monster from eariler.

While Kazor and the other beast folk hurried to quench the fire with their buckets of water, he couldn't help but pause in his tracks momentarily, turning his head slightly to gaze at the bush from earlier. He then let out a sigh as he continued his pace towards the fire. Knowing putting out the flames currently took priority over what there could be in the bushes, or so he thought.