The group had rested for several days at the base, recovering from everything they had been through. The expedition was meant to last for a month, and if they didn't return by then, Alerya would send a search party. With only two weeks having passed, they still had plenty of time.
After their rest, they returned to the mainland, ready to explore further and see how much deeper they could go. Along the way, they encountered many different enemies, all of which they swiftly eliminated.
"Hey guys, we're finding enemies more easily here. It must mean something," Liro said, noticing the increased frequency of attacks.
"Yeah, everyone, keep your eyes open. We might be getting closer to something important," Kael said, trying to calm his team.
As they continued walking, they were attacked by a swarm of about 40 Krukspy. They were completely surrounded, having fallen into a trap.
"Guys, come near me," Kael instructed. Everyone gathered close as the monsters closed in. Kael modified the gravity around them, lowering it so they could all jump higher. When some of the enemies entered the space, they began to fly uncontrollably. Darian hit some of them with his ice shards, while Kael kicked others and Allocen grabbed a few with his golem's arm. Liro and Lara stood on top of the golem, ready to provide support.
The other Krukins, seeing their comrades flying around, quickly understood how the low gravity worked. They simply jumped, falling into the circle and becoming easy targets for Darian's ice shards. Allocen and Kael handled the rest.
"We should let Darian and Allocen handle the smaller enemies like this. They barely use any soul," Kael said after removing the gravity spell and repositioning himself.
"Well, Darian doesn't even use his soul, so..." Allocen said, glancing at Darian.
"Heh, I can't really do anything about that, guys" Darian said with a shrug as they returned to their formation.
From there, things grew harder. With so many Krukins around, the group tried to move stealthily, but they often failed and were forced into a fight.
On one occasion, they found a new enemy. It was around eight feet tall and resembled a bat, but it was bigger and uglier, with a very long tail. Its body was covered in fur, and it had long, pointed ears. It could probably hear everything. Its head resembled a wolf crossed with a dragon, with an elongated muzzle, sharp fangs, and blazing amber eyes. The ears swiveled to pick up the faintest sound, and its jaw was capable of an unnervingly wide bite. From its back sprouted a pair of wing-like appendages, not for true flight but for gliding or slowing its fall mid-leap.
"This one looks strong," Kael whispered, but the enemies heard them.
Liro immediately created an illusion of a human to distract them, but the creatures completely ignored it and rushed toward the group. There were five of them.
"Why didn't it work?!" Liro panicked.
Darian created an ice wall just in time, but the creatures split up to go around it. Kael used his gravity magic on two of them, while Allocen's golem handled two others. Where was the last one? The fifth creature was on top of the ice wall, flying down rapidly. It opened its mouth, and a deafening sound wave came out. Everyone had to cover their ears, and the other Krukins were able to free themselves from the spells. Luckily, the golem didn't need to cover its ears and killed one of them by eating it.
Darian tried to hit the descending enemy with an ice shard, but it simply destroyed the shard with its wings. Kael watched as the enemy swooped down toward Darian.
"Darian!" Kael said calmly, hoping Darian would understand his plan. Darian looked at him and nodded. He created an ice shard on the ground, and Kael used his magic to pull the enemy down. It fell directly onto the spike, dying instantly.
The other two were distracted by an illusion that Liro had created: a wall covering Kael. The wall was only visible to the Krukins, so Darian saw them and hit one with an ice shard. It didn't kill it but sent it flying back, bleeding. The other one, understanding it was an illusion, rushed at the wall but flew up instead of going through it. Darian had just created another ice wall that looked identical to Liro's illusion, but the enemy heard the wall rising from the ground and got up. The wounded one rejoined it, and they began flapping their wings to create a powerful wind current.
Distracted by the wind, the group didn't hear the enemy coming from behind. It grabbed Kael and bit his head hard, leaving a literal hole. Darian tried to hit it with a shard, but the wind was too strong, blowing it away. Allocen immediately created a spike from the ground that hit the enemy's wing, making it fall. The golem then grabbed the creature and dragged it underground.
"Kael!" Lara screamed, trying to get to him through the wind. Allocen's golem slammed its hand against the wall, causing the remaining Krukins to lose balance. They stopped the wind and fell. Lara quickly reached Kael and began healing him.
"This new species was so strong..." Darian said, inspecting the body of one of the defeated Krukins. It was around nine feet tall, with strong, resistant wings. He decided to name them the Krukwyve, because the creature looked a bit like a wyvern. They had two legs, wings for arms, and a long tail.
He decided to classify it as a level 2 krukin.
After Kael had rested and his head was mended, the group started moving again, but Allocen immediately stopped them.
"What is it, Allocen?" Kael asked, worried.
"Shhh," Allocen said, gesturing for silence. He closed his eyes and focused, then sent one of his spikes toward a tree.
At first, everyone was confused, but then a female figure appeared in front of the tree. No one else had noticed her; Allocen was the only one.
"Wha—Who are you?" Kael said, trying to get closer, but Allocen stopped him.
"It might be a Krukin... be careful," Allocen warned as the human moved.
Everyone got into an attack position, but the woman held up her hand. "Calm down, please... My name is Bianca, and I come from Skar-Zhul."
Everyone was surprised. Darian remembered that Skar-Zhul was one of the four main cities in the world, and it was the biggest.
"What are you doing here? Don't come any closer, or we'll use force!" Kael warned. She stopped. The woman looked to be in her twenties, with short black hair and simple black clothing.
"I'm just observing the Krukins, nothing more," Bianca said, her hands still raised.
"Studying? Are you alone? Don't make me laugh. Are your companions around here?" Kael asked in a threatening tone.
"No, there isn't anyone else here but me. I was simply watching you; I was curious about the humans here," she said, her expression unchanging.
"Then how could you be practically invisible?" Liro asked, joining the conversation.
"It was just my power, I call it Imitatio," Bianca said, then turned almost completely invisible.
'Where is she?!' Kael thought, scared of a potential attack. Everyone looked around, but only Allocen kept his eyes fixed on the same spot.
"Don't worry, I'm still here... I don't want to risk my life for something useless," Bianca said, returning to normal. "I was just spying on some enemies... I suggest you turn back. It's dangerous from here on."
"What do you mean, 'dangerous'? What did you see?" Liro asked, his legs shaking.
"Well—"
Suddenly, they all heard footsteps. Bianca immediately turned invisible and ran away. Kael tried to hit her, but Allocen stopped him.
"We have something bigger to think about," Allocen said. Trees began to fall, and two new Krukins stood before them. One was huge, with a single eye ringed in purple and runes all over its body. On its shoulder sat a smaller Krukin with two long wings, looking a lot like the one they had just fought, but with sharper claws and no tail.
"I heard the voice of the woman who was spying on us... where is she now?" the smaller Krukin said, its voice high-pitched and annoying.
"Just tell us where she went, and we promise to kill you all faster without making you suffer," the bigger Krukin said, his voice deep and his body powerfully built.
"What? Why would we tell you where she went if you're just going to kill us?" Kael said. The group slowly walked backward, scared.
"Heh, I guess we'll have to make them suffer now, won't we, Eyrunik?" the smaller one said, starting to move its wings extremely fast. The wind current it created was far stronger than what they had experienced before. The bigger one, Eyrunik, rushed at them, moving incredibly fast thanks to the wind.
Darian tried to create a wall to stop them, but it was completely useless. Kael tried to change the gravity, but that was also useless. Both Krukins were too strong.
"Oh, they look strong, Eyrunik, we're going to have fun!" the smaller one said.
"Right, Garwhole... keep moving your wings faster so I can move faster instead of being so slow." It seemed Eyrunik was naturally slow but could be sped up by his companion.
Allocen immediately created his golem, but it could barely hold its ground against the two Krukins and was slowly falling backward. The group split up: Kael and Darian went to the right, and Allocen, Liro, and Lara went to the left.
"Tch, it's harder now," Garwhole said, annoyed.
The golem on the left managed to stop them. Darian created multiple ice shards to hit them, but the giant's skin was too hard, and the hits were useless. The golem could barely resist. How could they win this? Escaping was also difficult. Darian tried to hit the smaller one, but Eyrunik completely covered it with his hands.
Suddenly, they saw another enemy, a Krukwyve.
"Heh, we have another one. What are you going to do now?" Eyrunik said, his voice deep this time. "I suggest you surren—" He was cut off by Garwhole.
"No, Eyrunik, that's not our ally! I didn't call it!"
The Krukwyve rushed at Garwhole's neck, which was extremely weak. The bigger one wasn't able to catch it, and the Krukwyve flew away. The group immediately saw their chance and decided to retreat. Without Garwhole, Eyrunik was slow. He barely had time to grab his companion before the group had already escaped.
"Heh, I guess they had someone else helping them," Garwhole said as Eyrunik took him on his shoulder.
"We will get our revenge... we will kill them all faster" Eyrunik said.
"What? You're always too kind to humans," Garwhole replied as they walked away.
As they were escaping, a Krukwyve landed in front of them. "Tch, we have to fight—" Kael began, but the Krukwyve turned into Bianca.
"It was just my power," she said. "I can transform into other monsters to camouflage myself. I'll go now, they're not following you anymore." Bianca turned invisible and disappeared.
"We should trust her... let's head back to the base and think about what just happened here." Everyone was uninjured, thanks to Bianca's last-minute help.
As Bianca walked away, she couldn't stop thinking about Allocen. 'How was he able to see me? I was practically invisible... and when I turned into that Krukin, he wasn't even surprised. Who the hell is that guy?' she wondered. She had also discovered many things she wanted to share with her team in Skar-Zhul.