The darkness of the void welcomed them into its cold grasp.

Dale tried to turn, or at least glance at his environment but found himself locked in place.

The only positive aspect was that, unlike the initial teleportation to the boot camp, this voyage didn’t cause any pain.

A suspicion crept into his mind. ’Could it be that the watch is using a technological version of his ability?’ It was definitely possible.

Before he could ponder the mechanics, the void collapsed, throwing him out.

He crashed into the bare ground and slid slightly against rocks and twigs.

His skin was a little scraped but at least he didn’t get any splinters. ’This task is already off to a great start.’

Dale pushed himself to his feet just in time to see the space around him explode open, tossing the other four people in his group, and just like him, they scraped their skin. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

’At least they’re not better off than me.’ There was a little respite in that fact.

The last person to appear was Lord Byron. As usual, he floated a few inches off the ground. "Take a good look at this place." he gestured to their surroundings.

They were currently on the outskirts of a dense forest.

"Once your task is completed, you’ll recon here and a means to return will be presented." He concluded and seemed about to leave but paused.

"A little note; complete your task... It’s imperative that you do." Then he vanished.

Dale turned to them. They looked just as confused as him at the departing words of the man.

Nonetheless, they had to move.

"The best thing to do is to prepare camp now, while we still have energy," Trevor suggested and the others nodded.

Sarah reached into her rucksack and pulled out several items including a stuffed bear.

’What?’ Dale opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of water. There had to be a reason why she brought a stuffed animal on such an important task.

Sensing his gaze, she turned to him and shook the stuffed toy. "Do you like him? His name is Mr Squish." When she spoke about it, she seemed genuinely excited.

In all honesty, she had brought it simply because it was her stuffed toy.

Trevor also brought out several waterproof materials and took some of the items Sarah had brought out.

Soon, a rather large tent had been set up — it wasn’t large enough to house all their belongings but it was certainly useful for insulation from the natural forces.

While it hadn’t been difficult to put together, it would have certainly been annoying to try if they had been tired.

’Good call from Trevor.’

Gary walked out of the forest line. He had returned from scouting.

Drops of sweat clung to him and his breath seemed labored and difficult. Dale guessed he had run into something.

As though hearing him, Gary groaned. "You won’t believe how many beasts are moving together in this place!"

He ran a hand over his face. "To the North is a scorpion-type beast horde. The West is even worse; there’s a wolf pack with four Awakened leaders."

Sarah handed him a bottle of water and he drank it in large gulps. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, he continued.

"At the South, I noticed a troop of monkeys... and they noticed me so I ran immediately. Naturally, they caught up and I only escaped because they didn’t dare step too much into the North."

The others spent a few moments processing the report.

Three out of the four cardinals were already out of the question.

Charging at the scorpions wouldn’t be hard but being a horde worked in the beasts’ favor — they would quickly get exhausted and devoured.

The wolf leaders of the West would be troublesome to deal with even without considering their pack of weaker beasts.

And Dale didn’t even want to imagine what the unknown leaders of the monkeys were like. Even Gary hadn’t been able to make it too deep into their territory.

’But why are there so many beasts here in the first place?’ He knew beasts were often large in number but even this was too much.

Not that it mattered anyway. Their task was to kill an Ascended beast, not wipe out a beast horde.

"So that leaves the East?" Austin asked and Gary nodded.

"Yeah, there were a couple of beasts here and there but nothing compared to the other three sides." He explained.

They lingered for a while. Most likely reaching the same conclusion as Dale: that was where the Ascended beast was.

’Why else would all other sides be overrun by beasts except the East?’ Their task was to hunt one so it was within expectation that the military would drop them somewhere close to one.

However, knowing the location and being able to kill it were completely different things.

To make matters worse, they couldn’t just charge in and slay it, that was even hoping they could.

First, they had to kill off the weaker beasts as they moved in. It seemed to be a battle of attrition, one that would certainly take time.

’Explains the one-month mark.’

They waited as Gary rested. They’d certainly need his shields.

During this time, Austin approached Dale. "Are you nervous?"

The latter would have liked to bluff and shrug it off but alas, "Actually. Yes, I am. Not just because of the Ascended beast but because of the war that is quickly approaching."

There were undercurrents that would eventually surface. Somehow, he knew he had to be ready.

Austin nodded as he listened. "That makes sense... I guess? But I simply can’t worry about it."

Dale turned to him and his roommate smiled, "Of course, I can’t worry. It wouldn’t matter if I can’t survive this beast. If I survive, that’s when I’ll worry."

Dale couldn’t deny. It was a unique worldview, one his lifestyle couldn’t exactly afford to have.

Soon, Gary was ready and they moved.