The fact that another large animal hung from its mouth did nothing to stop Nolan from rushing down to the others and informing them of what he’d seen.

Nyla didn’t hesitate to pull out her strange, ornate portrait frame, which she used to teleport the group about twelve kilometres back in the direction that they’d come from. The movement came at great cost, to the point that Nyla was unconscious when they landed atop a rugged patch of unhealthy soil.

Nolan rushed to her side and gently shook her. “Nyla! Nyla, don’t fall asleep!” Her breathing was light, her skin pale.

Her pulse seems fine. He took out a bottle of Divine Spirit Fountain water and poured it all over her until she was completely drenched.

“Will she be okay?” said Lyra. Though she seemed unaffected on the surface, there was a wavering glint in her golden eyes that she’d never shown before.

“She’s just out of energy. She should be fine.” With the surreal image of the massive wolverine still burned into his mind’s eye, Nolan scooped her up and began walking towards the southeast. “We’ve got to put some distance between us and that monster.”

The others followed without question, though Ian eventually asked how far Nolan planned to go.

“Another hour, at least. Then we head north again, but we’ll keep a wide distance from the area where I saw that thing.”

“Can’t we just go north now?” Esteban sighed. “We’ve been running for so long already.”

“Don’t think the thing I saw is the same as that sloth from the Three-River Valley. Even if it hasn’t moved since I saw it, it could still catch up to us in no time.”

“I can’t believe we almost encountered a Genesis-staged creature,” breathed Alicia, whose brown hair was messy from days of travel, her narrow face and neckline covered in sweat.

Zess wiped sweat from her brow, and brushed her wet, blonde strands to the side of her head. “I didn’t think they existed,” she panted. “Are you sure it was Genesis, Nolan?”

“At the very least. Not only was it gigantic, but it stared right at me. It noticed as soon as I looked at it. There’s no way it was at the Integration stage.”

“Let’s just hurry,” Sean said anxiously. He’d seen the sloth from a window at the estate where the Varai clan had held him as a commodity in back in the Three-River Valley. He knew the terror of a creature at the Genesis stage, and was also aware that Nolan’s success in taking it down was completely circumstantial.

They added another two days to their journey in order to keep a wide berth from the giant wolverine, Nyla having woken up midway through the first day without any problems. Their travels were tepid and filled with anxiety, since they had no guarantee that they wouldn’t unwittingly wander into the territory of another powerful creature.

It became standard procedure that every twenty minutes or so, Nolan or Nyla would conjure a series of footholds to get a lay of the land.

They didn’t encounter any Genesis-staged creatures, though that didn’t mean that they had an easy time traversing the desolate lands. Within three days the landscape had changed into a slightly hilly region that was absolutely covered in an endless forest of dead trees. These wooden husks were hundreds of metres tall, their bodies bleached white and bereft of any branches.

They discovered human remains almost immediately, in the form of bone fragments and the tattered remnants of bloodstained robes. It quickly became apparent that this area was completely infested with person-sized newts, which had sleek, grey bodies and thinly webbed feet.

When alone or in pairs, these creatures weren’t aggressive, and tended to shy into hollowed out areas of nearby tree trunks. When several were gathered, however, they became very territorial. Strangely enough, it only took one or two kills to win a confrontation, since those that remained would almost instantly begin to tear into the carcasses of their dead companions. While it certainly lessened the strain on the group, it was often a tough sight to see, as the newts were so savage that it was almost on a level of depravity.

None of the newts were particularly powerful, since even the girls could defeat them if they worked together. It wasn’t worth the risk, however, so the dirty work was left to those at the fore of the group.

They proceeded smoothly until they wandered into a particularly dense area of the bone-white forest, where the trees were taller, wider, and paler than those they’d seen thus far. Nolan and Ian led the way, both equally taken aback when they wandered into an area where hundreds of silhouettes clung to the massive trunks around them.

How the f—where did all these come from? Calming energy flooded throughout his body. Had they just wandered into a nest or breeding ground, or something?

Everyone stopped in their tracks, most overwhelmed with nothing short of terror. Seconds after intruded on the area, nearly all of the surrounding newts began to hiss like snakes, which gave life to an unsettling sound that was somewhat similar to a forest full of razor leaves being shaken by a strong breeze.

Nolan armed himself with the bone sword as soon as he sensed something amiss, almost simultaneously as the others save for Alicia and their new companions. He and Ian weren’t strangers to danger, and after countless deadly situations, neither were Sean and Esteban. Nyla and Lyra reacted just as quickly, both having dealt with their own dangers on countless occasions. While Lyra prepared to attack with her broadsword, Nyla rushed to set up a defensive barrier.

Aine let out a shrill scream, though Alicia almost immediately covered her mouth with a shaking hand.

“T—they’re all in the late levels of Integration?” stuttered Esteban, whose lips looked like they were about to tremble. He levelled his essence fusion dagger as his eyes fearfully scanned the area.

Nolan wanted to assure him that his guess was impossible, but how else could he explain the fact that even he couldn’t sense their auras?

Several newts leapt toward them, but crashed against a half-sphere barrier arrayment that Nyla had barely managed to conjure before the savage creatures made their move.

“They didn’t even crack it,” she said. “They’re not at Integration.”

Nolan retreated into his mind for a moment. While he was relieved by the revelation, it was hard to ignore how much Nyla’s proficiency with barrier arrayments had soared in such a short amount of time. He’d only taught her how to make simple, rectangular sheets of energy. Well, Uncle Grey had lectured them both about simple barrier arrayments, but he’d shared everything that he had discovered through practical use.

“Then why can’t we sense them?” said Sean, whose expression was tense as ever.

He pictured the arrayment diagram that she’d just drawn out. Protection, physical, spherical. Those words had served as nuclei for the three main sections of the diagram’s maze-like design. Words served as anchors for the arrayment practitioner’s understanding and intent.

When it came to diagrams, the difficulty with compound arrayments was devising an adequate circulation route that stemmed from the entry point, which could process spiritual energy and projected inner essence. The concept was similar to taking a maze puzzle and inserting a random word into it without distorting any of the existing pathways. That’s why compounding two arrayments into one was so difficult, a milestone in any arrayment practitioner’s path to mastering their craft.

Ten more newts had smashed into the barrier while he was lost in thought, though he crushed them with a horizontal, rectangular barrier arrayment. They splattered into paste as if he’d just dropped a heavy sheet of glass from dozens of storeys above.

I need to try harder. He had a very good aptitude as an arrayment practitioner, but it paled in comparison to Nyla’s talent. Still, throughout his life—even more so now that he’d left Earth—he’d only acknowledged a few people as more intelligent than him. He knew that he could stand alone as an oddity of the craft if he applied all of the knowledge that he’d amassed on Earth, and made the best use of his incredible memory.

Nyla and Lyra exchanged knowing looks, the latter calling out to the other.

“It’s just like when we were in the Vespasian tomb with that guy!”

He would’ve cocked an eyebrow if the situation weren’t so immediate.

“I know,” said Nyla, who was straining to create another barrier.

Nolan looked to Lyra for some context. When asked, the girl rushed to explain that they’d encountered a specific species of salamander that was undetectable to the spiritual sense so long as it stayed still.

“Well, these ones are moving and I don’t sense shit.” Sean pulled Esteban behind him despite the fact that he wasn’t much stronger.

“So he does know how to swear,” mumbled Ian, whose comment was overlooked.

“Then they’re different,” said Lyra. “I don’t know!” Her brother stepped in front of her just as Sean had, but she shoved him away. “What’re you standing by me for? Look out for them.”

Ian took up a defensive stance beside the other girls.

Creatures that can hide their auras? Nolan was suddenly much warier of Venara. Now that he knew that some creatures could hide their auras, the prospect of navigating through such a vast swath of wilderness was far more daunting than it had been mere moments ago.

Dozens of newts had assaulted the barrier, though they only succeeded in creating a few cracks here and there. This hardly made a difference, since Nyla had just activated the second diagram and overlapped another barrier arrayment over the first.

“Do we just wait them out?” asked Lyra at large.

Nyla shook her head. “I’ll run out of energy soon.”

“H—how many are there?” said Esteban.

“Three hundred and twenty-four.” Nyla walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Close your eyes and focus. This is a great chance to learn how to rely on your spiritual sense in a tough situation.”

“Well, what’re we going to do?” said Ian. “I’m always up for a fight, but…”

Everyone followed his gaze to a particularly large tree where nine huge newts rested atop massive branches, their eyes of darker shades than the others and their bellies yellowed with age.

“What?” asked a flustered Alicia, who’d just released a horrified, shallow-breathed Aine. “They’re not at the Genesis stage, are they?” The other girls were as terrified as the one she’d just released, all of them falling into a panic.

“They all look like they have about the same strength,” said Ian. “They wouldn’t hesitate to attack us if they were sure they could win, since they should be able to sense our cultivations. Seems like they’d rather sacrifice the weaker ones than make any moves themselves.”

“Then we should be okay, right?”

Nolan finally spoke up. “Maybe we’d have a chance if it was just those big ones, but all of them…” Looking at how most of the newts kept their distance, a thought hit him. Perhaps they wouldn’t have to fight at all.