Damp, humid air hung above the ground, forming a thin layer of whitish grey fog, that changed to a greenish hue over the swamps, a bluish hue over the rivers, and a more pristine hue of white over the lakes, each with their own special nature. The greenish fog, for instance, often contained some kind of noxious gases, making the swamps a natural habitat for Oren Beasts who relied on toxins and hallucinogens to amplify the effect of their Innate Abilities.

  For such beasts, the Star Seekers ignored their existence, just making sure that they explored the swamps with their Spirits. And the beasts too, after glancing at the group of ten terrifying creatures, each stronger than the other, just dove back into the swamps, preferring to ignore the passing calamity. It was a natural instinct of the beasts. They liked to steer clear of enemies they were not sure of defeating.

  Unless someone invaded their territories, of course. In that case, they might often fight to the death. Or at least, fight desperately, running away only when they knew that they would not stand a chance against their invaders. Thus, all that the Star Seekers had to do, as they rushed through the whitish grey fog hanging over the forest, was to make the beasts stirring in the fog understand the gap that lay between them.

  “Vestia!” Alnea yelled, as he ran on Cecilia’s left flank. “Northwest, a hundred and forty metres ahead, hiding on the branches of a tree, three Fog Hounds!”

  “…Found them!” Vestia yelled back, slinging her bow out of her shoulders, while urging her Aspects to gather around her hands, and flow into the bow, so that by the time she had the bow in her hand and pulled its string back, a bluish red arrow had already taken shape, placed perfectly between the string and the bowhead.

  Though just shooting an arrow was not enough. If she could not kill a hound in one shot, it would not be enough to deter them away. So, she added a spiral head to the arrow, giving it the possibility to spin. And as she released the arrow, she did not forget to use one of her Auxiliary Martial Styles to boost the arrow’s speed and destructive capabilities.

  In the next moment, before the three menacing Fog Hounds could jump down from the tree to hound their invaders, they saw something fly over from their enemies. Right after, one of them exploded into a mass of flesh and flesh and blood, startling the other two to their very core. Glancing at the enemies rushing towards them, the two hounds gave out a whimper, and dashed away into the depths of the fog, hoping that the terrifying enemies would not come after them.

  “…When am I going to get my chance to fight?” Cecilia mumbled, as the Star Seekers ran past a fresh patch of flesh and blood on the ground. “Every time it is either Vestia or Zain taking care of the beasts.”

  “…We discussed this earlier, Lia,” Alnea said absentmindedly, while focussing his attention to the part of the forest he was exploring. “You will get your chance when we have a fight that we cannot avoid.”

  “…Which bastard do you think would be stupid enough to fight us head on?”

  A pack of Fog Wolves, apparently. Even after Zain wiped out half a dozen of them with his attack from a distance, their number was brought down by only a tenth. There were still around fifty wolves left, enough to give them the courage to rush at their invaders. Fortunately for the Star Seekers, of the fifty or so wolves, only one was at the Peak phase, and half a dozen were at the Advanced phase. The rest were just some Intermediate and Initial phase Oren Beasts, which any Star Seeker could take down in just one hit.

  “Cecilia, take down the leader of the wolves,” Yuri said, as the Star Seekers came to a stop. “The Advanced Stage wolves will be left to Alnea and Norren. Ralph and Aren, hold the rest of the wolves back. Fran, focus on defence. Vestia will handle the offence. I will leave their support to you, Zain. And Karl, keep a lookout behind us. I will support our vanguards.”

  Everyone nodded in unison, and quickly assumed the roles assigned to them, each rushing to face their enemies. Or at least the vanguards did. Ralph and Aren just stood in place, and began casting their Arcanas and Glyphs, constantly harassing the wolves, keeping them at bay, while Vestia took them down one by one with her arrows. A few of them managed to escape the barrage of attacks from time to time, but were taken down by Zain almost immediately.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  On the other end, Cecilia, along with Forne, rushed through the pack of wolves, completely ignoring her defence. Or rather, trusting her defence to her teammates. And as she had expected, the moment any wolves got close to her, it was bounced back by a shield of grey fog attached to her body. And though the cat following next to her did not have any shield protecting it along the way, no one was worried about it.

  As a Peak phase Oren Beast, even if one that was not particularly good at fighting, if the Fortune Devouring Cat could be hurt by just a bunch of Intermediate and Initial Stage Oren Beasts, it would not have survived within the Night Canyons for so long. Of course, not everyone knew that it was a Fortune Devouring Cat. Still, they knew that the cat was strong enough to keep itself out of danger. And the cat stood true to their expectations.

  Weaving its way through the chaos, deftly dodging the claws of the wolves aiming for its head, while constantly stepping on their claws, many a times even directing two or more wolves to attack each other, Forne followed next to Cecilia without falling behind her at any step along the way, until they finally stood face to face with the leader of the wolves. By then, the grey fog attached to Cecilia’s body had also done its job, so it slowly dissipated back into the surrounding sea of fog, but Cecilia herself was not worried. On the contrary, she was more excited than ever.

  “…Do not die too quickly,” Cecilia mumbled, urging her Aspects surging around her body to gather into her claws. “At least let me enjoy myself a little.”

  While Cecilia was gearing up to enjoy her battle, Alnea and Norren were mowing down their enemies. Advanced phase Oren Beasts were not too difficult to take down in the first place. The only problem the duo had, was that they were outnumbered by three times. And that the wolves were far too nimble to be taken down with just one swing of their swords. Unlike the wolves though, Alnea and Norren could use their Aspects and Martial Styles to boost their speed, thus covering up for their weakness to some extent.

  However, it was not as if the wolves were completely helpless. As Oren Beasts, they also had their own advantages. Like a body that was far stronger than Wanderers of corresponding Rank and Stage. Or at least that used to be the case. With Martial Styles like Blood Forging Styles, the duo had shortened—in Alnea’s case, completely made up for— the gap between their bodies. As such, the only place where the wolves still held advantage, was their Innate Abilities.

  Unfortunately for the wolves, they were all cut down before they could release their Innate Abilities. All except for their leader, who roared in anger, when it saw the miserable condition of its pack. Maybe it had already begun to regret taking action against the invaders. Yet, its pride as the leader of its pack would not allow it to run away in shame. And so, with blood dripping from a hideous scar on its chest, it limped away from Cecilia, before releasing its last howl.

  Moments later, the fog around them churned, forming an army of phantom wolves. Normally, the Innate Ability of Fog Wolves could allow them to summon only up to ten phantom wolves at Adolescent Stage. When encountering a fatal danger though, they could summon up to a hundred wolves in exchange for their lives. And the leader of the Fog Wolves knew that it was not going to live for long. As such, when it saw its pack being destroyed by the invaders, it decided to make one last desperate attempt to drag its enemies to death. In vain.

  Fran had summoned a shield before the army of phantom wolves could even take shape. And though the army of phantom wolves rushing directly into the double shield, crashing headfirst with no regards to their lives—not that they were alive in the first place— did make Fran feel a little strained, he still managed to hold off against the wolf’s desperate attack till the very end. Just with the cost of losing some Spirit Power, and making Cecilia feel a little embarrassed.

  “…It was my fault,” Cecilia said, glancing towards the ground, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. “I should not have given it any time to launch its Innate Ability.”

  “It is alright, Lia,” Alnea said, ruffling through Cecilia’s hair with a grin, prompting the latter to swat his hand away, and glare at him with a pout. “This is what a team is for. To help cover up for each other’s mistake. Just be more careful next time.”

  “…You were just looking for an excuse to mess up my hair, right?”

  “…I do not know what you are talking about,” Alnea said, and before Cecilia could continue to press him, he turned towards the rest of his teammates. “I know that everyone feels a little tired after rushing constantly for over a couple of hours, but this is not the time to rest. If we wish to complete our Trial on time, then we must not slack off. At the very least, we should complete the daily goal we had set before taking a rest…”