Swish!
A Sky Piercing arrow struck its target in a swift motion, piercing the tough hide of a large and malicious looking Magical Beast. This beast that stood at least two meters tall and wielded sharp, massive claws was struck lifeless as this arrow pierced its neck and swiveled outwards before vanishing into dust.
'I finally got a hit!' The little kitten exclaimed in thought as she leapt backwards and into safety as that large Magical Beast's lifeless body fell flat before her at the place she had stood just moments ago. 'That beast was a lot swifter that it looked!'
"Nice one, little lass!" Jonathan cheered on the side as he wielded what seemed like some sort of blade made of pure electricity which he proceeded to pierce through the chest of a Magical Beast of similar bearing.
"Alright, that was the last one!" Uncle Kil said with a smirk as he wiped his bloodied fists, his fists having seen much action in the last few hours since they had left the last cave.
"This kitten is shocking me every other second with your abilities!" A wilderwolf soldier who was sheathing his long blade spoke up as he walked into the scene. "To think a young kitten is capable of killing Early Stage Major Magical Beast's!"
"Yeah, you've thoroughly impressed us, little kitten!" Another soldier spoke up with a laugh as he leaned down to pat the little kitten's head, who purred in satisfaction and pride.
'Hehehe, praise me more!' The little kitten purred smugly.
"Okay, okay. Let's not stroke her ego too much." Jonathan laughed. "Literally or figuratively!"
This got a laugh out of the surrounding soldiers who had begun to excavate the fallen Magical Beast's at this point, salvaging any valuable materials and sending them over to Jonathan and Uncle Kil to keep them safe in their Magic Pocket's.
At this time, the voice of a women belonging to the group ahead of them shouted out. "We're to regroup, we've arrived at the Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon's territory! Relay to the group below you!"
Uncle Kil quickly replied before doing as instructed, repeating what she said to the group below them.
Soon, after settling everything with the excavation of the Magical Beast's body parts, the Wilderwolf party reached the rest of the gathering Magician's and Magical Beast's at what looked to be the edge of a part of the forest where the mountain opened up to a large clearing.
Peaking out from the last vestiges of the forest, the little kitten could see the rest of Thunder Mountain consisted of a series of ledges and crisscrossing pathways before reforming into the forest once more. Looking left and right, she also noticed that they had reached the apex of the second tallest mountain peak of the five peaks that make up Thunder Mountain and that the light rain that has been bearing down on the earth had begun to settle, though the sun still hid its shining body behind dim grey clouds, casting a dull shadow over the land. However, all of these findings were secondary to the main object of note. The towering and fear inducing Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon that were standing directly in front of all of them at a distance of about 500 meters.
Standing at even this distance from these beasts was a daunting task and the little kitten felt her fur extend to their furthest reach and her small but sharp claws dug into the dirt below. A pressure seemed to press down on her and she couldn't peer her gaze away from this beast as it took excruciatingly slow steps forward, one after the other, a dull echo and a quake beneath their feet spoke of this beasts great strength.
A stoic voice broke her and everyone else out of their trance as the reassuring voice of Hidden Blade spoke out. "Everyone, don't fear these beasts for now. I have used a Magical Talisman that makes the surrounding area undetectable to any beast below the Sky Realm!"
A collective breath of relief sounded out of the various Magician's as some of them took another fearful gaze as the monolith of a beast passed by. While these Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon's were still below the sky realm and only at the Major Transcendence Rank, they were still at the tip of the iceberg of the Magical Beast's at that stage. Aided by their tough bodies and being in a collective group with other's of their kind, the threat these Magical Beast's posed was not light. Especially when you consider that their leader, the Queen was a Magical Beast of the Sky Realm!
"And don't worry about the Queen. The Queen usually spends most of her time in cultivation or in pregnancy, she won't have the time to trouble us!" Hidden Blade said with a smirk full of confidence, reigniting the morale of many of the gathering Magician's who had been drawn under a sort of spell in front of the Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon's might.
"These Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon's are an interesting beast." Uncle Kil began in a whisper, only enough for his group to hear. "All the beast's except for the Queen are androgynous and when the Queen dies, one of the beasts will eat her Inner Haven organ and then go through a metamorphosis, becoming the next queen. The fight to eat the Inner Haven organ's between the Thunder Scaled Half-Dragon's is said to shake mountain in their wake. It would truly be an amazing sight!"
"Now then, let's turn to Mist Step for the next part in our journey." Hidden Blade said as he nods towards the Mist Step Magician who is standing at his side.
Mist Step nods back before speaking up in his usual intimidating manner. "Listen! It will take me an hour to set up the Void Teportation Portal spell. When it is done, it will take around another half-an-hour for everyone to enter through this portal as I can only support a certain amount of people going through at a time."
"Hmm. Void teleportation is a process of creating a rift through the void dimension, if we put to much weight upon the rift, it risks shattering and everyone who is currently travelling through that void is dead, with little error." Hidden Blade warns and Mist Step nods in agreement. "Now then, everyone should take this time to rest for an hour and make sure to keep an eye out for any Magical Beast's that stumble upon this area. My talisman has simply made them unable to sense us, they can still reach us, so watch out!"
"Yes!" A bunch of the gathering Magician's replied heartily.
Soon, most everyone had settled down in this edge of the forest, resting against trees and rocks, talking about the journey behind and ahead of them while also keeping an extra eye out for any surprise threats.
The little kitten also took this time to rest, meditating to increase her natural healing. While she may have only suffered minor wounds during the last three days, mainly thanks due to the constant work of her surrounding allies, she has still suffered enough wounds that would hinder her if she let them be. Not to mention the exhaustion she now felt after three days of strenuous action.
As she does this, Jonathan and Uncle Kil also rest up, but their wounds are non-existent and they are happily chatting while doing so.
"Uncle, to my knowledge there are only two elements that allow for teleportation, right?" Jonathan asks as he swishes his right hand, with that casual action the growing moss and soaked area of a rock is wiped clean, perfect for when he takes a seat upon it.
"As far as I know." Uncle Kil replies and continues after some thought. "The two elements which allow teleportation are the Element of Space and, obviously, the Element of Void. Both are very different though. While Void Teleportation breaches the Void dimension to teleport, Space Teleportation is much simpler in contrast as it doesn't require leaving this dimension and entering the domain of another."
"Which one's better then?" Jonathan asked curious.
"Hmm... I would say that they both have their advantages and disadvantages... In battle, Space Teleportation is usually considered superior as it is instantaneous while Void Teleportation will inevitably have a delay as it requires the Magician to first enter the Void Dimension before returning to our Dimension, causing a slight but prominent delay." Uncle Kil states, his hand on his chin as he tries to find the right words to explain this to his Nephew.
"Ah, so then is the advantage of Void Teleportation that one can create a portal for mass teleportation?" Jonathan's eyes take on a glint as he blurts this out.
"This is one advantage. Though you have to know, Space Teleportation can also teleport people at mass. But they can't create a portal, which will remain in place for however long the user wishes, as long as it is supplied with aura once its initial supply runs dry..."
Time passed like this amidst casual conversation and every dozen minutes, a stray Magical Beast would be spotted but quickly taken care of by various Magician's and the few Tamed Magical Beast's as well. In the end, an hour passed like the breeze and the little kitten took a break from her meditation to see that a daunting looking portal could be seen in full view just in front of the Mist Step Magician.
This portal was around 5 meters long and curved into a circle. The centre of this portal was pitch black, darker than any black the little kitten had seen in her life and it gave the little kitten the feeling as if she was looking into nothingness. At the rim of the portal, this blackness blurred into an azure colour until it was clearly aura that drifted from the portal like smoke.
"Everyone, I will go through the Void Portal first. When I reach the other end, I will set up another area of stealth using my own talisman. Then, Hidden Blade will guide you in groups of five through the portal, with a group walking through at a period of every 2-3 minutes." Mist Step announced, his words swift and to the point.
"And when we reach the other end of this portal, we will be but mere hours away from the tip of Thunder Mountain and the ruins that lie there!" Hidden Blade said with a grin as he pointed over his shoulder to the Mountain peak behind him, which was shrouded in the fog of the horizon.
