"…Did that monster leave?" One of them asked.
"Looks like it did." Another observed the surroundings and gave an answer.
'So you can go back and forth between the valley and garden?' Varian raised an eyebrow and felt something click in the back of his mind.
"Phew." A woman sighed in relief before her face brightened up and she pointed to the blue vortex.
"We can sneak attack the beast, injure it significantly, then retreat to the valley. Rinse and repeat. We can kill that monster!"
"Brilliant!"
"Atta girl!"
Varian was also able to hear the 'genius strategy' using his superhuman senses. Moreover, the team didn't pay attention to the loner guy staring at the sky.
'But.' Varian's brows furrowed. 'This is a cheat, isn't it? Any modestly decent team can hunt all monsters they want with this method.'
If so, then his thought process of 'A method to win the trial without killing beasts' needed to be discarded.
Even though it might not be the original intention, if the teams started to use this strategy, then they'd hunt down fifty beasts quite quickly.
'Well, not that quickly..' Varian recalled the aura of the two beasts he encountered so far.
One chased Prince Curtis, the other chased this team.
Even though the Curtis' one was stronger, the beast that chased this beast wasn't weak either.
In fact, it'd be a pretty strong peak level 7. Just, the first one was too strong that this one looked weaker in comparison.
'Still, I can't hunt down either of them…' Varian's eyes shone with a dangerous glint and he began to consider 'other' possibilities.
Ambushing a team, kill steal…
As his thoughts spiraled down dangerously, a loud roar interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Roaar!"
Varian looked up to find the same monster as earlier rushing out of the forest. It stared at the team with enraged eyes and opened its mouth.
Shuaaa!
An ice wall formed around the surprised team.
"Fuck!"
"It can sense us!"
The team scrambled and attacked the ice wall.
Boom! Boom!
The ice wall refused to budge while the monster started to approach them in quick strides.
"Focus on one place." The team leader ordered and the team did just that.
The two Body awakeners punched the same spot in succession following which a lightning spear and fire spear struck the same spot.
Ka! Kacha!
The ice wall cracked and the team jumped into the blue vortex escaping for their lives.
"Roaa!"
Right after they left, the monster reached the area.
Frustrated, it let out a roar and stayed for a few minutes. Only then did it return to the forest.
After it left, a few other monsters also appeared. They checked the area as if searching for someone, but they only found Varian sitting in a corner.
"Raaa!"
"Kree!"
With a confused roar, they returned.
"…" Varian watched everything like a mute spectator. But his lips curled up ever so slightly.
Their strategy is invalid since the beasts they attacked can sense them.' Now, Varian was smiling brightly.
But a thought occurred and his smile vanished.
'What if team A attacks monster A once, escapes, then team B attacks monster A, and so on…sooner or later, the monster A will die if the teams take turns.'
Things seemed to turn for the worse. If teams cooperated, then things could speed up.
'Once you kill a monster, every other monster in the vicinity chases. That's why…'
Prince Curtis' words flashed in his mind.
Then there's also the fact that other monsters came to find the team after the giant monster left.
That meant the strategy of teams taking turns to kill a monster would also be impossible.
In short, if you attack a monster, kill or not, you'd be chased by that monster aggressively and by other monsters, albeit with less passion, but equal danger.
Varian pondered his next move and the ground started to shake.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Following the sounds of thunder, a team of five escaped the forest. Then a giant golden tiger followed.
The same scenario as earlier played out.
The team also escaped, the monster left, the team returned and so did the monster.
In just thirty minutes, the same thing happened to five teams, including the very first one.
Varian confirmed what he wanted. So, he decided to start.
Besides, it wasn't like he had a lot of time.
In the thirty minutes, five members left with keys.
'Even though it's only six out of fifty, I think they'll figure something out.'
A more efficient way to kill the monsters. Besides, didn't they gain a treasure or two in the ruins so far?
'I need to get it done.'
Varian kicked the ground and shot forward.
But instead of going to the forest, he reached the blue vortex.
The world went blue and the next second, Varian found himself in the valley.
The aura was heavy and it weighed on him like a log.
"Hey? You backed off too? Good for you. Even we can't win."
Near the blue vortex were around ten members. It seems they didn't leave for some reason.
Varian nodded lightly at their words and looked back at the blue vortex.
"Hey, we tried going back, but all monsters are chasing us like crazy. Give up, dude. You surviving so far is a blessing in itself." A woman kindly advised.
"…Perhaps." Varian shrugged and shot deeper into the valley.
Soon, he found a few high level 7 wolves.
'Wolves…I hate wolves and foxes too.' Clicking his tongue, Varian checked the surroundings just in case.
No one's around.
"Then…" Varian's lips curled into a dangerous smile.
Five minutes later, the last wolf was facing Varian.
As the leader of the pack, it was significantly stronger. Even among high level 7s, it would fall in the middle.
Such a monster….
"Awoooo!" The wolf shrieked in fear. It never encountered such an enemy.
The space around it tightened.
Its head hurt like someone was prickling its brain with needles.
Lightning chains bound its feet and paralyzed its movements.
Strange branches assisted the lightning chains.
With the combined power of space, lightning, mind, and Plantae, the wolf was held in place as a gigantic ice hammer, boosted by telekinetic power slammed its head.
Pop!
Varian collected the corpses of the wolves and moved on.
After forty minutes, he returned to the blue vortex.
More people seemed to be eliminated as there was a crowd of nearly twenty.
Varian shrugged and shot towards the blue vortex.
"Hey, you! The monsters will detect—"
The world changed and Varian was back in the royal garden.
The first thing he did was to check the keyholes at the entrance.
Twenty of the fifty were covered.
'As expected, they must have found some way.' Varian clicked his tongue and entered the forest.
Using his space sense, he purposefully picked a path that other teams didn't wander in.
As a consequence, he didn't encounter other teams in his path.
With each mile he moved on the path, it widened.
By the thirtieth mile, Varian wondered if he was on a football field.
Fortunately or unfortunately, he had to stop wondering as a giant creature appeared in his sight.
Speeding up, Vaian approached it.
With the head of a lion and the body of an eagle, its size was similar to an airplane. On its chest was a golden mark, indicating a key.
Even though it saw him approaching it, the creature didn't attack.
Varian's conviction was further strengthened and he used his psychic power to send a message to the creature.
Since he's directly communicating from brain to brain, he was able to convey what he wanted to say without the barrier of language.
The creature seemed to understand his words as it blinked twice.
Varian smiled and retrieved his hunt.
Plop!
A mountain of corpses stood in front of the creature.
It was kinda obvious but how could you [Prove Your Worth] in a place where there were only pets and you couldn't kill them?
Feed them properly.
Not just that, but Varian figured out even more.
Like 'Where do you feed them from? These many monsters need a lot of food!'
And that's why the valley existed!
If his logic was correct, then when devas still existed, you were supposed to hunt the creatures in the valley and feed them to pets.
The one who feeds the best meat would get the approval and would've proven their worth. They'd get to meet the ruler.
But Varian wasn't really confident about the 'food' he collected. So, he said with a stiff face.
"It's a bit shabby, but if you want mor—"
Without even waiting for him to finish, the creature dug into the food and began devouring it. It didn't even leave the bones.
Varian watched everything with a complicated expression.
These creatures were deva pets. Any pets need to be fed. But since the extinction of devas, these creatures had no food.
Perhaps the only reason these creatures and their descendants kept surviving was some sort of protection mechanism.
But still, they weren't able to eat anything.
"Nom. Nom. Nom."
This was the first meal in the creature's life.
Varian felt like he was feeding an abandoned orphan.
'Shit. Don't think too much.' He shook his head and waited for the creature to finish.
He didn't have to wait long. It just took one minute to slurp the blood from the last item.
"…"
Then it looked at Varian, a creature considerably weaker than itself.
Without hesitation, the creature slapped its chest and the key flew into Varian's hands.
Then, it stood up and roared.
Varian opened his mouth in surprise. "What? You want to escort me to the gate?"
The creature blinked twice again.
Varian never felt that lions could be so cute.
"I won't decline, but hide me in your fur, okay? I don't want to stand out too much."
With a burst of laughter, he hopped onto its back and the creature flapped its wings.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, they exited the forest and reached the entrance.
"Wha—"
"Who provoked it?"
"We didn't fight this one. Shouldn't non-attacked monsters react slowly?"
The small crowd panicked.
"Everyone, let's take it down." A man shouted in a deep voice and the teams organized themselves.
Seeing this, Varian was a bit worried.
But the creature seemed to sense his worry and roared.
Varian felt a burst of confidence from it.
The source, no, the sources of the confidence showed themselves.
Twenty beasts exited the forset and rushed at the teams.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fall back! Fall back!"
They ran into the blue vortex.
Swish!
The creature stopped in front of the giant entrance.
Varian stood up and pointed the key to the gate.
He just needed to touch the gate with the key in contact and he'd leave but...
Varian looked back at the twenty-odd creatures that came out to help.
Even though it was to help the cutey lion, they indirectly helped him too.
Moreover, Varian felt a sense of pity towards these creatures abandoned by their masters.
With a sigh, he jumped down and entered the blue vortex.
"Hey, you—"
Varian ignored the sharp call and threw himself into the valley.
He started hunting monsters like crazy.
He knew he was wasting time...he should be going. He already got the keys.
But for some reason, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him.
'Just this once.'
He told himself.
'Anyway, I got the key. There's no need to worry too much.'
He managed to convince himself.
After two hours, Varian entered the blue vortex under the surprised gazes of the crowd of thirty.
"Here."
Dozens of piles of carefully burnt meat presented themselves in front of the twenty beasts.
Varian used a bit of fire and his telekinetic power to do it in a short time. Of course, he wouldn't call it skilled but—
"Nom! Nom! Nom!"
The beasts didn't seem to mind and devoured everything in the blink of an eye.
Varian smiled lightly and waved at them.
The creatures made sounds mixed with joy and melancholy.
Varian tapped the gate with the key and a golden light covered him.
But just before he disappeared, a blue light flashed and disappeared into his forehead.
