Chapter 55: Bones And Thorns

Elias turned his head back toward the others, and when he saw them splitting into two separate groups, his footsteps came to an immediate stop.

"What kind of dimwit did they choose as the team captain?" he mumbled.

Dane had completely misunderstood the purpose of their expedition, and Elias couldn’t help wondering whether the man had even prepared properly for the spatial rift expedition.

The priority of every ranger team was to determine the grade of the rift, and only after confirming that the area was manageable were they supposed to gather further information, such as the types of monsters inhabiting the rift, their locations, the general environment, and, most importantly, the location and strength of the guardian.

Usually, a ranger team would include at least one Exalted who could check Riftstone’s purity on the spot.

Their team, however, had been deliberately assembled differently.

They had been sent without an Exalted because their only purpose was to get something which could help determine the grade of the rift.

Kilmir simply didn’t have enough Exalted to casually send one into an unknown spatial rift. Losing even a single Exalted would be a devastating blow to the city’s defensive strength, especially if the rift turned out to be more dangerous than expected.

Elias frowned as he watched Dane lead two groups deeper into the ruined city.

"Do they even know about Riftstone?" he mumbled.

Perhaps they didn’t.

Spatial rifts weren’t common enough for ordinary warriors to have extensive knowledge about everything associated with them, and although the number of rifts had increased considerably over the past few days, that still didn’t mean every ranger understood the importance of resources formed inside them.

Elias shook his head.

There was no point wasting time thinking about it.

"I have to find the Riftstone and then get them out of here," he said with a hardened jaw before turning back toward the shimmering barrier.

He reached behind himself and touched the small supply bag strapped across his back before mentally commanding the system.

’Inventory.’

The orange interface appeared before his eyes, and Elias immediately stored the bag inside it.

The weight disappeared from his back.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Much better."

He lowered his body slightly and ran forward.

The light armor shifted around his body as he accelerated, while the rubber strips around its edges prevented the plates from producing anything more than muffled clinks.

The forest blurred around him.

"Add ten Stat Points to Speed."

[Speed/Agility: 27 → 37]

The change was immediate.

His muscles seemed to respond faster than before, and the movement of his legs became noticeably lighter as he pushed himself forward.

A smile appeared on Elias’s face.

’This is much better.’

He continued running toward the barrier, and the distance between the forest on his left and the crumbled city wall on his right gradually became narrower.

Thick vines hung from the ruined stone structures, some of them as thick as a man’s arm, and they stretched toward the trees as though trying to reclaim the remains of the ancient city.

Elias passed beneath several of them without slowing down, but after another few moments, his body suddenly decelerated.

His hand shifted toward the hilt of Lastbane.

Something was wrong.

Elias carefully scanned the surroundings before his gaze settled on a nearby tree.

A massive claw mark had been carved across its trunk.

He approached cautiously and lowered himself beside it before running his fingers across the grooves.

They were deep. Very deep.

The bark had been torn apart as though it were nothing more than wet paper, and several pieces of wood had been scattered across the ground beneath the tree.

Elias’s expression became dark.

"It has to be quite large," he mumbled.

The thought immediately made him more cautious.

The size of the monster could pretty much decide the battle below Lord ranks.

’If it’s Exalted, I’m pretty much fucked.’

Elias swallowed as he slowly rose to his feet.

He glanced around again, but there was nothing unusual nearby. Then something white caught the edge of his vision.

His eyes narrowed, and he turned toward it.

For a moment, he thought it was merely a piece of pale stone hidden beneath the vegetation, but after taking a few steps closer, his eyes widened.

’Bones...’

Elias crouched beside them.

A skeleton lay partially buried beneath the grass and fallen leaves. There was a skull, several ribs, long leg bones, and other fragments that appeared to belong to a four-legged mammal.

He studied the remains carefully.

The bones weren’t particularly large, but what caught his attention were the deep grooves carved across several of them.

Elias’s expression became solemn.

The creature hadn’t simply died.

It had been torn apart.

Whatever had killed it had possessed enough strength to rip through its body with terrifying ease.

A drop of sweat slowly rolled down Elias’s face.

"What kind of horrid bea—"

A faint growl reached his ear, and he froze.

His gaze instantly shifted toward the right.

He tightened his grip around Lastbane and carefully moved forward, keeping his body low as he approached the nearest tree.

The growl came again; this time it was a bit louder.

Elias pressed his back against the trunk before slowly leaning around it.

His eyes searched through the vegetation.

Several hundred meters away, something was moving between the trees.

At first, Elias could only make out its enormous silhouette, but as it stepped into a clearer patch of ground, every detail gradually became visible.

Elias’s pupils contracted.

It was a four-legged panther-like beast with black, leather-like skin streaked with pale markings across its body.

Thin black spikes crowned its head like a sinister crown, and each spike ended in a sharp crimson tip that seemed almost wet beneath the gloomy light.

Two white tusks curved outward from its elongated jaw, while its blood-red eyes glowed beneath the crown of spikes.

Its claws were equally terrifying. Each one ended in a crimson tip, and every step it took pressed deep marks into the earth.

Behind the creature dragged a thick, flat tail that moved slowly across the ground before curving upward at the end.

[Image]

The monster stopped and slowly turned his head to the left, away from him.

Elias remained perfectly still behind the tree.

His breathing became shallow as he stared at the beast.

The monster slowly raised its head and sniffed the air.

He felt his heart sink.

’Fuck me!’