Upon hearing Alexander's threat, the rest of the group couldn't help but swallow hard.

  They could tell he wasn’t just talking.

  Not wanting—or being able—to prolong the conversation any further, Stella turned to Alexander. "Do you have a plan to deal with that thing?"

  "We won't need one. Direct combat is inevitable," replied he. "We need to get that thing out of the ground."

  "How will we do that?" asked Stella. "My spell managed to cause some damage, but the creature didn't even hint at leaving the ground."

  "I can do it," assured Alexander. "The only problem is that you'll have to hold that thing off without me for a while so I can do it."

  Alexander then told his idea to the team, who grew hesitant.

  "Are you sure this will work?" asked Stella fearfully.

  "Got a better plan?" retorted he. "I'm open to suggestions."

  Hearing no suggestions from his team, Alexander adjusted his body so Stella could cast another explosive spell.

  Then he matched the horse's speed so Mark could pull her up, and he faithfully returned to Ocean's back to catch his breath.

  Alexander's endurance and energy were great, far from being depleted. His lung capacity, however, had a limit.

  In other words, he could match—or even surpass—the speed of several 2nd evolution creatures. Yet maintaining their same pace for long periods was quite complicated.

  After recovering a bit, Alexander spotted a group of tall, robust trees that were close enough for him to use in his plan. "THOSE! Let's use those trees!"

  Hearing Alexander's command, the group—already knowing what to do—prepared to face the creature pursuing them.

  After tying the horse to a tree and establishing a 1-3-1 formation—Mark in front, Diana, Stella, and the fox in the middle, and Ocean in the rear—they attacked.

  Alexander, who watched this situation from a distance, climbed one of the trees until reaching the highest and thickest branches.

  "This is good," thought Alexander after jumping between the trees and settling in an area with a privileged view. "|Vapor Mist|."

  As soon as it was cast, Alexander's spell began to spread, enveloping and covering the canopies of all the trees around him.

  When the spell finally stopped growing, nothing could be seen in the treetops—except the dense fog created and fed by Alexander's mana.

  |Vapor Mist| is a very powerful spell with many uses.

  Besides providing visual concealment, it also covers and camouflages the user's mana while they are within its area.

  Alexander just didn't use this spell more often because he hadn't yet learned to control it efficiently.

  The |Vapor Mist| didn't differentiate its caster from others, much less allies from enemies.

  Mark's POV

  These were not some of Mark's best days.

  First he woke up on the ground. Then he had to spend most of the day riding to an increasingly dangerous location.

  When he finally thought he could rest to recover, he had to fight—his hand was even burned and cut.

  As if all that wasn't enough, he still thought he was going to be killed—from the way he was awakened—and was having to fight a creature that was pursuing their group. Which he didn't even know what it was.

  "NOW!" shouted Mark, above the other sounds of the fight, while moving away.

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  For his command, Stella responded instantly, casting her explosive spell to drive the creature back.

  It was dangerously close below him.

  "BOOOOOOM."

  The explosion was intense and caused the creature in the ground to recoil. But not for long or far.

  When it recovered, the creature resumed fighting as if it had suffered no damage or wear.

  Seeing this situation, Mark couldn't help but sigh. He wasn't a beast or a monster.

  Even with his {Iron Will}, he was still incapable of blocking the creature's stinger forever.

  Realizing it wouldn’t get past Mark easily, the creature recoiled and fired rocks—just as it had before.

  When it was about to solidify its rock, a large ice spike hit the stone and a blast of blue fire struck the base of its stinger.

  Frustrated with its situation, the creature returned to direct combat. However, its failed attempt gave Diana enough time to cast some healing and recovery spells on Mark.

  The direct fight then resumed and returned to being a stalemate of attrition and wear. This time it didn't last long.

  For some reason the creature moved away and frantically tried to shoot rocks at the treetops—which Ocean always intercepted.

  Feeling a growing danger situated above the trees, the creature was forced to choose between retreating or fighting seriously.

  Which was an almost obvious choice. Wild creatures have enormous difficulty avoiding beings they consider weaker than themselves.

  Mark, who was trying to contain the stinger as best he could, felt the ground tremble and pulse beneath his feet.

  Frightened and sensing danger, he began jumping backward until he was 7 meters away from the stinger.

  As soon as Mark managed to steady himself on the ground, an Earth Black-Scorpion emerged from the ground.

  It wasn't tall—at most 4 ft in height—but its body was at least 10 ft long and its stinger was 13–15 ft.

  Stella, who had waited for that moment, cast her explosive spell at the large scorpion's head and conjured a |Wall of Fire| at the spot where the creature was emerging.

  The scorpion let out an audible sound of pain and fury when Stella's spells hit it.

  Its extremely resistant exoskeleton cracked, releasing some fluids.

  "What in the world is that guy doing up there?" Mark wondered. "He really made this scorpion reveal itself."

  Turning his head a bit to see what was happening, Mark noticed that the artificial cloud formed by the spell in the treetops was becoming less dense. In return, it began to emit a faint blue glow.

  Mark found all of that very strange.

  However, he didn't have time to speculate much about it, or anything else.

  The scorpion soon recovered from Stella's spells and attacked the group, striking with its pincers and stinger.

  Reeling from a single strike from the scorpion's full strength, Mark sensed the danger and forced himself to stand.

  To his surprise, the healing and support he received became much more efficient.

  The scorpion reverberated loudly again, letting out sounds of pain and fury as it was targeted.

  This time, it seemed to be much more pain than fury.

  Something that became especially evident when it was hit by Stella's explosive spell and Ocean's large ice spike.

  The more time passed and the more it got hit, the more the scorpion lost control and attacked in a wild and careless manner.

  It reached the point of taking all attacks head-on just to try to get past Mark and attack the rear of the formation.

  Seeing that dangerous and lethal creature coming towards her, Stella conjured a large wall of fire a few centimeters in front of the creature's head.

  Again, the scorpion preferred to take the blow head-on, and pass through the |Wall of Fire|—rather than retreat or even dodge.

  The Scorpion's determination to end the fight as quickly as possible was admirable.

  Yet all its determination yielded almost nothing when Ocean lunged at it, bit and grabbed its stinger, and pulled it back through the wall of fire with her body weight in the powerful thrust of her leap.

  The pain Ocean would feel from passing through a fire spell wouldn't be small if she still had vulnerability to heat and fire.

  Since she no longer had them, that pain became more of a nuisance. Its resistance, as a 2nd evolution creature, was enormous.

  Irritated at having its attack thwarted, the scorpion tried to grab Ocean with one of its pincers, but Mark appeared and hit it with his shield.

  Mark's action left him vulnerable to the scorpion.

  Ocean returned the favor and saved him from the scorpion's large pincer with a "Body Slam".

  Unfortunately for Ocean, the blow from the completely furious scorpion wasn't something to be taken lightly.

  When the two collided, she came off worse and was thrown against a large tree.

  Even surprised by Ocean's protection, Mark was ready to resume delaying the creature when Alexander's voice—similar to the one he used against the {Hobgoblin Rider} yet more distorted by anger—shouted: "Get away!"

  "Ocean," called Alexander forcefully, as if even speaking was difficult. "Barrier."

  Ocean, who got up as soon as Alexander called her, obeyed his command and materialized the largest and best ice barrier she could.

  Mark didn't dare take any chances.

  Even without being an expert in spells or mana, he could feel the mass of magic above him flickering between order and chaos.

  Mark could have sworn he saw something.

  In the brief moment he looked at the treetops to see what Alexander was doing, he saw a humanoid creature with multiple eyes: 2 normal ones, 1 on its right chest and the last on its lower abdomen, radiating energy and power looking at them.

  Upon getting behind the ice wall, Mark tried to spread his {Iron Will} over it, but it was too late.

  All he could do was watch through the crystalline ice as a blue light struck what would be the scorpion's neck.

  It illuminated the forest with its blue glow.

  "KABOOOOOOOM."