After Varei assured Tepo that he would be able to smell the oil form far away, the young man plastered some of it on the tree before the duo began searching the forest.

They moved slowly, each step set deliberately, trying to avoid making any noise.

Tepo felt himself reminded of his old life when he prowled forests together with Shev.

Back than it was the old man who taught him how to correctly move in a forest. Now Tepo felt it was his duty to educate Varei.

But after giving two short tips, the little spirit was already annoyed and simply took to the air. His graceful wings weren’t much louder than Tepo’s feet on the soil, leaving the human with nothing to say.

Like this the duo advanced into the forest, only changing direction when they suspected a beast to be nearby. Footprints or damaged trees were early signs announcing a strong predator and could be easily avoided.

However, as they advanced Tepo increasingly felt as if something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. This feeling persisted until the duo suddenly heard some voices up ahead.

Through [God's Soul], which was extremely sensitive, registering even tiny vibrations in the air, they were able to overhear the conversation form quite some distance away.

“Over there, another Hraunis!”

“Wow, we are rich this time!”

“We should thank Blue Hyacinth.”

“Yes! Getting others to solve the dungeon while we can go hunting for treasures!”

“Hahaha.”

“Of course there is a reward. You can take everything you see. Hahaha!”

“So naïve!”

Tepo gritted his teeth as he listened. These were clearly members of the church, who were out here gathering precious plants while others did the hard work.

“Impudence!”, exclaimed Varei angrily as well.

“How dare they trick this dragon spirit?!”

At this point Tepo also understood why he felt something was off about the forest. It was the fact that he didn’t find a single valuable herb!

Anger welled up in Tepo’s chest, but on the other hand he also felt that he finally had something he could show to Yerive.

“Come Varei, let’s get a little closer.”

The little spirit wasn’t quite sure what Tepo was up to but followed him anyway.

Prowling through the forest the duo slowly closed the distance, the voices getting louder.

A short while later Tepo waved his hands, signaling Varei to wait. He took out a small metallic plate from his storage bag.

It was recording metal!

The unsuspecting group of church members continued to amuse themselves, mocking those who came to help with the dungeon as fools.

Tepo leaned against a large tree, a smile on his face.

Exactly. Keep talking…

But suddenly the voices were drowned out by a loud roar. The trees shook, a shiver running down Tepo’s spine.

“RUN!”

The young man didn’t hesitate as he screamed at Varei and began to escape.

Not far away five young men were eagerly gathering precious plants. Their eyes were bright as they made a windfall.

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With a mindset of picking up wealth from the ground they let go of all caution and took everything they laid their eyes on.

In their excitement they even missed the large hole loosely covered by some shrubbery.

They casually picked the few plants, each famous for their six-runed spells, before they were ready to carry on.

But just as they wanted to leave, the foliage not far away parted. Two black-furred beasts resembling a lion with shoulder heights of two meters appeared leisurely, bloody prey in their mouths.

But as the beasts returned, they saw a bunch of humans picking the precious plants in front of their homes.

Understandably, they were pissed off. Letting out deafening roars they even dropped the prey in their mouths.

One of the beasts instantly pounced on the church members, starting a vicious battle.

The other, however, sniffed the air, its head turning to the side. It growled before dashing off.

Tepo and Varei were escaping at high speed, retracing their path. They threw all caution out the window, Tepo’s heavy steps drumming on the soil.

Suddenly the young man flinched. He heard the wood cracking behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw a huge black beast chasing him. And it came closer quickly!

Tepo’s stomach sunk. He used his [Scan], but… he couldn’t see the beast’s strength.

It’s at least two ranks higher than me!

Feeling the pressure on his back, the warrior even managed to speed up again. At the same time, he used [Time Dilation: Target] to gain some distance.

Instantly he felt a good chunk of his mental strength gone, but the beast hardly slowed down.

The black-furred predator kept its focus on the prey, navigating the forest with elegance and agility despite its size.

But Tepo wasn’t surprised. He recognized the beast’s race, Black-Maned Rióree, known for their hunting ability.

Wait… aren’t they also famous for their [Flash Blade] spell?

The moment Tepo thought about it, his eyes widened, and he immediately used his [Flash] spell.

With a flicker of his body Tepo suddenly appeared ten meters in the air, lightly below the dense tree leaves.

Fortunately, he acted precautious, as the Rióree suddenly lowered its head, a circular blade made from black energy appearing out of thin air, spinning at incredible speeds and shooting through the forest.

With a loud rumble multiple trees, which Tepo couldn’t even injure, cracked, splintered, and slowly toppled over.

But now Tepo was met with another problem. He involuntarily let out a cry as he dropped to the ground, the beast’s eyes already focused on the helpless prey.

Tepo had no choice but to hastily use [Flash] again, crossing another ten meters.

But naturally this wasn’t enough to escape from the beast.

As Tepo’s thoughts raced, frantically searching for a plan, he suddenly felt strong claws grabbing his shoulders, Varei’s voice reaching his ears:

“Try not to move too much!”

The little spirit’s body was tense, his wings flapping heavily as he carried Tepo up into the foliage.

On the ground an angry roar sounded out.

Another blade formed, shooting into the sky, ripping apart the dense leaves like a chipper. The fast-moving blade even created a suction force, drawing its surroundings in.

Varei swayed in the air, having difficulties escaping the blade.

Tepo took a deep breath. He sacrificed a huge amount of force, using [Flash] with full concentration and managed to bring Varei with him.

The duo appeared some meters away, continuing their escape. But the beast with its sharp eyes wouldn’t miss its prey. It growled and continued to give chase.

“Hold on Tepo! I can smell it, we are back soon!”

“Good! Spirit form! Go!”

With the room in sight the two warriors felt relieved. They hastily both activated [Spirit Form].

The Rióree was confused for a moment as the movement in the trees stopped. But as it sniffed the air, it could still smell its moving prey.

Letting out an almost mocking sounding roar, it stuck close to the weak humans.

But just as it wanted to fire another attack, the beast slowed down. Its eyes fell on a huge wall of fog not far away, its instincts screaming danger.

The beast hesitated for a moment.

This was enough for Tepo and Varei to hastily plunge into the room. They couldn’t care to be quiet, but it didn’t matter as the guard’s entire attention was on the Rióree not far away.

“BEAST! Delivering yourself to my doorstep?”

The guard, who was bored all day finally got some excitement. His eyes lit up, eager to make some money.

In the forest, the Rióree’s eyes narrowed. It felt challenged by the puny creature cowardly hiding under the threatening fog.

It let out a loud roar as it shot a dark blade into the room.

Varei and Tepo felt the action behind them. Cursing the guard inwardly, they hastily choose a mirror and disappeared.

The blade arrived a moment later. With a grin on his face the guard took out a solid wooden staff and swung it through the air.

Blade and staff meat. A shockwave spread immediately. Soil splattered in all directions, plants got uprooted, trees cracked under the strain.

The guard felt his arms tremble as the blade pushed against his staff.

“HA!”

Suddenly he let out a shout, a green energy shooting from his staff and blasting the black blade apart.

The guard narrowed his eyes, feeling his strained muscles. He walked out into the forest with heavy steps. His body began to enlarge, spikes growing on his skin, ripping his robe apart.

Unfortunately, Tepo and Varei had already left, not able to watch the confrontation between human and beast.

They leaned against a wall, panting heavily, not eager to enter the next mirror.

Tepo looked at Varei, patting his shoulder.

“Thanks. I don’t know if I could’ve escaped without you!”

“Don’t mention it. We did this together.”

A smile formed on Tepo’s face as he nodded. He hadn’t felt like this for a long time.

Overcoming difficulties with a reliable partner was a joy in itself. And this time he wouldn’t even be able to grief if his partner died… because he would follow immediately.