Chapter 156: Over the Hill

Leonel crossed lake after lake and river after river. He knew that the youths were quickly following behind him, hoping to put some distance between them and the beast hoard coming from the dense forests. 

The wild, thunderous roars and booming tremors seemed to be getting closer and closer. 

Leonel's Internal Sight remained vigilant, but his expression was only growing more and more solemn. He noticed that his senses were growing less sharp. It was almost as though something was interfering with his ability to see the whole picture clearly. 

'It must be the increased density of Force, or maybe its the fact that Force is so unrestrained and volatile…'

Leonel didn't have a perfect answer, but this was his best guess. However, he didn't get a chance to think of any more examples because his footsteps suddenly came to a grinding halt. 

His heels dug into the ground in an exaggerated manner, it was to the point he almost fell backward. 

Just now, he had reached the top of the largest hill in this stretch of land, only to find a sight that his heart plummet. 

Though this was an island with a relatively circular shape, there was just a single path toward the center of it. This was precisely why the actions of the blue coy fish had stalled the youths for so long. With it taking control of the single path forward, they had to either find a way to bypass it or kill it the very same way Leonel had. 

The reason that there was just this singular path was because entrances from all other angles were flooded with deep valleys that seemingly had no entry points. Together, they became deep pits with unfathomable depths. 

Flowing Wind and Chasing Wind had already considered the idea of simply flying over these valleys. But, for whatever reason, that still ended in failure. As for exactly why, maybe only those two women knew. 

At this moment, those valleys became those eerie death pits once more, trapping them. The trouble was that they weren't trapping them outside, but rather, inside this time around…

However, just this alone didn't warrant this reaction from Leonel. He had already known about the deep valleys that blocked the path to the center of the island. After all, he had been here for half a month, how could he not think of venturing further in to find more targets?

The trouble was that his path had been blocked. He wasn't omnipotent, nor had he reached the point of being able to cover the island completely with his Internal Sight. As such, just like the other youths, he had to slowly explore the island, trying to find another entrance in. 

It was then that he was lucky enough to run into Erupting Volcano and was able to learn that it was precisely because this one entry point faced the location the Eastern Lookout youths entered the island that they were able to find it first, followed by those of the Southern Lookout. 

So, why was all this important? Why was it that Leonel was frozen in place, even to the point of becoming an anchor that stopped the youths from moving forward any longer? …

It was because the moment he reached the top of the hill, he saw an army. 

One shouldn't mistake these words to mean that a group of humans were below. No. Each and every one of those 'soldiers' in Leonel's line of sight were beasts. 

They were separated by their species. One group of a few dozen was led by large bear that stood at over five meters tall with brownish gold fur. Another was led by a tiger no smaller than the bear, except its stripes were a bright red-gold instead of the normal black. Yet another was led by a snake over ten meters long, covered in black scales…

As if these three weren't imposing enough, there was still another three.

There was a spider with vicious steel incisors and countless beady red eyes. Its size was the smallest at just three meters in length, but such a thing hardly stopped its grotesque visage from displaying its full might. 

The next was a lemur, a monkey like creature with a zebra striped tail. It was far larger than it should have been, standing no shorter than the red-gold striped tiger…

However the last was maybe the most shocking of all. It didn't seem to be a beast at all. Or rather, it was, but had been stripped of all its flesh. It stood on all fours not much unlike an ape would. From head to toe, it was nothing but bone. 

Its body was covered in a faint transparent light that seemed to reflect the vision of an armor, but it would often flicker and disappear as though lacking the ability to maintain its own form. 

These six creatures were easily the most powerful. However, what truly shocked Leonel were the orderly 'soldiers' to their backs. 

Each of them had a troop of their own, neatly arranged as though they truly were an army of humans rather than beasts. Each took control of their own species, wielding absolute authority. 

The golden brown bear had a troop of bears. The red-gold striped tiger had a legion of tigers. The black-scaled snake's troop filled the air with endless hissing… Each had their own centers of power. Even the bone ape had a legion of apes, though their flesh and blood was intact. 

Leonel quickly tried to calm his breathing. However, any hopes he had of not being noticed had already long since been thrown out the window. The instant he had made it to the top of the hill, he found six pairs of eyes trained on him. 

The bestial, murderous intent made it feel as though a bucket of ice water had fallen onto his head. His heart beat involuntarily slowed. 

At that moment, the brownish gold bear roared and turned its head toward the spider legion. To Leonel's dismay, the spider's numerous beady red eyes landed on him once again, its mandibles snapping together in what looked like a response.