The turtle was a meter high and a bit longer. While its legs and head were brown, its shell was black on the base while it got purple towards the top.

At the top of the shell, it had a diamond inside three concentric circles carved on it.

"What the hell is that?"Travis asked when he saw the turtle.

After Travis talked, the symbol on the beast's shell began to shine with purple light as the three cultivators felt how the energy in the surroundings was moving in its direction.

"I think it might be the cause of all this destruction." Nathan replied."We should take care of it before it does the same with us."

After nodding to Nathan's words, Travis dashed toward the turtle as he began to accumulate energy in his right hand. The turtle, looking at the cultivator who was nearing it, hid its head and legs in its shell while it continued to absorb energy.

At that point, it wasn't just the symbol that was shining. Instead, the shine began to extend toward the rest of the shell as more energy entered the beast's body.

When Travis reached the beast's side, he had already accumulated a large amount of energy in his hand, so he extended his hand toward it before creating a flamethrower. The fire collided with the shell, but it only managed to leave a few burned marks, dealing no serious damage to the beast itself.

As Travis ended his attack, the turtle showed his limbs and head again. The energy on its shell began to move toward its head, and when it opened its mouth, it released a thick laser ray of corruption as it turned its head to the side.

The three cultivators did their best to stay out of the ray's trajectory as it destroyed everything that crossed its path.

Without losing even a second, after dodging the beast's attack, Nathan accumulated non-elemental energy in his hands before shaping it into a spear and throwing it at the beast's leg.

Being too slow, the turtle didn't manage to hide inside its shell again before the energy spear landed on its limb.

While this was happening, Marianne used earth-energy to manipulate the ground under the turtle, so its two right legs were lower than the left ones. The difference grew more and more until, a few seconds later, the turtle flipped on itself.

Finding itself in a difficult position, the beast hid in its shell as it began to absorb energy again.

"Motherfucker. Stop hiding!" Travis shouted as he neared the beast." Marianne, make sure it doesn't move even a little."

"Count on me," she replied.

After that, she continued manipulating the ground. This time, she surrounded part of the shell with stone. That way, it wouldn't be able to get right again even if it tried, but they could attack it without any danger as long as they didn't stand in front of its head.

Seeing that their enemy was helpless, they began to stab it through its leg holes, as the shell would be much more difficult to penetrate.

For the next twenty minutes, the three cultivators attacked the helpless beast mercilessly, and even though it tried to shoot its laser a few more times, it couldn't do anything with it before dying.

"What the hell was that?" Travis shouted without knowing what to say."It was clearly a low-stage magical beast and a defensive-oriented one, and it had such an offensive skill. It doesn't make any sense."

Seeing his friend losing control of his thoughts, Nathan grabbed Travis by the shoulders, and while looking at his eyes, he talked.

"I told you. We are at the start of a new phase. Now it is adapt or die." Nathan said.

"Oh shit. Those morons from Ventar Academy were right with their theory. What the hell should we do now?" Travis asked, realizing the situation in which they were.

"Maybe we should leave as soon as possible and report this to the academy," Marianne suggested.

"Yes, we should leave. But I don't think we should report this yet." Nathan said.

After hearing those words, his two companions turned to look at him with confusion all over their faces.

"Don't you see it? This thing is our opportunity to return to Eden." He said as he pointed at the turtle's corpse." Not only to return, but we may also get a good position if we play our cards carefully."

"What do you suggest?" Travis asked curiously.

"Well, this thing didn't have the power to cause all the destruction we have seen, so there are some more powerful individuals around, so it is best to leave. We only need to carry the corpse out of the forest, and there we can dissect it to learn what is special about it. After discovering its secret, we only have to learn how to use it to our advantage." Nathan explained.