Elementary Level Guardian, Terrorghost Elk

The air inside the preparation room for the Spirit Ascension Platform was tense and the air heavy. The student lied calmly in their capsules, not being disturbed by anything around them, but the teachers and Spirit Pagoda's employee didn't even dare to breath loudly. Song Weihan was reading a report on one of the computer screens with a murderous expression while a terrifying aura of bloodthirst radiated from him. He didn't turn around while speaking in a cold voice to the shaking employee next to him.

"Who's responsible for this?"

The employee swallowed dry and replied with a shaky voice despite his back being dreanched in cold sweat.

"We- We don't know. We have not found an explanation yet. Every parameter seems normal, but the guardian's just started moving on their own without any external stimuli."

Song Weihan continued to stare at the computer screen while giving his command.

"Tell everyone to stop what they're doing and go through all of the records of confrontations between the guardians with humans, others beast or other guardians of the last year. Every single one is to be checked for any inclinations of abnormal behaviour, be it from beasts or humans. Check any items the humans that entered took with them or used against the guardians. Check weather the beasts that encountered the guardians had any confrontations with humans before that. I want every piece of information. Maintain only the bare minimum of observational personnel necessary."

"Yes, sir!" The employee quickly saluted and hurried off to inform others. Even though the pressure Song Weihan generated had lowered significantly, the teachers still didn't dare to say anything. He pressed a few buttons on his keyboard and the picture on the screen changed to show Sheng Feilong and the others.

Inside the Spirit Ascension Platform's simulation of the Star Dou Forest, Sheng Feilong and the others were petrified. They were hiding in the trees and bushes around the lake, waiting for prey for fall into their trap when a thunderous roar echoed out directly behind them, scaring every beast away.

Sheng Feilong slowly turned around, still hiding in the tree. In front of him stood an humongous, 4 legged creature with a massive head and huge antlers that directly stared at him. Mind you, he was still a few meters above ground, yet the Beast was on eye level with him. Strong, stone like hooves, muscular legs and body, with a thick neck and massive head. Black fur running all over its body and a ominous red glow in its eyes. Its huge, branching antlers shimmering in a strange black and white luster, yet they seemed transparent as if they had no substance.

Sheng Feilong swallowed dry. He couldn't even move a muscle as the creature stared at him, as he felt that a single wrong move would cost him his life. The reason he was so terrified wasn't the creature's aura. It's because he knew what that beast was. A Terrorghost Elk. A terrifying ferocious Soul Beast known for its incredible spiritual power and huge physical strength. Even when compared to a Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear, it wouldn't lose out in the slightest and actually had a better chance at winning if the two were at the same level.

There should only be a single Terrorghost Elk in the elementary level of the Spirit Ascension Platform, but it shouldn't apear at the outskirts, where Sheng Feilong and the group were currently located. It should actually act as a Guardian between the elementary and intermediate levels so weak Soul Master didn't accidentally step into the realm of 1.000-years-old Soul Beasts and above. Moreover, it was one of the strongest Guardian's with a age of over 4.200 years.

He didn't know why it had came here, but he didn't have the freedom to even think about it. Sheng Feilong knew that he had to immediately warn his group to run for their lives. This beast wasn't something they stood even the slightest chance against. However, the beast was currently locking eyes with him. If he made even the slightest attempt to warn the others or avert his eyes, it would probably attack, killing all of them in mere seconds.

Jian Wang and Xiao Yuewu stood still, staring at the Terrorghost Elk while Su Liyun was shaking with a pale face. None of them had ever heard much less seen such a beast and seeing that Sheng Feilong did nothing, they didn't dare show aggression or move thoughtlessly. The worst part was the Beast's strength. Although it radiated no pressure, that the fact that they didn't notice such a huge creature approach them was enough to show the difference in strength.

Sheng Feilong began perspiring as the Elk stared at him, slowly increasing the spiritual pressure on Sheng Feilong's mind. He could withstand it at first, but the pressure kept increasing to frightening levels. Sheng Feilong's vision slowly became blurred and he began shaking slightly, while he tried to signal Jian Wang and the others to leave by slightly flicking his hands.

Xiao Yuewu was the first to understand Sheng Feilong's intention and slowly moved back, indicating for the others to do the same. He walked past a few tree so that the Elk wouldn't see him anymore and then madly dashed be few dozen meters forward. He summoned his Spirit Essence and used the backside of his daggers to hit a tree with all his might to make some noise.

The loud cracking sound of the tree's bark and the rustling leaves were heard by the Terrorghost Elk and the pressure on Sheng Feilong's mind instantly vanished as it swung its had around to look for the source. It didn't see Xiao Yuewu as the latter had already hid behind the next tree, but found the damaged tree and walked over to see what had happened.

Xiao Yuewu dashed in another direction when he saw that the beast was distracted and Sheng Feilong and the others, seeing Xiao Yuewu flee, quickly followed him as fast as they could. All of them ran and ran through the forest, not daring to stop even though they couldn't see the Terrorghost Elk anymore. After more than half an hour or fleeing, they finally stopped as Su Liyun couldn't continue any further.

Jian Wang was the first to break the silence that was filled with their heavy breathing.

"What... What in the world was that thing? I didn't even see when it appeared behind us."

Xiao Yuewu looked towards Sheng Feilong. Apparently, he also didn't know what it was. Sheng Feilong took another deep breath and answered them.

"A Terrorghost Elk. A super powerful Soul Beast that doesn't even fear the likes of Duskgold Dreadclaw Bears or beasts with draconic bloodlines. But it shouldn't have come here. The only Terrorghost Elk in the elementary Spirit Ascension Platform should be a Guardian near the entrance to the intermediate platform. And that Guardian is over 4.000 years old."

Jian Wang and Su Liyun looked perplexed while Xiao Yuewu shuddered.

"A Guardian? Those things are the strongest Soul Beast of each difficulty. All of them are top class Soul Beasts and usually even stronger that most of the beasts in the outskirts of the next higher difficulty. Why would it come here?"

Sheng Feilong shook his head with a bitter smile.

"I don't know, but we should get as far away from it as possible. It that thing wanted us dead, it would just need a single sneeze. Liyun, are you okay? Can you continue?"

Su Liyun was still catching her breath, but stood up and nodded towards the others, who all looked at her.

"I'm okay. Let's go."

On the computer screen outside the Spirit Ascension Platform, Song Weihan saw Sheng Feilong and the others walk further away from the Terrorghost Elk, all of them unharmed, and the bloodthirsty aura he emitted the whole time slowly faded, giving the teachers a chance to breath. He watched them a little while longer before a Spirit Pagoda employee came over with a stack of documents.

"Sir, these are the profiles of all the Beasts and Guardian's of the elementary level that came in contact with participants in the last 12 months. We checked the participants and filtered out all beasts that didn't provoke any unforeseen possibilities."

Song Weihan took the documents and began to skim through them. After checking about 20 of them, he found one that made him frown. According to the documents, the 3.800-years-old Bull-Horned Bald Eagle, one of the Guardians of the elementary level, fought a group of participants that had unusual supplies with them about 3 months ago. Other than a few weapons, daily and utility supplies, they had a few Heavenly and Earthly Treasures with them, stating they would use them as bait. They entered the territory of the Bull-Horned Bald Eagle and were wiped out while the beast ate their treasures and became much stronger thanks to them. It's strength could now match beasts of close to 6.000 years of age.

Song Weihan had a bad premonition and quickly checked a few of the other documents and quickly found one he was looking for.

"This is bad. The Bull-Horned Bald Eagle had a sudden spike in strength and started to expand its territory. It attacked the Raging Fire Ape, another Guardian and killed it before assimilating its territory. I assume it continued to attack other Guardian's later and forced them to abandon their territories, causing them to walk further towards the outskirts. That would explain our situation. So far, 5 Guardians have been spotted outside their territories and 3 of them encountered groups of participants so far, all of those teams, 26 people, were wiped out and forced out of the Spirit Ascension Platform. If this continues, the Guardian's will probably go on a rampage in the near future."