They didn't have the spells to grow planks between the branches like the shamans did so instead they used one of the spare durable tents and stretched them around the tree with cut off branches acting as support on the outer edge.
The inside was a little bouncy, but it held their weight and allowed them to set up hammocks in the tree without issue.
Chronos had been training to create a durable shelter from [Isolate], but he wasn't quite there yet.
By the time they finished building their shelter, night had already fallen, deciding on the order for who would stand watch, they went to sleep. After several days on the move and a few fights with the local wildlife they all needed the rest.
The next morning Chronos woke up first, like usual, and took over the final watch. While watching the surroundings he cast [Isolate] and let it hover in the air like a table.
Taking out vegetables and meat from his internal space and using the barrier as a cutting board he chopped them into smaller pieces then set up a pot on the table. Last night they had thought they wouldn't be able to cook in the tent but with [Isolate] the fire wouldn't burn the tent floor or the tree.
"I really need to master this spell soon, it's too convenient not too. But its power is tied to my bloodline level even if I master it, I won't be able to expand it very much or it will cost a ridiculous amount of spirit to expand it." Lost in his thoughts he hadn't realized that Lyla woke up after smelling the breakfast cooking.
"You need to add more spices to the soup." She stepped forward to help cook.
"Good morning to you too. Feel free to add spices if you want them, I'll eat most things." Chronos said.
Nodding, she took the ladle from Chronos, "What's the plan for today?"
"We're going to explore to the southeast. That was the last known location of the troll army, and we have no lead on where the black robed priests or devils are. We should also make notes of all the creatures we see, I don't know how much information the dragon paladins or leybound crucible knights have about this area." Chronos replied.
"Alright, when should we wake the others up?"
Looking at the hammocks, three were empty but one had two people in it. Sariah had accidentally climbed into Gregory's hammock after her turn at watch.
With a wholesome grin Chronos said, "Let them sleep a little longer. It'll make it easy to tease him later." His grin turned into a smirk.
Lyla glared at him.
"Alright, I won't tease them." Chronos gave in.
"Uh, mm, tease who?" Gregory groggily asked as he got up.
He was unconsciously carrying Sariah to the table.
"Nothing~" Both of them replied at the same time.
Ladling soup into a bowl Lyla served all four of them while Chronos continued to grill bacon and toast some bread.
While they were serving breakfast Sariah woke up and sat down next to Gregory.
"Was there anything of note last night?" Gregory asked.
"A rank 3 crocodile went north just before dawn, and a herd of small deer ran along the edge of the swamp and the wasteland. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, just the usual beasts running around in the early morning." Chronos said.
"Was the crocodile running? Or looked like it was trying to get away from something?" Gregory pressed.
"Nope, it just ambled along. I think it was heading for another watering hole."
Nodding they ate breakfast before turning to the day's affairs.
"Last equipment check. Does everyone have everything they need?" Chronos asked.
"Potions, throwing daggers, thread, explosives... yep got everything." Gregory muttered.
Chronos thought he heard something rather dangerous at the end, but he chose to ignore it. Lyla and Sariah nodded that they were ready as well then they began walking to the southeast.
While Gregroy went ahead of them to scout the path, Lyla led Sariah along the safe path and Chronos brought up the rear.
As they travelled through the day, they saw numerous creatures living in the wasteland but most of them didn't surpass rank 1 and many of them were just regular creatures that had no power at all.
"Has anyone sensed anything unusual?" Chronos asked.
"Nope."
"Nothing."
"No traces of suspicious movement either."
Having found nothing all day they decided to go a bit further into the wasteland.
At first, they didn't find anything but just after noon they saw black smoke rising in the distance. Heading towards the smoke, they found the broken wooden walls of a small village.
Inside were burning buildings and hollowed out husks of large buffalo type beasts. Their corpses looked strange as the head was missing and the insides were hollowed out from the neck, like it had been torn out.
In the middle of the village was a square with a collapsed well in it, the village hall behind the well had a massive slash through its front.
They weren't able to find any bodies in the buildings that were still standing but if the smell coming from the village hall was any indicator there were a lot of corpses inside it.
Chronos motioned for the others to wait where they were and crept closer to the hall on his own. Carefully opening the window to the right of the entrance he peeked inside to see a large pile of corpses and on top of it something was sitting there.
Munch, Crunch, Crack.
Sickening sounds of flesh being eaten came from it, deciding to back off for now Chronos turned to sneak away but froze when his awareness sensed it stop eating. Slowly it turned towards him. He didn't know how it had found him, but it was looking straight at him now.
It looked like a human but twice as large and it had no eyes on its face, just a large vertical mouth splitting its head in two. Right in the middle of its chest was a massive eye with black sclera while the iris was blood red and faintly glowing.
Rooaar! Crash!
It flew through the wall reaching out to grab Chronos who dropped to the ground barely dodging its hand. Now that it was outside he could see that its arms were too long for its body and the flesh was a dull red not the healthy pink of a living person.
"There's only one. Let's kill it!" Chronos called out.
Lyla and Gregory charged forward engaging it in close combat. It howled as it slammed its fists into the ground causing a small earthquake, Chronos had jumped just before it hit the ground but both Lyla and Gregory stumbled as the ground shook.
It roared then tried to attack Gregory but Chronos was already at its back, cutting into it. It flipped around in anger and Chronos was forced to jump over its left arm as it whipped around then parried as the right fist came at his head.
Using the parry, he spun around mid-air landing a few meters from where he had been. Gregory used his strings to bind the creature's legs and pulled the binding tight. He had wanted to trip it but even its lower body was proving to be durable and strong.
At least the bindings prevented it from moving around freely.
Lyla saw the wound Chronos had caused swiftly closing and used her [Blessed Flame] to dig into the injury, stopping its healing in the process.
It tried to attack her but Chronos stabbed his sword straight through its right arm pinning it to the ground in the process.
The creature was being attacked from so many different directions that it didn't know where to attack first. So, it decided to attack everything at once. Throwing back its head light gathered in its mouth and a rune started forming.
"That attack is lethal! Get clear!" Chronos shouted as his instincts screamed at him.
"No, I'll handle it!" Sariah yelled.
Focusing for a moment she cast an unusual spell.
[Uneven Pulse]
The creature's body trembled as its pulse flowed in the wrong direction momentarily then the rune above its mouth fell apart. It stared in shock not understanding why the spell had failed.
Chronos shoved his swords blade into the ground then charged at it with his axes. It saw him coming and tried to strike him, but Lyla struck its left arm with her flying gavels and mace knocking its arm aside.
Gregory pulled hard bringing it to its knees making it easy for Chronos to chop into its eye. His axe blades came out of its back as it gurgled before falling to the ground.
"That was more difficult than expected. Even with [Sever] on all of my attacks it wasn't taking as much damage as it should have." Chronos said.
Looking at its body Lyla spoke, "It has miasma flowing through its veins. That's reinforcing its body to the point of steel. It also grants it strong healing potential and resistance to most forms of attacks."
"If these things are running around the wasteland, then I don't think we're going to find many survivors out here." Gregory said.