Death... and me

Rean and Roan knew nothing of what was happening, of course. First of all, they were around eight to nine months away from the border between the outskirts and the depths of the Lost Star Realm. It was hard to say whether those people would still be at the barrier once they arrived.

Nevertheless, time quickly passed as four months went by in a flash. The further the twins got from the Lost Star Realm's entrance, the fewer cultivators they found exploring the place. It was then that they encountered one of the ancient beasts! Fortunately for their group, it was a very big one, which they could see from tens of kilometers away.

In fact, the beast looked more like a mountain from their perspective. It was staggeringly high while snow had accumulated on its back due to its slow movement. Whether it was aggressive or not, the twins weren't sure. After all, they immediately told Kentucky to go around while flying very close to the ground. The idea was not to be seen by that thing, lest it had some way of catching them.

Hurio narrowed his eyes after Kentucky succeeded in avoiding the ancient beast. "Only four months of travel in, and we've already come across an ancient beast..."

Roan looked at him before asking, "Was it wrong?"

Hurio shook his head, though. "Not really. It's possible that an ancient beast suddenly decided to travel far away from its normal territory. However, such an occurrence is very rare, so I can only say that we're unlucky to have come across this one. Then again, we're lucky to be able to see it from such a far distance and go around it."

However, three weeks later, another ancient beast appeared within the twins' field of vision. This time, it was a gigantic white snake... or its back, to be more specific. Its body stretched for several kilometers, so its head was far away from the tail that Rean and the others saw from afar. "Retreat silently. That thing is heading in a different direction. Our goal is for it to not spot us."

After leaving the snake behind, Roan looked at Hurio and asked, "Weren't ancient beasts supposed to be rare around this place? How come we've come across two already?"

Hurio didn't know either. "How would I know? That's what the information I have told me. For now, let's just consider that these two ancient beasts have left their territory, and we were just extremely unlucky to have bumped into two of them."

*Roar!*

Hurio barely had the time to finish his words before a heaven-defying roar came from ahead. Though, it wasn't just deafeningly loud. It also carried some kind of ancient power that made the Divine Energy inside the bodies of Rean's group go chaotic. Even Kentucky was forced to land straight away, even though he was the one who was affected the least. Perhaps that was because he was a Divine Demon Beast.

The roar continued for almost a minute, with the twins' group having to do their best just to keep control over the energy inside their bodies. Worst case scenario, their dantians might even explode right there and then.

Fortunately, the roar eventually stopped, allowing them to calm down the energy in their dantians and demon core in Kentucky's case. After that, Rean asked through Divine Sense. 'What was that? Another ancient beast?'

Roan nodded, saying, 'That's the only possibility, right? What the hell is happening here, Hurio?'

'Don't judge me as if I'm at fault,' Hurio could not help but say in response.. 'I also have no idea why there are so many ancient beasts outside the depths of the Lost Star Realm. In fact, even in the depths of the Lost Star Realm, we shouldn't have come across so many of them in such a short time. Let's forget it for now, though. From where did the roar come from? It affected me so much that I couldn't even focus on its direction.'

Rean and Roan had to admit that it wasn't time to focus on this problem. Fortunately, they had Kentucky, which wasn't affected as much. 'It came from the northwest, and it's moving in our direction very quickly. I would say it's around thirty or so kilometers away.'

Roan immediately understood after that. 'No, it's not coming for us. It's coming for the snake. Hurio, do ancient beasts fight against each other?'

Hurio immediately shook his head, saying, 'No. At the very least, I haven't seen any records that they do. Although they act on instinct, it seems like they can somehow recognize each other and stay away from each other's territories.'

*Hissssssssss!*

Suddenly, the earth trembled as the gigantic snake appeared far behind the twins' group. It was still several kilometers away, but it was moving at incredulous speeds. Obviously, it was going to encounter the other ancient beast that hadn't appeared yet.

The twins, Hurio, and Kentucky once again felt the energy in their bodies turn chaotic once more as the same ancient power contained in that hiss entered their bodies. By the time the snake finished hissing, it was almost near them.

Roan then jumped on Kentucky's back, telling him, 'Hop on, quickly. Kentucky, try to fly in a different direction from those two.'

Hearing that, Kentucky's wings began to burn with black and white flames as his body shot like an arrow into the distance. He didn't hold back at all, showing a speed that even Peak Stage Eight Flying Demon Beasts would have difficulty matching. Perhaps he was already as fast as an average Initial Transition Realm Demon Beast.

Just a few seconds after they left that location, the snake that was coming from behind suddenly used its body to act as a spring. It then jumped high in the skies, far surpassing the twenty meters where the pressure assaulted the cultivators who tried to fly.

Fortunately, Kentucky was flying. Otherwise, the earthquake caused by that alone would have made it very hard for the twins' group to even move.

Soon, it began to fall at extreme speeds, looking as if it was about to smash on the ground. However, it was at this moment that the ground caved in as a pair of crimson eyes appeared from inside.