Floating down into the water Marcus found what remained of the cryohydra’s body and stored it away into his item box.
This served two purposes. One to make sure the thing was really dead, and two so that he could harvest its materials later.
‘Well, I am glad now that I did not test out the tier seven spell this glove can use.’
Looking around at the destruction he had caused, he felt a bit bad for the forest.
He had been trying to do minimum damage, but after that last attack he had certainly killed a few hundred trees and created a new part of the already large lake.
Turning towards the still smoldering forest, Marcus lifted his foot and was about to slam it down into the ground, when he remembered that he was not currently wearing his boots.
‘Damn, where to did Davion go? Did he take this chance to try and escape?’
Launching back into the air he scanned the forest looking for the man he had been using as bait, mostly as revenge for Davion calling him a bitch.
‘Oh, I guess he is more afraid of me than I thought.’
Looking down Marcus saw the wolf beast man hiding nearby behind a rock that had protected him from the majority of the sun shot spell’s power.
Landing on the ground right in front of the shacking beast man who was wondering how he had ended up where he was, Marcus said, “I need those boots back.”
He then grabbed Davion by the feet without waiting for his response and pulled the boots off.
Though before he put them back on, he flew over to the lake and washed them out a bit before drying them with his fire magic..
‘That is better. Back where they belong.’
With his boots now back on his feet, Marcus moved over to the forest that was a bit on fire from his attack.
‘Tidal Stomp.’
Slamming his foot into the ground he created a huge tidal wave that was nearly a hundred feet tall and three hundred feet wide and sent it out over the forest.
Quickly the trees that were on fire were completely submerged in water which snuffed out the lingering damage he had caused.
Once that was taken care of her went back over to Davion, and said, “We are done for today so go ahead and set up your tent and get some rest. I will keep watch so need to worry about it. Just make sure you are ready for tomorrow, because I will be requiring your services again.”
Jumping up into a nearby tree Marcus left Davion on his own and watched out over the woods that had become restless.
Many beasts and monsters had been disturbed by his and Andrea’s tribe’s movements within the woods.
Naturally the creatures that lived here were in tune with their surroundings, and they could feel the threats closing in on them.
Not to mention that rulers of many parts of the forest had suddenly vanished, leaving a power vacuum through the forest.
‘Tomorrow we are going to have to double our efforts. If we move too slowly beasts that are still a bit deeper in will just move in on the now unoccupied territory. At the end of the day, I need to find and deal with whatever is causing all these beasts and monsters to flee further south.’
Sitting up in a tree Marcus looked out over the forest and kept an eye on things through the night.
The temperature quickly plummeted as the warmth of the sun had long since vanished, but the forest only became more active.
Certain creatures like that cryohydra thrived in the cold and were at their strongest during the night with its biting chill.
Luckily nothing very dangerous came anywhere near them, and the few beasts and monsters that wandered close where swiftly dealt with by a darkness bullet from Marcus.
The long night continued on for hours, but eventually the sun rose back over the horizon signaling that it was time to move out again.
“Get up Davion. We have another long day ahead of us and I want to get rid of more beasts and monster today than we did yesterday.”
Coming out of his tent while yawning widely, Davion rubbed his face a few times before breaking down his camp and getting ready to leave.
Soon, the three of them led by Roxene were on their way to the next beast or monster that posed a major threat to the area.
Hours went by as they cleared out beasts after beasts and monster after monster, until they made it to a certain area where Marcus became more cautious.
‘Are you sure this is where it is? I do not see anything or the signs that something large is living here.’
‘Yes, this is the place. I definitely smell a legendary grade beast around here. It has spread its scent and presence out so I cannot pinpoint its exact location though. But this is definitely where a legendary grade beast lives.’ Roxene said to Marcus.
Spreading out his life sense skill he tired searching for something that gave off a big signal, but all he found was Roxene and Davion who were close to what he was looking for.
‘It must be outside my skill’s range. But how is it hiding itself so well? Normally as they get stronger, beasts get bigger. Yet I cannot see it anywhere.’
Unable to find the location of his current target Marcus was forced to take another approach.
‘Davion you are up. Go stand out in the middle of that clearing and wait for whatever is here to come and attack you.’ Marcus said to Davion with his telepathy.
Sighing, Davion did as he had been told and stood out in the open like the good bait he was.
Unfortunately, whatever was here had no intention of taking the bait, and Davion just stood there for fifteen minutes as nothing happened.
‘I did not want it to come to this, but I guess scorched earth it is.’
Seeing as how he could not find the beast they were looking for, Marcus decided to just turn the entire area to ashes and be done with it.
He certainly did not want to cause unnecessary damage to the forest, but in the end, he had a job to do and that took precedence.
‘Anyway, this is a massive forest. Taking out one little area is not going to make too much of a difference.’
However, before Marcus could make his move to turn this part of the forest into a burning hellscape, a new voice resounded in everyone’s minds.
‘You have trespassed into the great Inten’s territory. As I am of the generous sorts, I was going to let you go free, but you seem set on attacking me, so I shall personally warn you. Leave now or die.’
Surprised to hear a sudden voice in his head, Marcus really did not expect to run into an intelligent beast here.
Though he soon figured that it was likely that all beasts that reached the legendary grade would be intelligent, and that meant it was time for a different approach.
‘Forgive us for trespassing oh great Inten, but we have come to seek an audience with you. If you would not mind showing yourself, we can have an open dialogue together and discuss a mutually beneficial partnership.’
For a few moments after Marcus relayed his telepathic message there was a pause of silence. Before he heard back, ‘Foolish human, I would never fall for such an obvious deceit. It is clear that you just wish to kill me, and I cannot allow that. Now so be it. I shall force you to leave or lose your lives.’
An instant after this last telepathic communication, Marcus felt the forest begin to rumble and watched as a giant clear pillar shot out of the ground towards him.
Quickly jumping out of the way, Marcus avoided this attack as it smashed the tree he was hiding into bits.
Looking around towards the source of the attack he tried to find the beast that was their opponent but saw nothing nearby the pilar.
Still as he looked at the pillar some more, he realized what exactly it was made out of.
‘That entire thing is made up of diamond!’
Seeing that whatever this creature was could somehow manipulate one of the hardest substances in the world, Marcus was incredibly surprised.
This was not some average type of power, and its uses in combat were definitely top notch.
‘Davion get out of here quickly. I cannot guarantee you will survive if you stay anywhere near here.’
After giving his bait a quick warning, Marcus once again took evasive action jumping around the forest as pillars of diamond sprung up and chased him around.
Of course, he could have just gone ethereal to avoid these pillars, but he did not want to reveal himself not to be human quite yet.
The more this beast attacked him the more likely he was to find its location, and he did not want it running off if it figured out it could not harm him.
Except he had forgotten there was someone else around who was also under attack. At least, until they let out a pained yelp.
Hearing this he looked over to where the noise had originated and saw Roxene bleeding as one of the diamond pillars had grazed her side and given her a nasty gash.
This just went to show how powerful the beast they were fighting was, as no normal attack could cut through Roxene’s fur.
‘Damn it where is it?’
Searching around Marcus was trying to pinpoint the beast that was attacking them so that he could go on the offensive.
Yet whatever it was could hide its presence very well, and he could not find it at all.
‘Roxene, no need to hold back anymore. We are just going to blast through the forest and flush it out.’
‘Fire Strom.’
“Awoooo.”
In combination Marcus cast a max power fire storm enhanced even further by the blaze glove, while Roxene used her unique skill Howl of Day and sent out a massive blast of light that engulfed the forest around her.
In an instant the area was blown apart as they decimated the forest in their vicinity in order to find their adversary.
When their attacks finally settled all that was left of this part of the forest was upturned dirt and ashes.
However, in the middle of the area was a huge wall of diamond that had protected the legendary grade beast from their attacks.
Then the wall began to recede back into the earth, and for the first time Marcus and Roxene were able to see the beast they were after. And both went wide eyed in shock seeing what it really was.