Drake followed the glowing green thread. It led them all the way to the road located on the right side of the dragon-shaped mountain. It was the side that they would have taken if he had not gone in between the two roads and cut through the clearing that headed toward the runed rock. He was glad he chose the path he took. It gave them a boon. One that would help them complete their quests far quicker than without it.

"Well, we're back on the road," Mike observed. His glowing, electric blue eyes followed the green thread. "Weren't we going to go this way anyway?" he asked.

Chad just nodded, keeping an eye on Drake. Something was different, but he didn't know what it was.

"I guess we just follow the thread and see where it takes us. I'm pretty sure we need to find the trail that Mayor Ivan was talking about," Drake said, as he scanned the area for beasts. The only ones he could see were the horned worms in the clearing. Their colors were once purple, now bright emerald green. They were now allies and would come to him if he called them, just like Protector would.

He couldn't see anything on the mountain. It seemed like the mountain was shielding the beasts. There should be beasts up there somewhere. Back in the ordinary world, there were always beasts there, no matter where you went.

Mike and Chad walked down the road, following Drake. They were following the thread, which followed the road as far as they could see. They didn't know when they would need to start up the mountain. They couldn't see the map that Drake could when he summoned it. All they could see was the thread.

"When do we start up the mountain?" Chad asked, still following the green thread. He was thankful that he could at least see the thread. He wished he could see the map, too, so that he could analyze it.

Drake barely looked back and shrugged. "It's pretty far. It's near the back of the mountain. We have a long way to go."

Mike and Chad looked up at the mountain's face. They scanned the long cliffs and the areas with clusters of trees, grass, and rocks. They saw how far it was to the back of the dragon-shaped mountain, realizing how far it was. "Yeah, we have a long way to go," Mike grumbled.

After hours of walking, they finally reached the trail that led up the mountain. It weaved around rocks and trees only a couple of feet from the road. Slowly, they followed the trail. The glowing green thread was overlaid on it as well.

They were so exhausted from walking that they hadn't noticed that a large beast was guarding the trail.

A menacing growl echoed through the trees, which caused the boys to look up from the glowing green thread they were following. They were met with a pair of brightly glowing purple eyes. It was a level 5 beast. It looked like a bear, but its fangs were long, nearly touching the ground. The fur was camouflaged, blending in with the trees. Its claws resembled the bark of the trees on the mountain.

If the beast had its eyes closed, it would have been hard to see. What scared Drake the most was that when it closed its eyes, he couldn't see it at all…not even with his magical vision.

Renn lowered her head, growling menacingly, moving her large body in front of Drake to protect him.

Drake immediately uncoiled his whip and filled it with green energy. With his free hand, he filled it with an explosive whirlwind. Without stopping to think, he threw it toward the bear-type beast. It smashed into its face, exploding on impact.

The beast roared; it echoed through the trees and vibrated through the mountain. Rocks slide down the side, crashing into trees and boulders that stay firm, refusing to move out of their place.

Drake knew this was going to be a tough fight. He worried that the beast's roar woke others. He didn't want to have to try to fight more than one.

Chad had pulled out his bow and was firing nonstop, hitting the beast. The strap on his sword was undone, just in case he needed it.

Mike was filling his sword with power, and an electrical current passed up and down the blade, crackling as it moved. He shot a lightning bolt at the beast, hitting it in the same spot Drake's explosive whirlwind had exploded.

The beast was unharmed. It was pissed.

Drake slashed his charged whip. The whip slashed and dual-sliced at the beast, causing it to step back. It was unharmed. It didn't even scratch it. "Shit! Nothing's working!" Drake hissed.

He tried his whip again, with the same results. He quickly coiled it around his wrist and pulled out his sword. Filling it with energy, the runes lining the elegant blade glowed a bright green. Slashing at the beast, the energy exploded toward the beast.

It slashed its large claws at the attack, flinging Drake against a tree. His vision blurred, but he refused to pass out. Shaking his head to clear it, he stood up and headed toward the beast. Putting his sword away, he started shooting spells one after the other. He began with wind blades, making them as sharp as he could, then switched to fire blades, not giving the beast time to react. As he did, Chad continued to slash his own sword, trying to wound it, but it did nothing.

Mike kept shooting lightning bolts and energy blades, doing what he could to kill the beast. It seemed like his attacks were only an annoyance. This beast was strong. They had no idea what to do to even scratch it.

The beast roared in anger, the sound echoing through the trees. Drake flinched with the sound. Rocks rolled down the mountain from the vibration of the sound. He quickly scanned the mountain for more beasts, attracted by the sound. He saw none.

With a relentless barrage of spells, Drake shot his wind and fire spells. Remembering he had energy beams as well, he shot one, still aiming in the same spot. The beam smashed into the beast. This time, it howled in pain.

"Damnit, where is its weak spot!" Drake yelled in anger as his friends continued to attack it. Renn was keeping back; their attacks were in the way, preventing her from attacking it herself.

The soft voice of the system answered his plea.

{The weak spot of the level 5 beast is in its abdominal area.}

"Go for the abdomen, it's the beast's weak spot!" Drake yelled to his friends as he still shot spells.

"How the hell do we get there? It's on all fours; we can't even see it!" Mike yelled in frustration. Nothing seemed to be harming the beast.

Chad continued to swing his sword. There was nothing they could do until they could find a way to get the beast to show them its stomach. "We took down over two hundred gargoyles, how can we not even scratch this beast?" Chad breathed out. His voice shook with frustration; everything he tried failed.

"We just need to get it to show its abdomen!" Mike yelled. He swung his sword, using as much power as he could, trying to do something, anything to the beast. Nothing was working.

Frustrated, Drake uncoiled his whip, this time filling it with the same power as his energy beam. It seemed to give the beast pain at least. He sprinted toward a large boulder that was right next to the beast and leaped, slashing his whip out at an angle as he did.

The whip coiled around its large neck as Drake's feet landed on the boulder, then he leaped again onto the beast's back. He pulled the whip as hard as he could, causing the whip to tighten. The beast flung backward, trying to throw him off, but he held firm.

As he flung back, its abdomen was revealed. Renn took advantage and dove forward, opening her large jaws, biting down on the beast's abdomen, and ripping out a chunk of flesh. The beast tried to howl in pain, but the tight whip around its neck prevented any sound.

Renn continued her assault, eating the beast alive.

Drake, with one hand keeping the whip tight, yanked his sword out and stabbed it directly in the beast's eyes, slamming it as hard as he could, making it go all the way through to its brain.

The beast burst into light particles, causing Drake to fall to the ground, breathing heavily.

{You have slain a Level 5 Beast}

{You have received Emerald Key}

Drake hunched over, breathing heavily. Chad and Mike were doing the same.

Slowly, Drake crawled over to his reward, picking it up and staring at it, wondering what it did. He knew it was a key, but didn't know what it opened. It looked like an old-fashioned skeleton key, but was made out of solid emerald. Delicate runes decorated its surface. It was beautiful.

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