Lev had to pause and reconsider the situation when he noticed that none of the monsters went close to the treasure. They fought amongst themselves and largely targeted the humans, all the while scuttling around a field of influence surrounding the feather.

  Is it damaging anything that comes close?

  He was too curious not to check. Lowering himself to the ground near Melvine, he watched her casually blur to his senses and behead all the second-threshold trolls currently targeting her. Only frozen corpses were left in her wake.

  Directly above them, Lorene hovered with her team. Rosy was also in her wind domain, catching her breath after going all out against the third-threshold monster.

  "Anything unexpected?" he asked the mist warrior. While she fought against a large spider, one that towered over the humans by several orders of magnitude, Lev filled up a lance by using a portion of the lightning in his glaive.

  I see you. He grinned widely after feeling the feedback from his Perception skills. Two shamans were skulking a few hundred meters away, waiting for an opportunity to fire whatever element they had. Lev didn't even turn to look at them, content with slowly filling up the lance.

  When there was enough lightning inside, the projectile turned abruptly. The shamans dropped the invisibility to erect defenses, yet the effort was halted before it even began as they turned to a bloody, charred mist.

  [

  You have slain [Troll Shaman - Level 299]

  You have slain [Troll Shaman - Level 297]

  Gaze of the Marskman has reached 2nd Level 2

  ]

  Sweet.

  A few minutes of slaughter later, they were finally close enough to the feather to feel why the monsters were avoiding it. Lev took the lead in approaching it, confident that his armor would at least slow down anything life-threatening for long enough for him to jump back.

  Thirty meters away from the feather, he paused to observe the treasure closely. The feather was pure white, with the column of the same color, just a darker shade. It looked like it belonged to a bird, though he didn't know enough about feathers to deduce anything else.

  Another few steps, and he could feel it now. The feather had an aura. Somehow, even after being detached and falling to the ground, it emitted a field of influence, warning off the monsters with how strong it was.

  Lev stepped forward. Twenty meters away, his armor felt the field's effects for the first time. Sharp, invisible blades clinked on its surface, carving shallow scratches on his arms and chest.

  That was easily manageable, but how the feather went about doing that was very much not. Instead of normal sharpness and physical attacks, the aura instead destabilized small chunks of his armor and made the mana making up those portions dissipate.

  It's somehow targeting the skill itself instead of the physical barrier manifestation.

  Second thoughts ran rampant in his mind. Lev waited to see if the effect got worse, and when it didn't, he cursed his burning curiosity before stepping forward.

  Surprisingly, the feather's aura didn't become more potent. Scratches appeared a bit more often than before, and by the time he was only ten meters away, no new dangers had presented themselves. This close, however, he could see just how big the feather was. Multiple times taller than him, even its width outclassed his height.

  Behind him, he could feel Jared's mana flaring brightly. Melvine's mists were also intensifying, signaling that monsters were not taking kindly to the human approaching their meal.

  A brave harpy took more offense than others. It dove from high above, talons wide open to gouge his face off. Lev only looked at it, waiting until the right moment. When the monster was directly above the feather, a lightning bolt tore out of his right hand, landing on the harpy's face.

  It was dead before it hit the ground, the corpse landing a few meters away from the feather. The lightning explosion failed to even scratch the natural treasure, and all of the blood and gore that would've landed on it was simply disintegrated into a fine haze, before even that vanished.

  Lev gulped, now far warier than before. The feather's field was just as potent, and it was also confirmed that going near it was harmful. Fortunately, the corpse was safe and only getting scratched at the same pace as his armor, meaning the field only became deadly after a certain point.

  Cautiously, he took several steps forward. Far to his left, a strong second-threshold monster approached. Flames gathered in its large wings, but before it could launch them towards him, shieldwalls flew out of his bubble that was hovering above.

  Each shieldwall was over ten meters tall, enchanted to the brim with cores slotted inside. Four of them landed on his left, arrayed in a random pattern to block the wave of fire that resulted from a flap of the monster's wings.

  Given the height from which it had launched the attack, much of the flames passed over the shieldwalls. Lev took the opportunity for what it was, and after transferring a decent amount of lightning from his glaive to his armor, released it in a wave towards the approaching fires.

  Both attacks collided for a split second before lightning tore through the resistance. Ignoring the results, he instead gazed at the feather that had been caught in the crossfire.

  His mana had actually reached it.

  A bit of the force had pushed away the feather, and even if there was no damage on it, the natural treasure now rested another two meters away from him. Lev waited for any other reaction, and when there was nothing, took another step forward.

  Two of his shieldwalls were arrayed on top of each other and blocked the next fireball, only for the attack to splash on them ineffectually. Overall, the monster was quite strong, but Lev was dumping too much mana into the defensive constructs for it to power through.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Melvine reached the monster before it could try again. Her mist immediately dispersed all the heat surrounding the flaming bird, one too far away for Lev to even scan properly. It furiously flapped its wings, sending fire spikes and waves of flames at the Master.

  None of them did anything. The mist absorbed it all, effortlessly negating each attack before engulfing the monster. Despite the hundreds of meters between them, Lev still grimaced at the shriek of sheer agony that reached him.

  A hasty sound ward put an end to the sound. Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the feather again and formed a few barrier threads. It was possible to overpower the field— that much he could feel right now. How much effort was required for that, though, he was willing to find out.

  The sleek constructs flew through the air, crossing the distance without trouble. When they got within two meters, things got weird. Lev paused, dissecting the feedback in his head.

  A suspicion took form, and it was proven when the threads advanced another inch. One moment, they were stable and whole, and the next, they just… disintegrated.

  His willpower and skills just stopped working. There wasn't even a chance to fight back; all of it happened in a blink.

  Disoriented from the sudden vacancy of where he could feel the threads in his mind, he hastily formed new ones to focus on them. A headache would've assaulted him if he hadn't distracted himself, so he dove into the task again.

  Another five threads took shape and were turned to dust, unable to survive more than an instant. Undeterred, he formed two bigger threads, enchanting them with the lone durability runes.

  He didn't even realize the world had quieted down around him, nor the fact that nothing moved in his periphery. There was only Lev and the challenge in front of him, and he accepted it with all the respect that it deserved. It wasn't every day one could test one's mettle against a natural treasure.

  The new threads survived better. Cracks immediately spread into their structure once they reached a two-meter radius, but a large amount of mana repaired them. His control and speed were put against the feather's aura, and he didn't back down.

  Slowly, the threads inched closer, closing in on the white column's base. It was as thick as Lev's arm and radiated a sense of power unlike anything he had seen before.

  The moment his threads got within an arm's length, they still proved inadequate. This time, only the portion of the construct that got past a certain point was affected, dispersing into pure mana.

  Tricky.

  In the back of his mind, the thought came and went. Willpower, the elusive force he was slowly adapting to, was funneled into the construct. It was way more difficult than expected, and he could only empower it by a marginal degree.

  That was enough for now. His willpower and the feather battled for supremacy this time, and after a long back and forth, during which he had to reform the thread several times, it finally neared the feather.

  Again and again, sections of his thread shriveled and died. He never let the damage stack up too much, making sure to keep the tip of the thread intact. It took several minutes of silent effort before his construct finally touched the feather's column, and suddenly, its aura vanished.

  Lev took a sputtering breath, not realizing he was holding it all the time.

  No, it's still there, he noted with a grin. I can now just go up to it and grab it however I want. It's like I got chosen as worthy.

  With a triumphant smile, he exhaled deeply and looked around. Behind him, a great distance away, the humans were done with their share of the monsters. Only corpses surrounded them, and it took a long moment for his brain to realize they were looking somewhere to his right.

  Following their gaze, Lev beheld feathers… and a lot of pink feathers, as well as talons that were easily longer than he was tall. Breath caught in his throat, he looked up.

  Then even higher.

  Only after he craned his neck completely could he see the bright golden eyes of the Leafweaver Eagle, ones that were curiously peering down at him. There were no thoughts in Lev's head as their gazes met, and he did the only reasonable thing his mind could come up with in such a situation.

  He grabbed the feather, presented it as an offering in front of the eagle, bowed as deeply as he could, and then flew back.

  The flight was jerky, and he could just barely keep himself from shaking like a leaf in the wind. Even if the eagle didn't have a lick of its aura revealed, the fact that something so massive and powerful had snuck up on him terrified him to no end.

  Still, survival instincts screamed at him to stay alert and prepared for anything the newcomer may throw at him. After he landed close to the other Masters, Lev finally turned back and almost burst into tears when he found the eagle still looking at him.

  Just take it…

  It was unfortunate that he didn't even have the physical strength to voice the plea. Instead, pushing away the hopelessness and despair encroaching on his mind, and also ignoring the labored, heavy breathing of his allies and the terror in their auras, he looked on, waiting for the eagle to do something. Anything.

  And it did soon. Bending down, it gazed at the feather before turning to him again. A curious head-tilt later, it raised its left wing and plucked out a feather with a loud crack.

  Depositing it on the ground, the eagle paused again, then plucked out another one. A gentle nudge of mana neatly stacked those feathers on top of each other before it gingerly picked up the original white feather, and without even a hint of magic, skills, or aura, shot up into the distance.

  No sounds were produced as it vanished out of vision, nor did anyone have the strength to turn their head up and look at its retreating form. They stood frozen, unwilling to do anything that might offend the superior being despite watching it depart.

  Minutes passed without a peep, not even from the battlefield around them. It was similarly holding its breath until the spell broke abruptly, as if the world was decreeing them safe from harm.

  Lev almost collapsed to his knees as his legs gave out. The only reason he could stand still was that they were frozen stiff, his mind not even allowing them to tremble. It was all he could do not to paint even more of a target on his back by making any movements.

  His vision swam, darkening at the edges. Unconsciousness almost claimed him, denied at the last moment as Lev vigorously shook his head. Beads of sweat flew around inside his armor, but he didn't pay them any attention.

  Standing back up, he turned around and walked to the Master team. Melvine was on her feet and relatively okay, though she couldn't quite hide her trembling hands. Lev pointedly didn't look at them and spoke.

  "Jared, can you hear me?"

  "I…" The gravity mage's words were interrupted by a mirthless laugh. "I can, boss. Can we… can we return to the carts?"

  Lev looked at the rest of his team. He was the only one currently staring ahead with a clear gaze. The rest had lost expressions, still unable to process what had just happened.

  Before replying, he went back to where the two feathers were waiting for him. Both of them were smaller than the original, their bright pink color radiating a powerful aura of wind and mana control.

  He gingerly went close to them, expecting another session of overpowering the resistance. When nothing of the sort happened, he stopped a few meters away from the feathers and closed his eyes.

  Focusing, it took a few seconds to scan the very subtle influence of the feathers, which also revealed why he could come near them so easily. Lev had already been chosen by them, and the aura actively welcomed him.

  Obliging, he bent down to pick them up from the base of the pink column, marveling at how light they felt in his hands. Granted, he had high physical attributes for a mage, but he still expected something heavier.

  Successfully distracted, he sent a pulse of mana into them. The fuel was easily eaten up, and he had to supply a lot more of it before the feathers were visibly empowered, their color becoming more vibrant.

  Regardless of whatever the effects of the empowerment were, he could feel just how potent the result was. Shaking his head, he took a deep, trembling breath and stepped into his bubble. Putting down the feathers in a corner, he made the bubble fly close to the other humans and let its invisibility drop while opening a gate.

  "Come on, we need to get back to the carts."