Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

"Uh, yes! When I escorted the ladies, I saw footprints belonging to the nightmare panthers. They were all over the place and leading deeper into the trees to our north. As they don't hunt more than a hundred miles away from their homes, I believe that their den might be nearby us, and we can reach there by following the tracks."

The lady who was near him, as if she didn't fear him at all, asked, "So, are we going to go there?"

Nope, not so fast!

Elliot's eyes narrowed, a thoughtful look appearing on his face. "What are the chances of their being treasures in their den?"

"Master, why do you think the residents of the nightmare forest, including me, hate those bastards? Every night, they go out to hunt us and sniff out the treasure buried here and there. True, what they've gathered over the years might not compare to the treasures in the devil bull's cave. However, if their den doesn't have any treasures, then you can change my name, call me whatever you like." The horrifying mandrake vehemently replied.

This slave of his was indeed more passionate and useful than the others.

"Where are we going?" Oliver, who just walked up to them, asked Elliot.

"For now, we're going to retrieve what's mine from the beast's den!" Elliot said, laying his claim on everything that he might find in the residence of the beasts he just killed.

Oliver nodded his head, seeing no problem with no that. First of all, he killed all the monsters by himself. Secondly, beggars can't be choosers. The others who heard their conversation held the same thought.

"Master, we're here." After a while, they reached the place where they had seen footprints.

"There indeed are many footprints," Elliot said after looking at the ground with a scrutinizing gaze and seeing dozens of them. "But there are too many, and each is leading to a different path."

"What should we do?" Lucy asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" It said, "Master, it would be better to split up into different groups and trace the footprint as to not a lot of time with this task. One of them might very well lead to their den."

They didn't have a lot of time! The spiritual fruit was going to mature soon, and that happens, the devil bull that had been guarding it for around 300 years, would consume it. They needed to reach there before that happens.

Anyway, while it seemed like it was saying those words for his sake, it was actually aiming to get rid of the baggage.

"That's suicide for us." Oliver retorted.

The other also took his side.

"Why don't you go all by yourself and we go together?" Sean added while facing the horrifying mandrake.

"Bullshit! I've been with master the longest, and I am still more useful to him than all of you combined." It rebuked. "Am I right, master?"

Sean and Oliver felt tongue-tied and didn't say a word.

Lucy placed her hand on her forehead, sighing deeply at their attitude.

"Stop bickering like children," Elliot said, stopping the fools from saying one more word. "I have an even better idea."

He raised his hands in front of him, and along with the rustling of leaves that sounded more like a whistle, golden energy came pouring out of Elliot's hands. Several waves of energy came rolling out of his palms and took the form of floating bobs of light like Will-o'-the-wisp. Immediately, the entire night seemed to be blessed by God's grace.

Be my eyes!

Search high and low for what I wish to find!

Scatter and Spread out in all directions!

Go on, my creations!

"Trace the footsteps and guide us towards the right path if there is any," Elliot ordered them.

Immediately the hovering lights rushed out with such speed that they appeared to look like rays of light cascading down from the Sun. After a few moments, some of them returned, carrying bad news. But before Elliot's mood could sour, a beam of light charged towards his temple, crashed on it, and seeped into it, showing him the memories of its short-lived life. A wave of memories washed over Elliot's soul, and a satisfied smile crept on his face. The memories showed him that tracing the footprints in the middle would lead him to their den!

"Follow me," Elliot said as he charged forward, straight towards the thick trees.

"Wait, you're going too fast."

"Then, try to catch up."

"That's what we can't do!"

Splitting up right now was too dangerous.

Elliot sighed, recalled his creations, and created clouds of corporal golden energy for them to sit on. "Sit on it, and you'll reach there easily."

"Thank you." Lucy expressed her gratitude before sitting on the fluffy but solid cloud of gold. The others also placed their butts on them.

They moved towards the beast's den. It only took them less than ten minutes to encounter one of the dangers lurking in the dark.

Whoosh!

They were going past a row of trees when a shadowy figure leaped out of its hiding spot and darted towards Elliot like an arrow out of a bowstring. It looked like a snake but had bat-like wings and tiny horns growing out of its head, truly a wonder of nature.

[You've been attacked by an Elite-grade Spirit Monster, Shadow Hunter]

Elliot saw a dreadful beast coming towards him but didn't do anything much other than raising his right hand and pointing his palm towards it. The snake opened its mouth wide, wide enough to swallow him whole.

BOMB!

However, Julian, Lucy, Oliver, and the others saw that instead of having Elliot for a meal, the only thing that it got to eat was a blast of blue energy that entered its gaping mouth before it even reached him and smashed at the back of its throat and exploded.. The impact caused it to be blasted away from him by several meters and also caused its head to turn bloody.