The battles continued as the entourage moved through the forest.

The heroes would fight in teams of four rotationally to allow one group to rest while the other gets into the fray.

And as usual, they would allow the heroes who weren’t getting as much action... none in fact, to land the final blows on some of the beasts they slay, so that they can all level up in unison.

This happens to be Caleb and Lily.

It was a well-coordinated machine of efficiency, and the accompanying imperial knights were mind-blown looking at these monsters that had not even been in their world for a complete month.

But something interesting began to happen. Ava and Erica just happen to be on the same team of four on every rotation. And what started with the bringing kills for Caleb to land the final blow..... Quickly turned into a competition.

Now, on every junction along the way, piles of half-dead beasts would be deposited in front of Caleb for him to land the final blow as both ladies zapped about the terrain.

One moving at incredible speeds from tree to tree and impaling targets... the other simply appearing behind her foes and taking them out with her twin daggers before they even realize what happened. Both fiercely tallying the pile they have brought in front of Caleb.

This scene carried on for several stops, and even the usually nonchalant Lily now had a clear frown on her pretty face. Her pile was always a fraction of that of Caleb whenever it was the turn of those two overzealous girls.

It wasn’t only Lily who took note of this oddity, and Zorat wasn’t even certain that both girls realized what they were doing.

Notwithstanding the two highly motivated young ladies’ actions, the journey continued through the forest, as the heroes continued to gain experience more and more.

For normal master realm beasts, a team of four Adept realm heroes can now easily dispatch them.

For peak master realm beasts, which were decently rare, and they’ve only come across four so far, all heroes would have to battle the beast together, using their synergy of abilities.

And they would eventually take the beast down with no injuries.

For early grandmaster realm beasts, though, even though they fought together, they would still sustain some injuries, some light and others severe.....

And that’s where Lilly comes in. Still, they can handle early to mid grandmaster realm beasts as well.

For those at the late and peak stages ?

The type they would have to face in the forest of no return, they would have to at least cross the master realm to make that possible.

This inhumane ability to thwart foes above them in realm was all possible because of the insane boosts these heroes get to their stats at every level. And the synergy in the abilities and skills.

With the heroes’ improved skills, it became less of a fight and more of a massacre through the forest of Algove.....

With them leveling even faster as the start coming across grandmaster early to mid realm beasts..... and soon, all heroes began crossing into the master realm.

Andrew was the first to make the cross, with a significant bump to his speed, reaction time, power, and raw mana output.

Ariana followed, then came Jacob, then Roberto, then Ava. then Erica, then Broddy, then Julia, then Caleb, and finally Lilly.

With their improved realms came a more expedient dispatching of the beast they came across along the way. All this took several hours, and soon it began to grow dark, and they would have to make camp somewhere.

Urasmus led them through a familiar path, adjacent to the frequented road through the forest they were on.

The man was good at his job, and he soon led them to the bank of a river, where everyone began to settle down to make their accommodations for the night.

They were all more prepared this time, unlike the last time, when they had to sleep in the open underneath the triple moonlight. This time, everyone began setting up makeshift sleep tents, with the assistance of Andrew, the Boy Scout.

They were feeling quite satisfied with their spacious tents, that was, until they saw the literal castle fort that had been mounted for the saintess by the imperial knights.

Calling it a tent would be too modest. It looked like a home, made of leather, cotton, and fur.

"I guess it pays to be rich," Julia mumbled, half joking, half jealous as she watched the knights lead the beautiful saintess into her tenth a few feet away from theirs.

The other heroes reciprocated her view as well, with her words igniting a new wave of conversion as they put the finishing touches to their tents for the night.

None of the heroes really knew anything about the saintess. Aside from the day of their arrival, they have never been in the same room again, not to mention engage in conversation.

The class structure of this new world was both beneficial and annoying to the heroes.

It has been made obvious in so many ways that the saintess was of a higher class than they are, and having it rubbed in their face like this really stung some of them.

But what could they do?

They were all wise enough to realise at this point that even though the saintess looked so young, she was incredibly powerful.....

and the so-called escort mission wasn’t really for her protection, but was to maintain tradition.

They can’t go complaining to seek fair or equal treatment when they have been treated like honored heroes since their arrival.

After a quick dinner around the burnfire, with the saintess having hers in her tent.

They all started retreating into their own tents, with the imperial knights scheduled to keep watch on rotation through the night.

Zorat entered his own tent.

Now that his physical body had achieved the master realm, he was curious to see the bump. With a thought, he pulled up his status window to check the improvements.

****

[Name: Caleb Cole]

[LV: 31 ]

[HP: 385/385 ]

[MP: 82/82 ]

[STR: 35 ]

[DEF: 38 ]

[SPD: 32 ]

[Affinity: Space || Earth || Bow || Shadow || Strength || Lightning ]

[Skills: Spatial Repertoire (Error) || Portal (Error) || Earth Manipulaion (Error) ]

[Special Skill: Space Manipulation (Error) || Void Domain (Error) || Existential Pierce (Error) || Limitless Might (Error) || Lightning Genesis (Error)]

****

"Hehe....quite the boost."

With the break to the master realm, now Zorat’s physical body can withstand a lethality that should annihilate anyone in the paragon realm quite easily...

and it should also allow him to exchange a few moves with those at half-transcendent.

After Zorat had gone through his thoughts and arranged plans for this journey, he turned in for the night just like the rest. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

However, a few hours into his rest, now in the thick of night, Zorat’s eyes suddenly sprang open as he felt a familiar presence cross his perception.

"Ah....so you’ve come. Hehehe."

A wicked grin spread across Zorat’s face as he cast his void domain spell, instantly vanishing from view.