Chapter 207 - Aura in the distance

Adion woke up peacefully as the sunlight hit his face. 

Another night without any incidents.

He let out a yawn as he got to his feet and stretched his body. In the early morning, the air was still cool and fresh. 

He looked to the beast he had hunted the day before.

Even if I’m not very hungry, I shouldn’t waste an opportunity to eat. I’ll have a hearty breakfast so I’ll have energy for the day. 

But as he was about to conjure some flames for the fire, he looked up to the sun that was still hanging low in the sky and decided there was no rush to get moving. 

I’ll just do a little exercise to work up an appetite first. And I might as well get a session of meditation done. 

It had been ten days since he left the mountain where he and Shindo had stayed. At first, he was a little uneasy after sensing that Soul beast his first night. He slept with one eye open, and he made use of every waking moment to get as far away as he could. 

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he was in the middle of an area belonging to a Soul beast. The strongest beast he had run into these days was just a high Bronze beast, so he found himself gradually relaxing as the days passed without incident. 

He did feel the presence of a Gold beast four days ago, though. But he ran in the other direction as soon as he felt its aura. Even if Adion wasn’t afraid of getting into a fight with a Gold beast, he didn’t want any complications. What if other stronger beasts started showing up? He could always teleport away, but what if something went wrong? There was no need to take any risks. 

His goal for this journey was to get back home as fast as he could. Everything else was secondary. 

After Adion finished his meditation, he took a few sips of Profound Water to get back to his peak. He then grilled some meat from the beast he had killed the day before.

After finishing his meal, he conjured a flame to erase any trace of human presence. It was probably unnecessary, but he’d rather be safe than sorry. 

Well, let’s get going. The mountains seem to be letting up further ahead. I should be able to turn south soon.

Adion got his backpack on and headed out from the small cave where he had spent the night. 

It didn’t take long before he was down in the forest again and started his light jog. 

It’s actually quite relaxing to travel like this once you get comfortable with the idea of beasts being around.

I’ve been lucky with the weather so far. It hasn’t rained once. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn for the worse.

Perhaps it’s still a little hot, but it’s nothing compared to the Saba Desert. And it should be getting cooler and cooler from now on.

Adion kept his pace as the hours passed, stopping by a few creaks on the way to drink some water. Even if he hadn’t experienced any rain, he still found plenty of these things coming down from the mountains. 

As Adion was enjoying his journey, lost in his thoughts, he suddenly felt a vague premonition of something further ahead.

What’s going on? What is that?

Adion couldn’t quite put his finger on what he was sensing. It didn’t feel like anything too dangerous, but…it wasn’t anything good, either. 

Adion frowned slightly and continued on ahead while flexing all his senses.

After walking at a slow pace for nearly half an hour, Adion began understanding what he was feeling. 

It’s an aura. But…No, wait. It’s the aura of several beasts. How many are there to create such a feeling in the air? And they seem to be agitated. 

At least I can’t feel any Soul beasts. That’s a relief. Even if there seem to be hundreds, maybe thousands, of beasts up ahead, I can just teleport away and escape. 

But it’s still better not to get involved. Is there a way for me to walk around?

Adion stopped and looked around his surroundings. Sensing the huge cloud of aura in the distance, Adion realized it was formed like a blockade.

Are they preparing to stop someone from leaving this area? 

It can’t be me they’re looking for, right?

Adion couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. Surely not.

Still. I’ll have a look at what’s going on.

If I go up the mountain high enough, I should be able to see the situation over there. It will also let me see what way to go to pass them without any of the beasts noticing. 

Adion left the forest and started climbing the mountain. 

It took him over an hour before he was high enough to see over the treetops.

Are they…marching? Where are they going? They seem to be coming from the mountains.

Adion couldn’t see the beginning of the stream of beasts, as he was only a bit of the way up the mountain, and the rest of the mountain blocked his view. But he could still see that hundreds of beasts were heading away from the mountain range. 

They weren’t exactly moving orderly, but they weren’t fighting either. And they seemed to be walking with a purpose.

This is concerning. They don’t look like they are fleeing from anything. So why are so many beasts heading in the same direction at the same time? 

They must be moving according to orders. But how powerful would you have to be to order this many beasts?

There is probably a Soul beast behind this. 

Is it around here somewhere? Is it hiding its aura?

Adion furrowed his brows. He wasn’t sure what his best option would be in this situation.

I can’t outrun them, so I’ll have to cross them once they have all cleared out from the mountain range. Unless I want to teleport across?

No. That’s unnecessary. They seem to keep heading west. I won’t have to deal with them as long as I wait for all of them to pass. 

Adion turned around and headed back down the mountain slope. 

I’ll go back a little, so no powerful beast can sense me. 

Let’s wait for a few hours before coming back. 

Worst case, I’ll waste a few days waiting. But that’s better than taking the risk of being discovered by a Soul beast. 

Adion had already traveled for ten days, and he knew there was still a long way to go. A few days of waiting was fine if that meant not having to deal with that army of beasts. 

He got back down from the mountain and started heading back the way he came. He first planned on going just far enough to feel the aura of the beasts moving, but then he thought he might as well run a few miles extra to be safe. He didn’t need to feel the aura. He could return in a few hours and see the situation then. 

As he felt the aura of the huge number of beasts slowly lessen in intensity as he got further and further away, he finally relaxed a little.

It seems like this place isn’t as deserted as I had thought. Even if it’s rare to run into beasts, the situation can always suddenly change. I need to keep my guard up.

After running for half an hour, Adion came to a stop. He heard something.

A beast?

The sound got louder, and Adion could soon feel the aura of several beasts ahead of him.

Damn. Are they joining up with those other beasts? What’s going on?

Adion hurriedly ran off to the side, hoping the beasts wouldn’t have time to sense him, or at least ignore him. 

He could feel eight or nine auras of Silver and Bronze beasts. He wasn’t afraid he would lose a fight against those kinds of opponents, but he didn’t want to cause a ruckus at the moment.

Unfortunately, the beasts seemed to have sensed Adion, and they were changing direction along with him.

Fine! You think I’m afraid of you?

Adion stopped running away and waited for the beasts to catch up to him. 

It didn’t take long before he could see the shape of the beasts between the trees. Adion recognized them as Dermas Bulls. A type of beast he didn’t expect to find in the middle of the forest. They were big and bulky, not at all suitable for jumping over roots and dodging between trees. 

It’s been a while since I faced a large number of opponents at once. 

Adion could tell that the four beasts in the front were at the Silver stage, while the six behind were only Bronze. 

Bronze beasts shouldn’t require any effort. But I’ll need to take out the Silver beasts as quickly as possible.

Adion judged the speed of the beast at the forefront, focusing on the space a dozen feet ahead of it. 

Now!

Adion teleported over, and the beast was right below him as he swung his sword toward its neck. 

He felt his sword go through the flesh, but it didn’t manage to cut through the spine. 

Adion didn’t worry about that at the moment, though. He quickly froze one of the other Silver beasts in space and teleported just in front of it. He bent his legs and thrust his sword up under its jaw, into its brain.

That should do it. 

Adion froze the third Silver beast that had now come to a stop as it noticed something was wrong. He executed the same move, piercing its head from underneath its jaws.

The Bronze beasts caught up, but they didn’t understand what was going on. They stopped a few steps away from the Silver beasts, looking on cautiously. 

The first Silver beast, with its neck cut, along with the fourth Silver beast charged toward Adion as he pulled out his sword from the third one.

Fortunately, they weren’t right next to each other, so Adion easily teleported over to the third beast and cut it down before the first beast had a chance to stop him.

“Haaah,” Adion breathed out, relaxing his tense muscles slightly. 

Good thing I recharged my Will with the Profound Water this morning. I feel like I can fight like this all day!

The last of the Silver beast still living, whose neck he had cut earlier, charged at Adion in a rage. 

Adion just smirked at it and froze it stiff in space before it reached him. He swung his word across its throat. The beast finally had its life drained out of it and collapsed on the ground. 

Adion looked toward the six Bronze beasts; they were standing still, processing what had just happened. But it didn’t take long before they let out a loud roar and charged toward Adion.

Damn, would you keep it down?

Adion hadn’t really struggled against the Silver beasts, and the bronze beasts were even easier. He could freeze them in space with barely any effort at all. 

It didn’t even take a minute before the final beast fell to the ground, dead. 

Why not just run away? Did you really think you had a chance?

Adion couldn’t really understand what these beasts were thinking. But he knew it was rare for beasts to retreat from an opponent unless they were a lot weaker. At least, that was the case for beasts that were too weak to have much intelligence. 

I should probably clean this up, right? If an intelligent Soul beast stumbles upon this scene, it will be obvious a sapi is responsible. 

Then again, this battle might have alerted other beasts near here. It might be better to just get away as fast as possible.

Just as Adion was weighing his choices, he felt his whole body jolt, warning him of danger. He teleported to the side as fast as he could. 

A loud crash sounded. Adion turned around to the place where he had just been standing and saw a huge snake rising from the dust.

The snake was at least thirty feet long and had deep purple skin, almost black. It was a kind of beast Adion had never seen before. Its yellow rectile pupils turned to look at Adion.

“What a strange ability,” A voice sounded from the snake. 

A high Gold beast…What a nuisance.

“What do you want?” Adion asked, communicating with his aura just like the beast.

Adion thought he might as well try to see if he could get any information. He had no intention of fighting this beast. Even though he could probably defeat it, who knew how strong the next beast that showed up would be. Better spare the Will to teleport away from this place.

The snake tilted its head to its side slightly and spoke, “Strange Silver human, this is not your area.”

Is it too stupid? It’s only a Gold beast, after all. 

The snake suddenly leapt from its position and slithered toward Adion at lightning speed.

Screw this! 

Adion decisively teleported 300 feet away, back toward the direction he had come from. 

He noticed that the snake immediately locked onto to his position, though. Even if he hid his aura as best he could, he couldn’t hide his presence from a Gold beast on the lookout for him. 

Adion made four consecutive teleportations. Landing on a wide branch in a tree, he pulled off his backpack and grabbed a flask with Profound Water. 

After a few mouthfuls, he felt his Will returning to him.

This is really a lifesaver. 

He felt the snake beast approaching quickly, so he immediately teleported away once again. He decided to head to the mountains. 

I don’t know how far away I need to go before that snake loses track of me.

Adion reached the mountain quickly, teleporting up the slope. 

Once he reached what he assumed to be around a thousand feet high, he finally stopped. He sat down behind a boulder, hiding his aura. 

It should be impossible to find me now, right?

If it comes after me again, I’ll just fight it. Even if it will create a disturbance, I can probably get away from any pursuers if I leave immediately. 

Adion listened carefully, using his aura sense to feel for any approaching beast. 

Luckily, the minutes passed without anything showing up.

This place is far from as safe as I had thought. 

I just hope this is temporary.

I’ll stay here for a few days before going back to check the situation.

Hopefully, this strange group of beasts has moved on by then.