The Gah-Gah Beasts spit out chunks of beetle meat tinged with green blood, retreating from the now dismembered beetle's corpse. The green liquid had polluted the water in that area.

Though it wasn't poisonous, the smell was enough to make Gah-Gah feel nauseous.

At this moment, Gah-Gah shifted his focus to the sky above, where swarms of flying insects still blotted out the sun. The scene was reminiscent of the piranha encounter, yet different due to the diversity of creatures—from the mighty, intimidating giant beetles to the smallest of insects—all in a state of flight.

Yes, anyone could see these creatures were fleeing from something.

"What kind of creature could be so fearsome to drive so many to flee?"

Gah-Gah pondered whether to turn and flee or stay hidden in the water. Venturing up for a look was out of the question; having learned his lesson, Gah-Gah wasn't about to confront something terrifying enough to scare even the Hunter Beetles into fleeing en masse.

The insect exodus continued, and Gah-Gah began to sense something off. "No matter how powerful, no creature should be able to drive away so many flying insects; this number is beyond locust swarms."

Then Gah-Gah felt a tremor, a vibration through the water.

He immediately directed all Gah-Gah Beasts to cease movement, excluding disturbances from small creatures and the displaced aquatic life, attentively observing the ripples in the water.

Pebbles tumbled into the river, stirring up gentle ripples.

The tremors intensified.

As Gah-Gah absorbed the peculiar water movement with growing alarm, countless aquatic creatures swarmed his way before he could react, crashing into him. Thankfully, his larger size and the water cushioned the impact, preventing a repeat of the Hunter Beetle's fate.

Diving to the riverbed, Gah-Gah abandoned any attempt to monitor further water anomalies when he spotted a multitude of land animals racing by. Realization struck—escape was now the only option.

Every creature seemed to be fleeing. This wasn't the doing of one or a few predators but a natural phenomenon.

Water, land, and sky creatures all in flight, including those far stronger than the Gah-Gah Beasts, yet all were in frantic flight. Gah-Gah would be a fool not to follow suit.

Commandeering the Gah-Gah Beasts, with their agile movements, they navigated the lower river, escaping along their original path, swiftly matching and even surpassing the general escape speed of other creatures.

The sky dimmed, light waning visibly.

"What’s going on? It should only be midday," wondered Gah-Gah as he kept pace with the leading Gah-Gah Beasts, glancing upwards.

Black smoke.

In a fantasy world, Gah-Gah might attribute this to a great monster's presence, but having yet to encounter anything supernatural, he surmised...

Forest fire? Volcanic eruption?

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Whatever it was, it surpassed ordinary and even epic creatures' capabilities to withstand.

Escape was the only choice.

This understanding sated Gah-Gah's curiosity momentarily, prompting a burst of speed toward safety.

But where was safety?

Could escape truly be possible?

Such thoughts surfaced in Gah-Gah's mind.

Suddenly, Gah-Gah felt as though he'd hallucinated.

Rather than his body's temperature increasing due to exertion, it was...

The water was warming.

...

"Ah... Ah—" Gah—

Countless Gah-Gah Beasts stood motionless on the broad riverbank.

Blinking weary eyes, Gah-Gah opened his mouth, dragging himself from the sunbaked rock to the river's edge, diving into the large river where other Gah-Gah Beasts frolicked.

"Was it a dream?"

Gah-Gah pondered in confusion. After sensing rising temperatures, he seemed to exit that dream-like world, finding himself in this familiar locale upon awakening. It mirrored his "dream," where they'd left—this very rock was the same one he'd lounged on.

"Was it truly a dream?"

Gah-Gah was more perplexed than ever, yet hesitant to check behind him due to memories of dense forest. Dream or not, if reality, survival through such a cataclysm seemed impossible.

"Is the forest still there?"

Compelled by curiosity—and noticing many kin had returned to water unsettlingly—Gah-Gah surfaced, turning to the remembered forest.

The dense forest swayed rhythmically in the wind, emitting nature's song.

"So it was a dream after all!"

Relief washed over him as Gah-Gah chuckled at how a long absence of dreams had left him startled by one—a joyous yet helpless reality.

"Hehe."

Breathing deeply, Gah-Gah inhaled fresh air, gazing up at the vast sky.

"When will I fly like those giant insects in my dream, how... majestic..."

In his eyes, deep within the distant forest, a looming black cloud emerged. Amid its silhouettes were those enviable flying insects of memory, followed by a screen of smoke.

"Could... could it be... I'm still dreaming?"

Gah-Gah wondered if he was still in slumber, lost in dreams.

The insect swarm quickly closed in, just like in the dream, ignoring everything below as they streamed overhead across the wide river, reaching sparse forests on the other side.

Nature was curious. This nearly kilometer-wide river had a gentle bank and dense forest on this side; the opposite—a sheer cliff, its depths unseen, save for sparse plants along its edge.

That was why the Gah-Gah Beasts had originally landed here.

"Is this truly a dream?"

Again looking at the vast insect swarm and the smoke following it, the once vibrant forest was swallowed in blackness, sunlight obscured by smoke, and darkness fell once more.

"Dream or not, best to hide."

This time, Gah-Gah resisted satisfying curiosity—he’d already explored "dream" curiosity. Leading the Gah-Gah Beasts already swimming to the opposite bank, they moved frantically yet orderly.

As Gah-Gah turned, his peripheral vision caught countless shadows rushing from the forest.

Splash after splash sounded behind him as animals swarming the bank plunged into the water, heedless of their swimming ability. Overhead, winged creatures, wings scorched, occasionally plummeted.

A bold principal consciousness might seize this chance to harvest evolution points and components, but Gah-Gah, tense and anxious, sought a crossing point opposite, guiding hundreds of kin.

Scouring the far bank, he spotted a narrow crevice extending inward, decisively leading toward it. The air above the river shimmered with heat, and Gah-Gah's head grew dizzy. Issuing a swift command, he had the Gah-Gah Beasts submerge for speed.

Behind, swimming animals steadily crossed, while nonswimmers sank, amassing a new "shore" of bodies. Overhead, the frequency of dropping winged creatures increased.

"Will we escape this time?"

A drowsy thought crossed Gah-Gah's hazy mind.

"Is this a dream?"

Pondering slowly, his body swam determinedly toward the crevice—then, hallucination hit once more.

Not stemming from exertion, but rather...

The water was warming.

...

"Ah—" Gah—

Blinking groggy eyes, Gah-Gah shook a heat-induced daze from his head, lying motionless on the rock.

Surrounding him was the Gah-Gah Beast herd, sprawling over a vast area, not far from innumerable animals.

Through the distorted air, Gah-Gah gazed across the river at what had been a lush, vibrant forest.

The sun, blocked by pervasive smoke, was replaced by the fiery glow of the forest sacrificing itself, blazing like hellish red lotuses, instilling fear in all creatures.

Below Gah-Gah’s gaze, the wide river bore countless animal bodies—some drowned, others suffocated by smoke. Winged animals, wings burned, littered the water, and many more succumbed to scalding water.

"Must still be dreaming."

"Is this hell?"