"What?! You liar! How are you the leader of a group?!" Jade screamed as they whizzed away...

"Please don't say that. You make us seem dumb for letting him lead us. The truth is that he's usually very reliable. It's only now that he's like that. I think seeing his sister threw him off his game" Scarlett quickly defended Chris... Though she was probably just defending herself indirectly.

"Is that so? I guess we can be reassured that his behaviour is only temporary when the beasts eat us. But it's okay, I'm sure he'll make a comeback once we're poop and save us" Jade replied sarcastically.

She was frustrated by the situation. Only if she had recovered a little more. She would have been able to use her "beast suppression" and perhaps scared the beasts away.

Unfortunately, her current mental energy wasn't enough for such a thing. Despite how easily she displays it in normal circumstances, it actually takes a significant amount of mental energy along with her Beast Aura.

So, while her Beast Aura had recovered significantly, her mental energy was still low due to its much slower speed of recovery...

If push came to shove, she could grab Emily and maybe Chris and run away. But she knew that those two probably wouldn't let her do such a thing. Especially Chris who was the leader of the group she wanted to ditch...

"Umm, everyone..." James suddenly spoke from behind the others.

"What Pee-guy, do you have a solution?" Jade asked while giving James a side eye. And yeah, that's her nickname for him ever since the incident...

"Umm, do you also think that the shadow below is getting too dark?" James ignored the nickname. There was nothing he could do about it, after all.

He reported what he wanted to. Everyone immediately looked below the moment he did. All their eyes widened for a second then... They were swallowed by shadow.

They didn't notice it until the last moment because they were running in-between trees on a sunny day. So, there were already dark shadows everywhere. And no normal person would pay attention to shadows in such a situation.

James only noticed what was happening by mistake... And the idiot said it so calmly that the others couldn't react in time.

Anyway, the beasts behind them were freaked out by the incident. They were quickly scared off in fear that they would be next.

.....

A few minutes later...

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" The group was spat out and James's screams were exposed to the outside world.

Slap!

"Shut up! You know, if you were in my team, I would have long gotten rid of you" Jade slapped James and cursed him.

Her gaze and everyone else's moved away from James immediately after and focused on one extra individual who shouldn't have been there.

Chris's group looked at the newcomer with wary eyes with their guards up. While they realised that it was probably that person who had saved them, they still didn't know them. So, their wariness was reasonable.

"Couldn't you warn us first before scaring us like that?! I thought we were getting dragged to hell for a second there!" Jade complained to the newcomer while trying to slap them on the shoulder. But the newcomer easily dodged making Jade stumble a bit after missing. Which prompted a (Hey!) from her.

"I didn't feel like it" The newcomer who was obviously Layla replied with a few words then went quiet.

"Tsk. Fine. What are you doing here? And why didn't you just join hands with us to fight those beasts off? I'm sure with all of us together we can take care of them" Jade accepted the response and moved on. She knew that she wasn't going to get more out of Layla on the subject anyway.

"I was worried that you'd ditch Emily somewhere because of your unstable state. Or worse, you'd lose it again and I'd have to beat you up again. If Emily does it, she would have to significantly hurt you to stop you. As for fighting those beasts... You're stupid if you think you can fight a PR3 with just us. Unlike the beasts we fought before. They have perfected domains and without your "beast suppression" to throw them off, we wouldn't stand a chance" Layla replied mechanically...

"Tsk. I'm not sure how to react. It sounds like you're dissing me by thinking I'd suddenly lose it as well as showing your concern for me by considering what Emily would have to do to subdue me. Well, whatever, everything worked out and that's all that matters. And you're probably right in the PR3 matter too" Jade replied with an annoyed expression on her face.

She didn't want to admit that Layla helped them. But it was clear she did. Which she was forced to acknowledge. So, she could only admit it with a belly full of frustration.

"Thank you for helping us, Layla. And thank you for worrying about my safety. I hope it didn't feel too stuffy in my shadow... Oh, it seems Jade forgot to introduce you all. I'll do..." Emily thanked Layla and indirectly expressed that she knew Layla was in her shadow all this time... Maybe that's why she was so calm throughout the whole ordeal.

While she didn't know what method Layla would use to help them. She was confident that whatever Layla did would work out. Layla was a slightly older, cold but very reliable big sister. While they were all born in the same year. Layla was the oldest being born in January (on the 15th)

"No problem. It was okay. There's no need to introduce us. I already know them... Hello. I'm Layla. Emily's friend and Jade's associate(Hey!)" Layla accepted Emily's gratitude and introduced herself to Chris's group.

"What do you mean by associate?! Do we run a business together or something? Aren't we friends? Why are you and Emily friends but you and I are associates?! Are you listening to me? Stop ignoring me damn it!" Jade complained loudly.

Unfortunately, neither Layla nor anyone else gave her the time of day. They spoke amongst themselves for a bit. Soon they were back on Chris's platform getting propelled forward by Scarlett's wind. This time it was for transport instead of a getaway method.

Jade soon shut her mouth and sat on the platform with a pout on her face. She was mad that everyone treated her like air ever since Layla showed up. But there was nothing she could do but silently protest...

The journey continued without trouble after that. It was almost like Layla was their lucky charm...

....

The next afternoon...

The cart had made significant progress, so it was slightly difficult for them to catch up with it. This was because they couldn't travel at night. For that reason, they only caught up with them on the next afternoon...

"Whoa... Is that a castle on ice?" James spoke while looking at the mansion from a distance away...

This time the others from his group didn't cast him disdainful gazes. They were just as amazed and mesmerised by the sight as he was.

It wasn't every day one saw such a sight. Especially for their group which all originated from humble middle-class families.

Even in normal times, the beautiful mansion would mesmerise them. Let alone in the apocalypse after Freya made it even better and with a light green barrier around it which made it seem rather mystical.

Soon enough they were all inside the mansion seated on the comfortable sofas.

It was only after Emily confirmed that she had destroyed all traces of filth from James's body that Jade agreed to let him sit on their sofa. But other than that everything was okay. Though she did give him disgusted gazes from time to time...

He on the other hand barely noticed. After all, he was suddenly surrounded by beautiful women. It was a new experience for him who only saw Scarlett most of the time since they usually stayed in the wild.

And they weren't just beautiful girls. They were peak beautiful girls who made Scarlett look quite average.

In fact, Scarlett became average when Jade and Emily showed up. But Jade was rude to him, and Emily "burned" him, so she didn't like either of them that much. Layla who came later on was quite cold too.

But now, his eyes were overloaded by the beauty that they literally got teary-eyed for a moment.

The reason for that was obviously the goddess, Audrey. That's right, goddess, that's the only word fitting her transcended beauty. While the younger girls were on their way to that level of beauty. She had already reached it.

What made her even more beautiful was how she didn't seem to realise how beautiful she really was from how she carried herself.

Whether it be, Chris, Gnoth, James or even Scarlett who was now questioning her sexuality. They were all mesmerised by Audrey's beauty.

They almost fainted when she smiled. In their heads, they even wondered if they died at some point and went to heaven...

"Don't even think about it. She's taken. And you don't want to mess with her man. He'll eat you all alive for breakfast" Suddenly a cold voice sounded behind Chris's group.

They looked back and realised that the speaker was the previously silent Jade who had a dead serious look on her face.

It was clear that she wasn't joking...