God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

As such, Cain and Evangeline were forced to bear the brunt of the wrath of the two rulers of the land. For some reason, the {Dusk Canaries} hadn't participated in the battle.

The {Earth Beetles} had swept the ground beneath them away. Literally!

They had both been pacing forward a an average speed when he sensed a tremendous mana fluctuation coming from deep underground. However, it was already too late by then.

They had fallen into a very huge sinkhole that had served as the main battleground.

'I have a feeling those tigers were behind this.' Cain swore in his mind never to trust a wild cat again. They were just too crafty...

Still, they had managed to come out of that predicament relatively whole, although it had drained their energy reserves a bunch.

Cain was strong, he wasn't arrogant at all. That was why he had made the smart choice to hide when Evangeline delivered the news to him. There was no way they could face the combined might of all three groups of aether beasts and come out alive.

They would just keep throwing bodies at them until they were buried under corpses. Cain had a bitter smile as he recounted the experience of the last few days.

Evangeline had a grim look on her face as she started ahead, refusing to look at Cain. When he noticed this, Cain couldn't help but chuckle,

"Did you really think we could face so many aether beasts at once?"

"Hmph!"

Cain scratched his head, "Aren't you happy you are still alive right now?"

"Hmph!!!"

Cain sighed tiredly...

'Honestly... Just how did she survive this long.'

Cain had finally seen another side of Evangeline. Over the course of a few days, he had come to realize that she was a daredevil. She enjoyed taking risks that would more than likely end in disaster. When he had first laid eye on her, Cain had never suspected that she would have such a personality.

"They are just a bunch of weak bugs and cats. What is there to fear? I bet I could take all of them out on my own." Evangeline said with complete confidence.

Cain shook his head at her with a wry smile, "Sure."

Evangeline glared at him, "What did you say?!"

"Nothing..." Cain avoided her question to preserve his life. Turning his head forward, he began observing their surroundings.

They were nearing the outskirts of the forest, which meant their journey had finally reached its last leg. This didn't mean they could rest yet. In fact, they had just reached the most dangerous part...

Cain turned back to face Evangeline, "If you want to fight so bad, then you are in luck. We should be meeting with the main fighting force soon."

She raised a brow at this, "How can you be so sure?"

Cain shrugged, "The closer we get to the forest, the more concentrated the patrolling and hunting packs are. My guess is that their main camp is probably just at the outskirts of the forest since no living being can voluntarily leave once they enter."

Evangeline nodded in agreement, "Then we should make some preparations. If we are headed to the main camp, that means we will be engaging the true bosses."

Cain smiled, "Yeah."

Then he scratched his head and said,

"We could also just look for an alternative route. Something tells me we should conserve as much fighting power as we possibly can before entering the forest."

Evangeline's face was serious, "Maybe. Or we could get stronger by willing their camps away from existence. Your call..."

Hearing her words, Cain paused to think. While she wasn't wrong, her thinking was also flawed. Cain had engaged with the Og-solath once before and he knew just what an absolute nightmare that being was. Still, he couldn't deny the fact that they needed to gather as much power as they could so they could have as much leverage as possible.

'Can we even struggle against that level of power?'

Cain had witnessed the power of the Primordial Devil of Madness once before when he had torn a hole open in the seal for him. That sort of power wasn't something that could be matched easily. Plus, he came to know that the Primordial Devils were nigh immortal, which didn't help his case at all.

Still, if he could overpower Og-solath, maybe, just maybe... He would be able to free the girls and escape alongside Evangeline.

Cain sighed...

"Let's scout the place out first."

Cain and Evangeline were already out of sight in order not to be spotted. Cain sent the {Dark Soul} forward, while Evangeline melted into the darkness of her shadow, leaving Cain alone in their hiding place.

The shapeless form of the {Dark Soul} glided through the plains undisturbed, until it eventually came across the camp of the {Savage Tigers}.

There, Cain was able to notice that there was a large number of {Earth Beetles} hiding beneath the camp. He had long since noticed that the aether beasts possessed a strange form of communication he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Some of them were even non-verbal modes of communication. The system didn't seem to classify it as a language, so there was no automatic translation.

Cain willed the {Dark Soul} forward. Very quickly, he was able to see that the {Savage Togers} and the {Earth Beetles} had gotten very busy, and oddly enough, were working together once again. The {Dusk Canaries} that he had not seen in the previous fight were also flying overhead in swarms. The numbers blotched out the sky, turning that portion of the island dim.

'Seems like they are expecting us.' Cain thought to himself.

The {Savage Tigers} were no doubt the main coordinators of this plan as well. Various traps were being out in place. Hundreds of {Savage Tigers} had been placed in holes under the ground, laying in wait for Cain and Evangeline with savagery in their yellow eyes.

The {Dusk Canaries} were also very organized. Different swarms flew and interlayer in the sky, forming an impenetrable net in the sky. Cain had no idea what they planned on doing, but he could make an educated guess.

'The moment we step foot within their range, we will get bombarded to death.' A grown appeared on his face for the first time in a while. Damage was still damage at the end of the day. Although the damage they could deal to him was small, it was stackable. Unless he killed ever single one of them within a short timeframe, things would get messy very quickly.

Cain already knew which group of aether beasts had to go first...

To sum everything up, he could feel the existence of three very strong beings hidden within the three groups of creatures.

'And those must be the leaders.' Cain nodded to himself. He then ordered the {Dark Soul} to come back.

As the {Dark Soul} swam back, Cain was embroiled in deep thoughts. A few seconds after the {Dark Soul} arrived, Evangeline showed up as well, a fierce light burning in the depths of her eyes.

"There are three leaders. One is in the sky, and the other two are hidden deep within the camp. A {Twin-Fanged Savage Tiger}, a {Millennium Earth Beetle} and an {Incendiary Dusk Canary}."

Imoressed by her information gathering skills, Cain nodded,

"I figured as much."

Before Cain could say anything else, he felt Evangeline's burning gaze pierce through his armor. He let out a defeated sigh,

"Fine... You take care of the three leaders. I'll handle the army."

"Really?! You sure you don't need any help?" Although Evageline said this, she had already retrieve her short sword and dagger from her inventory.

Cain shrugged, "I'll manage..."

In truth, if he was asked before he took the trip to the Evil Mountains, Cain would have to admit that he didn't possess the power to take down so many creatures at once. However, he was different now...

Plus, the three leaders of the group were very strong. Their power was even comparable to that of the {Chaos Orc}. Hence, Cain knew he had to take care of the army in order to give Evangeline an easier time.

Plus, there was something he wanted to try...

"Just give me a few minutes to prepare." Cain said before seating down on the ground.

Since they were being covered by a concealment spell, there was no way for them to be spotted.

Cain sat down and allowed his consciousness to swim into the mana shard that was now located somewhere in his soul.

There, the various pools of elemental energy rotated in a clockwise direction. Cain also noticed that they had grown in size by just a tiny bit. The most obvious increase, was the pool of lightning elemental mana since it was the smallest.

'The absorption aspect must be passive.' Cain thought to himself. His heart skipped a bit when he realized what this meant.

'The Vault is similar to {Mana Heart}. It will continue to fill up until its capacity is exhausted. What a remarkable ability!'

{Mana Heart} gave Cain a multitude of benefits, but the most notable one was its ability to transform all forms of naturally occurring mana into something Cajn could absorb passively. This ability was similar to the passive mana regeneration everyone possessed, only many times more advanced and effective.

After mana heart had upgraded the last time, Cain's mana regeneration rate was about 15MP per second. This meant his mana pool would return to its maximum capacity after a little bit over an hour.

The {Elemental Vault} was similar. However, rather than absorbing all forms of mana like the {Mana Heart}, which was a mana generator, it could absorb elemental mana and store it separately for the host to use.

Cain stared at the small pool of sizzling lightning, his mind filled with endless possibilities...