Risen World

As they moved further in and was beginning to reach the afternoon of their second day sprinting through the new area of the prairie everyone noticed that they were starting to see fewer owls at first on their large bush trees. Then it started becoming clear that even the bush trees were starting to thin out in the surroundings. It was then that everyone knew that they were closing in on the guardian site. The last two guardian sites also seemed to have this desolate appearance to them where all beast in the area would shy away from it. The fact that Joshua didn't see a single bison or even owl was a good sign that they were getting close.

Do you see that?" Henry suddenly asked grabbing everyone's attention. For the most part the group had been looking up and searching for bush trees or giant beast. None of them had really been paying attention to the ground beneath them that Momo was running across. Joshua turned to look in that direction since Henry was pointing it out and he noticed that the grass was growing shorter in the area they were entering, but that wasn't what stood out. Instead it was the small roots that seemed to be all over the ground that was eye catching.

The roots looked similar to the ones that the bush trees were made out of. It made it look like there was a network of vines that were running through all of the hills that they were passing through. These roots only seemed to be growing bigger and bigger the further along they went and they were spread out in every direction. It was definitely a drastic change from how the rest of the area had been.

"Do you think all of these roots are leading to the guardian site?" Aito asked. "It seems to be that way since we haven't seen anything else of note in the area."

"Most likely, but if there are roots leading in that direction then there must be a tree at some point. From what I can tell with this many roots it would have to be a gigantic tree." Joshua said as they all noticed that the roots were growing bigger and bigger the further along they went. If the roots looked like vines initially then the ones they were seeing now were similar on scale to the roots of an oak tree. They were only getting bigger the further along they traveled and after half an hour of traveling through the creepily quiet area the roots were so big that they were tearing through the center of hills like giant pipes in all sorts of random directions. It was clear that whatever tree these roots were coming from would be bigger than anything Joshua had seen in the evolved earth up to this point.

"I wonder why we haven't seen the tree all of these roots connect to yet?" Amy asked as Momo climbed over another root that was now big enough to where the ferret had to actually jump and pull herself up to get around. These roots were getting to the point where they were like a maze and the hills that once ruled the area were nowhere to be seen. Now there was nothing, but roots as far as the eye could see.

"I think that's why." Joshua said as he noticed another stone slab surrounded in roots off in the distance. The roots behind the slab were starting to raise up into the air before they suddenly disappeared showing Joshua and everyone else that there was a barrier in the location. They had finally reached the center of the area and the location of the guardian site. Everyone jumped down off of Momo as they walked the rest of the way to get to the slab. They got into a defensive formation just in case they would come across any traps, but it seemed that although it was eerily quiet there was no actual danger around.

Joshua spread out his aura sense to see if he could find anything out of the ordinary and the fact that there was a giant wall currently blocking his aura sense right behind the stone slab was another sign that there was a barrier currently surrounding the area. Knowing that the barrier meant that the guardian was nearby got Joshua and the rest of his group to tense up a bit, but they all moved over to the slab to see what it had to say this time around. The last two times they had read the stone slabs at the other guardian sites they were able to get a good idea of what type of beast was inside. They would also gain the opportunity to look inside the barrier, but they didn't plan on rushing in just yet.

Joshua was the first one to reach the slab and look over its contents. The slab was a bit bigger than the other ones they had come across and there weren't any other structures around outside of all of the roots so it was hard to get an idea of what the battlefield with the guardian would look like. Instead of focusing on that Joshua started reading the message that was left behind for anyone that was planning on challenging the guardian beast.

[This is a guardian site that contains the nocturnal master of the skies. The guardian of this area is the most powerful and skilled predator of the prairie and can kill you with power or speed so be prepared for a life and death battle when walking beyond the barrier. The only advice that can be given is to be prepared to fight in the darkness of night no matter what time of day it is.]

After reading the message everyone was certain that the guardian would be an owl and a powerful one at that. The fact that some of the owls they had seen while just wondering the prairie were already level eighty-eight or even eighty-nine proved how strong they could be and the guardian would have to be even more powerful than that for things to fit the wording of the warning. Plus the tactic that Joshua was thinking of using before even going inside of the barrier was pointless if it would be dark on the inside no matter the time of day. He was hoping to attack the guardian while it didn't have the advantage of night, but that wasn't looking like a possibility this time around.

"Well this definitely seems like it's going to be the toughest guardian of the three that we've found so far." Madalyn said with a shrug. "We've fought in the dark of night plenty of times before, but doing so against a powerful beast that can go toe to toe with those bison is an entirely different issue."

"The only true nocturnal predators that we've faced so far at this point were the bats and the trap door spiders in the canyon." Laura pointed out. "The bats can sort of be used as a reference since they can fly just like the owls, but there way of fighting was completely different and nowhere near as threatening in my opinion."

'We bats can be just as powerful as those damn owls when it comes down to it!' Imperia childishly shouted out through her aura. She was sitting on Thomas's shoulder and looking fairly grumpy after Laura's comment. It was clear the little bat was just as proud of herself as the owls seemed to be in the area. 'Besides one owl can't stop a group of us bats. They're two proud to work together in more than pairs and that will be their down fall.'

Many members in the group smiled at the proud little bat that was trying to sound as imposing as possible but her child like high pitched voice wasn't quite fitting the message that she was trying to get across. "Well sadly we don't have an entire colony of bats to try and take down this owl. Even if we did who's to say this owl doesn't have some sort of special ability that could be used in that situation. Either way it's a pointless argument." Joshua said with a small smile. "How about we get a look at what lies beyond the barrier before we start worrying about how we will approach the fight."

They all agreed as Joshua reached out for the slab and placed his hand on it causing it to react. Joshua wasn't sure how exactly the slab was able to react from a simple touch since it was made out of stone and it didn't seem to be connected to anything but it was most likely because of aura or mana. The moment he touched the slab a small portal started opening up in the barrier that got big enough for a beast of Momo's size to easily get through. Of course they didn't plan on rushing inside, but they were able to get a good view of what was inside of the barrier. The first thing that was noticeable to the group was the fact that it was dark just like the night on the prairie. Not to the point where they couldn't see, but enough to where it would hamper them in a fight. The starry night sky above could be seen inside of the barrier even though it was currently the middle of the day.

The next thing everyone noticed was the gigantic tree that stretched so high into the sky that it was like a sky scrapper with how high it reached. All of the giant roots that had been spread out all around the area while they were traveling to the guardian site all met up at this gigantic bush tree and there were aura fruits that hung up high in the sky that looked even bigger than the ones from all of the other bush trees in the prairie. All of that would have been what everyone focused on if it weren't for the giant owl sitting at the top of it that stood at least fifteen stories tall and its wing span was double that. The owl was big enough to grab a bison in each claw and its two giant eyes were staring directly at all of them.

Before the giant creature could swoop down and go on the attack Joshua took his hand off the slab closing the portal before anything could happen..