“Oakley, point it out to me,” Zachary said softly.

He was partly hidden behind a thick bush. His treant summon named Oakley was beside him, also crouching albeit with much awkwardness. It raised a thin arm made of branches and vines and pointed at a small sapling a short distance away.

“Aaah.” It made a noise like a sad sigh.

Its face, if it could be called one, was void of emotion. It had sensed the presence of another treant. Zachary didn’t quite understand it but it could do what he and his other summons could not.

Encountering wild Ensouled was not difficult but also not easy. Weaker ones would run away or hide. Stronger ones, if they were alone, would also choose to flee. On the other hand, if it was a group of wild Ensouled, he would have to quickly make a run for it. Whether it was a large group of weaker Ensouled or a small group of stronger Ensouled, they could all overpower his team in a blink.

This was why he chose to hunt treants. They couldn’t run like beasts and they also couldn’t chase after him.

“Oakley, let’s go. Beat it up for me.” He ordered.

“Arrrr!”

Its response was loud and energetic and it stomped towards a sapling that was taller than it but much thinner. When it got close, it immediately swung an arm, bashing the main body of its opponent, causing it to bend like a bow.

“Huuu.” A noise came from the sapling as it came to life.

Its roots erupted from the ground and formed into legs. A few knobs on its bark took the shape of a face with two small ones for eyes and a bigger one for a mouth. It waved its large head made up of green leaves around, took one look at the situation, and turned to run.

“Arrr!”

Oakley charged. With the snapping of twigs and the sound of tree bark crashing together, it smashed both arms into the other treant. In the next moment, Oakley fell onto it, relentlessly pummeling the other treat with its hands which were like wooden clubs.

Oakley was a strange thing. It loved to fight. Aggression was in its nature. This was probably the reason it had jumped out to attack them.

The wild treant finally started to fight back. Although it had been knocked down, its body was tough and it was still full of energy. Its hands formed into sharp tendrils that started poking at Oakley. The damage was minimal but it was no doubt uncomfortable. Oakley continued to throw punches but blunt force was not very effective in this situation.

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“Time for reinforcements.” Zachary said and Hammer appeared before him, “Go, Hammer, chop it up.”

“Ka!”

The crab shuffled forward. It quickly reached the wild treant that was being held down by Oakley. Its cutting claw snapped branches off of the treant’s head one by one until it was completely bald. Then it smashed its heavy crushing claw smashed down onto the treants face over and over. Oakley also joined in and the two steadily turned the hapless creature’s head into wood pulp.

“Very good!” Zachary said after the battle was over.

The anima crystal retrieved from the treant was at the Three Paths Novice Rank. It was rich in life-attribute Eternum. He briefly considered which of his summons to use it on and chose Oakley. Although Hammer was stronger, since it was at the Four Paths Novice Rank now, an anima crystal at the Three Paths Novice Rank would be less beneficial to it. And plus, Oakley was a humanoid Ensouled. Zachary was eager to see its growth and future potential.

Zachary waved to Katherine who had been watching the whole thing from afar, “Let’s keep going.”

Pushing deeper into the jungle, they walked along a path that seemed to have been opened by a wayward forest elephant. The fearsome beast was nowhere in sight so it gave them the confidence to continue.

However, after following the path for some time, Blue suddenly came dashing back, chirping crazily. It flew around Zachary's head in circles like a mad bird before he could finally catch it in his hand. He couldn’t understand most of its nonsense but one thing was clear. Something strong was approaching!

“Not good,” He said.

“Yeah.” Katherine nodded.

But before they could even turn around, the ground started to tremble and a rumbling sound reached their ears.

“Hide!” Both of them said at the same time.

They dove into the underbrush beside the trail, ignoring the sharp leaves and prickly branches.

The rumbling sound grew steadily until it was almost on top of them. Heavy footsteps pounded into the ground like a chaotic drumbeat. They didn’t dare to make a single sound, hugging each other tightly.

"Ice Saint help us. Ice Saint help us." Katherine muttered constantly; her eyes tightly shut.

Zachary was also frightened but he had no saint to pray to. The herd of Ensouled didn't seem to end. He counted twenty, then thirty. They were all powerful, at least at the peak of the novice rank and beyond.

When the noise started to subside, Zachary stuck his head up and caught a fleeting sight of these creatures. They were what he suspected, a herd of those forest elephants. Some were huge, at least twice as big as the one they had seen near the beach. Other ones were like babies and much smaller. They had made an absolute mess of the trail; their wide footprints were everywhere. A few had strayed dangerously close to their hiding place.

He sucked in a cold breath. They had been a few hairs away from death. He ducked his head back down, just in case those things decided to turn around.

“What were they?” Katherine asked from beneath him.

“Forest elephants, a ton of them. They probably went to the river.”

She frowned, “We can't go back then. And we can't follow this path into the forest either in case they decide to come back.”

He sighed wearily and rested his head against her chest. He listened to her heartbeat as they both calmed down. The road ahead was difficult. There was no easy path. The only thing they could do was continue struggling, continue walking. As long as they were careful, as long as he steadily trained his summons, he would one day be able to fight those forest elephants as well as those damnable seagulls.

“Let’s go,” Zachary said. "We'll have to make our own path through the jungle."

"Yeah."

He held out a hand and pulled Katherine up with him.