The following day, Areth led Shen and his group to two other places that were categorized as dangerous areas for them. It was a forbidden area for the villager even to get near, even more, dangerous than the Steeer.
Zowen stretched her hand up, having a good sleep because she moved to the same house with Lulu. She did not need to hear the shameless voices anymore at night. And thanks to her interference, Lulu canceled her plan to escape. Lulu thought Zowen did this because of what happened in the morning. She did not know that it was Rosalie's moan that forced her to move to another house.
As for Zowen, she did not have the same bad mood as yesterday. But the magus completely ignored Lulu, not even giving a glance to the latter. Lulu carried her brother on her back, following the group.
The first dangerous area was a lake. The lake was clean and remained untouched by human hands. The elders in the villager told Areth and the other younger kids to never wander to the lake or even get close to it. It was said there was a very dangerous monster living in the lake, even more, dangerous than Steeer.
The villagers did not know what kind of monster lived in the lake. The reason they said it was more dangerous than Steeer was that even the Steer did not dare to get closer to the village. Hence the lake became the forbidden area for the villager.
Tang Shaoyang led the group, approaching the lake shore. The water was clean and fresh, and it made Tang Shaoyang want to jump into the lake with how fresh the water looked. However, if one looked carefully further, there was something obstructing their sight to see deeper into the village. It looked like a cloud, separating the surface and the deeper lake.
The surprise was Spirit Eyes could not see through the white cloud. It had a similar ability to the barrier in the city. He tried to use his mana, but his mana was also blocked.
"It's dangerous," Zowen was the first one to break the silence. "Unknown things are always dangerous, so let's go to the second place and then come back later. I will stay here and study the barrier. This will be my first new research."
"I am not going to leave you to study this thing. There's no new research until you take all the trials." Tang Shaoyang refused the idea.
Zowen might be of Ancient Rank, but she was no different with no rank. An Epic Rank might be stronger than her right now because she had not taken the trial yet.
Tang Shaoyang raised his right hand, forming five red swords made of Slayer Energy. He did not mind showing Slayer Energy to his hostage. The five of five meters swords shot into the lake.
The five swords made the Slayer Energy enter the water and pierce through the cloud that acted as a barrier. It was brief, but the cloud barrier separated for a moment before closing again in the following second. He failed to use that window to see what was beyond the cloud barrier, expecting his sword would break the cloud.
"It's interesting," Zowen was still in research mode, nodding her head at the reaction, "I think it's a barrier for our sight. Anything physical can pierce through the barrier." Trying to prove her first theory, she picked up the branch on the side. The one-meter branch was enveloped with her mana before she threw it into the lake. The branch shot into the lake, barely creating any ripple in the water, and it pierced through the cloud barrier just like the sword did.
Zowen expected her branch would be able to go through the cloud barrier and tried to see what was beyond the cloud barrier. However, there was nothing she could see because it was just a pitch of darkness.
Tang Shaoyang created another sword, a single sword made of Slayer Energy. The sword was ten meters long and controlled the sword to cut through the cloud barrier. The barrier sliced open, but it slowly regenerated. Tang Shaoyang moved the sword once more, cutting through the barrier and creating a big hole. Big enough to see what was beyond the barrier.
He activated Spirit Eyes and saw through the darkness. He finally saw the thing dwell in the lake. "Get back!"
The words were directed at Areth, and the boy followed the instruction obediently. A few seconds later, the lake made a big splash as the creature showed itself. It was a giant octopus with ten tentacles. Its bright yellow eyes scanned the shore and stopped at Tang Shaoyang, recognizing the person who tore the cloud barrier.
[Lesser Kraken Rank: Epic Rank]
The Lesser Kraken did not waste its time attacking the person who attacked the water. The ten tentacles moved toward Tang Shaoyang, just like a whip. The latter responded with the already former slayer sword, cutting through all the tentacles. With a single slash, the tentacles fell off.
The Lesser Kraken let out a weird roar, but the tentacles regenerated back within the next three seconds. It was clearly angry, shooting dark energy from its mouth toward Tang Shaoyang.
Again, Tang Shaoyang easily deflected the attack with the flat surface of the sword, changing the trajectory to the sky. The Lesser Kraken was weaker for an Epic Rank, weaker than he thought. He turned toward Rosalie and Zowen, "Want some level?"
Their answer was raining the Lesser Kraken with fire and lightning, burning the skin to a crisp. The giant monster tried to fight back, but it realized that it could not win. At the last moment, it tried to escape back into the lake. Tang Shaoyang caught one of the tentacles and pulled the gigantic creature from the water.
Boom!
He slammed the giant creature to the ground, and it let out another weird roar. The roar did not last long because Rosalie and Zowen finished it quickly. Just like that, the giant creature died. The size of its head was ten meters long if they counted with the tentacle. It would make the creature thirty meters long.