*Boom*

The news shocked the two of them.

" Then... Rena, does she.."

" Don't worry. Even though she is a legit heir of the next patriarch, no rule said she needed to inherit the title. Right now, we are here just for some rest, and tomorrow we will find a new spirit beast to contract. From my observation, what you currently lack the most is firepower."

Ray and Rena breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. They quickly take a nap to replenish their stamina for tomorrow.

---The next day----

" Schwarz, use scratch!"

" Meow"

Swoosh Swoosh

-100

[ DING!!! You spirit beast Schwarz has defeated two spirit beast Horned rabbit, Schwarz exp +80]

The two horned rabbits who Schwarz has defeated turned into rays of light and rushed into Schwarz's body.

" Aigoo, we have been searching for more than 2 hours, but we still haven't found any suitable spirit beast."

" Well, we could only blame our bad luck, Rena. But it's okay, let's search around for another hour, and if we didn't found anything until then, we'd get back into the phoenix tribe."

Rena didn't continue to complain and carried on the exploration. Even though she was complaining, she knew that finding a new comrade was really important right now.

It was then...

*BOOM* *BOOM* *ROAR* *BOOM*

The sound of explosions came out from near the phoenix village.

" What is that sound!"

" I don't know, but we must be quick. From the sound, I could infer that the village situation isn't that good."

Ray quickly rushed into the village entrance, followed by Rena and Schwarz.

. . .

" Just a little bit more, please hang in there."

Ray and the others finally reach the entrance of the village, where they were shocked by what they have seen.

200, no... more than 300 spirit beasts were surrounding the village. But the spirit beast here was different from what they have usually seen, they were more bloodthirsty, and a black aura emerged from them.

" Ray, they look exactly like the spirit beasts in the ruins."

Rena's words suddenly refreshed Ray's memory. He remembered the five spirit beasts that pounced them without caring toward anything else in the ruins entrance.

" Yeah, and if they are like those mad spirit beasts, then the village might be in real trouble. Xiansheng, Geo pillar!"

" Roger Ray."

With Ray's command, Xiansheng rapidly summoned many Geo pillars. Most of the geo pillars were used to protect the village, and one of them was used to elevate Ray and Rena's ground outside of the mad beast's reach.

Rumble Rumble

The Geo pillar summoned was surrounding the village and creating a natural barrier for it.

However, the mad beasts didn't really care about it. They keep pouncing the Geo pillar without rest, even when some of them turned into meat paste from the impact of pouncing.

Roar!!! Roar!!!!

" We need to attack too, Ray!"

" Yes, Schwarz, get ready to attack!"

" Meow"

The village defensive battle with the mad beasts soon began. The phoenix tribe, who was blessed with flame elemental power, bombard the spirit beast from above, while Schwarz dance around the battlefield like an assassin, finishing each and every injured mad beast.

.....

-100

-100

-127

[ DING!!! You spirit beast Schwarz has defeated spirit beast Gobbo, Schwarz exp +40]

[ DING!!! You spirit beast Schwarz has defeated spirit beast Mad bull, Schwarz exp +70]

[ DING!!! You spirit beast Schwarz has defeated spirit beast Kobold, Schwarz exp +60]

.

The rain of experience kept falling and increased Schwarz's level to 25, but there is no sense of joy around Ray. The battle has been going for almost 2 hours, and there's no indication of the mad beasts lessening. If this were to continue, the Phoenix tribe would be the first one to fall.

" Xiansheng, could you please enter the battle mode and ended this."

Ray finally couldn't bear the battle and asked Xiansheng to entered his battle mode. At first, he wanted to save Xiansheng battle mode if a boss monster were to came. But continuing this battle wasn't optimal for them, so he had no other choices.

" Sure."

Xianhseng's aura grew tremendously, and his body started to grow. From the short and peculiar dragon, he turned into a majestic Chinese dragon like in the legend.

But just when Xiansheng was about to finish his transformation, they heard a strange roar from the middle of the forest.

*Roar!!!!!!*

" This roar, why do I feel I have heard it before."

Along with the roar, the madly pouncing spirit beast suddenly stopped. The beast who had just pounced like mad instantly turned away with the roar and ran back to the forest.

" Ray, look!! They are retreating!"

" I could see them rena, but the situation is getting more and more strange. We need to further our search tomorrow and find a new comrade as soon as possible."

The group didn't continue to bother with the strange situation. They returned to the village and took some good rest, ready for the long search tomorrow.

....

The following day, Ray and Rena proceed with the search for a new comrade. Along the way, they found many wounded spirit beasts or some child spirit beasts crying because they've just lost their parents.

" Ray, this..."

" It is the truth of this world Rena. The strong will survive while the weak will die. If you feel bad for them, don't you think the spirit beast we hunted yesterday also has their own family? If you ever feel bad for them, then we just need to grow stronger and deal with the mastermind behind the mad beasts."

Ray said, full of determination. When he heard the strange roar yesterday, he knew that someone must be responsible for the appearance of those mad beasts.

" Yes, I'm sorry, Ray."

Rena was sad for a while, but she quickly recovered. Now she only wanted to get stronger and ended this madness before it has greater casualties.

She didn't know. The bloodline on her body has been observing her this whole time. The bloodline could feel Rena's determination to get stronger, and it slowly awakened from its slumber.

Suddenly...

" Ray, over there. I feel a strong flame aura over there."

The awakening of bloodline somehow muddled Rena's mind. Now all she could think is to get stronger, and her instinct has led her to a strong flame aura.

With her head being muddled by instinct, Rena didn't wait for Ray and ran toward the strong aura she felt.

" Wait Rena, Don't run by yourself!"

Ray seeing Rena didn't take his words to her mind, ran at full speed in her direction and tried to catch up with her.