"Someone beat us to this cave...?!"
Luo's voice came out shaky, and he backed away a few steps, his eyes still locked on the carvings etched into the wall.
The carved lines stretched across a wide section of the rock.
Cha Ji raised his hand, taking an offensive stance.
"Is this a trap?"
He was ready to fire an attack directly at the carvings, but Shun De grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"If it were a trap, they wouldn't have made these carvings this visible."
Then he pointed at the wall.
"Actually, any real combat formation is usually hidden as much as possible. If an opponent can see the formation's core point and strike it, it could disable it mid-fight. So it's clear this formation was made for a different purpose."
Cha Ji lowered his hand slightly, but didn't drop his guard.
As for Luo, he kept staring at the carvings, then let out a short laugh with no humor in it at all.
"Yeah... but whoever's capable of making a formation like this isn't someone we can contest ownership of this cave with."
He fell silent for a moment, then added in a more tense tone:
"After all this preparation, are we really going back empty-handed?"
He turned toward the entrance, now far behind them.
"The cave's sealed off, and that Level Three hawk's still hunting us. Even if we find another way out, do you think we'd actually make it out before it catches us?"
Luo clenched his fist.
"I don't want to feel this helpless again..."
He lowered his head, then looked at his own hands.
"That damn technique the hawk uses, leaving us completely unable to move, it's terrifying."
He raised his eyes to the other two.
"How did we even end up in all this?"
Silence settled for a few seconds.
Shun De couldn't find an answer.
Even Cha Ji, normally the quickest to speak, stayed quiet.
They'd entered the cave looking for a Phantom, then found themselves trapped deep inside it, hunted by a beast far stronger than them, and now standing in front of a mysterious formation made by some unknown person.
And yet, turning back had become even more terrifying than pushing forward.
Shun De breathed slowly, then put his hand on Luo's shoulder.
"Calm down."
Luo looked at him.
"We'll find a way."
Shun De pointed at the carvings.
"Let's push deeper. I don't think we've got any other option."
Then he smiled a small smile.
"The unknown might be terrifying, but it beats a reality we already know might kill us anyway."
Luo stayed silent for a few moments.
Then he let out a long breath.
Cha Ji moved forward first, followed by Shun De.
After a moment of hesitation, Luo walked behind them.
Their footsteps echoed deeper into the cave, while the carvings behind them remained silent.
A formation is a group of Phantoms linked together with the help of an intermediary Phantom, and Phantoms from the Formation path are generally considered the most prominent cores of formations as a whole. There are thousands of different ways to set up a given formation, though the most well-known method in the new world is formation reinforced through drawing.
In this type, a sub-path known as the Drawing path is used to strengthen the formation, or to serve as its core; some Phantoms from the Drawing path carry abilities similar to those of Formation-path Phantoms, with some even surpassing them in strength.
The most powerful formations built this way are usually ones relying on illusions and labyrinths. So even if the three of them tried to find a way out of the cave, there might not be a real exit to begin with, and they might have been trapped inside an illusory formation from the very moment they stepped in.
And this was exactly the reason Shun De hadn't told them.
Their chance of survival didn't just depend on finding an exit, but on not panicking, understanding the formation, and finding whoever had made it.
But finding the formation's creator carried its own danger.
If that person discovered they'd learned things they weren't supposed to know, they might try to kill them to silence them and protect their secrets.
"I don't think my preparations are enough for all this. I hope I can protect everyone." Luo thought to himself, worry and regret gnawing at him for not having expected the worst.
Grrrrr... sssssss...
A deep gurgling sound, mixed with a long hiss, rose up from the depths of the cave.
The footsteps of all three stopped instantly.
The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a depth that made the echo reverberate between the walls, until they felt a chill run through their bodies.
"Oh no... can it really get worse than this?"
Cha Ji said that as he slowly turned toward the source of the sound.
In the next instant, he froze in place.
He could no longer move a single finger.
Right behind him, the hawk appeared.
It stood on a rocky outcrop, imposing amid the darkness, its blue feathers lighting up the area around it, its glowing eyes fixed directly on them.
"Cha Ji!"
Shun De realized what had happened and lunged toward him, trying to strike him and snap him out of the paralysis.
But before his hand could reach him, he froze too.
"Damn it!"
Luo didn't hesitate.
He lunged toward the two of them, trying to free them by force, but managed only two steps before his own body froze completely.
All three of them were now unable to move.
And ahead of them, the rocks began shifting slowly.
The lizard emerged.
It was massive, almost impossible to properly gauge its size within that hollow, its body covered in rough armored plating, while long arms extended from either side of its body, ending in sharp claws.
It raised its head.
Then opened its mouth.
Its jaw spread open to a terrifying degree, until the upper half of its head looked as though it had split in two, its mouth opening at an enormous angle.
It lunged toward them.
The three of them could do nothing but watch its massive body closing in at a terrifying speed.
But before it could reach them...
the hawk shot forward.
It surged directly above them, moving through the air at a speed their eyes couldn't follow, then slammed into the lizard's head, forcing it to stop.
The three of them widened their eyes.
"With that kind of power...?!"
The hawk wasn't defending them.
It was attacking the lizard for its own reasons entirely.
The lizard turned toward it and opened its mouth again.
In that same instant, a fiery light appeared in front of the hawk.
The flames condensed quickly, forming into a massive ball of fire.
Even from a distance, the three of them felt its heat touching their faces.
Then it launched.
The fireball flew directly into the lizard's open mouth.
The lizard paused for a moment.
Then snapped its jaw shut violently.
But it was already too late.
Fire spread through its body, heat seeping deep inside, while the lizard began thrashing violently within the hollow.
The ground shook beneath the three of them's feet, and a few rocks fell from the ceiling.
Then the lizard regained its ability to move.
It lunged toward the hawk at an unreasonable speed, its claws extending in an attempt to tear it apart.
But the hawk dodged with ease.
The lizard shot past it, its claws striking nothing but air.
It turned and tried to attack again.
But its body couldn't take any more.
It suddenly stopped.
Its belly swelled unnaturally.
And in the next instant...
its body exploded.
The cave shook from the force of the explosion, fragments of rock scattering off the walls, while a wave of heat and smoke surged through the hollow.
The hawk remained in the air, barely affected by any of it.
As for the three of them, they stayed frozen, unable to move, staring at the spot where the lizard had been standing just moments before.
No one said a word.
In that moment, they reali
zed the hawk hadn't just been another problem they needed to escape from.
It was a Level Three beast, one capable of killing massive beasts like this one with ease.
And now, it was looking straight at them...