Yuna and John walked over solid ground at the periphery instead of covering the Fen. Alfred and Rayray walked beside them while the two Abyssal Darkwind Eagles flew a bit high in the air, looking into the surroundings to detect monsters early.
They were at the periphery, just three hundred meters away from the barrier border.
But suddenly, Alfred paused, his nose twitching.
John received Alfred's intentions and spoke, "Stop, Yuna."
"What happened?" Yuna blinked, turning to John.
"Alfred is smelling something…coming at us?" John frowned as Alfred relayed more things.
Suddenly, Alfred looked below and howled, using Shattering Tail Smash right beside John.
At the same time, a giant worm burst out and was struck directly by the tail.
Boom!
It was caught in the blazing blue flames of frostfire from the crystals that struck it and exploded, experiencing chilling burns as it writhed on the ground.
'Silver-rank? Nice. Finish it off, buddy!'
The giant worm was dark red with brown and glowing red patterns, its mouth having spirals of teeth.
"Eekk!" Sun Fox also sensed something and immediately used three of her tails to slam on the ground while using the other three to hold Yuna, jumping high up.
From the ground, two scorpions emerged with dreadful stingers shooting towards Rayray and Yuna. Fortunately, Rayray reacted fast by jumping high as their stingers couldn't reach.
'Pymon!'
Whistle!
Pymon sharply whistled, using his fifth skill—Abyss Tornado.
A ten-meter-tall tornado of dark wind and water raged around the scorpions, restricting them and damaging them, gradually eroding their carapace.
But their defense was tough, and they were Silver-rank, so Pymon couldn't kill them with just one skill. Still, this skill kept them in a place with strong, eroding dark wind currents and the heaviness of the water stream, lowering their vitality gradually.
Doku—Yuna's Abyssal Darkwind Eagle—doubled down as Yuna commanded and used Pymon's tornado's water to use Phantom Dive, entering the tornado and leaving three mirages between the scorpions before shooting out of it as the mirages exploded.
On the other hand, Alfred finished off the giant worm using Obsidian Tundral Fangs.
Alfred opened his mouth as a dark blue aura with crimson streams extended, creating an attached projection of a large maw with dark blue burning crystal fangs that bit down on the wreathing worm, tearing it into three pieces.
Yuna and Rayray landed on the ground before Rayray unleashed six fireballs from her six tails, finishing off the two scorpions who were barely alive, ending their suffering as they exploded into bits.
John and Yuna used Soul Synergy and remained alert as seemingly all threats vanished.
"Woof!"
'Eh? There are two more Monsters below?'
Alfred could really sense Monsters better, though mainly because of Blood Mastery level 1 combined with his sense of smell.
"Yuna, be on alert. Alfred tells me there are more Monsters below, though they are Bronze-rank."
John and Yuna were away from the holes those three Monsters had dug, but John approached one, led by Alfred.
"Woof!"
From the big hole made by that worm, John saw two small creatures coming.
"Eh?"
John saw two arm-sized worms. One was a dark red worm like the dead one, but the other was entirely different.
The second worm had big, cute eyes with red pupils and two spiral-patterned, dark gold horns. It had beautiful vermilion tough skin with golden patterns like the horns and was smaller than the other one.
As he inspected both worms, John's eyes widened in shock.
'What the fuck?! That second worm…'
"It's my first time seeing these Monsters," Yuna said, curiously looking at the worms. "They are still small…like adolescent-stage."
"Yuna, make sure your Soul Synergy is activated."
"Eh? Why?" Yuna asked but found out as soon as Pymon used the tornado at John's order, surrounding them.
Yuna inadvertently closed her eyes while also turning to John. "John?!"
John quickly waved his hand, extending his soul thread to touch that unique worm, and sent it into his Monster Paradise.
"What's going on?!"
In response, Pymon dispersed the tornado early since John was done with his sleight of hand.
Yuna confusedly looked at him, seeking an answer.
"Just didn't want any prying eyes on us. Anyway, I caught one worm, but the other one escaped back, it seems," John said as he looked at the hole.
The pressure from the tornado had pulled out the worm fully as it wiggled towards the dead worm Monster.
Yuna looked at the worm and rolled her eyes as she turned around. "I don't want any worms. I'll extract soul crystals from those scorpions."
"Alright."
John replied while looking at the worm and was surprised when it started eating the big worm's piece.
But it was just a small Bronze-rank Monster, John didn't have any use for it or its soul core.
The thing he wanted was already in his Monster Paradise.
That strange worm with horns, vermilion and golden luster skin-shell, and the patterns. John saw its Evolutionary Pathways and was shocked before being overcome with thrill at its future prospects, which was why he quickly made the decision to use his Monster Paradise for the first time and get that worm for himself.
'That's going to be my third pet.'
John extracted the soul crystal of the big worm as energy sucked out of its body and formed into a crystal in his palm.
Yuna looked at it and clicked her tongue. "Your extraction is still so much better. I have to practice more."
Not everyone could extract an equal amount of source power from a Monster, as it depended on control of one's soul energy.
John obviously had more control because he trained way more than the other kids.
He fed the soul crystal to Alfred, who gulped it down.
Since that giant worm also had the Blood attribute, Alfred received a bit more progress than other Silver-rank Monsters.
But Alfred was still at Adult-stage. His stats had increased to 86-84-87, and Soul Crystal was at 239.
Fortunately, only the worm was at Prime-stage Silver-rank, and the other two Scorpians were at Adult-stage Silver-rank, making it easier to kill them.
"Let's continue. It's our last chance this night," Yuna sighed. "I hope I can find Luminis Nightveil Fairy."
Day 9 had already begun after midnight, but the competition would be over on the 11th day, so they still had day 10's night.
However, the chance of finding Luminis Nightveil Fairy was close to zero after a futile search of four nights.
On the other hand, Azelis's Emperor-rank Pet Monster, a Nixite Shadowlord Feline, had swiftly dispatched the bloodthirsty monsters before they could enter the barrier.
She observed both areas and also saw John and Yuna wandering. Backtracking them, she saw the bloodthirsty monsters and the dead bodies.
'So they defeated it? But left that tiny worm, eh?'
Azelin blinked, her eyes observing everything clearly in the dark while she was hundreds of meters above in the airship.
After thinking for a bit, she decided not to kill that tiny worm, as it posed no harm, and it could serve to make a greater variety of Monsters if it survived.
'I should check both areas fully and see if there's any more that entered inside.'
'Thank you for your fast action, Azelis. Sigh, I was this close to getting screwed up.'
'Humph, you owe me one.'
'Yes. I'll remember the favor and will pay it back however you want me to.'