"Crack!"
Hasso, Ruben, Nicolaus and Siegbert didn't even have time to react.
They only heard the booming sound that the thrown spear carried with it, followed by the sound of it plowing through three trees before finally getting firmly imbedded into the fourth.
Despite being a Qi Refining Cultivator at the 1st Stage of cultivation and being able to spread his consciousness in a radius of 10 meters around him, even he was taken by surprise from the attack.
Surprise aside, he shifted his body at a speed that surpassed even the spear's, dodging the attack with ease.
Present Gaston's eyes widened at the sight, of both the attack and of his own response to it.
'If i knew i was that fast, I would've killed that grey wolf a hell of a lot easier.'
Past Gaston on the other hand, didn't stop after seeing the spear fly past him.
He abruptly locked his eyes on the location where the spear had come from, only to find that no one was there.
While there wasn't a living being there, there was however, what looked to be some strange device.
Gray, cylindrical and rough in design, it almost looked like a cave man's imitation of a rocket launcher.
'A Trap?'
Before he could continue his train of thought, he recognized that his men were probably not aware of this yet, and that he should calm them down before they make any noise and expose them to every predator lurking in this forest.
Using the same magic technique to transmit his thoughts as before, he warned them as quickly as he could.
"Stop!
"Do not move a muscle, and don't make any noise."
While still using his eyes to look at the empty device, Gaston gave orders to his men while extending his consciousness out as far as he could, to make sure that he would spot anything as quickly as possible.
All four of the men, who were gearing up for battle and about to shout out a warning, were brought to a halt as they heard Gaston's instructions.
Confused by what was going on, yet unable to ask him with their words in order to not make any noise as they had been told, they just looked at him, slightly startled and confused.
Once Gaston figured out that it was just a trap, he spared some of his attention to his men.
Gaston could feel the satisfaction that his past self had felt at the sight of his men promptly obeying orders despite not fully understanding them.
It seemed that things weren't always this way.
"Calm down, we aren't under attack. This is just a simple trap that someone has left behind. Look."
Gaston pointed towards the used device.
Looking at the roughly made device that was used to launch that spear with such an outstanding amount of force, Gaston was somewhat intrigued.
After all, this was an attack that made even Peak Innate Realm Warriors completely helpless.
If that was aimed at any one of them, and not Gaston, they would have likely sustained their first casualty just now.
Back on their continent, they stood at the very apex of the food chain, beneath only the handful of people that had reached the Qi Refining Stage and had become real cultivators.
Those people were excluded from the food chain however, as at that point, almost all of them had left behind the mundane world in search of a place where they could continue their path.
Unfortunately, no such place existed as far as anyone knew, except for in some legends.
Yet such was the desperation of being a cultivator, that despite this, most who had reached that ceiling, still did everything in their power to pursue the continuation of their path.
This phenomena left Peak Innate Realm Warriors as the top of the food chain.
Yet here, on this new land, just a simple trap was enough to end their lives.
If they weren't aware of the dangers of their newfound land beforehand, they sure were now.
"There's no rope, or anything else that we could have touched to trigger the activation of that trap, which means it's most likely related to energy.
"The problem, is that my consciousness wasn't able to detect it.
"It's too dangerous for us to continue moving forward under these circumstances. We're going to have to turn back eventually."
Hearing Gaston's words, the others first nodded in agreement, but then paused at his final sentence.
"Eventually?"
None of them uttered a word, but with the way they were looking at him, Gaston was practically able to hear their question.
"Yes, not now, but eventually.
"This land has proven to be far more dangerous than any of us could have anticipated, but let us not overestimate the enemy!
"I refuse to believe this trap is just some worthless garbage that the natives have left lying around.
"If this thing has any value, they are likely monitoring it constantly, or perhaps they even have a way to get notified upon its activation.
"Either way, I want to see the faces of the bastards that are responsible for laying this thing down."
Not only had they just barely lived through this trap, lucky that it had fired at the only person capable of dodging it amongst them, but it had also established a precedent.
Who knew how many more traps such as this there were, waiting for them to step in to.
Since Gaston, the only real cultivator amongst them wasn't able to detect it, it meant that they were blindly walking across a minefield with every step forward they took deeper into the forest.
"I want each of you to climb up different trees, no higher up than 30 feet, an-"
Before he could finish giving his instructions, he heard a faint sound of movement far off in the distance.
"Someone's coming. Get to a position and remain still."
As the strongest one amongst them, and the only one able to communicate without making any noise, Gaston's position was particularly important.