Clearing the Area

Clearing the Area

The Treasure Hunting Team quickened its pace, determined to shake off that troublesome Soul Beast as soon as possible. Soul Beasts had extremely keen senses of smell and could detect the presence of enemies from a great distance away.

After traveling for who knew how long, the members were all breathing slightly heavily. They could not continue onward in this condition.

"Everyone, pay attention. Rest where you are and replenish your strength," Reid ordered when he saw how exhausted the team had become.

"Report immediately if there's anything around us!" Reid assigned the task to the Perception Type Soul Sage.

"No problem, Lord Reid!"

Reconnaissance had been his duty to begin with, and keeping watch over the surrounding environment was his most important task.

If that Perception Type Soul Sage had not reported the situation in time earlier, they might have suffered a tremendous disaster.

Now that they had finally shaken off that Soul Beast, everyone could recover some of their stamina and Soul Power.

With the help of the Food-Type Soul Sage, Wind Concealment had recovered more than half of his Soul Power, but that was still far from enough. At this point, being anything less than fully recovered would only invite accidents.

Besides, they still had plenty of time. Letting Wind Concealment recover properly would do no harm.

Although Wind Concealment's soul skill could erase his own presence, it could not eliminate the sounds he made in the surrounding environment. That was why they could not make too much noise.

Wind Concealment calmed himself and carefully considered what had happened. Why had a Soul Beast seen through his soul skill from so far away?

The members of the Treasure Hunting Team had not made any noise either, so how had they attracted a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast?

Could it be... An unexpected thought arose in Wind Concealment's mind, one that even he himself could not believe.

Wind Concealment shook his head. In a situation like this, he should not let his imagination run wild.

Rota had been following the Treasure Hunting Team from a distance the entire time, without any hurry. Coming here was practically no different from a leisurely outing for him.

Rota considered whether he should help clear out the Soul Beasts nearby. By clearing them out, he mainly meant driving them away.

"Looks like this old man can't be too leisurely after all~"

Using Observation Haki, Rota discovered quite a few dangerous Soul Beasts within five kilometers of the Treasure Hunting Team. If he did not intervene, they might very well meet their end here.

Having made his decision, Rota did not hesitate for a moment and headed directly toward the locations of the high-level Soul Beasts around them.

These high-level Soul Beasts were all Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts, and every one of them was a hidden threat to the Treasure Hunting Team. If even one Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast latched onto the team, things would become serious.

Rota's main targets for removal were these Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts.

His first target was a towering elephant-type Soul Beast directly ahead on the Treasure Hunting Team's route. As it happened, Rota had read about this Soul Beast before.

This massive elephant was called a Steel Armored Giant Elephant, a Soul Beast with exceptionally strong defenses. Many defense-type Soul Masters chose this kind of Soul Beast for their Soul Rings.

However, Steel Armored Giant Elephants only appeared in the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest, making them truly difficult to find.

"Moshi moshi, Brother Giant Elephant up ahead, could you move a little farther away from this area?" Rota greeted it as he arrived before the Steel Armored Giant Elephant.

The Steel Armored Giant Elephant, which had been eating, immediately went on guard when it saw a human suddenly appear before it.

"Oh my, oh my, this old man doesn't have any hostile intentions~"

Rota raised both hands to show that he meant no harm. Fortunately, Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts were quite intelligent. The Steel Armored Giant Elephant also sensed that the human before it did not seem to harbor any malicious intent.

Rota did not need Soul Rings himself, so there was no need to kill needlessly. It would be best if he could drive the Steel Armored Giant Elephant away through words alone.

"Now you can calmly listen to this old man, yes? It's roughly... this kind of situation. So could you make way for us?"

The books on Soul Beasts that Rota had read contained records of Steel Armored Giant Elephants. They described them as neutral Soul Beasts that would not harm you as long as you did not provoke them first.

After listening to Rota, the Steel Armored Giant Elephant turned around and walked into the distance. It seemed that it had taken Rota's words to heart, or else he would have had to settle things with force.

In this way, Rota drove away several other important Soul Beasts nearby and finally cleared the area around the Treasure Hunting Team.

Only some Thousand Year Soul Beasts remained now, and they posed no threat to the Treasure Hunting Team.

"Oh dear, what a troublesome matter~" Rota said as he returned to his original spot and looked at the Treasure Hunting Team, which was still resting.

Helping them clear out the Soul Beasts nearby was already a great deal of assistance. The rest was up to them.

Within the Treasure Hunting Team, Reid and Fick had not been idle. They needed to confirm the exact route.

"The general route is fine now. As long as nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to reach our destination safely." Reid's tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed somewhat.

They had only been able to obtain the approximate location of the Soul Bone thanks to Fick's Soul Tool.

"Fick, it's a good thing you took care of that Soul Master's younger brother beforehand. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been easy for us to find even the approximate location of the Soul Bone!"

"Of course. We've known each other for so long—you should know I'm not someone who fights an unprepared battle. Hehe!" Fick said in his shrill, grating voice.

After confirming the route, Reid rose and asked the members of the Treasure Hunting Team, "How has everyone recovered?"

"I'm fully recovered. We can set off!" Wind Concealment was the first to answer.

With the Food-Type Soul Sage's help, Wind Concealment had already fully recovered his Soul Power.

"Very good. Then let's continue onward. This place is not suitable for a prolonged stay."

As always, Reid and Fick took the lead, while the other members followed closely behind them.

After traveling for a while, the surroundings remained deathly quiet, which made Reid feel distinctly uneasy.

"Report the situation around us!" Reid called to the Perception Type Soul Sage behind him.

"Everything around us is normal. No Soul Beasts are approaching us. In fact, many Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts have moved away from our route."

The Perception Type Soul Sage's words made everyone present breathe a sigh of relief. Though they did not know what was going on, they could at least feel a little more at ease.

"Don't lower your guard. The depths of the Star Dou Great Forest are full of danger. Don't let this brief comfort cloud your judgment."

Reid felt it necessary to remind these people. They should not wait until something happened before trying to fix it.

Wind Concealment, who was following the group, kept feeling that something was off, yet he could not say exactly what it was.

They could not possibly have just happened to avoid so many Soul Beasts, could they? There had to be something strange going on. Could it really be a coincidence?

Wind Concealment could not help but ponder it. He had always been observant, and the situation they had encountered now had piqued his curiosity even more.

Just as Wind Concealment frowned and thought deeply, a pleasant voice entered his ears.

"Wind Concealment~ What are you thinking about so carefully?"

The speaker was a beautiful woman with long golden hair.

"So it's you, Jin Ling. I'm not thinking about anything in particular. I just find the behavior of these Soul Beasts rather strange."

"What's strange about the Soul Beasts' behavior?" Jin Ling seemed not to have noticed anything wrong with the situation around them at all.