Idan and Arabel were very grateful to Alois and Liam for showing them how the aura works.
Eulalia and Milica, in turn, showed them how to use mana, but did not tell them about aura. From the way Eulalia listened to Alois' story and showed surprise, it was obvious that she did not possess an aura.
Milica probably knew how to work with her, but they hadn't shown her their skills until today.
At that time, they didn't understand the difference between aura and mana very well, and they didn't pay much attention to it.
Since Milica belonged to the higher realm, she should know about aura.
Putting aside the question of asking their master about aura for later when they returned, the group continued on their way.
This was only the second day after «Reset», and they still had five days left. They planned to spend two of them retreating back to the city. It turns out that, apart from today, they only had three days to get to the central layer and explore it.
While the others were speculating about the appearance of a Temple in this Forbidden Zone, the couple didn't pay much attention to it. They were much more interested in what kind of creature was waiting for them in the central layer.
Of course, the creature that interested their System could not be ordinary.
Soon, the group encountered another wave of beasts. The third wave was bigger and stronger than the previous one.
The couple began to suspect that the Forbidden Zone was testing them, sending out stronger and more powerful beasts with each wave.
However, they were surprised that ever since they entered the middle layer, they had not encountered any doppelgangers. Even with the so-called "Mutes", who were in abundance in this stratum.
"Is that okay?" — Arabel asked when they finally got rid of all the beasts.
This time Nemo and Liam actively fought against the strongest opponents. The most powerful beast in this wave was still at the "gold" rank.
The others also noticed the strangeness of what was happening.
They had already encountered three waves that arrived at almost the same interval. Even the naivest person could understand that something was wrong here.
Normally, this wouldn't happen.
Alois and his student focused their gaze on Idan and Arabel.
There is something special about this situation: both people, whom the consciousness of this world sought to capture, were here with them. However, it could not act openly. Perhaps the consciousness is just trying to manipulate this Forbidden zone and test their strength.
"This is really a problem," Alois said with some regret. He regretted making a deal with the elf.
Even these three waves had already caused him to have concerns about the future development of events.
As expected, after about the same time, they were overtaken by the fourth wave, a larger one, and this time there was one platinum-ranked beast among them.
The group could only accept and survive this wave.
When the platinum-ranked beast appeared, Eulalia did not hesitate to join the battle and took it on herself. The others, having chosen their opponents, joined her.
Alois, observing the actions of the others, was in no hurry to interfere yet. He realized that after a few waves, a beast or a diamond-ranked doppelganger would definitely appear, and then he would need all his strength.
The bronze and silver ranked beasts made up the majority. Realizing that Idan and Arabel would not be able to handle them alone, Liam volunteered to fight the beasts of the "Golden" rank alone. He asked Nemo to help the couple deal with the others quickly.
Nemo, of course, didn't mind. He could have handled all the golden-ranked beasts on his own, but he decided to listen to Liam's words and help his younger ones.
With the beginning of the new wave, Idan and Arabel realized that the time for games and challenges of their abilities had passed. They set about fighting the beasts with full seriousness, striving to defeat them as quickly and efficiently as possible.
In the previous three waves, they had already tested their strength and improved it a little. Now they weren't as tense and excited as before.
Although they felt a little tired, their fighting spirit had increased, and they seemed calmer than before. And with Nemo joining, they quickly dealt with all the beasts, of which there were quite a few in this wave.
They all assumed that the task would not be easy. Even Alois, when he joined their group, expected it to be difficult.
However, they did not expect such a trick.
If the situation develops in this way, the fifth wave will soon break out, and there will already be more than one "platinum beast" among them.
Of course, it won't be difficult with Alois. However, if you consider the many other beasts, the situation may become more serious. Even if Liam, Eulalia and Nemo are very strong, they can get tired of so many opponents.
After all, the fifth wave will not be the last. It will be followed by the sixth.
"And what's next?" asked Arabel, wanting to know the opinion of the others.
Unlike them, the others are here to check if a Temple has appeared here. They don't have to try so hard and be patient to get this information.
"We expected this," Eulalia said. "There's no point in retreating!"
"She's right! Most likely, this is exactly what Limbo's consciousness wants," Alois expressed his opinion.
"Most likely, other outsiders and locals have already arrived at the Forbidden Zone and are waiting for us," Eulalia suggested.
Alois agreed with her, "Yes, it's exactly as she thinks."
"We will continue!" said Alois firmly. Although he didn't like the current situation, he couldn't back down.
"For the entire time of the existence of the Forbidden Zones, such events have almost never happened! Usually, encounters with beasts and doppelgangers in the middle layer were rare and random, not like ours."
As the person who had spent the most time in Limbo at the moment, Alois had the most extensive information about him.
Except for the couple's System, which could even steal information from Limbo, but for some reason didn't want to share it with them.
The couple had already assumed that their System knew about leaving this world. And all these tasks that she gave out were most likely another check of the System for their suitability.
They couldn't find any other explanation for their System's behavior.