Flee or fight.

That's what normal human would have to decide in such situation. It was a natural instinct of living beings, aimed to preserve their lives. Yet, for someone who spent as much time in the forest as Fen did, there was a third option.

Hide.

From the intense throbbing in his guts, Fen knew that he had absolutely no chance against this something that was approaching him. Even back when he was escaping from the inquisitor, his body failed to notice the monster that pinned him down. If the thing that was getting close was even more powerful than that beast from his past, then any attempt at fighting would be as meaningless as trying to extinguish a forest fire with one's spit alone!

On the other hand, escaping would be simply pointless. With how deep in the forest Fen was, if he were to attract the attention of this predatorial threat, then his chances of successfully escaping would be as big as his knowledge presented itself against that of a Hekarion.

The only way in which the young man would have any chances at saving his skin from the current scenario, was hiding away and pretending as if he wasn't here in the first place!

Yet, arther than instantly dropping to the ground and crawling towards the nearest bush thick enough to hide him properly, Fen slowly lowered himself on his knees before using small steps to take cover behind a tree. Even if the incoming beast didn't use sight as its primary way of experiencing the world around it, breaking the potential line of sight was still one of the most important things one could do.

'Just a little bit more…'

Slowly making his way towards the bush of his choosing, Fen could feel the breath of death on his neck.

Snap.

As carefull as he was during his movements, just when the young man was abotu to enter the thickest part of the bush, one of its branches springed righ up against his hand, knocking out Mark's token out of his grasp!

'NO!'

With this item being his absolute last line of defense, as much as it pained him, Fen could only watch as the small token flew through the air, dropping to the ground several steps away from the bush. Even though it would only take a second for the young arcanist to grab it, doing so would be rather unwise.

Because Fen could already see the monster approaching!

Contrary to the young man's expectation, it didn't have some kind of hideous figure. While there were some obvious hints of its animalistic nature, it actually walked on just two legs, as if imitating the posture of the humans!

But what was even more terrifying, was the being that floated right beside it!

"Everything should be ready by the end of the next month. Given the situation, there shouldn't be any troubles in finishing the mobilisation."

Even thought this strange being didn't have anything that would even resemble a mouth or other auditory mechanism, its voice still resounded throught the thickness of the forest, as if its power enough was enough for it to defy the natural laws.

Yet, it's appearance alone didn't betray how extremely powerful it had to be in order to put Fen into the state of complete petrification!

In essence, beside this bear like, bipedal monster, a huge mass of flame was floating. Even though it looked just like any other spirit that was enlarged to the size of a person, even though one could see the distinctive feature of a human made up from the thicker flames inside the entirety of its flames, it still floated just a bit above the ground, as if its fires were capable of instantly setting the entire forest alight.

"Grr… To think that the queen would make a move so quickly… Wait!"

When the bear-like monster let out a small growl out of his stomach, a normal sentence followed. But right as it ended it, his head suddenly fell down, with the entire body of his falling down on all fours. Right now, unless one took its size into consideration, it would look like an entirely normal bear!

"There is someone nearby…"

Tracking its nose on the ground, the monster started to slowly move. Lead by the scent, it was getting closer and closer towards the bush where Fen was hiding.

"Here."

Touching the ground where Mark's token fell with its nose, this bear-like monster raised its head and looked around. From the way how its nostrils stopped moving, the young man couldn't help but let hope enter his soul. As long as those monsters would put all of their attention into the token, they might not notice him!

"It seems like one of that barbaric items they carve out of our fallen brothers."

Approaching the spot, the ball of fire took a closer look at it. Yet, as if all the hopes of Fen only served to make his desperation even worse, in the very next moment this fire monster straightened up once again, before creating a small tentacle of fire and pointing it at the bush.

"He is here."

Snap.

In one moment, Fen realised that hiding wouldn't change anything at this point. Tensing all of his muscles at once, the young man pressed his legs against the ground, before jumping out of the bush!

At this point, he could still try to use the explosion of his own flames to propel himself further up, but that would mean revealing all of his cards at once! For as long as those monsters would consider him to be just a simple hunter who strayed too deep into the forest, then he might use his flames in the right moment to escape from their clutches!

"And where do you think you are going?"

In one moment, Fen was flying through the air after once again kicking the ground away from himself, and in the very next moment, he was actually floating in the air, enclosed in a huge ball of fire, consisting of an inner layer of cold fire that didn't actually do him any harm, and outer layer so hot, that it made the fire of that spirit he absorbed look like nothing but a candle in comparison!