Caius vanished sideways a fraction before the corridor disappeared beneath a freezing breath attack powerful enough to turn an entire section of stone into crystal ice.

The serpent lunged through its own attack immediately afterwards, straight towards Yander.

But shadows rose and swallowed its head first. Cassian darkness stretched across the corridor like living water, covering several of the glowing eyes and disrupting its movement.

Yander stepped forward the moment an opening appeared. Her flames spiraled tightly around her blade again, hotter than before.

Then, she thrust upwards, the fire piercing through the underside of the serpent’s jaws. Flames erupted from the inside of its throat violently enough to split the part of its skull apart.

Atheline appeared above it instantly. Wind accelerated him unnaturally fast while lightning exploded across the dagger in his hand.

He drove the blade directly into one of the creature’s many eyes. The serpent convulsed violently.

Then Caius rushed forward and ended it.

Golden light illuminated the whole corridor. His great sword descended passing through the flesh without any resistance. The serpent’s head separated from its body instantly.

Silence followed briefly afterward with only heavy breathing and drifting ash remaining.

Cassian stared at the gigantic corpse stretched across the ruined hall in slight shock.

"We are definitely going to die eventually."

Yander calmly wiped the blood from her cheek.

"Not today."

The deeper they moved into the temple, the stronger the beasts became.

And as expected, the addition of Caius didn’t bring any trouble. The four adapted to one another faster than expected.

At some point, no instructions were needed. When Cassian’s shadows restricted movement, Yander attacked immediately afterwards without hesitation.

When Caius created an opening through overwhelming force, Atheline exploited it instantly using lightning-fast precise attacks.

When a monster targeted one member, they reacted automatically.

The next guardian beasts attacked near a massive underground sanctuary flooded with black water. Dozens of creatures emerged silently from beneath the surface. Humanoid wolves with pale and dark skin. They had elongated teeth with eyes twice as big as normal wolves.

With their size and shape, they were extremely fast.

The moment they came into view, the underground sanctuary erupted into battle immediately. The masked beasts moved across walls and ceilings unnaturally while black water distorted reflections and depth perceptions.

One wolf appeared behind Caius without warning. Yanders’ flames intercepted first.

Another lunged towards Cassian from the ceiling. Wind redirected its projectory mid-air before Caius’ sword obliterated it.

Atheline fought differently now. More fluidly. One wolf charged directly towards him across the water. He stepped forward into the edge of the water and lightning burst beneath the flooded surface.

The entire sanctuary exploded into a mesh of electricity shocking whatever wolf that had been inside the water. Dozens of beasts convulsed simultaneously before shadows emerged from the waters and dragged several of the beasts underwater while Yander’s flames evaporated entire sections of the underground lake.

Steam filled the whole area spilling into the hallways. Golden light cut through it afterwards.

Caius carved straight through the centre of the sanctuary with a sword strike powerful enough to split the water apart.

The remaining wolves died a moment later. If any other beast had been in the lake, they had probably been fried by Atheline.

Cassian leaned against the fractured wall, the exhaustion visible under his eyes.

"Can we rest, just a little this is proving to be more troublesome than I had originally thought it would," he whined his gaze shifting to Atheline who was standing beside the now half-evaporated lake.

Atheline glanced back at them. They really looked like they had gone through the wringer. Yander’s hair seemed to be burnt around the fringes and she was busy picking at it.

Caius was carefully cleaning his sword while Cassian had at some point sat down.

He sighed lightly.

Though he didn’t feel exhausted in the least, it didn’t mean the others wouldn’t.

"Fine, we should eat someone before moving forward. I have a feeling the guardians to come will be much worse. "

"Aren’t you reasonable today, " Cassian couldn’t help but chime in.

Atheline ignored him as usual. A few moments later they sat before carefully organised food.

"How much food did you carry?" Cassian asked and then bit into the roasted deer meat.

Atheline didn’t respond. He had practically given them almost everything he had carried with him. With all the constant fights that he had been going through, a small respite like this had become a luxury.

Sitting here surrounded by his temporary companion Atheline didn’t have much to complain about. His gaze shifted further across the half-filled lake.

The next entryway awaited and probably the next beast.

He couldn’t wait. His curiosity was still increasing. This temple even felt more mysterious than the other one. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

While the darkness sovereign temple depicted humans, this one seemed to be mainly for beasts which was weird on its own.

He had never seen a beast sovereign. Thought beast gain intelligence the stronger they grow, there has never been a sovereign record about them.

This just made things even better. He would learn something new and maybe potentially get a new sovereign core as a present for Lilith.

His hand went to the small stud in his ear. He softly rubbed it before letting his arm fall.

He lifted his gaze to see the others staring at him.

"Are you guys finished?" He asked.

The others nodded.

"What do you think we’ll find?" Caius asked.

Cassian’s eyes shifted to him.

"I thought you were investigating?"

"I’m not into suicide. I only looked around at the outside."

"And the tree monster, how did you get past it?"

"It was fighting another monster, and when I passed by, I sneaked past both times without it even noticing. "

Cassian’s eyes widened in shock at the absurdity conveyed to him.

"How is that possible... how ridiculously lucky must you be."

Atheline wasn’t surprised by what he said. That was peak protagonist logic. He was too weak so the World would find a way to protect him and let him fulfill his goal.

Their voices faded away as his thoughts spiralled to other things.

He suddenly stood up, startling the other three.

"We should get going now, you know we also have a deadline in the hunting competition. "

The others sprang up.

"If we aren’t among the top five, then this competition is rigged."