On the steep cliffside, several round figures moved slowly and with great difficulty along the edge of the precipice.
“Maji! Are we really going to find the object that fell?”
The leading figure turned its head, revealing a round face and two curved horns that glimmered faintly under the starlight.
In a dissatisfied tone, it replied, “Isn’t it a bit late to be asking that, Zaen! We’re almost there!”
The Takin who had asked the question trembled and stammered, “I know… it’s just —”
“No ‘justs’! We must complete the mission the Elder gave us! This is to remove any danger to the village! We have already made mistakes!”
Upon hearing this, the Takin behind him lowered its head and fell silent, simply following the leader closely.
A tense atmosphere spread through the team, as they clearly had their own suspicions about what they were about to face.
“It couldn’t be another Element Lord, could it? How would we even survive that?”
“It shouldn’t be. I haven’t felt any strong elemental ripples…”
“Could it be a Demon?”
The team members behind him whispered back and forth, offering all sorts of conjectures, while the leader remained silent.
The clash between two Element Lords had brought their village to the brink of collapse, and the Elders were already discussing migration.
However, at this critical juncture, two unknown objects had fallen from the sky, landing right near the two most likely migration routes.
Their six-person team was now risking their lives to scout for danger.
If not a single one of them returned, the Elders would eliminate this route from their options…
Thinking of this, the leader named Maji felt his heart grow heavier.
He called for silence and commanded, “Maintain battle formation once we enter the valley! Zaen! Stay at the very back! If anything goes wrong, run back immediately to report!”
“Yes!”
After traveling a while longer, they finally left the steep mountain path and entered a relatively open valley.
Maji remained fully alert, his two horizontal pupils wide as he raised his hand to signal the team to spread out.
In his mind, he estimated the distance to the crash site.
According to the Elder’s observations, it should be right near the entrance of the valley…
Suddenly, Maji spotted a deep crater not far away.
The impact zone was massive, leaving the surrounding area devoid of any grass or flowers.
His nerves tightened instantly, and Maji quickly changed his hand signals, gesturing for his teammates to stay quiet and hide.
Maji took the lead, ducking behind a massive boulder and cautiously peeking out to observe the situation around the pit.
The other members followed suit, scurrying to find cover.
However, each of them was quite large, and their pure white fur was incredibly fluffy.
When they tried to hide behind trees, they realized the trunks were only half as wide as their waists.
Two or three Takins scrambled in a panic, darting between trees and finding none suitable.
In their desperation, they simply hid behind their equally terrified companions.
Seeing this, Maji’s brow twitched violently. He felt there was no longer any point in hiding…
He stepped out from behind the boulder and crept toward the crater.
Several team members tried to follow, but Maji stopped them with a sharp glare.
When Maji reached the edge of the pit, the 2-meter-tall Takin, weighing several hundred pounds, suddenly lunged.
He condensed Force into his two fists and struck toward the center of the crater with all his might!
‘Huh? Why is there nothing here?’
Maji’s fists slammed down, sending dust flying, but as he leaped, he realized the crater was empty.
While Maji stood there in a daze, his confused teammates charged out from their cover in unison.
They let out the battle cries of Takin Clan warriors, and the sound of their shouts echoed through the valley.
“Wait —”
Before Maji could finish his sentence, the teammate at the front reached the edge of the pit and leaped into the air.
He condensed Force into his hands, his eyes filled with tragic resolve.
But… where was the enemy?
The teammate crashed straight into Maji, causing him to let out a pained scream.
When the Takins behind them heard the scream, they assumed their leader had been heavily wounded by the enemy.
Fueled by grief and rage, their Charge did not falter; instead, it grew even more powerful.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
One by one, the Takins leaped down, and one by one, agonized howls rang out.
Hiding in the distance, Zaen trembled and covered his mouth, unable to imagine how intense the battle must be.
“What are they doing?”
A confused male voice came from behind him. Zaen, who was immersed in his grief, felt his pupils contract sharply.
Zaen slowly turned his head, only to find a heavy-armored knight with a green light glowing from his helmet standing less than 1 foot behind him. He hadn’t noticed him at all.
Horrified, he leaped up from the spot, nearly fainting then and there.
‘No! I can’t be afraid! Otherwise, Maji and the others will really be in danger! I have to protect them!’
At that thought, the panicked Zaen regained a shred of rationality.
Instinctively, he condensed Force into his two fists and threw a heavy blow at the knight.
Lance was startled. He hadn’t expected this fluffy, innocent-looking white Takin to attack immediately.
He quickly jumped backward, narrowly dodging the two powerful fists.
With his longsword unsheathed, Lance took a defensive stance and shouted, “Wait! I have no ill intent! There must be some misunderstanding!”
But in his state of panic, how could Zaen possibly process his enemy’s words?
Zaen grabbed a nearby boulder with both hands and hurled it at Lance.
Lance was internally terrified. ‘What kind of monstrous strength is this?’
He quickly released a Wind Bullet behind himself, using the recoil of the airflow to rapidly escape the boulder’s landing zone.
“Wait!”
Lance still wanted to negotiate. He had just arrived on this floor and had somehow been separated from the Elf.
He was currently in an unfamiliar place. Having finally encountered an intelligent race he could communicate with, he didn’t want to resort to violence unless absolutely necessary.
The white Takin didn’t answer, simply continuing to pick up anything nearby and throwing it at Lance.
Lance clicked his tongue. He had no way to deal with an opponent he couldn’t talk to, so he decided to win first and talk later.
Lance raised his right hand and fired a Wind Bullet, and this time, it was truly meant for an attack!
With a bang, the Wind Bullet hit the Takin square in the forehead.
The white-furred Takin’s vision blurred, and he felt the world begin to spin.
His body tilted, and the entire tree he was holding slipped from his grasp.
It landed with a thump and began to fall straight toward him.
Just then, the four or five Takins in the crater finally managed to crawl out. Their previously pristine white fur was now covered in dust; they looked pathetic.
Maji proved himself as the leader of the group. Despite being at the bottom of the pile, he was the first to scramble out.
The moment he emerged, he saw the tree about to crush Zaen.
A white “meteor” suddenly streaked forward. With a single punch, he shattered the thick tree into two pieces.
At the same time, he shielded the dizzy Zaen behind him, his eyes fixed on the silver-gray knight in heavy armor.
Lance stood his ground, somewhat uncertain of the Takins’ strength.
‘This terrifying speed and explosive power… could they be equivalent to High Rank experts?’
As a Skeleton, Lance had no muscles and possessed no inherent advantage in strength.
Seeing a Takin with such speed and power naturally made him wary.
“Who are you?” Maji spoke first, glaring at the fully armed “outsider.”
“In any case, not an enemy.”
Seeing that the other party was willing to communicate, Lance was overjoyed and immediately expressed his goodwill.
Maji’s gaze remained suspicious as he looked Lance up and down, but he didn’t say anything else.
Left with no choice, Lance added, “I have no ill intent.”
By now, the other Takins had hurried over, lining up behind Maji to support their leader.
Every one of them bared their teeth at Lance.
The ghostly green Soulfire in Lance’s eyes flickered, and his heart sank.
‘Six people? If they all swarm me at once, won’t I be pulverized?’