As soon as Red retreated, though, he detected even more fluctuations. Whatever creatures these were, they were just as strong as the ones the boy had just felt, and they were also moving just as frantically.

Red froze in his steps.

The monster passed by without noticing his presence. The boy couldn’t even see their shapes, and other than his crimson sense, the only thing that seemed to indicate the presence of these beasts was the rumbling on the ground as they passed by.

‘Noise doesn’t spread in this fog.’

This brought the boy to the conclusion there was no relying on his five senses to detect these beasts while navigating in this place. Although, this went both ways by the looks of it. The monster didn’t react to his presence, even while walking by his side. It was no wonder, though, since it seemed like they were constantly running for their lives from each other.

This was a death field for any cultivator, where bumping into any of these beasts would mean your death. Red, however, had something he could rely on that no normal person had - his crimson sense.

He waited in place until the surrounding creatures left, opting not to hurry and possibly bump into one of those monsters. His patience paid off.

Soon, the monsters dispersed. Red waited a bit more, but no other fluctuations entered his detection range.

‘They’re gone.’

Red then decided to move.

This time around, though, the boy braced himself against any sudden stampedes happening around him, ready to move out of the way in a heartbeat. Although he could still detect the monsters with his crimson sense, these were beings much more powerful than him. They could cross one-hundred meters in a matter of seconds, and if one of them just so happened to heading in his direction, he could end up being run over if he wasn’t fast enough to react.

No such situation came to pass over the next length of his journey, though.

Red still detected even more fluctuations - each stronger than the last - but most of them were either laying still or moving at a leisurely pace. Sometimes, though, these fluctuations bumped into each other, and it seemed to give rise to a chain reaction to the surrounding monsters - which started panicking and running around.

In these situations, the boy had to react quickly. With his crimson sense, though, he was more than capable of moving out of the way in time. His journey thus continued without accidents, even as he passed by these powerful monsters.

After Red felt like another hour had passed, though, he began to worry.

‘How do I get out of this place?’

Everything looked the same here. Fog surrounded him in every direction, and Red couldn’t notice anything that stood out in the environment. He had been trying to head in the same direction he came in from, but at this point, it had been so long with no changes that the boy was starting to lose confidence in his plan.

So he decided to take a risk.

Red counted how many monsters he had come across - about 100 of them. Of those, 13 seemed to be in the Greater Ring Realm, while the rest was all in the Lesser Ring Realm. This was a collection of extremely powerful beings all gathered in one place. If they were released to the town of Bestrem, they could definitely raze everything to the ground.

However, now that Red paid attention, they didn’t seem to fight each other. He found no signs of blood or fighting in general around the area where these fluctuations met, which left the boy curious.

‘If they’re not fighting, why are they so panicked?’

Were they afraid of something? It would fit their behavior. However, to be so scared that just bumping on another monster was enough to make them run away? That didn’t make sense to Red. It wasn’t how monster behaved - seeing as they were very territorial.

‘Maybe they’re afraid of something else.’

This didn’t help Red out of his situation.

So he decided to take an ever bigger risk.

Red searched for the weakest fluctuation he could find. It belonged to a Lesser Ring Realm monster, a beast that could still kill the boy in a single strike, but was the weaker of the creatures he could find in this place.

Red approached the monster with some reservations.

The creature wasn’t moving, which allowed the boy to get closer. Once he was within 30 meters of the beast, Red took out his bow and arrow and aimed at the monster, or at least where he thought the monster would be, according to his crimson sense.

Then he let loose.

Red couldn’t see if his arrow hit. Still, a moment later, the monster’s fluctuation stirred, and an angry feline roar echoed through the mists. Much to the boy’s surprise, he could hear that noise quite clearly.

Then the fluctuation began moving.

‘It’s coming right at me!’

Red turned around and ran. Unlike what the boy was used to coming across, this creature didn’t seem to be in panic. Instead, it continued to roar and move around the area where the human had just been at.

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Red had already gotten out of the way, though, and ‘observed’ this scene from a safe distance. Although the monster was aware it had been attacked, the fog still inhibited its senses and it couldn’t spot the boy who was relatively close to it.

Red wasn’t willing to risk it, though, and ran as far as he could from the monster.

‘So they still react when attacked.’

This was a valuable discovery, but it didn’t answer his original question. Why were the monsters so panicked when they ran into each other but still willing to retaliate against an attack from the boy? Was this just how they were taught to behave?

It made little sense. However, Red knew no answer was forthcoming in his situation. All he could do was to continue forging ahead.

…

Unfortunately for him, his situation soon worsened.

More and more fluctuations started to appear in his crimson sense. It got to a point where Red couldn’t walk without being surrounded by dozens of extremely strong monsters, and his crimson sense was somewhat overwhelmed by it.

It had gotten to the point where the boy had counted half a thousand of such creatures, and the number was only getting higher. It was then that he saw the true danger of his situation.

If any of these monsters bumped into each other and started to panic, Red would be caught in the middle of a stampede. By then, even with his crimson sense, he wasn’t too confident in his chances of surviving.

To his luck, however, the monsters were staying still, or at the very least, moving slowly. This way, Red could weave around them with his crimson sense, or at least predict when two fluctuations were about to collide and flee from their general direction.

With this enormous advantage, he was able to make his way through the monster-infested fog with no accidents. The fact that the challenge was getting harder only made the boy more confident in his progress.

It was then that Red felt a familiar fluctuation enter his crimson sense.

The boy froze in his tracks.

‘Why is it here?’

Red didn’t hesitate. He turned around and tried to distance itself from this being. However, at almost the same time he had detected it, the creature also seemed to have felt his presence. It moved in his direction.

The boy broke out in a full sprint.

His pursuer, however, wasn’t to be outmatched. It increased its speed and immediately bumped into several other fluctuations. These monsters then entered into a state of panic and dashed around, bumping into even more beasts.

Soon, a chain reaction broke out around Red, and the whole world seemed to come alive with the roars of monsters. The boy felt his blood run cold, and without hesitation, he took out his last talisman from his pouch - the Wind Bestowment Talisman..

‘I hope this works.’

Red activated the talisman according to the spirit’s instructions. Once it glowed, he plastered it into his own chest. A surge of energy surrounded his body, and the boy felt as if he was as light as a feather.

Then, without hesitation, he started to run.

Red felt as if his speed had increased several times, and each step seemed to carry him even further. The stampede had already spread ahead of him, though, so the boy still had to worry about not being trampled.

A giant round foot, almost two-meters wide, suddenly appeared above his head, threatening to stomp him down. Red tried to dive out of the way, and to his surprise, the energy surrounding him responded to his intent.

The wind lifted his body, and as the boy tilted to the side, they carried him with it, avoiding the monster’s foot. It stomped down a moment later, making the ground around Red rumble as if in an earthquake, as what seemed to be an elephant beast ran forward in a panic.

He didn’t have time to marvel at the abilities he had been granted with, though. More monsters started to appear in his way, and to make matters worse, Red could still feel his pursuer was still hot on his trail.

Even with his impressive boost in speed, the monster could still keep up with him. In fact, it was gaining ground on him. This was a grim reminder that these talismans didn’t give him an advantage, they merely evened the field.

‘How can it detect me?’

Red wasn’t sure. Unlike with his insectoid core, the boy didn’t think his crimson mist emitted any apparent energy signals. Clearly, he had been quite wrong.

The distance between the boy and his pursuer decreased by the second. Red tried to weave around monsters and hoping they would prove a distraction for the creature.

Nothing seemed to work, though, as the being’s speed didn’t seem to be significantly deterred in his crimson sense. This pursuit continued for a bit longer until Red felt the density of rampaging monsters around him diminish.

He wasn’t happy about it, though.

His talisman wouldn’t last much longer, and that creature was still hot on his trail. If he was left in the open against it, what would he do?

Red decided to take yet another risk.

He chose a fluctuation he felt charging towards him, another Lesser Ring Realm monster, and dashed towards it. Then, he slowed down, allowing his pursuer to catch up to him.

Now sandwiched between two murderous beasts, the boy took a deep breath and braced himself. It took only a split second for both monsters to close in, and that was when Red picked up speed again.

The winds carried him forward, and he saw the silhouette of another deer monster appear in front of him. The boy didn’t have time to examine it, though, and dove in between its legs.

The beat’s hooves almost smashed Red, but with the help of the wind energy surrounding his body, he was able to spin out of the way and past the monster. Then he heard a roar from behind, and like two speeding carts, the beats clashed into each other.

Red turned around just in time to see a blur of crimson scales tear at the deer’s throat with its knife-like claws. The monster didn’t even have the time to scream before the attacker had almost ripped through its neck. The deer fell to the side without even being able to bellow in pain, as its life slipped away from its body.

The other creature, however, didn’t seem to be interested in finishing it off, though. It turned around to look at Red, revealing its row of sharp teeth as it stared at the boy menacingly.

The boy could finally lay eyes on his pursuer. It was the lizard demon, grown even further than when he saw him earlier. It was now almost four meters tall, and Red felt as if it was on the verge of undergoing a transformation from its fluctuation.

‘Is it about to break into the Greater Ring Realm?’

This seemed inconceivable. It had been barely a day, and the monster had already advanced that much? Was this the power of a demon?

Red didn’t know, and he didn’t have time to think about it. He nocked one of his purple arrows into his bow and aimed it at the demon.

The creature didn’t even bother moving out of the way as it slowly made its way towards Red. Perhaps it had thought the boy had given up? Or maybe it thought the seemingly common arrows weren’t of any danger to it?

'It may be right about that.'

In any case, at least Red had a clear target.

He let loose, and the arrow made impact against the demon’s chest.

A purple light exploded from it, consuming everything in his vision.