Wallace immediately returned to the surface after confirming that he has safely stored the machine.

He didn't even bother to check with Veda whether it was the real thing and only trusted his hunch since he had a bad feeling about staying longer on that cramped and dark place.

"Are you alright?"

Yumi asked seeing Wallace was breathing heavily. He wasn't even gone for long.

"I'm good. We have to leave this place..."

"Just like what we wanted..." Yumi smiled as she glanced at the ground.

Wallace did the same and noticed that the previously grass-filled ground was now filled with mosquitoes...

The group was certainly attacked during the short time he went away. This means that this place wasn't really as peaceful as it seems to be.

At the very least, these insects were weak creatures considering that Veda had only warned him about the chimeras that lurk at night.

Wallace leads the way as they quickly left the place. They were still in the forest but their current path seems to have a road that naturally formed through the years of usage.

This path may have been used by either a large number of monsters or a road might have been built here before but it just got covered by ground and some grass that grew in time.

There seems to be no problem traveling for several hours as they avoided any troublesome mana beasts.

Rooaaarr!!

A sudden loud roar halted their movements as the sheer force coming from the sound even bent some trees.

"Let's try to avoid that..." Hannah suggested as she realized that the source of such a powerful roar was surely a strong opponent.

Yumi waited for Wallace to decide since she realized that the man looks to be more accustomed to this kind of place considering his decision-making and unrivaled senses.

Roooaaarr!!

Another loud roar from a beast was heard and this time, the origin of the sound was getting near them.

Clint and Elaine even readied their weapons in case they engaged in a fight.

"Wait, I think we need to try fighting this one. There will surely be a lot of these kinds of creatures in the place where the headmaster was staying at."

"What kind of creature?"

"Chimeras..."

Crash!

They were about to ask what he meant by that word but as soon as the monster suddenly arrived in front of them, they realized that Wallace meant what he said. It was really a chimera...

Grrr!

A threatening growl sounded as the monster stared at the group of people.

The chimera was a mix of red deer's head, gorilla's torso, scorpion's tail, and lion's limbs. Its skin was even covered by a thin layer of scales.

It was unlike the previous bear that Wallace finished off who only had mutated some of its body to strengthen itself. This one was an abomination of a creature.

Wind Haste!

Mud Ground!

Hannah cast a quick support spell for everyone and another spell to slow the creature.

Luckily, the creature doesn't seem to be proficient in utilizing the mana hidden within its body so they quickly injured the chimera.

Slice!

Hannah used her knife to cut a small part of its skin and utilized its effect. Clint used his gauntlet to land a heavy punch that throws the monster by several meters.

"Raaahh!"

The chimera was hurt by these people as its eyes turned red in anger. Hannah even noticed that her 6th gen mana artifact wasn't effective with the creature.

This time, even Wallace, who thought that this would just be an easy fight was threatened by the aura it exudes.

"Be careful! It is channeling some sinister aura on its mouth. It may launch an attack at any time..."

Wallace reminded them as he noticed the aura accumulating on its body that was being directed to the chimera's mouth.

The aura was similar to mana but it felt like it was a corrupted form of energy.

Rooaarr!

The chimera made another deafening roar and this time, it was accompanied by a powerful force that even makes the ground tremble.

They tried gaining their balance but the chimera was already charging to the nearest person. It was Clint who just dealt a blow to the chimera.

Blast Shield!

He was aware that his Mana Shell wouldn't last long to a rampaging beast that has a towering height of four meters. The spell he used has an ability to create a wind shock to any approaching projectile that could deflect or delay any attack.

"Come!"

Clint was readying his gauntlet and once the beast was within his reach he would release his strongest strike to finish off this beast.

Hannah had even supported Clint and cast a unique spell called Water Wave to further delay the approaching beast.

As they thought Clint would finish the opponent, a sudden thumping noise was heard and though it lasts for a mere couple of seconds, they realized that there was no longer any mana present in surroundings.

"Crap!"

Clint was surprised by the sudden disappearance of Mana.

Wallace immediately realized the graveness of the situation. Although Clint has a strong body compared to the other Adepts, he was still not a match to the huge raging beast ramming at him.

Its head's antler doesn't seem to be fragile at all and it seems that it could even destroy several trees with its single charge.

The young man used his Void Phase to quickly appear at the side of the beast and used 60 percent of his Astral Core's power to deal a heavy blow...

"Haaah!"

The chimera took the hit but it wasn't thrown away this time since it was being protected by corrupted mana. At the very least, the charging beast changed its direction and Clint avoided taking a direct hit.

"What happened? Why can't we suddenly use Mana?!"

Hannah worriedly asked as she tries to gain control of the surrounding Mana. Her Arcane Link was still there but she can just barely utilize her internal mana. She can't manipulate it and bring it outside her body.

Something was definitely causing a problem. They have been in places without Mana before and the only problem in those locations was that they were unable to control the surrounding mana to strengthen their spells and to utilize it for themselves.

At the very least, in those locations, they can still use their internal mana that was reserved within their bodies.

It was unlike their situation now that even summoning mana from their bodies was causing them problems!

They were worried about this incident... This continent seems to have more secrets than they expected.

"Thank you, Wallace..."

"Don't mind it. That guy was still not finished..."

As soon as he said this, he quickly activated his Astral Core and used his strongest punch to deal damage to that chimera.

Splat!

Its body parts or flesh and blood splattered around the whole place.

Wallace was surprised for a bit. He didn't think that the chimera would just die like this since it was able to defend his 60% strike a while ago.

As everyone sighed in relief and relaxed their bodies, Wallace was only standing on his ground and looking up in the sky.

His face was looking serious and he even slowed his breath unconsciously.

Yumi, Elaine, Hannah, and Clint noticed Wallace's unusual behavior and as soon as they glance at the direction he was looking at, they froze.