Yumin Outskirts—Jade Forest [1:09 PM].

Within the forest of Jade, nearby the outskirts of the twin-pathway, Fei and the group walked through the dirt path as they made their way over towards the ruins deep into the forest.

While they did so, Fei glanced around the area, scrutinizing the place. Moments later, her eyes turned towards the ground where they stood at. "Hmm... Anaya and Teri definitely walked through here!"

"Right. From what Maria said, they went to Zaross Ruins, which is quite far from this place," Damian said in a worried tone. "I'm surprised that they can make it there without getting attacked by any monsters..."

"Making their way through the forest is of no problem," Roy calmly replied. "Although this forest is infested with monsters, they are pretty passive unless you provoke them."

"Right..." Damian nodded his head. "But that's to the extent of the forest. The ruins, however..."

"Which is why we best hurry," Roy stated. "By estimation, if we walk at our current pace, it'll take about 15-minutes to head there."

"...what? That long?!" Fei cried out at Roy's assessment. "If it's like that, then what are you waiting for? Let's pick up the pace!"

Taking a step forward, Fei quickly fastened her pace. However, the moment she did so, from the bushes, loud rustle sounds could be heard, and in the next second, multiple monsters of different sizes leapt out from it, swiftly making their way over towards Fei.

"...huh?!" Fei abruptly stumbled back barely being able to react to the sudden ambush by the monsters.

"Fei!" Damian shouted out as he strode forward, with his twin-blades in hand, he slashed at the monsters that nearly reached Fei, quickly pushing them down to the ground.

"...ahem!" Fei let out a cough, as she took out her spearham. With her pierce style at play, she quickly made her way towards the fallen monsters. Soon after, she thrust her spear forward as the monsters were sent upwards by force.

In the next moment, she swiftly switched into her strike style as she hurriedly smacked the monsters away towards a tree, successfully knocking them out and turning them into grey-ash.

"...phew! That's what you get for suddenly ambushing me like that!" Fei pouted.

"Be careful would you?!" Damian shouted out.

"Ack- I was careful!" Fei glared at Damian. "How was I supposed to know that some monsters would suddenly appear outta nowhere and jump at me like that?!"

"...hmm, that's strange. This is the first time that I've seen something like this happen here," Roy thought to himself.

"First time for what?" Fei raised her brow.

"...the monsters here. It's the first time I've seen them like this," Roy tilted his head. "Usually they aren't the type to randomly attack..."

"Oh, now that you mentioned it... it does sound strange!" Fei said. "Didn't you say earlier that the monsters are more passive unless we provoke them?"

"Perhaps it's because of your loud shouting that provoked them," Damian shrugged.

"Excuse me?!" Fei frowned at Damain's remarks.

"Well... that's the only thing that I can think of that would cause something like this to happen," Damian calmly reasoned as he heard a sudden noise rustling from the bushes. "...?" Narrowing his eyes over to the direction of the sound, Damian hurriedly entered into a battle-ready stance.

In the next moment, like before, multiple monsters pounced out of the bush as they made their way over towards the group in a frenzy.

"...and my point stands." Without wasting any time, Damian tightly held onto the hilt of his weapon as he swiftly cut through the monsters which resembled that of brussels sprouts in its early stages.

"...no. That's not it." Roy shook his head whilst cautiously scanning around the area. Quickly, he noticed that besides the monsters which appeared at the front of the group and from the bushes, from behind them, monsters were approaching steadfastly. "Fei's shouting wouldn't have caused such a horde to appear like this."

"See! I told you so!" Fei firmly stated as she held onto her weapon tightly, quickly piercing and smacking away the monsters that approached her.

"...does proving me wrong matter right now?" Damian raised his brow in question while he slashed through multiple monsters in the vicinity. "We're practically surrounded at the moment."

"Ack- I can see that clearly!" Fei shouted out as the monsters continued to pounce towards the two siblings. "Why are there suddenly so many monsters?!"

"...this is really strange," Roy frowned at the scene in front of him. "For such a horde to come like this... something must have happened."

"Yeah, something must have happened! But, Roy... is it really the time to be worrying about this right now?!" Fei cried out as the horde of monsters began to continuously attack the two.

"...tsk," Damian clicked his tongue as his blade moved around in a circle, quickly pushing back all monsters that surrounded him.

"...hmm, well, you two seem to have gotten this stuff pretty much covered. Besides I said I'd be a bystander unless we're in trouble right?" Roy smiled as he ceaselessly took out his spear. Soon after, he pierced through a monster that had made its way over towards him from behind. "So I'm worrying about other things."

"Roy... you say you're a bystander yet you just killed that monster..." Fei helplessly muttered out while she stood her ground against the mobs. With her spearham in hand, she swept her spear in an arc, quickly slicing through the enemies. Following up with her attacks, Fei stepped forward as she pierced the monsters.

"See, you pretty much got it covered." Ignoring Fei's previous remarks, Roy said with a smile as he saw the monsters turning into grey-ash. Moments later, he turned over towards the direction of the ruins. "In any case, I don't have a good feeling regarding the situation. I think we best hurry it up."

...

Within the Jade Forest—Zaross Ruins [1:26 PM].

Finally stepping foot onto the grounds of the ruins, the group cautiously made their way through the stone-paved grounds whilst Roy inspected the surroundings.

"...I knew it. Something was up," Roy clicked his tongue. "The mana density here is extremely high..."

"...the mana density here is extremely what now?" Fei tilted her head in question.

"It's the reason why the monsters are in a frenzy," he explained. "The mana within this area is too dense, thus causing the monster to be in a state of aggression."

"How does that work?" she continued questioning.

"To put it in a sense, there's an outside force which is interfering in the natural flow of mana," he stated. "Thus, with the interference, the mana is beginning to overflow and it's causing the area to go into a dense level of mana, heavily affecting its surroundings."

"Huh...?" Fei blinked at the explanation.

"Whoever this outsider is, they're drawing mana from a different source and pouring it down to here," Damian clicked his tongue. "This means trouble..."

"It does mean trouble..." Roy frowned as he held onto his spear tightly. "Fei, Damian. When we enter into the ruins, follow my lead."

"I still don't understand what's going on..." Fei said in a confused expression.

"It means everything's going to get a whole lot harder," Damian stated.