Leon and Dean continued venturing deeper into the forest, encountering six more magical beasts on the way. Dean managed to get two kills without Leon's help. Of the six beasts, he fought against four and wasn't able to put an end to the first two. But after fighting against them, he gained the confidence to kill the third and fourth.
"Young Lord, we're almost halfway to the location of the mine. We should wait for the others before advancing." Julius said to the duo while they were standing on a small hill.
From the hill, they had a good view of the Gnurx tribe, even though it was located thousands of meters away. Although barely, they were able to occasionally spot people walking from one place to another in the tribe.
"Okay, we've made some progress. Helping out to fight against the beasts shouldn't be too difficult now." Leon nodded.
They've accomplished what brought them here, advancing any further wouldn't really change anything. Since they didn't know what to experience, on the way there, they had to be very careful.
Dean looked at the tribe before turning to look ahead of them. They would have to fight against the beasts around the mine. According to what they knew, that place was filled up with beasts. He couldn't say he was completely confident in being able to fight properly, but he wanted to do his best.
Thirty minutes later, they saw the others coming in their direction.
"Alright, we should get going." Julius said to the duo.
They nodded and continued. They could still use the opportunity to fight against any beast they found on the way, but Julius wanted to make sure they didn't move too far from where the others were.
As they continued heading deeper into the forest, the strength of the beasts they encountered started to increase. Now, all the beasts they see are in the Mid stages of Rank One. This made it more of a challenge for the duo, but it was better this way.
The stronger the beasts, the better it was for them. They could grow faster when under more pressure. Leon and Dean knew about this, so they focused on fighting against the beasts. Also, they wanted to make sure they eliminated the beasts before the troops got close to them.
If the troop gets too close to them, the beasts around would retreat. This puts them under more pressure.
Leon was taking things calmly and he was dealing with his beasts in the shortest amount of time. Dean was the one who took longer than expected, but he still tried to kill them before the troop got too close.
Leon was by far the most impressive among the two, but Dean was improving at a fast speed after he started to get accustomed to fighting. Even Julius found his improvement to be stunning.
Time slowly went by and three hours later. They had to stop. The beasts they found at this point were all in the Mid stages of Rank One, they even occasionally encountered those in the Late stages. Also, they were already very close to where the mine was located. Going any further alone would alert the beast around and they would attack the trio.
They didn't have to wait for too long before the troop arrived with Tribe Leader Kaleb leading them.
"The mine is just up ahead." Kaleb pointed at a mountain within view.
"Alright." Julius nodded before moving with the troop.
Leon and Dean walked beside Julius and Tribe Leader Kaleb. They didn't want to stay in the middle and be protected by everyone.
The duo reflected on their battles so far as they continued traveling. Training didn't rely solely on fighting, they had to reflect on each of their battles and the decisions made when fighting. Simulating the battle in their heads multiple times would help them get a good chance of making better decisions and killing their opponents sooner.
Before long, they were standing in front of the mountain. According to what Julius said, the mine was located somewhere in the middle of the mountain when ascending it. This mountain had a large number of beasts around, it had to do with the nine which made the essence here stronger than the other spots in the forest.
Logan looked at the place and he could guess that there was a Rank Two Magical Beast in the area. With such a good place to cultivate, it was odd if a Rank Two beast was not around.
"Alright, everyone should prepare themselves for the battle. The beasts around will sense us the second we start ascending, so they will try to take us out since we're threats…" Julius started to arrange a formation for the troop.
"Young Lords, it's best if you two stay in the middle for now. Once the battle starts, head in the direction that has weaker beasts and use them for your training. Please, under no circumstances should you try to fight against a beast that is above your stage. Your safety is very important to us." He said to the duo.
They nodded and went into the middle of the formation. Staying here was just a preventive measure, in case they were attacked by far more powerful beasts compared to what they assumed.
Tribe Leader Kaleb and the others stayed at the forefront, Julius was the main force here since he was the only one who was above the Body Tempering realm.
After they formed the formation, they started to ascend the mountain.
Dean was not as nervous as he was when they came, but he was still a little nervous. The scale of this battle was above what he had been doing since there would be multiple beasts unlike when he was fighting against one beast.
If he was attacked by more than one beast, he risked being killed, so he felt really nervous.
"You don't have to worry, just fight as you have been doing, and you'll be fine." Leon encouraged him.
Leon didn't even know why he did this, but he felt he couldn't leave Dean in this state. The truth was, he still saw him as his best friend, so he couldn't help it.
They just started ascending when the roars of Magical beasts started to resound in the area.
'It's time.'