Chapter 27: Outskirts of the city.

Through one of the windows of the car, Franz could see how the city of Lambda gradually disappeared from his sight, leaving behind only a gloomy and sinister view.

The well-paved and manicured streets were replaced with destroyed streets and remnants of what could have been another part of the city, Franz wondered if all that was really part of the city of Lambda or of another even older city, whatever the answer was, he was sure he would not like to hear that answer.

- Pay attention –

Interrupting his thoughts, it was Roland, the person in command on this mission and the strongest person, a third-level practitioner just one step away from advancing to the fourth level.

- We will arrive at the claw forest in five hours, there are a few things I want you to keep in mind before we arrive –

Roland took several leaves from his storage clock and had someone else pass the sheets between the others as he began to speak.

- First of all, the RatatÖsk is an elusive animal that is more than obvious, but it has a rather interesting movement pattern from what I have been able to find out – at this point Roland stopped for a moment and said – The RatatÖsk will look for the trees with the most vitality and leave a mark on them to devour them later, so, If we can find a tree with good vitality or with its mark, it is safe to say that we can find it –

Among those present, someone raised their hand and asked, "However, even with that clue it will be difficult to find him in two weeks, isn't there something else we can do?" –

Rolando answered the question – Unfortunately the only way will be to divide the teams and focus on where there are the most dead trees -

The moment Roland suggested splitting the teams the atmosphere seemed to become gloomy and it was no exception, Franz knew that, among those present, none were willing to team up with him because his only hired beast was a slime that was still in the first level.

Nepheli knew how capable the little slime could be, however, his words would be worthless among all these people who barely knew the two of them.

However, no one had complained until now out of respect for Jack who was the one who recommended the two of them on this mission.

Sensing the atmosphere, Roland could only sigh as he thought inwardly – "Why are they such idiots? Jack wouldn't recommend anyone even if he's as carefree and idiotic as rumors say."

With that in mind, Roland decided that he would keep the two of them on his team for the time being, to avoid potential problems in the future.

- Franz and Nepheli, you two will come with me, the others can accommodate themselves as they wish, some of you must already know each other so that would facilitate teamwork -

Once the teams were decided, Roland pulled something else out of his storage watch, it was a map and some flares.

It was then that Roland decided to move on to the next and perhaps most important point of all.

- As many of you may already know, the claw forest is a mixed forest, this means that there is no dominant beast in the forest since there are always disputes between all the species within the claw forest to gain dominance of the forest, so it will not be uncommon for any of us to be involved in one of these territorial disputes - Roland looked at everyone and showed how to use the flare while he was still talking - So if you think the fight is too much for you or you can't run away from it, shoot a flare into the air and everyone else will know your location, the flare radiates mana instead of light, so it will be easy to detect your location even if you are inside a cave -

The third point was nothing more than finding a meeting point within the Claws Forest in case someone gets hurt or has to rest, as the night in the forest used to be dangerous due to the undead type beasts.

With all the important points explained, Roland asked everyone to get some rest as they reached the forest.

Franz wasn't worried, he had prepared enough for this mission, he had managed to bring the skills of shadow, Nepheli's beast to the mastered level, it didn't take him much time or effort as Nepheli had been training with shadow without resting for a single moment, which made it quite easy for Franz to improve all his skills, however, the illuminated level was still a problem, he hoped that Jack could help him once the mission was over.

But leaving that aside for now, if before he had confidence in at least being able to fight for a few seconds or even a minute against Nepheli, he was now sure that his friend would manage to sweep the floor with him without any effort.

He didn't regret it, in fact, it was better for him if he had someone strong enough to rely on and unless they crossed paths with someone from the fourth level, he was confident enough to fight and escape in the worst case.

Unfortunately, Pom Pom had been stuck in the first level with no possibility to continue improving his skills or learning others.

That is why this mission was of vital importance to him, he had promised to advance with Pom Pom, so his only hope was to copy the elite skill of the RatatÖsk, fortunately he had something that could help him find the RatatÖsk more easily and that was his eyes.

As long as he focused his sight on one place or circulated his mana to his eyes consistently, he could see the mana and desires of other beasts, meaning he had the ability to detect more life forms besides him and Nepheli.

It wasn't a hundred percent guarantee, but it was much better than just waiting near a tree for me to come and eat.

. . . . .

Once they were in front of the forest of claws, the view that everyone saw as soon as they got out of the car was incredible to say the least, the tops of the trees touched the sky and the trunk of each tree was immense.

Franz wondered if there were beasts as big as the trees in front of him, he had read about mythical beasts so big as to embrace the heavens, however, they were all rumors, even the largest beast sighted so far, was no bigger than a three or four story building and was a sea beast.

Of course, with everything he had seen and learned so far, it didn't seem strange to him if those things were also a secret to the public.

- All right, everyone meet with your respective teams, remember, you must throw a flare at any situation that you don't think you can handle, before your pride is your lives, don't waste it for something so stupid – Before everyone went into the forest, Roland remembered something – Remember to meet everyone at the meeting point before nightfall, Undead creatures are too resilient and dangerous, their bodies have no value besides their cores so they are not worth fighting –

Once Roland gave everyone his warning, each team took a different route and rushed into the forest.

Catching the elite beast wasn't an option if they wanted to increase the chances of a better future as mana practitioners, that is, right now, time was money.

. . . . . 

But what no one knew was that a rather peculiar group had also gone into the forest in search of the RatatÖsk.

Mr. Oak, who had fought with Ron and Franz for the mastery of the touch of slime, was also in the forest, however, he was not alone, five other people accompanied him.

- The RatatÖsk should be on the line that dives the central part and the top of the forest, remember, our target is only the RatatÖsk, avoid fights as much as possible.... No one should find out about our existence or it will be a problem for our future plans –

Everyone nodded and separated into groups of two, leaving only one person next to Mr. Roble, this person whose appearance was not discernible asked with doubt - What do we do if we meet that sinner? –

Mr. Oak sighed and shook his head. "As our lord has indicated, for the moment nothing, none of us are strong enough to destroy your servant and face the repercussion of the heavens, however, we can still threaten him if he tries to fight for the RatatÖsk."

The person next to him nodded and replied – Right, he doesn't know yet how the repercussion of the heavens works, we can use that to our advantage –