"Joshua, can you see what attacked me!?"
Marcus asked as he ran.
The only reason he moved out of the way was because of the slight ripple he sensed and the shift in the air.
Joshua, looking back as he ran, couldn't see anything.
There was nothing out of place: no Beasts around, no energy in the vicinity apart from theirs.
At least this was what he could see.
But he couldn't report that to Marcus. There was nothing moments ago, and yet circumstances had proven that fact wrong.
Let me try going all out.
As he activated his bloodline ability, Joshua's surroundings changed before his eyes.
A slight burning sensation filled his eyes before transforming into a type of energy that permeated the area.
Suddenly, to Joshua, the world wasn't what it was anymore. It had changed to a world of limited colors.
There was no concept of darkness here, and barely any light.
Every living thing had turned into black silhouettes, and the rest had been designated a color.
The trees remained faint green, barely catching his gaze, and the sky, including the wind, was a mix of white and cream.
Beyond this, faint grid lines that Joshua still didn't understand appeared. Anchoring the world in a complex lattice of positions.
But he ignored this. It wasn't his first time seeing this, and this wasn't the time to delve into it.
Focusing on his surroundings, apart from himself, Marcus, Floki, and Logail, some hundred meters behind them was a huge, black silhouette.
It had a back that arched and a long tail that was coiled up. On what seemed to be its head were four horns.
Its movement, compared to theirs, was a bit slow. However, it was chasing after them.
From the silhouette alone, Joshua couldn't make out what type of creature or Beast it was.
What remained surprising to Joshua was that this creature, even under the enhancement of his bloodline ability, was still able to hide its energy from his eyes.
"There's a huge beast chasing us. I don't know how, but it is capable of hiding its energy completely."
Joshua's gaze turned to face Marcus, and for a second their eyes locked.
Marcus's brows settled into a cautious frown as he saw what had become of his knight's eyes. His pupils were nowhere to be seen.
Just an eerie white eyeball that seemed capable of looking through his soul.
Is this what using his bloodline ability looks like?
He wondered for a bit, but he didn't let this hinder his next move.
"Where's its position?"
Joshua pointed at it.
"Shield!" Marcus uttered and instantly cast four consecutive level-1 magic shields, stacking them upon each other.
At the same time, his fingers began moving, turning into a blur as he was preparing to cast a level-2 spell.
Knowing that this would deplete a good amount of his Mana, and how dangerous it would be, Marcus didn't like the fact that the opposition was invisible.
Unaware of how strong it was, or whether there were more around, he deemed it better to rid themselves of this thing regardless of the cost.
As Marcus continued to prepare to cast a stronger spell, he made a few mistakes, where he had to bend his fingers abnormally, dislocating a few.
He muffled his grunt and continued casting.
Just these mistakes cost him a good part of his Mana reserves. This wasn't a spell that he had practiced before, hence his mistakes.
In fact, since he began cultivating the Five Elements Arts, Marcus had barely given his knowledge about spells an iota of his time.
Not that they weren't useful; he liked the fact that Mages could fight battles from afar, but he just didn't think he was best suited to be one.
Nevertheless.
Not even a dozen seconds later, the shields he had cast, as though struck by a powerful wind, broke like glass.
Within the moment that it shattered, Marcus turned and struck the ground with his hands.
Thud!
"Wood Tentacles!"
Almost simultaneously, Mana from his body travelled through the ground and onto the trees some meters away.
His Mana caused the trees to wiggle a bit before their branches stretched and expanded, widening until they were half as thick as their trunks before shooting out like tentacles.
With more than fourteen of them, Marcus was able to achieve what he had in mind.
The shields he cast weren't to slow the Beast down; rather, just so he could get a good position of where it was.
Boom!
Almost immediately, about six of the wood tentacles had been broken, sending chunks of the tree flying.
As for the remaining eight or so, they immediately moved in a wide spiral, quickly closing on an invisible silhouette.
Once Marcus sensed that the tentacles had grasped onto something, he infused more Mana into his spells, causing more tentacles to appear and restrict it.
"Watch out, Milord!"
Joshua quickly jumped in front of Marcus and slashed his long dagger forward.
Swish!
Blood sprayed into the air, falling on both Joshua and Marcus.
"Roar!!"
As though enraged, the beast caught within the wood tentacles wiggled in pain, breaking a few more tentacles.
At the same time, blood poured onto the tentacles, causing them to glisten under the moonlight and giving everyone an idea of what happened.
The Beast had a tongue that could extend through some distance.
With the appearance of this blood, it was as though the Beast lost its ability to hide its energy and aura. At the same time, Marcus used his [Inspect] ability.
A beastly aura that surpassed those that they had killed over the last few days appeared.
Their eyes widened with shock and fear that passed through their hearts.
At the moment, a natural suppressive force weighed on them. The type of Force that would paralyze the weak when they were before the strong.
But this only lasted for a second.
…
[Four-Horned Chameleon Beast (Female): A nocturnal Beast that is never found alone. Mates for life and moves exclusively in pairs. The absence or death of one will send the other into an irreversible frenzy, making it exponentially more dangerous and completely beyond reason.
They are skilled hunters that kill their prey without alerting them. They are attracted to powerful auras and sometimes reach too far for their own good.
Highly territorial during nighttime hours.
Level: Low-rank Prowler Beast.
Abilities: Chromatic Veil. Thermal Silence. Hardened Charge.
Weaknesses: Bonded Dependency. Sudden Light.]
…
The moment Marcus saw this information appear before him, chills went down his back.
These Beasts continued to amaze him with their intelligence. They had been running away from one invisible beast, unaware that there was another one.
Where was the second one?
"It's a damn Prowler Chameleon Beast! All of you, quickly attack it. I can't continue to hold on to this one!"
The moment Marcus spoke, he snapped his knights out of their paralyzed state.
Like arrows that had just been shot, they ran towards the restrained Beast.
At the same time, the chameleon's strength seemed to increase in the absence of its stealth.
The wood tentacles began developing cracks on them, looking as though they would snap at any moment.
But this didn't worry Marcus as much as he was worried about what his [Inspect] had shown him.
The male pair should be around here, or bidding its time ahead. Perhaps they planned to ambush us.
Or maybe it's by the side.
As his mind continued to think of other possibilities, he quickly activated his Rippling World.
Marcus felt a strain on his neck, as though he had stretched too far. But he ignored it, knowing that it was just an effect of draining his Mana quickly.
Within his Rippling World, ripples from the struggling chameleon caused everything to seem obscure, but Marcus was quick to suppress it.
He was searching for the slightest, misplaced ripple.
And he was quick to find it, but it was already too late.
As though someone had slammed a wall on him, Marcus fell dizzy as a somewhat wet and sticky sensation enveloped one side of his body.
His body slammed onto the floor, causing his shoulders to dislocate.
Not even given the chance to regain his composure, whatever had slammed him to the ground was now pulling him through the air.
All this happened in less than two seconds.
Marcus coughed out blood.
This seemed to have cleared his startled mind a bit, and he soon realized that it was the tongue of the Male Four-horned Chameleon that struck him.
"Milord!" He heard his knights call out with worry.
"Kill that Beast first! Don't worry about me!"
With one half of his body stuck, Marcus couldn't reach for his sword.
"Arghhh!"
In pain and anxiety, Marcus cried out as he activated his open Heart Pulse Points.
With energy coursing through his body, Marcus didn't stop there. He quickly cast a powerful level-1 spell on himself.
"Ignite!"
Fire made from Mana quickly enveloped him, and by default, it climbed onto the tongue that was pulling him.
Feeling the heat that had just appeared on its tongue, an agonizing roar came from the male chameleon.
The fire burnt off the wet substance that was keeping Marcus stuck to the tongue; subsequently, he tried to push himself off. All of this in play caused him to fall from the tongue like a ragdoll.
Thud!
Marcus fell on his back, with steam coming off his body.
All of this, from the beginning of the chase up until this point, all happened within a few minutes.