The trail led the group deeper into the forest, going even past the water springs. Once again, the vegetation around them slowly began to change in appearance, until eventually, they were in a section of the forest even more alien than the one prior.
In this section the trees, if they could even still be called that, had been reduced to the width of soda cans. What should've been bark, was now a weird shimmering coating, that seemed to change color depending on what angle it was being viewed from.
The grass, which now formed a sort of blanket over the ground, seemed to be made of glass. However, the way it swayed in the breeze and its rather soft texture made it apparent that it was not the case.
The leaves that hung on the thickets of bushes, which formed the majority of the vegetation here, were made of different colored crystals, a few of which Lucius collected to inspect later.
The rather glass-like nature of the vegetation here should've made the sun's glare unbearable, but it didn't somehow. It was as if the glass absorbed the sunlight instead of reflecting it, which made Lucius's head hurt just trying to think of the physics of it all.
Though he had to admit, this was a natural masterpiece. If not for the fact that he was constantly on edge due to the vast variety of animal sounds that now echoed in the forest, perhaps he would've enjoyed it more.
As the group searched for their prey, they had to avoid a great number of other bigger creatures, taking detours, and hiding behind the crystal bushes to avoid being seen.
Frankly, the beasts here were nothing like those on earth. Previously Lucius was able to mirror the creatures here to ones he had seen before, as they seemed more or less like copies with a few modifications. But now, the creatures were completely alien to him.
For instance, just a few minutes ago, they had to sneak past a massive creature the size of an elephant, that had six legs, six eyes, and tusks that were more than 2 meters long. Its skin was an autumn orange color, that seemed to have a glass coating on top of it, much like the trees.
In fact, most all creatures here had that same coating, making them look more like glass sculptures than actual living creatures.
"Pagan, consider moving more quietly. With all the chatting you and Asclepius have been doing, we won't be able to catch up to this creature before noon," Lucius said.
It seemed that whatever animal they were tracking down was aware it was being followed. As he could sense it constantly moving away from them, stopping only for a few brief moments before running along once again.
Of course, he could've given Pagan this piece of information earlier, but he wanted Pagan to figure it out for himself, though he was clearly expecting too much from someone who had just until recently been a prey creature.
Though it was quite surprising that Asclepius hadn't told him anything. But with the passive-aggressive relationship between the two, she was probably doing this on purpose so that Pagan would fail his mission.
"Ah, I can sense it, now," Pagan said, stopping abruptly.
Lucius could sense that the creature had stopped moving as well, however, there were a whole group of other creatures standing suspiciously still just outside of his sense range.
"Pagan, you should watch your surroundings, there might be others of its kind lurking close by," Lucius warned, realizing that perhaps the creature had lured them back to its den.
"I'll go deal with it quickly," Pagan announced, apparently having heard nothing of Lucius's warning. He called out his crux and dashed through a thicket of lavender crystalline shrubs toward his prey.
"Pagan, wait," Lucius called out, however, Pagan was already gone.
"Stay here, I'm going to make sure this idiot doesn't get too hurt," he whispered to Asclepius, before peaking his head past the shrub.
The creature that Pagan was hunting was just a small distance away, staring at the sky apparently unaware that it was being pursued.
It was a dog-like creature, slightly smaller than a boar. It had four large ears, two of which stood up like horns, while the other two drooped down over its eyes.
Its skin was scaly, and though it was primarily glassy black in color, it seemed to shimmer and shine with the different colors around it, like a sort of chameleon.
~Where are the others hiding?~ Lucius wondered, checking with his earth sense again. He could clearly sense that there were five other creatures with more or less the same readings as this one. Though there were nowhere to be seen.
~Are they hiding behind those shrubs?~ he wondered, staring at a line of shrubs just in front of the creature.
By now, Pagan was already within range of the creature and was preparing to cast a solar burst.
But right then, something odd happened...
The creature vanished, gone without a trace.
"Pagan, get back!" Lucius shouted, already running towards Pagan. But it was too late, in mere seconds Pagan's body had several large bite marks from which sap was constantly gushing out of.
~Solar cleanse,~ Lucius chanted instinctively, before grabbing Pagan with his tail, and galloping back towards Asclepius.
"What's goin-" but before Asclepius could even finish her sentence, Lucius grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, before increasing his speed.
"What's going on?" she asked as Lucius zipped in between the pole-like trees.
"They're invisible," Lucius explained, pushing his limbs to their limit. He turned to look back and found that the beasts were still chasing them. Their camouflage wasn't completely perfect when they moved, so he could just make out their outline.
~They're fast, but they're nothing compared to the 'furry-folk'~ Lucius thought to himself.
"Pagan, watch closely. I'll leave one of them for you to deal with later," Lucius ordered, before tossing Asclepius up a tree, and launching Pagan up the same tree with his tail.
"I wonder how you all taste," Lucius said as he slid to a halt, spinning around to look at his prey.
