They watched the Vanquisher on his silvaric bear for a moment longer as the massive body of the creature disappeared between the trees. Then they turned back toward the forest and pushed deeper between the dark trunks.
"She can't be that far," Darek said, quickening his pace as he scanned the ground and surroundings for even the smallest trace. "We need to hurry. The fight is already in full swing."
Seraphis lifted his head.
His body tensed.
He was just about to hiss, but before a sound could leave his throat, Darek felt the warning directly in his mind.
DANGER.
At that exact moment, something crashed out of the trees ahead of them.
A massive body burst through the undergrowth, tearing branches apart and making entire treetops tremble as the forest floor visibly shifted under its weight.
Darek grimaced slightly.
"A grotto salamander," he said, irritation clearly audible in his voice.
The monster pushed further out of the forest.
At first, only the enormous, scaled body could be seen, rolling through the trees like a living boulder. Then its massive upper body rose, while the rest of it dragged itself free from the trampled undergrowth.
The grotto salamander reared up.
Its upper body towered several meters above the ground, its head looming high above them. Even from this distance, its figure was immense, its dark mass making it look almost like a living rock.
About eight meters.
At least.
Its skin was thick, covered in dark, irregular plates that shifted against each other as it moved. Dirt trickled from its body while its massive jaws slowly opened, revealing rows of blunt yet enormous teeth.
Then its tail moved.
The massive muscle whipped through the forest.
With a single brutal motion, the grotto salamander swept its tail through the surrounding trees. Trunks snapped like thin sticks under the force, torn from the ground or shattered into splinters as the forest around it collapsed beneath the sheer violence of the strike.
Wood splintered.
Earth was torn apart.
And above it all rose a deep, aggressive roar from the monster's enormous maw, shaking the forest itself.
Darek clenched his teeth.
"Shit… we don't have time for this."
His gaze moved over the salamander's body.
The first one they had encountered had already been dangerous.
But this one…
felt bigger.
Stronger.
Its massive body tensed as muscles shifted beneath its thick skin.
Darek sized it up.
"If the last one was eleven years old…" he muttered without taking his eyes off it, "then this one has to be at least fourteen."
Before Darek or Pow-Pow could even think about throwing themselves into a fight, Seraphis slithered past them and moved ahead onto the forest floor. His long body stretched between the broken trunks as he slowly rose up, lifting his head toward the grotto salamander.
Then something happened.
Seraphis' pupils narrowed into thin, dark slits, locking onto the monster in front of them without moving. At the same moment, the air around him seemed to grow denser, as if an invisible weight was emanating from his body.
A crushing aura spread outward.
It settled over the forest like a heavy pressure, pressing against chest and lungs. Leaves on nearby branches trembled faintly, and even the ground beneath Darek's feet felt strange and heavy for a moment.
Darek blinked in surprise.
That crushing aura…
The thought shot through his mind instantly.
Seraphis…
His gaze moved over the serpent's body.
In the short time since they had met, Seraphis had already grown twice. He was no longer the slender figure that had accompanied him at the beginning. Now, a massive, muscular serpent lay before them, its scaled body coiling powerfully through the shattered undergrowth. His size alone, combined with his calm, controlled presence, would have been enough to send many creatures fleeing.
But with this new ability…
he felt like something else entirely.
Something terrifying.
Seraphis raised his head a little higher and released a long, sharp hiss that cut through the ruined forest like a warning.
The grotto salamander froze.
Its massive body twitched slightly, and its head lowered just a bit, as if it had suddenly noticed something it had overlooked before.
It hesitated for a brief moment.
Then, only an instant later, the enormous body moved.
Not to attack.
It turned abruptly and began retreating through the forest with surprising speed, its massive frame forcing trees and brush aside as it went.
Within seconds, it was gone.
Seraphis' aura lingered in the air for a moment longer before slowly fading.
"Not bad," Pow-Pow said honestly, giving Seraphis an approving glance as the last remnants of the crushing aura still hung between the trees like a heavy shadow.
Before anyone could respond, Iris' voice rang out in Darek's mind.
FOUND HER!
The words came clear and without hesitation.
About twenty minutes to your right, if you hurry.
Darek had been waiting for exactly that.
His gaze snapped immediately in the indicated direction, as if an invisible thread had been stretched through the forest, leading straight to Votaria. Without wasting another second, he broke into a run, branches cracking beneath his feet as the undergrowth was forced aside.
Then Iris spoke again.
Darek… she's not alone.
A brief moment passed.
There's something else here.
Her voice lost its usual calm.
Something big.
Darek didn't slow down.
"Iris," he said shortly while running, "vision."
Even before the word fully left his lips, the image opened before his inner eye.
What he saw made him slow down abruptly.
After a few more steps, he came to a complete stop.
Votaria was there.
She stood between the trees, her body tense, her gaze filled with fear as she stared at what stood before her.
And opposite her…
…stood a monster.
A massive grotto salamander.
Its enormous body rose from the forest floor like a living pillar of dark, scaled mass, while its head was lowered slowly in her direction. Its full attention was fixed on her.
Ursula stood in front of her.
The massive bear had positioned herself protectively between Votaria and the monster, her body wide and tense as a deep growl vibrated from her chest.
Darek felt his stomach tighten.
"Iris… how old is that thing?"
The answer came immediately.
That should be one of the three Elders the oracle mentioned.
A short pause followed.
My estimate would be around seventy-eight years.
Seraphis and Pow-Pow looked at Darek at the same time.
The shock was clearly written across their faces.
A grotto salamander of that age was not something you simply fought.
Even after everything they had already survived, a battle like that was far beyond anything they could handle.
Darek clenched his teeth.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he looked up with determination, as if he had made a decision.
Slowly, he raised his hand.
Red dust began to gather within it.
At first, only a thin veil.
But within seconds, the energy condensed more and more, swirling between his fingers, growing denser, heavier, more intense with every passing moment.
Pow-Pow frowned.
Even Seraphis lifted his head slightly.
Both of them watched Darek with visible confusion.
No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn't imagine what he intended to do with such an amount of red dust.
Then, suddenly, Darek hurled the condensed sphere of red dust forward.
"Stress!"
The dust struck Pow-Pow directly.
The moment the energy touched his body, everything changed.
It was as if something ignited inside him, a fire that spread explosively through every fiber of his being. His heart began to race, his muscles tensed all at once yet seemed to want to move in every direction, and his entire nervous system felt like it was screaming all at once.
Pow-Pow trembled.
His whole body shook uncontrollably, as if far too much energy was surging through him at the same time. His eyes widened, his breathing turned rapid, and his head jerked sharply, as if he couldn't organize the storm raging inside him.
He had never experienced this level of overstimulation from stress.
His thoughts raced.
His body wanted to act.
But he could barely form words.
"W… what… what are you planning, Darek? W… what are you doing?!"
Darek didn't have time for discussion.
"We don't have twenty minutes!" he shouted sharply.
His voice cut through Pow-Pow's chaotic thoughts.
"Go! Use your power! This should work! Do it! Now!"
Pow-Pow stared at him for a moment, confused and overwhelmed.
But the stress in his body gave him no peace. His mind was far too agitated to think for long. The energy pushed outward, searching for a way to release itself.
Pow-Pow snapped his head up.
"Pow… pow… power…"
His voice cracked.
"Power… Powerform…"
His body tensed.
"Powerform Transformation!"
Pow-Pow's body began to change.
At first, it was only a slight stretch of his back, as if something inside him was realigning. Then his body visibly lengthened, his proportions shifting. Within moments, he reached a height of about one meter twenty, yet the change was not only in his height, but in the shape of his body.
His fur lost some of its deep red and took on a more yellowish tone, as if light itself moved faster within it. At the same time, dark, almost black stripes ran through his fur, stretching along his sides and across his back, as if shadows had been painted onto him. The patterns looked wild and restless, almost as if they shifted slightly with every movement. His body lowered closer to the ground until he stood on all fours.
To Pow-Pow, this posture felt unfamiliar.
Almost foreign.
His usually round face stretched forward, his snout becoming narrower and sharper, while his ears pressed tightly against his head as if to reduce air resistance. His eyes appeared more alert than before, slightly larger, while his shoulders visibly slimmed down and his body took on a longer, more streamlined form.
The result was a strange mixture.
Still clearly Pow-Pow.
Yet at the same time, his new form resembled a hybrid between a bear and a greyhound, built for speed rather than raw mass.
Despite this elegant form, the storm inside him remained clearly visible.
His head continued to twitch restlessly, as if his body was driven by excess energy that could not find a resting point, almost as if he had drunk far too much coffee and could no longer stay still.
Before Pow-Pow could even fully comprehend what was happening to his body, Darek had already jumped onto his back.
At the same moment, Seraphis wrapped himself around Pow-Pow's newly slender body, his long coils securing themselves tightly around his chest and shoulders so he wouldn't be thrown off at the coming speed.
Pow-Pow jerked his head up in shock.
"Riding me was never part of the deal!"
But Darek leaned forward over his back, his hands already gripping tightly into the yellow-striped fur.
"We don't have time for this, Pow-Pow!"
Pow-Pow snorted in irritation, his ears flattening even further.
"Then you're carrying me just as long on your shoulders when this is over!"
Even as he shouted that, his body tensed.
In the next instant, he shot forward.
The acceleration was so sudden and brutal that the forest around them turned into a blurred stream of colors and shadows. Pow-Pow's body moved through the trees at a speed that even Darek could barely comprehend.
The wind tore at him.
Branches and leaves lashed past them, while the ground beneath Pow-Pow's paws vanished in fast, powerful leaps.
Darek had to press himself even closer against Pow-Pow's body, wrapping his arms tightly around him to avoid being thrown off at the first sharp turn.
Seraphis tightened his coils as well.
The serpent anchored himself firmly against Pow-Pow's side as the rapid dash through the forest began.
The forest transformed around them into a green tunnel of speed as Pow-Pow shot across the ground.
And somewhere ahead of them waited a monster…
one that even Vanquishers only hunted in groups.