The three kept moving resolutely towards the inner region. Mane had his aura of power unleashed, and its unrestrained power kept Magical Beasts away from the group of three. The ferocity and killing intent that were contained within his aura were fully exposed to the surroundings, and even the dumbest of creatures would feel fear when they feel the power of Mane's aura.
"Having a strong aura sure is convenient," Hildegarde smirked. She was sitting at her usual spot. And she was actually more comfortable now since one of Mane's swords was serving as a backrest for her.
"Indeed. Actually, I would have preferred for us to have to deal with the beasts ourselves. Unfortunately there isn't time for that." Mane was walking slightly behind the twins, so he was able to speak with Hildegarde without any problem. Although he sent his voice directly into her ear, it wouldn't have been so easy to talk to the fairy if he was walking shoulder to shoulder with the twins since they would see his mouth move. Plus this way, he could split his attention so that he would be able to make out any dangerous beasts that would ignore his aura. Luckily, there were no such beasts so far.
"You wanted them to experience what it is like to be in an Enchanted Forest for real, huh?" Hildegarde swung her legs and smiled. She understood Mane well enough to know why he said that. Mane would have preferred it if they had a lot of time on their hands. That way, they would have to face every beast that came their way without caring about a time limit. He wanted the twins to witness his fighting style and grow a bit numb to the hunting of Magical Beasts. He had witnessed their frightening talent and comprehensive abilities when they were being taught how to ride Red Maned Horses, and Mane didn't doubt that they would be able to pick out a few things from his fighting style. But it was certainly going to be Lam paying more attention and picking up more than Lily. This wasn't because Lily wasn't as smart as her brother. Mane thought so because Lam was genuinely interested in growing stronger and would be willing to overlook the blood and gore to do so. Lily on the other hand, wasn't so keen to grow stronger and had been coerced into coming only after Mane guilt-ed her into doing so.
"Hmm. I can feel powerful auras nearby." Mane's eyebrows shot up suddenly. His relaxed demeanor took a drastic turn, and his aura grew more focused. If he was here alone he wouldn't have been so cautious, but with the twins to protect, he couldn't be slack in any way. After all, all it took to claim a life was one good hit. If he lost concentration and they were ambushed by a strong and quick beast, the twins may be hurt or killed before even he would have the time to react. By then, even if he was able to kill the Magical Beast, the lives of his friends would have been forfeit and nothing would change.
"That means were are getting closer to the inner region," Hildegarde could also feel the powerful auras ahead, and he came to the only logical conclusion. Mane nodded when he heard her. That was the same thought he had.
"It seems that this place is much smaller than the village's Enchanted Forest," Mane furrowed his brows and said. It had taken them less than 30 minutes to get to the inner region. That meant that this place was much smaller than the village's Enchanted Forest. Although Mane had never entered the village's Enchanted Forest before, Dan told him once that the place was so large that it would take someone with his strength 3 whole days to navigate the place! One had to remember that Dan was a Heaven Realmer with amazing strength. So three days to navigate a forest was insane.
"It seems so," Hildegarde nodded in agreement and continued, "Yet this place is referred to as a High Level Enchanted Forest. And some of the auras coming from the Inner Region belong to the so-called Mythic Class Magical Beasts. I can sense about ten of such beasts. The rest are High Class Magical Beasts and Middle Class Magical Beasts." Hildegarde explained in detail.
"I see. Thanks for the heads up." Mane replied. Mane's Scouting Ability allowed him to sense pretty much everything within a 100 meter radius, but beyond that there was little he could do. Thankfully, he had a fairy with him. Although Hildegarde was a Low Ranked Fairy, she was strong. She was so strong that she could sense Ivor's strength and the law he specialized in even though she wasn't a Scholar. That was only possible if one was several times stronger than the other person. Mane reckoned that Hildegarde might be a Noble! Nobles were Nobility Realmers who had truly stepped into the realm of power across the universe. Mane had never met one before, and although his parents and Butler Fin were gods, Mane had never met any powerhouse in the Nobility Realm.
"Based on what Dan told me, the village's Enchanted Forest has several Mythic Classes, and the High Classes that dare roam the inner region or even live there are those strong enough to rival Mythic Classes. There is no way Middle Classes would survive out there. Plus from what Elder Fan told me, even a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast has appeared before. That means the village's Enchanted Forest is far larger and far more dangerous than this place."
Mane furrowed his brows as he spoke. According to Hildegarde there were only 10 Mythic Classes here, yet the village had to endure an Overflow that involved several Mythic Classes and a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast. In fact, from what Mane understood based on the story Old Fan had told him, they only survived because of Dan's breakthrough in strength. And even though they had thinned out the Magical Beast population when they defended the Overflow, Dan still told Mane that the number of Mythic Classes had grown. Although the number couldn't be compared to before the Overflow, it was still a lot. Mane remembered that Dan had once told him that the village's Enchanted Forest was at least three times stronger and larger than the biggest Enchanted Forest he had come across during his travels. Mane assumed it was an exaggeration, but after today, he didn't think so. After all, this place even had Middle Classes roaming the inner region, and now that Mane was much closer to it, he could sense some of these Middle Classes.
"The village in its prime had the strength to withstand any Overflow with very few casualties even without my help," Dan had said once, but Mane had little knowledge of the world to understand just how impressive that statement was. But now Mane could tell he was right.
"One always gets challenges that fall in line with one's level of strength," Mane thought silently. Because the village was strong, it faced an Overflow that had never been experienced before. Because of this, Mane couldn't any surer of the above phrase.
"We are in the Inner Region now," Hildegarde mumbled, and Mane nodded his head. They were only at the borders before, but now they had truly entered the inner region.
"I wouldn't have the strength to pay attention to you anymore," Mane smiled and informed Hildegarde. The cute fairy nodded her head in understanding. Although Mythic Classes didn't pose a threat to Mane, it was different with the twins around. After all, defending was much more difficult than attacking. Besides, Mane would have to do things orderly so that Lam and Lily would be able to pick up his techniques.
"We are in the Inner Region now. I have retracted my aura, which means Magical Beasts would come for us. So stay alert." Mane informed the twins, and they immediately grew tense.
"Lam, how do you think this place compares to the village's Enchanted Forest," Mane asked as he unsheathed one of the light swords from his back. His question came as a surprise to Lam who didn't expect Mane to ask him something like that.
"Well, I have never been to ours, but I know that it's several times bigger. At least I know that it could take a full day to get to the inner region. And the inner region is supposedly much more difficult to traverse, with poisonous swamps and powerful beasts lurking around. Apparently traversing the inner region alone could take up to a week." Lam held his chin and replied.
Mane nodded at his words. Not everyone was Dan. So it made sense that others who had to be cautious when passing through the inner region of the village's Enchanted Forest took so much time to travel the entire distance.
"What about you Lily? Did Elder Fan tell you anything about the village's Enchanted Forest?" Mane enquired.
"Pretty much the same thing. We live in the same house remember." Lily replied with a smile, and Mane involuntarily smiled seeing her looking better than she did before.
"I am perplexed about one thing though," Mane rubbed his beard and said.
"What is it?" Lily asked. Lam had an equally curious look on his face.
"Hold on a minute," Mane said and swiveled. He slashed across the space in front of him, and a thin sword light was produced from his sword.
*Puchi*
Along with something being torn to shreds, a large body fell onto the ground. Once it fell, its corpse was split into two equal parts.
"Is that a Camo-Lizard?" Lam asked with a dull complexion. He was taking this much better than he did Mane's first kill. Lily was also a bit pale, but she didn't look disgusted. Maybe it was because of the grotesque look the dead beast possessed which was why she was relatively calm. After all, compared to the cute Furry Rabbit, the Camo-Lizard was very ugly.
"You really know your stuff," Mane admitted with a sigh. He didn't recognize the beast until Lam had identified it. The Camo-Lizard was a High Class Magical Beast which had the ability to, as its name suggested, blend into the surroundings. It's most impressive move was becoming transparent. This move was very impressive since this made it almost impossible to perceive its presence even if it was right next to you. Only people with good eyesight and excellent senses like Predators could easily deal with this Magical Beast. The Camo-Lizard was two meters long and 3 meters wide and looked like a ferocious crocodile with its spiky and hard exterior, powerful claws and sharp teeth. Its skin was difficult to breach, and it was even harder to kill.
"So that's why you took out your sword," Lily realised.
"But that doesn't make any sense. You have the strength to be able to deal with it with just your fists." Lam stated with a contemplative look on his face. He had seen Mane's strength back at the mansion – at least part of it – and he was certain that Mane could easily take on the Camo-Lizard because every Predator could easily handle this beast.
"That is unless you need the corpse for something," Lily deduced.
"Does this have anything to do with the ability of yours that allows you to transfer power to others?" Lam asked.
"They are really intelligent, these twins," Hildegarde sighed in appreciation. The twins came to the right conclusion without Mane's help at all, once again demonstrating their terrifying intelligence.
Mane could have blown it apart with his fist, but that would have been too messy, and that wasn't what he was aiming for. He needed the corpse of the beast to use the Devour skill.
"Yes," Mane admitted. "High Class Magical Beasts barely make the cut. I need to use them to help you familiarize yourself with the energy I possess. Then we would find two Mythic Classes. One for each of you." Mane continued.
The twins nodded their heads, but they had a question
What was the energy Mane possessed?
However, they knew Mane had some secrets, and were aware that this wasn't the right place to ask questions so they were saving their questions for later.
"Devour," Mane mumbled in his head as he placed his hands on the corpse of the Camo-Lizard. Since the body was separated into two perfect halves, Mane easily pushed them back together. Soon the dissipating Edict within the body of the Camo-Lizard and the Edict deep within its core was extracted into Mane's hands. The twins watched wide-eyed as Mane's hand began to glow. Mane's hand glowed with a green light and he knew right away that the Camo-Lizard was a Wind Attributed Magical Beast. Mane could feel the density of the energy he held and he could sense that Lily's body welcomed the Wind Elements whilst Lam's body opposed it.
"Lily," Mane called out.
"Yeah," Lily responded and snapped out of her stunned state.
"Don't reject me," Mane ordered and placed his glowing hand on Lily's head.
"I'd never reject you," Lily softly mumbled, but Mane heard her words. His heart skipped a beat and he almost faltered.
"Seeing you lose composure is always a pleasant sight to behold," Hildegarde jumped at the chance to tease Mane again. She was slightly disappointed when she saw that he was still calm, but when she saw his reddening ears, her smile returned to her face.
Lily blushed slightly upon realizing that her whisper had been heard. She chided herself for forgetting that Mane was even able to hear her on a horse when they were surrounded by the rushing wind. However, she didn't have much time to think of anything else before feeling a soothing power filling her entire being and flooding her with strength.