It was like a beak, chomping down on a juicy worm, but it was made from two rows of black teeth. Blood sprayed out from the creature’s neck, which rained down after the creature retreated into the darkness. After narrowly escaping death, Andric was hesitant to chase it any further, and he lost sight of the creature.

Theudobald and the two brothers caught up to Andric, and they looked with him into the dark forest.

“What happened?” Theudobald asked, angry that the creature had gotten away.

“I attacked it, and it tried to bite me,” Andric replied, still looking at where he last saw the creature.

“And you let it get away? Whatever, let’s just go back to the fire,” Theudobald said, angrier, and the four of them returned to the campsite. They weren’t very far away, and it didn’t take them more than a minute to make it back. Andric kept his knuckles covered with fire until he arrived at the campsite.

At the campsite, Carlman, Farvald, and Isbrand were on guard, and Hagano was lazily standing outside his tent.

“What happened?” Carlman asked without leaving the perimeter of the fire.

Theudobald took a few more steps and answered, “The outsider let it get away.”

Andric frowned but said nothing. Theudobald had been hostile since the moment he met him, and the only redeeming quality of Theudobald was the way he could decisively take action. Isbrand had also been rude to Andric on several occasions, but he took it upon himself to teach Andric how to ride a horse, so Andric had somewhat forgiven him.

“What was it?” Farvald asked.

Andric wasn’t sure what it was. He had heard about many spirit beasts from Instructor Hubert and his family, but none had been described as a monster that stuck the skin of its prey onto its own body. Blending into the darkness was a trait of many spirit beasts, so that wasn’t enough to narrow down what it was.

The horses had calmed slightly, but they were still restless. The fire had only grown by a small amount since Andric and the others left, but it was enough to completely cover the area around the horses with light. Andric checked on them while Theudobald explained what happened when they chased the creature.

Out of all the Novice realm martialists in the Radegart Riders, Andric had the least amount of experience along the martial way. His perception was the worse, even though his martial state was only second to Theudobald. Reading from books couldn’t train someone to notice seemingly insignificant details, or forge a stance of hyperawareness. Only by facing death tens or hundreds of times could someone begin to see the signs of hostility where there was clearly emptiness.

Martialists typically trained in two abilities that were different from martial techniques: killing intent and danger sense. Killing intent was naturally developed through slaughter, and danger sense was developed through tough situations that would likely result in injury or death. An experienced martialist like Theudobald had both of them, but Andric only had an inferior danger sense.

The Apprentice realm martialist Veremund had such a strong killing intent that he could cause physical reactions in low-realm martialists. Although Theudobald wasn’t that strong, he could paralyse tiny animals with fear.

Andric might’ve had killing intent at one point in his previous life, but centuries of time had molded him into a person that didn’t fear or respect death. Few magicians had the will to live beyond a millenia, but those who did tended to have a special kind of mind. Now, whenever Andric saw an opponent he knew he needed to kill, he only felt as if he was performing a simple chore, such as cleaning dishes or dusting curtains.

Andric put his hand on his horse’s head and said, “Hey, stop it,” but his attempt to calm the horse was obviously unsuccessful. He was about to turn away when he saw something moving in the darkness, but he couldn’t be sure of what it was. He quickly glanced at Theudobald, but Theudobald didn’t seem to have noticed anything. He stared into the forest for a few more seconds, then returned to everyone by the fire.

“So, what are we going to do?” Carlman asked, seemingly having been caught up on the situation with the creature.

“The creature is extremely afraid of fire, which makes the outsider’s martial technique incredibly useful against it. As long as he stays awake and keeps the fire going, the rest of us should be fine to sleep,” Theudobald explained, slowly looking toward Andric. When they were still in Radegart, Theudobald had met Andric for the first time and been rude to him. Even after Andric had chased after the creature, Theudobald remained unpleasant. The job of watching the fire could’ve gone to anyone, but Theudobald wanted Andric to have a hard time, so he mentioned him and his martial technique.

“Ah, Andric, we’re lucky to have you here. Without your martial technique, we wouldn’t feel safe to sleep with that thing around,” Farvald said, trying to sound tougher and less scared of the creature than he really was. Actually, he was scared that he would wake up with the need to piss, and the creature would snatch him while he was away from the campsite.

Filibert and Gerbold walked to their tents and went inside, ignoring the rest of the conversations outside. They had chased the creature and dealt blows to it, and they suspected that the creature was much stronger than it appeared. They thought it was strange when the creature didn’t first try to kill a horse before attacking the humans. If the creature was smart enough to know that it needed to kill the strong humans before it could enjoy its meal, it would be quite difficult to deal with.

Carlman thought he could be the leader of the Radegart Riders when they were still in Radegart, but Theudobald had ended up taking the helm. Against the creature in the darkness, he was useless, and he couldn’t even be trusted to keep watch. He went back to his tent without complaining, but he kept his sword on his chest, ready to be used.

Hagano and Theudobald slept outside, near the fire. Hagano was doing so because he needed to keep warm, but Theudobald was doing so because he couldn’t fully trust Andric. Theudobald was at the Novice martial realm and only needed a couple hours of sleep per night. Although he didn’t say it, he was keeping his danger sense spread through the forest, searching for the location of the creature.

Farvald and Isbrand calmed the horses, successfully, and then returned to their tents. They had the weakest martial stage out of everyone and were unqualified to help fight against the creature in the darkness. They were both angry over their lack of strength, but there were no short-term solutions for him. They could only continue to meditate with their meditation techniques and practice the martial techniques they knew.

Time slowly passed. Andric activated his Burning Palm Technique on small sticks, then threw them into the campfire. He managed to keep the fire at a steady size for more than an hour. Only after everyone else had fallen asleep did the creature return.

The creature had a height of about eight feet, a width of slightly over two feet, black rows of teeth in the shape of a beak, skin covered with stolen fur from other animals, and four legs. Andric hadn’t confirmed any arms on the creature, but the creature’s width meant it needed something like arms or wings on its shoulders. It moved quickly, only entering Andric’s sight for a fraction of a second before fleeing.

The creature backed away from Andric and circulated its spirit energy. It looked at him with deep black eyes, thinking, ‘I want to add his pelt to my skin.’ The circulation of the creature’s spirit energy caused its body to blend into the darkness, making it impossible to be seen. Stealth-type martial techniques were incredibly rare, but they weren’t omnipotent. Andric’s Silent Gallop Technique was a stealth/movement-type martial technique, but it only hid his sound. The creature’s inborn martial technique hid its body but nothing else.

A minute passed, and the creature briefly appeared at the other side of the campsite. Andric only noticed it when it rapidly moved away, and he had no idea how long it had been looking at him.

Thirty seconds later, Andric tossed a blazing stick into the forest and saw the creature standing between two distant trees, and it quickly fled. The fire on the stick was quickly extinguished in the cold air, and darkness returned to where Andric had spotted the creature.

Twenty seconds later, the creature revealed itself behind Andric, using its shadow to creep up on him. Luckily for Andric, the creature stepped on a twig, revealing its location. By the time Andric turned around, he could only catch a glimpse of the back of the creature.

Ten seconds later, the horses began acting up, and Andric quickly jumped toward them to spot the creature only a dozen feet away. Against, the creature fled as soon as Andric put his eyes on it.

The creature was invading the outskirts of the campsite more frequently, and Andric was beginning to feel as if he couldn’t keep up. He used Silent Gallop to arrive at Theudobald’s side and pushed him awake, saying, “Get up.”

“What is it?” Theudobald asked, half asleep, but he quickly became alert. He sensed the creature nearby, far closer than it had been when he previously encountered it.

“Dawn is coming, so it must be getting anxious. If it doesn’t act soon, it won’t get its meal,” Andric explained his thoughts and he looked around for where the creature had gone.

Theudobald sensed the creature’s killing intent and locked eyes with it, but the creature then disappeared. Now that Theudobald was awake and giving off his own killing intent, the creature was hesitant to approach so close to the campsite.

Andric had no way to tell the exact time, but he guessed it would be about two hours until the first rays of sun for the day came shining through the forest. If the season was summer, the leaves in the trees might’ve blocked the sun long enough for the creature to gain another hour or so, but there weren’t any leaves in the winter. As soon as dawn hit, the creature would be bathed in light no matter where it went.

“Are we gonna kill it?” Theudobald asked, losing track of the creature.

“I will,” Andric replied, and he dashed off.

In the time that he had been awake, Andric had more than just stare blankly into the fire and forest. He thought up a detailed method of attack for use against the creature, and he was only slightly uncertain of when to carry it out. Now that the creature had gotten more brave and encroached on the campsite’s territory more often, Andric had an excuse to wake Theudobald up and make him watch the fire. With Theudobald watching the campsite, Andric could run into the forest and blindly chase the creature.

The Flaming Fist Technique was the bane of the creature, and Andric could use it very several times without running out of spirit energy. If he ever did get low on spirit energy, he only needed to return to the campsite to meditate for a few minutes. Andric’s Perfect Circulation allowed him to gather spirit energy faster and infuse his body with spirit energy more effectively, but it didn’t do much to help with how much spirit energy his body could store.

Besides his Flaming Fist Technique, Andric also had the Silent Gallop Technique, the Heaven Charging Spring Technique, and all the spells that he would be able to use once he was out of sight of Theudobald and the others.

As soon as Andric made up his mind to kill it, that creature was as good as dead.