Chapter 600: Rustling

"There's got to be a better self-cleaning spell than this..."

Leonel sighed, looking down at himself with a helpless expression. He really got taken advantage of this time around. Though he had already tried to cast several Water Elemental cleansing spells, his water affinity was so low that it hardly made a difference.

To make matters worse, in this Fifth Dimensional world, as someone who had yet to touch upon this barrier, affinity was even more important. The higher tier the world, the more it took to move its Force.

So, all of Leonel's attempts resulted in a light drizzle of water that made Aina sputter with laughter.

Still, this didn't stop the two from easily taking down the tenth beast.

"Now what?" Aina asked.

Standing over the massive deer with steel-like horns lying beneath them, Leonel pondered for a moment. With these tags, teleporting to the core of Valiant Heart Mountain shouldn't be a problem. Having them in their grasp meant that their task was basically complete.

However, before Leonel could answer, a rustling of leaves caught his attention.

Under normal circumstances, Leonel would dismiss it as passing wind. With his senses, it was unlikely for anyone to approach so closely without him noticing, least of all those youths who had chosen to come after these tags rather than challenge the mountain pass directly.

But, for the first time in a long while, Leonel felt a tingling in his spine.

He remembered this feeling well. It was the feeling he got whenever the primitive man's consciousness warned him of something.

By now, Leonel had lost count of the number of primitive male and female consciousnesses he had consumed the lives of. Originally, he hadn't thought it would have a great impact on him going into the future, but the more he absorbed, the sharper these instinctive reactions of his became.

Ironically, when he was in his cold and calculating battle style, these instincts were dulled considerably. But, whenever he was relaxed and not expecting much, exactly like he was now... Those feelings would fire off.

"Hm...?"

Aina seemed to have noticed that something was off as well.

Previously, with their senses, they could make out the battles that had been happening in the distance. Considering the number of young geniuses versus the land they had to work with, it was no surprise that the next closest group wouldn't be more than a few hundred meters from you.

But at this moment, they heard nothing.

Leonel's lip curled.

"It seems we have company."

At that moment, Leonel wished he had a beard to stroke. But, just as always, his face was as bare as a baby's bottom.

"Do you think you can scare them off with your scent?"

Leonel coughed. His lack of a beard already ruined his cool moment, but this was just a nail in his coffin. Where was the love and support?

Aina giggled underlaid an increase in the shuffling grass.

"I wonder, though. If this person has an ability that can cut off my senses, why is it that they've left behind this shuffling grass?"

Leonel thought aloud. It was clear that neither he nor Aina was taking this matter very seriously. Or, rather, it seemed that they weren't. The truth was that both had already gone on high alert.

Everyone participating had already seen the disregard the elders had for the fallen youths. There was clearly an unspoken rule that anything went during these trials. Even if one or two people wouldn't be difficult to deal with... What if it was dozens?

At that moment, as though a veil had been undone, the surroundings were filled with hidden shadows.

Beneath the shade of the trees and the foliage of the greenery, Leonel counted the movement of at least 30 individuals. They surrounded the couple from all sides... And though Leonel couldn't clearly see their faces just yet, there was no doubt their intent wasn't to exchange niceties.

Leonel didn't seem too surprised by this outcome. There were too many people here, hiding the actions of both he and Aina were almost impossible. There was no doubt that they had been sighted jumping around the forest many times.

One or two battles would have been fine. After all, there were only two of them, so they obviously needed to fight two battles to get enough tags. But, after the tenth, only a fool wouldn't be able to catch on to what was happening.

The only thing Leonel was actually disappointed in was not sensing them previously. But, after some thought, he realized that whoever planned this was quite clever in their own right.

For Leonel to be able to so easily pinpoint the golden tags, it would have been obvious to anyone observing that he had great sensory abilities. In that case, how could they not come prepared to deal with this?

When the faces finally came into view, Leonel raised an eyebrow.

He recognized a few, namely the young lady who had been by Balthorn's side, Henorin. But, following her were several youths that had been flocking around Balthorn as though she was a goddess.

Somehow, though, despite how rowdy these youths were, Leonel got the faint feeling that they were following Henorin's directive. It was an odd feeling indeed, especially considering the young lady was in the middle the group, lightly clasping her hands together at her waist as though she didn't plan on raising a single finger.

Despite Leonel's feelings, though, the one who stepped forward wasn't Henorin at all, but rather a young man who had threatened to skewer him with a weapon for the sake of Balthorn not even a few hours ago.

The sneer on the man's face could make a baby cry, Leonel was certain of it.

"You know why we're all here, let's not beat around the bush. I've already let you go once and have no intention of doing it again. Hand over the tags you've collected and you might leave this place unscathed."

Leonel sighed inwardly. You really couldn't underestimate this world of abilities. Even the weaklings could catch you off guard if they were lucky enough.

That said...

Leonel yawned beside himself. Though he had just awoken from a few days long rest not long ago, he had a massive meal right afterward, then proceeded to battle in this damned forest for the next few hours. With how weak his body was currently, he already felt like taking another nap.

"Let's go." Leonel spoke to Aina.

The sneer on the young man's face deepened. But, just as quickly, it froze.

A black surfboard appeared to Leonel's feet and he grabbed at Aina.

Instinctively, Aina wanted to dodge.

"I'd rather fight to the death!" She protested.

But, Leonel grinned, giving her a massive bear hug as they shot into the skies.

"Bye!" Leonel waved.