The sun was already circling above the mountaintop.
After an hour of rapid travel, the fading sunlight fell across every face in the hunting party, yet the grave expressions on their faces seemed ready to spill over.
Allen, Paul, and the others stood atop a towering tree. Demon beasts kept leaping up from below, but before they could reach them, they were sliced apart midair by casually sweeping blade light.
The red snow beneath the tree was dark and filthy.
Beside the tree, the terrain descended along the ridges on both sides. Before them lay a deep valley.
Jagged peaks encircled the valley, and the sole passage leading outside was like the narrow opening of a pocket. The group was halfway up the mountainside beside that only exit.
Looking down from the slope into the valley, they saw silver streams filling it to the brim, constantly churning with waves that dazzled their eyes.
Under Allen's narrowed gaze, the scene within the valley gradually became clear.
The rolling waves surged from the valley floor toward where they stood.
That was not water, but countless demon beasts. They came in an endless torrent, snowflakes scattering beneath their feet.
Allen looked at the small patch of calm water in the very center of the valley, hidden amid the sea of demon beasts. That was the Geothermal Lake Paul had mentioned.
Rudy and Sylphy had long since gone pale.
"It seemed we had been discovered. All the demon beasts were rushing this way."
"That was obvious."
As Allen spoke, he swung his blade and shredded the demon beasts crawling up the trunk into bloody pulp.
Ten minutes earlier, they had already encountered several groups of demon beasts. By the time they reached the valley containing the Geothermal Lake, the beasts had begun attacking them