At the outermost edge of the altar, there was actually another line of defense.
It was made up of half-meter tall iron stakes covered in a thick layer of barbed wire.
Although the construction was incomplete, it was at least enough to stop the smaller beasts and monsters from entering the area.
Above everyone's heads, there was also a layer of wire-woven mesh that served as an insect netting against the venomous insects of this world.
With all of these defensive lines established, everyone was quite relieved.
At this time, the sky gradually darkened.
Due to the dense trees of the forest, the temperature in the area quickly dropped.
With the low hum of a small generator, the altar suddenly lit up. With electricity and lights, it gave people a sense of reassurance in this weird and unknown forest.
Countless stars dotted the night sky. Occasionally, a few strange howls could be heard. Everything felt at peace at the moment.
In comparison to daytime, the forest looked more beautiful after dark. Countless fireflies were fluttered about above the bushes and around the trees.
Outside the altar, there were clusters of huge spores that were glowing under the moonlight.
The big clusters looked like giant umbrellas propping up the skies, they were big enough to envelop three humans within. The smaller ones were as long as a finger, waving about in the night breeze.
The spores could barely be seen during the day, but they emitted this mesmerizing light at night.
It made people appreciate the beauty of this foreign land.
There were many of these glowing plants in the forest, making the area look like a galaxy of stars from afar.
As the researcher of the team, Douglas was also very curious about these plants.
He put on a double-layered respirator, slowed down his pace as much as possible, and entered the spore forest. With an oil lamp in hand, he opened his eyes wide and looked around carefully.
When he encountered spores with different shapes and characteristics, he would collect them and put them into a special storage container.
"How beautiful!" Brad leaned against the stone wall and exclaimed as he looked out at the forest.
"It really is beautiful." Philip came to his si. Looking out at the forest in front of him, he was absolutely mesmerized by its beauty.
There were basically no more preserved forests like this back on Planet Azure. In order to meet the ever-growing demand for resources, they had to sacrifice a lot of things.
Those forests in their home planet had been completely cut down in exchange for the bountiful resources they had offered.
Even then, the demands of humans were never satisfied.
The resources of Planet Azure's forests and oceans had been completely depleted by mankind.
Because of this, Philip had only seen such beautiful sceneries in photos and videos taken from centuries ago.
"Why are you guys so quiet?" Philip looked over at Gaia and William.
Both of their expressions were very serious. William was even readying his shield.
His hands were holding onto the handle of the shield so tightly that the blue veins on his arms had popped out.
Gaia was also nervous.
"Shhh—— Lower your voices," Gaia said softly.
"What's going on?" Philip moved closer and whispered.
Gaia put his head on the ground, closed his eyes, and felt the waves of nature with his heart.
Before this, Gaia did not hear any reactions from nature, so he did not take William's uneasiness seriously.
Later on, when the troops were building the city wall, not a single monster was attracted over despite the loud noises they had made.
All of these abnormalities made Gaia feel like something was wrong.
Combined with William's uneasiness from earlier Gaia guessed that something big was about to happen.
However, it was just a wild guess, so there was no way Gaia could report it to the troops. The only thing he could do was to find more evidence to reinforce his hypothesis.
Hence, he had been using all sorts of methods in an attempt to find some evidence since half an hour ago.
Currently, he was quite sure that something big was about to happen. In fact, the reason why the weeds did not speak was not because nothing had happened.
It was the exact opposite. Something major had happened, to the point where even the weeds were too scared to make a noise. They were trembling in fear, so much so that they did not even have the energy left to voice said fear.
"Have everyone stop whatever they are doing. There's a situation!" Gaia said.
Philip quickly asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes! I'm sure! I'm very sure!" Gaia emphasized once more.
Philip did not hesitate, especially given how serious Gaia sounded. This meant that something big was about to happen.
Gaia had already proven through his various actions that his ability was the real deal.
With his ability, he would definitely be able to see many things other people could not.
Although Philip did not feel anything unusual, he chose to believe in Gaia for now.
Two minutes after Philip left, Gaia's expression suddenly changed. He gestured to William and Brad and continued to listen.
William's expression immediately became serious. Brad was also affected by the tense atmosphere. His muscles were tensed up, he was ready to spring into action any time.
"It seems like something is about to appear," Gaia said in a low voice.
"What did you hear?"
"It was very quiet. Those plants didn't even dare to talk about it loudly. Their voices were so soft that I almost couldn't hear them.".
Gaia was on high alert.
This meant that his hypothesis was correct. It was not that those weeds did not have anything to say, but that they were so terrified that they could not speak.
Now, even if they have started to speak once more, their voices were extremely soft.
"Retreat," Gaia said immediately.
"We'll go get Douglas then!" William and Brad said.
"Okay."
...
After saying that, William held up his shield and rushed towards Douglas. Brad followed closely behind, one hand on his waist, ready to pull out a throwing knife at any point.
Gaia mounted the machine gun and took aim at the jungle. His finger was on the trigger, ready to shoot at any time.
"Douglas, run!" William charged towards him and said in a low tone.
Douglas was also well-trained. He immediately knew that something was going to happen. He did not even care about the samples in his hand, as he hastily started to retreat.
Gaia frowned as a low voice rang in his ear.
"It hurts! Something stepped on me."
"It stinks! How long has it been since this thing took a shower?"
"Get away from me, it hurts!"
"..."
Being bombarded by countless soft but terrifying moans of agony almost gave Gaia an aneurysm, but he knew the monsters were coming for them.
"Hurry! They're almost here!" Gaia shouted.
Now that the monsters had discovered them and were ready to attack, stealth was already out of the window.
William managed to intercept Douglas just in time, standing behind him with his shield raised.
The next second, more than a dozen figures rushed out from the bushes.
Their fur was grayish-white and looked like wolves, but they had many special features.
For example, they had two sharp horns on their heads. The horns were like steel blades, and they glimmering with a silvery sheen. It was obvious that they were very sharp.
They were also much bigger than wolves. Their muscles looked very well-defined, just like that of a muscular bodybuilder.