The forest opened up gradually as Kain moved further north, the signs of human activity becoming more apparent as he got closer and closer to what he assud was his destination.
Broken branches, faintly worn paths, and even occasional scraps of fabric snagged on bushes hinted that there were several others who had passed this way before him. The canopy began to thin slightly, allowing slivers of moonlight to illuminate his surroundings until he didn't even need to exhaust his spiritual power to keep his enhanced sight active, he could see the surroundings clearly without it.
After what felt like hours of being trapped with enemies all around, Kain finally reached a clearing not filled with only trees—the edge of a large body of water.
The stillness of its surface mirrored the night sky above, and for the first ti in what felt like forever, he could see the stars and moon above clearly.
High above, a dense, almost unnaturally white cloud hung in the air above the forest, its edges shimring faintly in the moonlight. Sothing about it seed off—too heavy, too opaque to be a normal cloud.
As Kain squinted at it, he soon saw movent from within it.
A massive, winged creature suddenly erged from the cloud, diving toward the forest with incredible speed.
Its form was an uncanny blend of a pterodactyl and a falcon. Its body was sleek and muscular, covered in tallic feathers that glimred faintly in the moonlight.
It had a long, pointed beak with serrated edges like shard teeth, and its talons were razor-sharp, designed to shred its prey in seconds.
A wide wingspan carried it effortlessly through the air, and every ti it beat its wings a faint tallic hum like a tuning fork would echo through the trees below.
The creature flew toward the forest canopy, its sharp eyes scanning the foliage below. Without warning, it struck—snatching an unfortunate bat-like creature from just above the leaves. It ascended back toward the dense cloud with its prey, disappearing from Kain's sight.
That "cloud" clearly wasn't natural. It was probably a nest, filled with those terrifying creatures. As he watched, more of the feathered predators erged and repeated the sa hunting process, their movents swift and practiced, clearly it was the usual hunting thod.
Most were undoubtedly indigo-grade, though the occasional one radiated an overwhelming aura that was likely belonging to a violet-grade spiritual creature.
"So that's why flying above the canopy is suicidal," he muttered. Most powerful spiritual creatures take a certain area as their territory. This arrogant clan of birds took the entire sky above this forest to be its territory, and any that dared to fly too high would be rcilessly targeted.
And seeing how quickly they managed to target anything the second it got even slightly close to the tree tops, Kain was suddenly glad for eting that fire-attribute tiger, even though it ended up luring an extrely powerful spiritual creature.
Even if Kain had managed to find a weaker creature for Bea to control, based on the swift timing in which they hunt anything remotely close to entering their 'territory' it was entirely possible that whatever creature they controlled would be killed before it could even properly locate the Northern Shield constellation—then all that ti finding a creature for Bea to control would have been wasted.
A thunderous roar shook the air as a massive, golden-furred bear erged from the forest, its body crackling with arcs of electricity, as it was carried by an even larger winged creature. Both the bear and the winged creature were likely violet-grade, equivalent to an 8-star beast-tar.
The bear roared in fury, releasing a pulse of electricity that caused the creature holding it to falter, but it was only for a mont, and its grip on the bear did not slacken.
Another of the winged predators dove towards the bear swinging its limbs around in the air, its serrated beak piercing the bear's neck. Blood sprayed in an arc as the bear's struggles weakened. Working in perfect coordination, the birds lifted the massive beast into the air, their claws and beaks ripping flesh from bone with a horrifying swiftness.
Kain could only watch in stunned silence as the once-mighty bear was reduced to a grueso bloody mist.
Tearing his gaze from the sky, Kain focused on the massive body of water before him. Far in the distance, he could see what appeared to be a wall, its silhouette faint but unmistakable.
If he could see it from this distance, it had to be enormous, and the water surrounding it seed to act as a natural moat.
"That has to be it," Kain said softly, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest. That was most likely his destination. Now he just had to cross the water.
Kain finally felt relieved that this trial seed to be almost over. However, as if to put a damper on his enthusiasm, the water's surface rippled. The movent was faint at first, then grew more pronounced as sothing massive shifted beneath the surface. A chill ran down Kain's spine as an overwhelming sense of danger washed over him.
He froze mid-step, his instincts and the almost pitch-black Threads of Destiny at the edges of his vision were signalling danger.
Kain squinted, his gaze locked on the water. He couldn't make out the creature beneath, but the faint outlines of a serpentine form, enormous in size, were visible just beneath the surface.
Just a slight leakage of its aura above the water alone was enough to confirm it was at least indigo-grade, if not higher.
"Of course," Kain groaned, taking a step back. "Because this orientation wasn't hard enough already."
He clenched his fists, frustration bubbling within him. The air above was dominated by predatory flyers, the water below teed with an unknown aquatic nace, and the only way forward was blocked.
"How the heck am I supposed to cross this?" Kain muttered, his mind racing for solutions.
If he flew above the water he'd be a target to those things above with no trees as cover, plus the creatures within the water may just choose to leap up and attack him from below.
However… looking at the massive shadow swimming beneath the water's surface. He was also very reluctant to enter the water as well.
There was no clear path, no easy answer.
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