"Really? What is it? " Travis asked without showing much amazement.

"Destruction..." Nathan replied.

"Destruction?" Marianne asked, confused.

"This... this way," Nathan said as he began to advance in a different direction.

"Hey, wait for me. I'm supposed to lead the group." Travis complained as he tried to get ahead of the group again.

The vegetation in the forest was so dense that the three cultivators couldn't see more than a few steps ahead of them. After advancing some meters, they realized the vegetation was disappearing as they entered what looked like a clearing.

But when they arrived there, they realized that it was not a natural clear. Instead, the vegetation covering a large area had been destroyed, leaving only a few dead plants and dirt.

What caught most of their attention was a large furrow on the ground as well as a few magical beasts' corpses lying around.

"What the hell happened here?" Travis asked, surprised.

"I told you. Destruction." Nathan replied.

"Do you feel it?" Marianne asked with her eyes closed.

"What is it?" Travis asked.

"The corruption. This area has much more corruption than the rest of the forest." She said.

After hearing her words, both of her companions closed their eyes to feel their surroundings better. As she had said, the corruption in the air was more abundant and pure, and the closer they got to the furrow, the stronger the feeling got.

"This looks like a powerful corrupted beast has been hunting around," Nathan commented as he neared the furrow. "And this looks like it has been caused by an attack fueled by corruption. That would explain the concentration."

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"We shouldn't be around here for too long. With these corruption levels, it could be dangerous." Marianne warned.

"Not only that, but if a single magical beast has been able to do something like this, I don't think we are strong enough to take care of it," Nathan said as he looked around them.

After those words, the group stayed quiet for a few seconds before Travis opened his mouth.

"That's bullshit. I've been looking at the forest's records in the academy before coming here, and even after it has become corrupted, there haven't been sightings of high-stage magical beasts around." Travis said.

"But it could have appeared recently," Marianne said.

"That's unlikely. Do you know how much it takes for a magical beast to reach a high stage? It takes years. And as they get stronger, they usually move to areas with prey around their stage to continue growing faster. If they don't do that, their cultivation will stagnate eventually." Travis said.

"But what if I had happened? We can't rule out that option." Marianne said nervously.

"I think we can take the risk, right, Nathan?" Travis looked at his partner for support.

But when he saw Nathan's face, he realized that he wouldn't get the answer that he was looking for, as he had concern all over his face.

"Nathan?" Travis asked, confused.

"I agree with you. It is unlikely that a high-stage magical beast is roaming through this forest." Nathan finally said.

"See?" Travis said while looking at Marianne with a smile on his face.

"But that doesn't mean that we are safe either." Nathan continued.

"What do you mean?" Both Travis and Marianne asked, confused.

"Do you know about the "Theory of the Ever-Changing Phases"? Nathan asked while looking at the furrow.

"What? Are you going to tell me that you believe in that crap? In the name of Heaven. That's some nonsense made up by the Ventar Academy morons to hang themselves with the medal that said: "our founder discovered elemental energy."Travis said angrily.

"It may be bullshit, but let's put ourselves in the situation that it is not. All records say that magical beasts were way weaker than they are right now before the discovery of the elemental energies. If the theory is true, we should be entering a new phase in no time, and if this is one of the first cases where the effects of the new phase are shown in our world, even if our enemy is at around the same stage as we are, it could be a threat as well." Nathan explained.

"I think we should leave and call for help," Marianne said scaredly.

"I don't know, man. I don't think we need to be so alert. Let's look around a bit, and if we don't find anything, we return to the academy and report our discoveries..." Travis tried to say something, but a loud noise made him stop midway.

From the clear's other side, a turtle with a strange symbol on its shell appeared between the vegetation.