Deep in the jungle, there was one group who had been moving through slowly, and that was Krynic currently leading the Aurora Clan with ten members and one of the Elders of the Dawnblade Clan, Impress, who had another five with them.
They were one of the largest groups that had managed to group up together. This was because of the two skilled individuals fighting against the monkeys. Although from different clans, both of them were skillful with the swords and were blocking several attacks.
'I saw what Ricar and Beatrix did!' Impress thought as she spun her body and blocked an attack from five of the monkeys, slicing and cutting several of their hands. She then spun her body a second time and pushed them all to the ground.
"Keep moving further in, don't stop, let us two deal with this!" Impress shouted.
While the monkeys had fallen, it was Krynic who was taking advantage of the situation. He threw his spear towards one of the monkeys on the ground and pierced right through their body. He was relatively far, around ten meters, and after throwing the spear, he was somewhat able to lift his body and pull himself towards it like it was attached by a piece of string.
Hurling himself towards the spear, he pulled it out from the dead monkey and then quickly threw it at another one, repeating this process.
'It's thanks to Ricar and Beatrix gathering a large amount of monkeys that we can make it through. We aren't like the other factions; we also look after and protect our clan members!'
After the constant fighting, they noticed that the monkeys retreated as they had entered a new section of the jungle which was darker in color. Impress leapt back along with Krynic as they both watched the monkeys' retreat.
"You did a good job," Krynic said. "I thought the Dawnblade Clan was in fallen times, but with Elders like you, I would say those were nothing but rumors."
"I also didn't know the Aurora Clan had skillful spear users. I thought nearly all their techniques were to do with the sword," Impress replied back.
"Correct, but there are always exceptions, those placed in a clan through fate that they don't really believe in themselves," Krynic replied back, and the two of them looked at the warriors.
They were exhausted, although they had thankfully managed to all survive, it wasn't without injuries. Some had black coconuts chucked at their body parts, injuring an arm or leg. Others had even their skin ripped by claws before others had arrived.
Thankfully, knowing the danger of the beasts, the warriors stuck together and fought side by side, and if there was one thing the Light Faction was exceptional at, it was teamwork and formations.
Impress looked around the darkened color and noticed it was quite strange. To her left and right, like a curved circle, she noticed there was a cut-off point. It almost looked like a line had been drawn in the grass rather than a general natural pass-through.
Seeing this didn't give her high hopes for what was to come.
"I think we should prioritize finding Ricar and the others rather than exploring the island," Impress said.
"I have no problem with that," Krynic immediately replied. "The Dawnblade Clan was given control of this mission, and honestly, we were told to prioritize the objective over helping the other clans, but those above have no idea about the situation at hand. So I am happy to comply."
The two from opposing clans in the same faction looked at each other and nodded; they were happy that at least the two of them could work well together.
While the few that were injured were being treated with Qi pills and basic herbs, Impress had made another observation, that the safest places for them were the territory borders. The monkeys wouldn't even get close to the borders, and whatever beasts were on the darker side of the jungle probably wouldn't do the same to the other side as well.
Leaving a safe vantage point for them. That was if it worked the way she hoped. It could possibly also be that on the darker side the stronger beasts didn't care so much about going into the weaker's territory; thankfully they were at least fine for now.
"Alright, now that everyone is ready, let's move, remember your formations and stay close to me and Krynic!" Impress ordered.
Rather than walking straight into the jungle, Impress was pacing to the left for a while and then pacing to the right before advancing deeper. She was covering more ground of the jungle this way.
She didn't care about advancing deeper due to the fear and was more concerned with trying to find the others they had split up with. Judging by them being the slowest group, she thought they would be behind the others and see some sort of sign.
It wasn't long until she saw splatters of blood on one of the trees. Seeing this, she lifted her hand up.
"I'll go up ahead, you guys stay back and keep your wits about you, make sure you're covering yourselves from all directions," Impress stated.
"Let me come with you," Krynic said. "With what we've run into so far, there might be something that needs the both of us."
Usually, as an Elder and in a higher position, Impress would have declined but in the current situation she agreed, and the two of them moved forward. They saw more blood splatters as they moved slightly ahead and eventually on the ground they saw body parts.
An entire arm was on the ground looking to have been ripped off. They continued forward, ignoring the arm for now, looking at the destruction and eventually stopped in their tracks in an open area.
"What... did this?" Impress said.
Several warriors' bodies were lying on the floor lifeless. All of them on the edge pointing towards something. However, there wasn't much destruction for the forest itself, showing signs that there wasn't much of a struggle for whatever it was that they were fighting against.
Quickly, Krynic jumped as he recognized the individual in the center.
"This is Gelgar from the Illumination Clan, even he was killed. What type of beast did they run into?"
"They did not run into any beast," Impress answered. "Can't you see the wounds, they were done by martial arts. It's clear that there is someone that is very dangerous on this island."