It was already October when he left Thunderstorm Lake.
Autumn came early in the mountains. The leaves had begun to yellow, and the wind carried a crisp chill. Loa pulled his collar tighter and continued north.
He was now in the western portion of the Magical Beast Mountain Range's core region. If he went any deeper, he would be close to the central axis.
The so-called central axis was a term passed around privately among mercenaries-it referred to the centermost region of this stretch of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, running north to south across the Yulan Continent and dividing the mountains into eastern and western halves. Legend had it that the territories along this line generally belonged to Saint magical beasts. Humans who set foot there had no chance of surviving.
Loa had no desire to test that legend.
So he traveled very slowly and carefully from then on.
Every ten or twenty li, he encountered an area completely devoid of magical beast activity. The woods were as silent as a grave, without so much as a birdcall or an insect's chirp. Whenever Loa saw a place like that, he took a detour without a word.
It was not that these places had no magical beasts, but that they held one far too powerful. Its aura covered the entire area; the other creatures had either been eaten or fled.
One or two detours were easy enough, but too many took time.
Fortunately, Thunderclap Mountain and Thunderclap Valley were not too far from Thunderstorm Lake. According to the map's scale, the straight-line distance was only a little over two hundred li. But with the detours, Loa spent a full half month walking.
In mid-October, he reached Thunderclap Mountain.
Loa stood at its foot and looked up.
The mountain was not