Elemental Cats

Toz arrived at the foot of the mountains two days after he started running. Up close it was an impressive sight and he understood why it had looked like a singular large mountain when he was further away. Thirteen peaks, the seven smallest of them forming an outer ring, the next four creating a second layer, and finally the tallest mountain in the middle. The tallest mountain was the most unique one as instead of having the approximately same shape as all the other peaks, it was instead curved, almost looking like it had been hollowed out.

The mountains weren't located accurately enough to make it look deliberate, and the largest mountain's shape looked natural enough to not need a more thorough examination, since what else could it be except nature's coincidence. Toz would have most likely had the same thoughts, even after climbing one of the smaller peaks and looking at the center of it all, if not for the amount of mana he could feel climbing out of the hollow and into the air.

With strange thoughts entering his mind he decided to turn his eyes outwards, away from the mountain and to the hills instead. At first, he didn't see anything other than a bunch of hills and a forest far in the distance, but looking more closely he noticed that the hills followed the same pattern as the mountains, although not in as great detail. If he hadn't realized the mountains were layered in circles he definitely wouldn't have noticed anything special with the hills, even with a bird's eye view. But now that he had seen it it was impossible to unsee it.

However, it didn't matter if had noticed a pattern in the positions of the mountains and hills since there was nothing he could do with that information, even if it was related to the possible treasure hidden in the center of it all.

Deciding to focus on what's in front of him instead Toz started moving closer to the highest mountain.

Since a few of the mountains intersected with each other he could quickly pass through the inner layer, but as he got there he felt the presence of several other beings hiding close by, none of them getting too close to the hollowed-out mountain.

Toz didn't want to wait around unnecessarily in the sweltering heat, but if none of the wild beasts, who seemed to have an idea of what was going on, approached the source, something was up.

Since he could only wait he decided to scout out eventual opponents. Several of them had hidden themselves pretty decently but few things could be kept hidden from Toz's senses. Especially when most of them seemed extra heated due to the surging mana.

Among the ones he could see clearly were a pair of wolves, standing on the second highest mountain, almost like statues, overlooking the valley inside. On a plateau on another mountain a large hound lay down, orange-glowing saliva dripping down as it stared hungrily at the same place as everyone else.

The most impressive beast, in Toz's opinion, was a mammoth at the base of the mountains. With the height of several men, and more than half as wide, its sturdy muscular body was covered in a thick coat of blazing fur. With four tusks, two on each side of its mouth, and six legs, it was by appearance, the most dangerous beast present.

Although all four beasts were third level ones, the very peak of a low-level plane, there were clear differences in their abilities.

Aside from the four third level ones, there were also several second level beasts hiding in the surrounding area. And those were the strongest second level ones available. The heat was far too oppressive for weaker beings to even think about getting closer.

Toz only managed due to his sturdy physique and the heat-absorbing properties of the metal element, but even he was soaked in sweat. Looking at what all the wild beasts were looking at didn't make it any better either since the air had begun to tremble due to the surging heat from inside the largest mountain.

Toz was busy thinking about how to explore the hollow when three majestic deer showed up in an area between him and the mammoth, opposite the pair of wolves. He had gotten a good look at what an ember deer looked like a couple of days ago, so he easily determined what the three that showed up were. He wasn't surprised that they showed up either since a herd of that size was bound to have at least one third level being at the top.

What did surprise Toz was the deer in the lead. It was much bigger than the other two and its trademark embers had grown past being just short glowing nubs. They weren't far from turning into proper antlers of fire. Although the deer couldn't quite measure up to the mammoth in terms of raw power, when comparing mana, and how close they were to reaching the fourth level, the deer was superior.

The lead deer looked around at all the other beasts in an arrogant manner before focusing its gaze on the hollow.

Everyone's gaze seemed to try and pierce through the dark soil covering the ground within the mountain's curved base. Any grass had long since turned to ashes, leaving a burned scent that further enhanced the fiery atmosphere covering the mountain range.

An atmosphere like the calm before the storm laid over the gathered beasts and Toz as the temperature continued to rise. The flames on the mammoth grew, the antlers shone brighter, the wolves' eyes struck sparks as they continued looking and the hound's saliva pooled up below its chin as they all continued waiting with unbroken focus.

The heat continued to grow, especially in the center of the hollow and soon it grew hot enough to soften and melt the ground. Following a rumble the ground burst up with a splatter before gradually vanishing, in a sinkhole-like manner, revealing a large hole spanning the entire mountain hollow. The hole let out a dangerous orange light as it invited everyone inside and the previously immovable seven beasts were no longer immovable.

The situation had changed.

The previous calm was gone like the wind, and the storm had descended as the seven raced to establish dominance and any remaining beasts competed for a chance of their own.