"So this is the place, huh?" Sam hummed and tilted her head as she stared ahead.
The others also looked forward as they observed the scene before them.
The weekend had eventually arrived, and as agreed, the group made their way towards the controlled wilderness Stellaris owned, and while they had done some research and seen pictures of the place, seeing it in person was something else.
Even the smaller trees were dozens of meters in height, with many being over a hundred meters and beyond, and their trunks were tens of meters thick.
Seeing this scene, the group suddenly seemed incredibly tiny compared to everything around them.
'Azure Sequoias.' Osho thought as he recalled the species of trees.
They were all beasts technically, however, they were all very docile and lacked intelligence, hence, most people just treated them like normal trees.
That said, they were extremely rare. At least on the outside, but seeing an entire forest of them was incredibly shocking.
Then again, Stellaris was just unique like that.
With a sigh, Osho turned to them.
"Is everyone ready?" He asked, and they all nodded.
Right now, each of them wore a set of equipment. Black and blue armor that hugged their bodies tightly could be seen on their bodies.
The armor was made using nanotechnology, so it automatically fit their bodies perfectly. Moreover, it was very durable as well as flexible and could channel Mana with incredible efficiency, making it very suitable for them.
As for how they got it? Well, just them abusing their limitless credit balance a bit, nothing to worry about.
Osho glanced at Ellie briefly and inspected her. The way her armor hugged her body was quite... something, and it highlighted a lot of her curves.
The same applied to Irene and Sam, but Osho only had eyes for Ellie.
She caught him staring, though, causing her to stick her tongue out at him, and he just rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so we are using today to train our new beasts right?" Kurt asked, and got some nods.
The main purpose of today's outing was to train each person's new beast while also practicing their cohesion as a group as they were way out of touch when it came to group battles.
They had the whole day to themselves, so there was no need to rush as they could properly address many issues as they proceeded.
"In that case, let's proceed." Osho cracked his knuckles, and the group soon got into formation.
Everyone summoned their beasts, and soon enough, Sugil took the helm with Bedrock by her side.
On the left flank, Irene's new beast which she'd named Cerul was there with Blackie, and on the right side, Gale hovered on his own.
Kurt and Clyde had taken their positions at the back, completing the formation.
One may ask where Spectrum, Ellie's mirror beast, was, as it was nowhere to be seen, but Ellie assured them that it would make its debut soon enough.
The goal was simple, the new beasts would do most of the fighting, and the old beasts would step in as soon as they seemed to be in danger.
Without any preamble, the group moved forward.
As they proceeded, any sounds they made gradually faded into nothing, so no steps or breathing got out.
This was the work of Clyde, who had made it so that no noise they made could escape their immediate area. As such, no one could hear them except themselves.
Osho glanced at Gale, and the bird nodded before flying upwards to get a better view of the surrounding area. A moment later, he alerted Osho.
"1.2 kilometers northeast. A group of Steel Hide Boars is resting in a small clearing." He relayed, and the group immediately changed directions to head for their target.
As they moved, each of them gradually suppressed their Mana to make themselves harder to detect, and they weaved through the vegetation as they approached their target, which didn't take long.
It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at their target, as their current speed was a lot higher than before, and even then, it was considered slow as they didn't want to just rush in.
In a clearing, a pack of twelve boars the size of donkeys could be seen lazing around. Each boar had metallic hides that reflected in the light, making it apparent that each one was quite durable.
In the center, a boar bigger than the rest was also resting, but it was a lot more alert as it looked around carefully. It was at the Adept rank, and the others were Apprentices.
"Is there any need for significant planning?" Ellie asked, and Osho shook his head.
"Just make sure to maintain formation." He said, and everyone nodded before moving forward.
As soon as they entered the clearing, all the boars immediately looked at them, and the relaxed air around them vanished as they all stood and made angry grunting noises.
In true boar fashion, they immediately became aggressive upon seeing the group.
'Well, we don't exactly come in peace either.' Osho thought just as the first boar charged forward.
Sugil, Gale, Inagi, Blackie, and Clyde all stayed put. They made no moves to interrupt the charging creature.
Instead, Bedrock walked forward, and his armor manifested around his body, looking a lot different now compared to a few days ago.
He had never stopped ingesting ores. As such, the number of materials he could manifest never stopped growing, causing it to become even more powerful and durable.
He stretched out his arms that were already like those of a gorilla, and a shield made from the same stuff manifested in front of him. It was a few meters tall and wide, but Bedrock wielded it with no issue as the boar approached.
The tusks of the boar glowed a metallic hue as it grunted, preparing to smash the shield down.
However, reality was vastly different.
As soon as it made contact with the shield, its entire body was sent flying as its tusks shattered while blood spilled from its orifices. Get full chapters from novel•fire.net
Not a single crack could be seen on the shield, but from that clash alone, the boar seemed half-dead as it collapsed without getting up.
'Seems like the Inertia Limestone came in handy.' Osho thought as he recalled one ore he made Bedrock eat a lot of which had the property of reflecting kinetic energy.
Seeing their comrade fall, the boars weren't taken aback. Instead, they became angry.
The leading boar let out a loud series of grunts, and then a metallic glow covered all of the other boars while their eyes became red. It used some sort of crowd buffing skill on them.
All the boars charged forward at once, and it was then that the other beasts moved.
Lux and Cerul moved at the same time, with white light covering Lux while the cerulean mist escaped Cerul at a higher rate, causing the surroundings to be engulfed in the stuff.
All of a sudden, the boars found their senses getting suppressed, and they had a harder time locating their targets.
As such, they just charged forward in the same direction, believing that they were still ahead, but to their shock, they found themselves ramming into each other.
Confused, the boars were momentarily dazed when a bright flash suddenly passed by several of them.
A moment later, white claw marks could be seen on their hides. However, they weren't breached, meaning the damage was minimal.
The boars that had been hit let out pained squeals as they felt like something within them was burning, but they couldn't tell what.
Lux could directly attack souls with his light Affinity.
The boars which hadn't been hit prepared to charge wildly again. However, as they moved, the ground suddenly shifted beneath them, making them lose their balance and fall.
As soon as this happened, a humanoid figure that seemed to meld with the mist moved between them, and it only seemed to move slightly, but a moment later, boars dropped dead, with small but deep holes in different vital spots on their bodies.
Bedrock calmly controlled the terrain as he made it beneficial to his allies and detrimental to his enemies, allowing Lux and Cerul to move freely as they harvested lives.
That wasn't all, though.
Occasionally, a boar would just... die.
One moment, it would be running or trying to get up, and the next moment, its life force would just fade, causing it to fall to the ground.
What's even more eerie is that as soon as those boars died, the ground beneath them would suddenly be filled with a glass-like liquid, and their bodies would sink inside.
Clearly, Spectrum was also doing things.
The only beast that hadn't done anything yet was Venom, and that's due to it being a symbiotic beast linked to Kurt.
However, that didn't mean he couldn't do anything. Kurt was simply yet to make a move.
Which wasn't going to take long.
In just a few minutes, all the boars had been killed, leaving the big boss who hadn't made a move since the battle started.
"Alright. I guess I'm up." Kurt said and rolled his shoulders as he stepped forward.
"Try not to die," Sam said snarkily, but there was a touch of worry in her tone.
"I'll be fine. And if I don't end up being fine, well, that's why you guys are here." He grinned and walked forward.
As he did, he pressed his knuckles against each other, and underneath his armor, his muscles bulged unnaturally before settling, and he exhaled some steam as he began to release his aura.
"Come at me." He said while staring straight at the boar, and it snorted as it prepared to charge.