Startled by the sudden noise, the youth, Aiden jumped from the ground, and turned towards the direction where the disturbance came from.

His eyes were like the glowing moon atop the nightly sky as they radiated with a golden luster, scanning the distance, piercing through the veil of thin canopy with ease.

At the same time, as if woken up from a deep slumber, his system finally reacted, and seemingly from nothing 6 red dots appeared around his spot forming a rough, large circle around Aiden over the minimap.

"Show yourselves." Aiden exclaimed coldly, his posture shifting, he stepped into a battle-ready stance as he spoke. His joints cracked as he flexed his hands and clenched them into two balls of fists.

Following Aiden's cold statement, suddenly a figure stepped out from behind a tree from the direction where the sound came from previously.

The man was clad in dark, black leather armor, with a leather helm, looking more like a strapped on leather pouch, a sack than a fully functional helm covered his features. A single, small hole was made so that he could breathe, though it wasn't high enough, nor wide enough to provide him with any form of vision.

Looking at him, Aiden instantly recognized the being as one of the 6 warriors under the service of that hooded, masked man, the unknown fourth pillar of the event.

Just like before, as he checked him through his system, he spotted two presences instead of one. As if two entities, two separate consciousness existed inside the same physical frame.

As Aiden was checking the man, he could also feel him doing the same despite his face as well as his eyes being hidden behind the strange strap-on. A cold, piercing gaze was as if it was trying to bore a hole into his head and reach for Aiden's mind.

As if a monstrous creature, an entity beyond the limits of mortal understanding was trying to let him know of the vast distance between them, Aiden could feel a threatening coldness waft through him, brazing his skin beneath his thin layer of clothing.

Still, he merely frowned, not revealing anything. He kept his own powers and aura under control, showing the presence of a simple, weak youngster with a thirst to adventure to the eerie, ominous being.

For what seemed like an eternity, even if it was merely a minute the two sides did nothing but check and scrutinize the other one. Slightly puzzled by the what and how, Aiden could feel that the man, or more like the creature sharing his body could somehow ignore the weird cover.

Eventually, a muffled, animalistic snort could be heard. The man slowly raised his right hand above his head. His open palm was like a flag pole, standing high, towering above both of their presences.

A couple of seconds later he flicked his fingers forward, giving the awaited signal. Instantly the thin leaves from all around rustled, as slowly the other 5 figures with the same, matching attire and the strapped-on leather bag stepped forward.

Surrounding the lonesome youngster they circled around him, closing and blocking all possible escape routes. Though neither of them held any weapon, their calm-looking, casual postures were merely a mask. Each one was a predator of its own, ready to lounge themselves on their already claimed prey.

As the trap was set and just as their master demanded have caught the little 'rabbit', a muffled snicker could be heard from beneath the black leather covering the leader's face.

He slowly lowered his arm, which still, unnaturally hung in the air. As it reached his chest, he pointed at the youngster as it began to cackle with a strange, hound-like hoarse undertone.

His body trembled as he howled with a gloating delight for quite a while before it finally calmed down. There was a slight surprise plastered on his face, that luckily was kept hidden thanks to the cover he wore.

This youngling, this boy, despite being well aware of the situation he was thrown into, didn't seem to be bothered by it. His calm, collected stance, his cool, nonchalant smile was displaying the statue of someone that was above the rabble. That unbothered look in the boy's exotic, golden eyes irked, annoyed the leader greatly. He couldn't understand what was going on in this human youngster's head.

How was he so calm? How was he so unafraid? Wasn't anything that was happening obvious, clear enough?

Standing at the center of whatever was happening, Aiden was completely calm. He focused his attention on his system's checking each of the closing figures, whilst asking Enya to try to scan the powers and threat levels of his opponents.

Unfortunately, unless he was ready to unveil his own powers the system seemed to be unable to get any meaningful information. Yet, just by the dreadful, ominous feel, the cold auras of the 6 stout hulking masses, Aiden knew that they were anything but ordinary.

He even doubted that they were human, to begin with. Just by the fact that there was another entity inside each of them, they were definitely beyond human.

Suddenly, ruining the stillness of the situation and breaking the silence, an eerie, guttural howl terrified the land. The leader raised his head towards the sky and roared. His voice, his action was closer to a beast, to a monster than to anything civilized.

Reacting to his wolf-like howl, the rest of his group, the other 5 also turned towards the skies and joined in, howling themselves as well. Their chorus was like a horrific sonata. If there were any critters hiding nearby, they were now either scared to death or shivering and would have been doing their best to get as far away as they could.

However, what happened next, shocked Aiden even more. Following their predatory exclamations, the bodies of the half a dozen mysterious figures suddenly shivered and began to swell. The studded nails holding together their armors began to stretch, slowly but surely reaching towards the maximum thresholds they could. The leather sacks on their heads also trembled and shook. The rounded, normal ball-like shapes began to transform.

Instantly, seeing whatever that was going on, Aiden watched with rapt attention as the 6 creatures began to transform and reveal their monstrous, real forms. At the same time, he could feel the pressure of their auras increasing, their power levels were climbing steadily.

The calm smile slowly fading from his face, Aiden turned towards the leader with a solemn, stern look. A golden glint flashed through his eyes, as he slowly opened his fists, equipping a clawing posture.

He was ready, for whatever was happening. If they thought that he was merely the helpless prey caught in their well-sewn net then they were in for a very rough wake-up call!

---

AN: Hey there Readers!

Just a friendly reminder, that from wherever you are reading (although I wholeheartedly thank you if you are reading and enjoying the story through Webnovel), you can reach out to me using any of the below methods!

For you, sailors of the seventh sea (non-WN readers), be a bro/gal and throw me a cup of joe, show your appreciation!

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