When Brian and Domian followed Beta's gaze, they saw a glowing plant. It had a red luster and even looked quite delicious. It was surrounded by a bunch of trees that had poison ivy crawling its way atop the tree trunk. The earth around it was wet and nutritious, showing that it had the perfect conditions to grow. It looked like there were red beans hanging from the plant, filling the air with a nice aroma.

"What is that?", Domian asked. He wasn't well versed with plants, so he didn't know what he was looking at. He only thought that it might be quite a nice snack. He reached out his hand, preparing to touch it.

*smack*

"Don't touch it!", Beta said in a stern voice.

Domian didn't know why he got reprimanded for trying to touch it but he listened to Beta anyway. Since he didn't know anything about the plant and he trust Beta's judgment, he didn't dare to just neglect his reminder.

"It's a Red Velvet Bean plant. If you touch it, your body will start itching!"

Domian was startled when he heard that. How can a plant like that have such an effect?

"What is it good for then?", Brian asked in a confused manner.

"It's for detoxifying. This herb is quite rare so its potency is very good! I will take some with us, in case we get poisoned."

As Beta said that he picked up some leaves and wrapped them around the Red Velvet Beans, carefully storing them in his backpack. In the whole process, he completely ignored the existence of the plant's leaves.

"The beans are rather precious, but the leaves, stem, and roots, can't be dealt with, not with my current abilities.", Beta muttered quietly.

Brian and Domian were confused about Beta's mumbling, they didn't understand his predicament since they didn't really care about the rest of the plant, as they only had battles in mind. They focused all of their attention on how to beat opponents, so how could they possibly have enough time to learn something about plants?

When Beta saw them spacing out, he could imagine what was on their minds. Picking the beans wasn't exactly a fast process as he first had to get some leaves and wrap them carefully. He was also especially careful because of its side effects which was itchiness. If he got into contact with it, he would most likely be forced to scratch his own skin open because of it.

"Alright, let's continue our search!"

When they heard Beta's voice, they were startled for a second, but they soon recovered and happily continued their search. They had waited for quite some time, so their excitement was brought anew. Although Beta still stopped every now and then to look at herbs and pick some of them up, at least it didn't take up as much time as the first time. As they traveled along the river, they saw many peculiar things. Within the river were some fish that baited their preys into their nests, where they then got eaten in a single gulp. There were also some low-level beasts that came to drink some fresh water, but they fled once they felt the trio's presence. All in all, it was a very relaxing journey that lightened their hearts and brought them serenity. It was such a peaceful place that they almost forgot that they were actually in the wilderness.

"I guess not all beasts have a savage nature with never-ending bloodlust... This is very fascinating.", Beta said as he stared at a Wind Deer in the distance. It ate the leaves around it and every now and then stuck up its head to look out for dangers. When it saw them on the other side of the river, it almost ran away, but in the end, it decided to stay and have a lavish meal.

*riiiip*

"Aargh!"

Suddenly, Beta heard a noise behind him. It was as if someone tore a shirt or some bedsheets with a wretched scream following right after it. As he turned around, he saw Domian, blood covering his entire arm. Beta soon noticed that there were big claw marks on Domian's body. It looked as if something huge had scratched him and tore his shirt in the process. He hurriedly looked around himself and at their vicinity. There was nothing.

"What happened?!", Beta shouted at him.

"Something attacked me! It was so fast that I couldn't even defend myself! I only saw a black blur and suddenly a wound appeared on my arm! It fled into the bushes after that!", Domian said in resentment.

Beta and Brian grew wary. What was so fast to not even let Domian see what attacked? They acted quickly and formed a formation, creating a triangle with their backs towards each other.

*whoosh!*

A shadowy figure rushed out of one of the bushes, aiming for Domian's life. But since they were more wary that time, the trio reacted fast. From a triangle formation, they switched into a "U" formation by simply turning their bodies a bit, welcoming the unknown enemy's attack. When they finally saw what attacked them, they were flabbergasted. It was a Black Wolf. It was considered as one of the strongest beasts of the middle-ranked beasts. They were indeed looking for better beasts to fight with, but somehow their luck wasn't good at all for they have to deal with one of the strongest right away. Instead of going for easy mid-rank beasts to get used on how to fight stronger beasts, the one their facing now would be a tough fight for them.

They all readied their arrows as fast as they could and drew their weapons. They couldn't possibly back out now since fighting the Black Wolf was also an opportunity for them to get stronger. Plus, they also believed that it was impossible to escape and outrun this beast, so it was best to fight it. Taking advantage of their formation, Beta attacked its right side with his staff, Brian took over the left side of the beast, trying to hack it with his saber and Domian, had no choice but to take the front, preparing to block, as he was the one getting attacked.

They all acted at the exact same time, startling the beast. But a beast is a beast after all, so its aloof and dominant nature didn't allow for it to back off. It continued on its way, looking even more vicious than before. As the wolf wasn't dumb, it prioritized protecting itself from the sharp saber that was about to hit it. It dodged in Beta's direction, receiving his blow in its full strength. What the wolf didn't expect was that Beta was so strong that it was actually pushed back into the saber's direction. Brian didn't hesitate and immediately slashed with his saber. It drew a beautiful line and sliced the wolf's side, letting blood spurt out. The Black Wolf was enraged. It had easily dodged the saber at first but was hit by it anyway, just because there was some unruly food. It didn't get blinded by rage though. It noticed that the fellow it had attacked earlier now had a sword in hand, so it dove between his legs and got behind Domian in a flash, escaping the formation and attacking his back. Beta, of course, noticed the Black Wolf's plan so he quickly acted and put his staff between Domian and the wolf. Since its attack got obstructed twice already, the wolf backed up and vanished within the bushes again, going into hiding.

"Are you alright?", Brian asked Domian, worried about his bleeding arm.

"I can manage, but I should bandage it up soon or I'll lose too much blood...", Domian answered, giving off small grunts every now and then.

"We should beat this wolf fast then!", Beta chided in.

They went back to their triangle formation and watched their surroundings. The wind let the leaves rustle and small animals ran across their vision every now and then. If they hadn't been attacked, they would've thought that this is a wonderful breeze, but in this situation, they cursed it to death. The rustling of the leaves hindered them from hearing the Black Wolf's movements and the small animals flashing by deceives their visual perception.

After they waited for several minutes, they relaxed for a second, thinking that it had left due to its wounded state. But sometimes, life wasn't that easy. Without any warning, it jumped out of a near bush and rushed at Brian who had sliced it so ruthlessly earlier. It bared its salivating teeth as it approached him, thick bloodlust emanating from its growls. Just like before, the trio created a "U" formation, this time with Brian in the middle. But the wolf had expected that and easily changed its direction mid-charge. It attacked Beta instead. It knew that he was the most powerful of them, so it wanted to kill him off first. Beta was completely calm seeing this. Wolves were known for being one of the smarter beasts after all. He propelled his staff in front of him, creating a wall. The Black Wolf jerked its body once again, agilely dodging the wall and changed direction towards Beta's side. Seeing the wide-open Beta, it now prepared to bite him.

*THUD*

A dull sound was heard and the wolf was deflected, putting it right inside the "U" formation.

Two of the reasons Beta picked a staff as a weapon was due to its length and flexibility. He can attack from which direction he leads it to and also have the ability to reach farther compared to a melee sword. Thus, by merely a shook of his wrist and fingers, he can divert the direction of the staff wherever he wants to. As he placed the wall in front of him, he was also wary of his defenseless side so he expected that if the wolf changes direction again, he knew where to strike next.

As planned, he used his rotating staff's force to hit it back in. Trapping it within their formation to ensure that they won't lose sight of it again. He moved his staff, twisting it around his arm like a sentient snake, attacking the wolf and forcing it into its current position. This requires a crazy amount of body control but Beta's movements seemed to be as fluid as a river.

At first, Brian and Domian were afraid that Beta would get hurt, but when they suddenly saw the wolf, lying on its side right in front of them, they didn't dare hesitate. If they went for a battle of attrition, Domian would definitely have a problem. The blood on his arm and back was still flowing, indicating that the wolf had dealt quite a big amount of damage. It was a good thing that he didn't have to strain himself from moving too much anymore since he can just reach the target in front of him with ease.

At that moment, the wolf was hit by two arrows. Brian and Domian weren't just lazing around earlier while the wolf was rushing at Beta. They were already prepared and summoned out their arrows, then shooting them at their full speed to where the wolf was at. Domian's arrow went right through the wolfs fur, barely puncturing into the heart. Brian, on the other hand, had set its head on fire, blinding it and frying its brain at the same time. Beta, which kept silent on the side, didn't attack anymore and just let the duo do their thing, but as time passes, one could see if they look closely on his face that his eyes were slightly twitching due to the result of this combat.

After a few minutes of giving relentless beating to the wolf, Brian and Domian finally stopped. They stared at the mutilated, charred corpse and didn't know what to say.

"Erm... I think we've overdone it...", Brian said in a quiet voice.