Kain''s heart skipped a beat in his chest as he stared at the rustling bushes, his mind getting ready for yet another battle.


    The oppressive silence of the forest was broken by a low, guttural growl that seemed to reverberate through his very bones. Emerging from the shadows was a massive tiger-like spiritual creature, its fur zing with flickering orange mes. Its piercing amber eyes locked onto Kain, and the ground beneath it left scorched earth in the shape of a paw print with every step.


    Based on the spiritual power and pressure it emitted, it was stronger than the snake Kain had firste across, as well as all of the other creatures he''d fought so far. But it was thankfully still a blue-grade spiritual creature—otherwise this battle would be hopeless.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, his golem springing to action. The massive creature mmed its arms into the ground, summoning a barrier of stone between Kain and the tiger. The tiger didn''t even hesitate, its ming ws tearing through the rock that had previously withstood blows form other blue-grade spiritual creatures, with ease; scattering molten shards across the clearing.


    The tiger lunged again, but this time the Vespid guards took action, their formation tightening as they released a flurry of stingers toward the tiger. Though many of the projectiles burned to ash before making contact, a few struck true, forcing the beast to reel back slightly away from Kain.


    He took the opportunity to distance himself and ran in the direction of Aegis, while wals of stone formed behind him as cover.


    Invisible mental threads controlled by Bea snaked toward the tiger, probing its mind. However, the creature''s fiery spiritual energy burned through Bea''s threads with rming speed. Threads that usually couldn''t be touched by most attacks. Indicating that the fire of this tiger is far from normal.


    The Vespid guardsunched a flurry of stingers at it again, and Kain noticed that when boosted by Queen, and wrapped with a thinyer of life-attribute energy, the odd stinger is able to make it through andnd a hit.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In the next series of attacks, each stinger carried one of Bea''s splits, and thankfully one was able to finally make contact after its body was protected from the heat by the stinger that had shortly disintegrated after it made contact. Unfortunately, Bea could only slow its movements, not control it fully—but that still helped greatly.


    Aegis mmed its massive fists into the ground, sending shockwaves toward the tiger. The earth trembled as jagged spikes erupted, encircling the beast and briefly pinning it in ce.


    Enraged, the tiger let out another deafening roar, its mes intensifying. With a burst of power, it melted the stone spires and leapt toward Aegis, its ws carving deep gouges into his rock hard body.


    Finally, Kain decided to use one of his boosts of the day, thankful that he hadn''t used any yet today.


    He was about to use the boost on Bea so she could exert better control, but at thest minute instead chose to use it on Queen, allowing her to strengthen all of the guards to an even greater degree. For added measure, Kain intentionally had Queen stand too close to the line of fire during one of the tiger''s attacks to trigger the Berserk state of her guards—a state Kain rarely used due to the decrease in their intelligence and inability to follow orders.


    However, what he needed now was for them to just bombard the tiger crazily—no borate nning needed. With the several boosts stacked on top of one another, the over 20 Vespid guards were now not much different from a weaker blue-grade spiritual creature. While individually they were still much weaker than the tiger, they made up for it in quantity.


    With numerous boosts, the Vespid guards became a relentless force. Their wings buzzed with an almost deafening intensity, and they swarmed the ming tiger with reckless abandon. Stingers, now glowing with enhanced power, peppered the creature''s zing fur, piercing through its defences more effectively than before.


    The tiger snarled, whipping its tail of me through the swarm, but the guards pressed on undeterred. One after another, theyunched their stingers, and even themselves asionally at the tiger with reckless abandon, some sacrificing their lives as the intense heat consumed them.


    ''Sigh. This is why I rarely activate this berserk skill. Themunching their bodies at that tiger is like an egg hitting a rock. Complete suicide.''


    Taking advantage of the chaos, Kain directed Aegis tounch another wave of jagged stone spikes. A series of sharp pirs erupted around the tiger, restricting its movements further.


    The tiger''s mes surged in response, its body radiating an oppressive heat that even Kain, standing a fair distance away, could feel searing his skin. With a guttural roar, it unleashed a devastating shockwave of fire, incinerating several of the guards and shattering the stone prison around it.


    However, it just seemed like a final struggle. Bea, sensing that it was getting drained of energy, was able to exert slightly more control and prevent it from moving around as much—turning the tiger into a sitting duck.


    After a few more rounds of attacks the tiger stumbled, its fiery aura flickering erratically. Then guardsunched their final assault, their attacks hitting with devastating precision at its vital areas.


    The tiger let out onest furious roar before copsing to the ground. Its mes sputtered and dimmed as its life force drained away. Kain quickly approached the corpse upon confirming its death using the system notification and Bea, and began to skin its high quality and take the parts most valuable.


    Kain finally noticed that despite the ever-present darkness, he could see quite well to perform his task.


    The faint scent of charred wood drew his attention, and Kain turned to see that the tiger''s final fiery outburst had set several trees aze—which had been providing him with light. Their thick trunks, now weakened, groaned under their weight before copsing to the ground with thunderous crashes.


    Through the newly opened gap in the canopy, Kain finally glimpsed the night sky. The stars shone brightly above, their constetions glimmering like ancient guides. He immediately searched for a familiar pattern and quickly spotted the Northern Shield—a distinct constetionposed of seven stars arranged in a graceful spiral, with a bright star at its core.


    It resembles the spiral of a snail shell, but likely Northern Shell or Northern Snail didn''t have the same ring to it, and so it was named the much more elegant Northern Shield due to its appearance and its ability to act as a marker for the northern direction for travellers.


    "There," he muttered to himself, his eyes locking onto the constetion that always pointed North. "Looks like I don''t have to keep wandering around aimlessly." Relief flooded him, but it was short-lived.


    A sudden, bone-chilling sensation washed over him, freezing him in ce. It was a presence unlike anything he''d encountered before—cold, oppressive, and suffocating. It snaked up his spine, a primal warning that screamed one thing: Run.