Hearing news of the D-grade beast ahead of them, Aaron asked Zach to keep watch, while Treg and Marko were to set up a perimeter

  With Marko’s traps lined around them, he figured they would be relatively safe, at least for a short while.

  “Okay. Good. I’m going to scout ahead. Look after my body, okay?”

  Marko’s brows twisted in confusion, but he just nodded along, seemingly no longer bothering to doubt anything Aaron said.

  They couldn’t just keep marching ahead, especially not with D-grade beasts around. It was going to cause trouble sooner or later, and he didn’t want to get everyone killed. And so, he figured it was about time he tested out his new Skill.

  Activating [ Spectral Projection ], he split his spirit from his body and walked it several meters away. It was an odd sensation, as it allowed his spirit to separate further than it had been able to previously.

  And thanks to his previous training, he was able to maintain a weak spectral link with his body, allowing him to control both. Unfortunately, the further he moved away from his body, the weaker the link grew, and soon he had no real control over his body.

  But despite losing his ability to control his body, he could still feel it. It was like he could faintly sense what was happening around him, and hopefully, he’d be able to sense if he came under attack.

  Nonetheless, he trusted Marko and Zach to look after his body. Not necessarily because he had gotten to know them well enough for such a trust exercise, but because he knew it was in their best interest to do so. If they wanted to survive this place, they were going to need to keep him alive, and that was good enough insurance for him.

  Projecting his spirit out, he continued to walk ahead, stopping to wave at his companions, and confirming they couldn’t see him. Marko was just looking at his limp body strangely, and then poked it. When he got no response, he sighed and got to work, adding a few additional traps around Aaron’s soulless body and then standing watch with his cleaver in hand.

  These guys are growing on me.

  Feeling as secure as he could, considering the situation, he kept moving. He hadn’t yet decided on their plan of action, but wanted to get a feel for what this D-grade threat was and what else was around before charging into anything.

  And what better way than to do it with an invisible spirit? After all, it wasn’t just his life he was playing with. Even if he could escape this D-grade, what if he led it back to the others?

  That wasn’t something he wanted to risk, but with his spirit, he could go incognito and see what dangers lay ahead without taking such risks.

  And it didn’t take him long to find evidence of the D-grade. There were bones, and they were everywhere. It wasn’t just scattered bones either. There were literal piles of them dotting what he figured was its lair.

  He had heard mention that the beasts had inhabited the land since the Integration, growing stronger and stronger, which was why they hit D-grade first. And these bones were likely the remains of the beasts that had helped this one get so far.

  And soon, he spotted the culprits. It appeared to be a pack of wolves, and they were lying all about the place, sleeping, itching, and rolling about. But it wasn’t the pack members that caught his eye, but the big one they were all scattered around.

  Silvermane Alpha Wolf [ Level 105 ]

  Titles: [ Pack Leader ] [ Giant Slayer ]

  At level 105, the silvermane wolf would be the strongest D-grade Aaron had ever fought, if he decided to. It would likely be stronger than the leeches, although he doubted it was nearly as strong as Mo’han. That said, he was now weakened by the ring. Not only that, but he had barely survived that fight on his second attempt, and that was hardly a pretence to gauge other fights on.

  Even if I can take it down, what about the others? I doubt I can deal with its pack at the same time, and the others can’t resurrect as I can…

  Aaron decided to glide away and scout around the D-grade and see if he could find a safer path. That said, there was an undeniable part of him that wanted to throw himself at it and keep going until he killed the damn beast. The same part of him that made him a little disgruntled with the thought of avoiding action.

  But for now, he held that urge back. There would be plenty of time to go around hunting beasts, and it would be better saved for when he wasn’t looking after a group of destitute people trying to survive the apocalypse.

  Not only that, but it was probably best to take on a peak E-grade first, or maybe a beast that had just evolved into D-grade. Something to gauge his power a little more than he already had. After all, the ring really screwed with him, and he wasn’t quite used to its heavy aura weighing him down.

  But when he started skirting around to the left of the wolf’s territory, he found something even more disturbing, but also deliciously interesting.

  It was faint. But undeniable. A thick hum of spiritual energy hung densely in the air, and it got stronger the further he moved towards it.

  Aaron greedily smiled. He had no idea what it was yet, but his senses told him that whatever it was, it would be helpful to him.

  However, he started to get uneasy as the skeletons and bones grew even thicker the further he went from the wolves. He had figured they were all the remains of the wolf’s enemies, but why were there more bones the further he got from their den?

  And soon, he started to spot decaying wolf bodies, sending a chill down his spine.

  A territory dispute?

  He kept moving forward, but it made him uneasy. There were a lot of wolf corpses, and that meant whatever was around here wasn’t scared of the D-grade Silvermane.

  That said, the increasingly strong spiritual power he felt drove his curiosity onward, and moments later, his hair stood on end as he felt the pull of whatever it was.

  Narrowing his gaze, he spotted something through the trees ahead and then saw them dancing around.

  They were spirits. Forest sprites, and they appeared to be dancing around something.

  What is that?

  A sense of danger sprang up within, but Aaron ignored it and moved closer. What he saw was a glowing, azure pond, and the spirits were passing in and out of it. He had no idea what it was, although he assumed it was some kind of spirit pond or well. But more importantly, he had a pretty good feeling it was valuable, especially to someone like himself.

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  My lucky day! I think I want this thing!

  His eyes were already glowing with the promise of a treasure that could help his spiritual side, but then he saw it.

  Just through the trees, only a few meters past the pond. It was long and lanky, striding between the trees with a jerky, awkward movement. It was a huge, ten-foot humanoid standing upright, and his breath caught as he spotted it, pulled in by its deathly aura for a split second.

  The jungle around it seemed to wilt where it walked, and then, as his eyes were locked on the reindeer-like humanoid, who wore a skull for a face, it suddenly turned to him.

  In an instant, its yellow eyes locked onto his, and it felt as if they were piercing straight through into his soul.

  Fuck this. FUCK THIS!

  Cursed Wendigo [ Level 121 ]

  Titles: [ Aether Wielder ] [ Kinslayer ]

  A danger sense as he had never felt before screamed at him, and he wasted no time turning his soul around, sending a blast of aether out to send himself flying away from that thing as fast as he could.

  His spirit began to shimmer and grow weak as he fled, and Aaron knew he was draining far too much aether, far too quickly, but he didn’t stop.

  He remembered Yendal’s warning about his spirit getting destroyed by creatures that could see it, and the way the wendigo had looked at him gave him a terrible feeling.

  Okay, we’re not going that way. Not a fucking chance.

  But the moment Aaron made it back to his companions and reached his body, dispelling his Skill and jumping back into his skin, there was an annoyingly invasive part of him that wanted to go back and punch the thing. But he knew that was a dumb, dumb idea, at least for now. And his hair was still standing on end from the experience.

  “Something wrong?” Marko asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “You have no idea,” Aaron said, still panting.

  He had seen the wendigo’s description. It was an aether wielder, and he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant for his resurrecting ability should he choose to fight it. If it could see his soul, then perhaps it could destroy it. And that meant that if it managed to kill him during a fight, it might just be able to finish the job.

  Not only that, but it was level 121, meaning that it had well and truly settled into D-grade. Even if it weren’t an aether wielder, that wasn’t the kind of enemy who should recklessly get into a fight with, now that the trials no longer protected him.

  “One moment,” Aaron raised a hand as he steadied his thoughts.

  “Not gonna lie, you’re starting to scare me a little.”

  “Sorry. It hasn’t chased me, from the looks of things. So we should be okay.”

  “That made it so much worse,” Marko said, glancing around at the trees all around them.

  “Don’t worry. I can sense it. It’s not coming.”

  “Fuck,” Marko shook his head. “It must have been one gnarly beast to scare you like this.”

  “It was. We’re not fighting it, though. Don’t worry.”

  “So, you got plans, then?” Marko asked.

  “Kinda.”

  “Please tell me you do. I’m sick of this damn creepy ass jungle, and listening to that awful language is driving me nuts,” he added, glancing back at the goblins, and Aaron was reminded that they couldn’t understand one another.

  “Gotcha. Okay, just give me a moment longer. I need to check out a few more things.”

  Marko nodded. “We’re not going anywhere.”

  Taking several deep breaths, Aaron then shot up into the sky. This time, frightened by the wendigo, he decided to scout above the jungle. He wouldn’t get as good a look from all the way up there, but he didn’t want to use his spirit anywhere near that thing.

  Flying into the sky above the jungle with [ Spectral Rush ], he continued to travel until he could see past the furthest reaches of the jungle.

  Beyond it, he could see rolling green fields that seemed to stretch on forever. He shot toward them, keeping a very wide berth from the jungle below, still worried the wendigo might appear and eat his soul.

  But when he reached the lush green fields, he was pleasantly surprised. He spotted a few wandering beasts far in the distance, but even from a cursory glance, it was pretty obvious that these lands were far less densely packed with dangerous beasts than the jungle.

  The jungle was thick with vegetation, though, and no doubt many opportunities for the beast to grow stronger, and so he wasn’t too surprised that it attracted so many, including the strongest ones.

  But this was perfect for his weaker companions travelling alongside him. They could get some reprieve out here, and there was likely still more than enough beasts to gain them some good levels on the way to Talia’s camp.

  But he still needed to figure out how they were going to escape the jungle.

  Darting back around, he then decided to scout the right-hand side of the wolf den. This side seemed much more promising. There were a few beasts around, but none higher than level 80, and there were no huge groups, like the wolf pack. He occasionally caught glimpses of wolves patrolling to the left, but they seemed to just be defensive, never breaking the line of their territory. As long as he and the others stayed a kilometer or so away, he doubted the wolves would pay them any mind.

  Looks like we’ve got our route, he thought happily.

  He scouted a bit further ahead, trying to find the end of the wolf pack’s territory. It was much bigger than he originally anticipated, and he didn’t want to go too far away from the group, fearing they could be attacked while he was gone. Still, he did find what he believed to be the edge of the wolves’ territory. They seemed to like marking the trees with their claws, and after a few dozen kilometers, the claw marks stopped.

  He took a few minutes to double-check and make sure that was the end, and once he was satisfied, he flew back. He saw a few half-eaten carcasses as he flew, which was somewhat concerning, but none of the dead beasts looked particularly strong, and such sights were to be expected in a world like this one.

  “I think I’ve got it,” he said once he got back to their temporary camp.

  “Did you find a path?” asked Marko.

  “Yep,” said Aaron. “It’s a bit of a detour, but if we go that way, we can get around the wolves’ territory. There are a couple of monsters in the way, but I didn’t see anything too strong. We’ll still need to be careful, though.”

  “Of course,” said Zach, looking relieved. “This is good news, though.”

  “It is,” said Aaron, nodding. “I’ll let the gobbos know, and we can get moving in a few minutes.”

  It wasn’t long before Aaron and his impromptu caravan were on the move again, skirting around the territory of the wolves. They moved carefully with Aaron in the lead, but thankfully, they didn’t encounter too much trouble. Aaron got to adjust to the ring against a couple of moderately strong monsters, and Marko, Zach, and the goblins were able to level up a couple of times against the weaker ones, but otherwise, nothing unexpected happened.

  It only took a few hours for them to reach what Aaron believed to be the edge of the wolves’ territory. They found a relatively safe clearing and took a short break while Aaron prepared to activate [ Spectral Projection ] again to double-check their route. The last thing he wanted was for them to think they were home free, only to stumble upon some horror like the wendigo.

  Just when he was about to start, though, he hesitated. Something felt wrong. He looked around, activating [Soul Vortex ] to see if there were any monsters hidden nearby, but he sensed nothing. Wondering if maybe he had subconsciously heard something, he tried listening, but the goblins were chattering away, and he couldn’t hear anything over the din.

  “Something wrong?” asked Marko, seeing Aaron’s expression.

  “I’m not sure,” Aaron muttered. “I need everyone to be quiet. Treg! Tell the other goblins to quiet down.”

  “Oi!” shouted Treg. “Pipe down, idiots!”

  A few seconds later, the entire group was silent, giving Aaron a chance to listen to the sounds of the jungle. However, he heard nothing: no beasts approaching them, no fighting in the distance, no harrowing roars.

  Then, his eyes widened. He heard nothing. The usual sounds of the jungle were entirely gone.

  “Shit!” he said. “Something’s wrong. Everyone, prepare to move!”

  The humans and goblins frantically started packing up the items they had taken out during their break as Aaron began to swell up in size. And not a moment too soon either. Right as the last of the goblins were getting their things ready, [ Soul Vortex ] finally detected something perched in one of the trees nearby.

  He whirled around to look at it and was met by the sight of a pair of baleful yellow eyes looking directly at him.

  Simian Reaver [ Level 132 ]

  Titles: [ Slaughterer ] [ Cannibal ]

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