The Paladin elder's strength and insight were actually quite formidable. When he first met Aria and the others, he could immediately tell their power was extraordinary. Perhaps because he shared the same class as Aria, the elder could faintly sense the strength of her oath and recognize the longsword on her back as a Paladin Divine Artifact.
As for Douglas, his physique alone—a body tempered through countless trials—made it impossible for his strength to be weak. With Feidric, the elder could also vaguely sense the immense magic power contained within him.
But among them all, Cipher was the only one from whom he could sense nothing. She truly seemed like an ordinary person, or rather, an ordinary catgirl. Aside from her stunning figure and exceptional beauty, there was nothing special about her. Yet, in a group like this, wasn't such ordinariness the greatest anomaly of all?
In truth, if any other demigod had appeared, the elder would likely have detected the fluctuations of divine power and recognized their status immediately. But Cipher's divine authority was unique—her divine power was simply too well-concealed.
Returning to the present, Cipher met the elder's question with a slightly surprised expression. She hadn't expected him to guess so accurately. Without denying it, she stated directly, "That's right. I am one of Okhema's twelve demigods."
Upon receiving this answer, the elder actually breathed a sigh of relief. His worldview had been preserved. If all this was the work of a god, then it made perfect sense. But another question immediately followed: what kind of divine authority and power could create a Blue Spider Lily in a place where it shouldn't exist?
Life? Plants? But that didn't seem right. Even with such authority, it should still adhere to fundamental laws.
The elder couldn't figure it out, but he didn't ask Cipher. Such matters were undoubtedly secrets of the highest order.
After this brief interlude, the group resumed their journey. About half an hour later, the Catgirl Ranger leading the way stopped. Before she could speak, Feidric stepped forward and said, "So this is where the tracks finally disappear?"
Feidric took a few steps forward, moving to the very front of the group. He surveyed the surroundings with a grave expression. The area still looked no different from the rest of the forest; everything appeared utterly ordinary.
"There are lingering traces of... Spatial Magic here," Feidric announced.
The elder asked, puzzled, "Spatial Magic? What kind, specifically?"
"It seems to be a Demiplane spell," Feidric explained. "There must have been an entrance here before. The Mutated Animals likely dragged the other animals' corpses through this entrance into the Demiplane, which is why they vanished without a trace."
"Is there any way to enter this so-called Demiplane?" the elder asked.
Feidric shook his head. "No. The Demiplane is no longer here. It's been moved elsewhere."
This confirmed one thing: someone else was behind the Mutated Animals. After all, animals couldn't cast magic, let alone a Seventh-Level spell like Create Demiplane.
Douglas chimed in, "Isn't it obvious? It must be related to those Moon Circle people. Their organization is connected to the moon, and they're skilled at transforming animals. Maybe they're the ones who created these Mutated Animals."
The elder's brow furrowed, and he remained silent, seemingly contemplating the possibility. Just then, the cat ears on Cipher and the other Catgirl Ranger in the group twitched rapidly in unison.
"Something's approaching fast!" they cried out together.
Thud—!
The instant their words faded, a dull crash echoed through the forest. A massive tree, at least two meters in diameter, snapped in half at its trunk. A tiger with two heads, blood-red eyes, and a pair of wings on its back charged toward the group.
The tiger's second head appeared underdeveloped, shriveled and hairless. The wings on its back were skeletal, consisting only of a thin membrane of flesh with no feathers.
Standing at the front of the group, Feidric became the tiger's primary target. Yet, despite the suddenness of the attack, he remained utterly calm, his expression serene.
As the tiger swiped its claws at him, an Automatic Shield Spell triggered, activating a Trigger Spell, which in turn cast Teleportation.
In the blink of an eye, Feidric vanished into thin air and reappeared in the middle of the group. Aria and the elder struck almost simultaneously.
"Divine Smite!" they both cried.
However, there was a difference: Aria's Divine Smite blazed with golden light, while the elder's glowed a gentle green.
Boom!
A torrent of golden magic erupted from Aria's blade, slamming into the tiger. The elder, meanwhile, brought his greatsword crashing down directly onto the creature's head. With a sickening crunch of shattering bone, he smashed the tiger into the ground.
Watching this, Cipher raised an eyebrow. "That Divine Smite... it seems different from the ones I've seen before."
Douglas nodded. "Yeah, it looked just like my Vertical Slash."
Feidric explained, "The Oath of the Ancient Sages is unlike other oaths. Simply put, it's a vow dedicated to protecting the environment, nature, and life itself. Paladins of this oath are far more skilled at healing than destruction."
"In other words," Feidric continued, "the Divine Smite of an Ancient Sages Paladin is the weakest among all oaths, but their healing abilities are the strongest. Furthermore, the Oath of the Ancient Sages grants another absurdly powerful ability: Magic Resistance."
"This ability provides them with an incredibly high resistance to magic. Whether it's control spells or damage spells, even if a Fireball exploded right in the elder's face while he stood at the epicenter, he would likely suffer almost no injuries."
"The Paladin with the weakest Divine Smite, huh?" Cipher muttered, glancing at the tiger the elder had just pulverized. "Doesn't seem that weak to me."
Her cat ears twitched atop her head. "Careful! There's more than just that one!"
Just then, a horde of mutated animals swarmed them from all directions: a deer with eight legs and a body covered in spikes; a squirrel the size of a brown bear with massive fangs; an eagle soaring through the sky with four or five snake heads writhing from its tail—and many, many more.