“Wow. Never thought I would see something like this even in another world.” 

From on top of a giant magical beast called a colossus swan, Marcus could see their destination coming into view.

It looked like a giant swirling cloud that had touched down on the surface of the ocean with only the faintest bit of a shoreline to prove that there was actually a landmass within the mass of fog.

“We will be landing in the water soon. Everyone be ready to disembark and make your way to the island. Tezadus and I are not going to be able to stick around for long. There are dangerous beasts and monsters that patrol these waters thanks to the island’s appearance.” Dulen, the master of the colossus swan Tezadus said to the expedition party.

He was the individual the guild had tasked with transporting the expedition squad to the island because he himself was a strong adventurer and was contracted with the perfect beast companion to safely bring the large group to their destination.

With incredible grace, Tezadus the colossus swan that was the size of a jumbo jet touched down on the surface of the ocean with nary a splash.

Then at Dulen’s direction it swam right up to the shore of the island and stopped.

“This is as far as we go. This is where the barrier that keeps anyone over level eighty out starts.”

Currently they were a kilometer away from the shore and would need to travel the rest of the distance without their ride.

“I suppose that I am up.” Mrazivý said, begin the first to drop down to the water.

However, instead of sinking, the moment her feat touched gentle waves everything in front of her began to freeze over and she created a large ice path to the shore.

“We really can’t fly here.” Marcus said, jumping down right beside Mrazivý.

As he passed through the barrier, he tried using magic and skills that would allow him to stay in the air, but every trick he used simply fizzled out. He had no means of defying gravity within this area.

It did not take long before the rest of the expeditionary force landed on the ice path Mrazivý had created and they began heading towards the island covered in a dense fog.

“Be careful, the welcoming committee is already here.” Thegia said, training her eyes towards their left.

They had not even made it halfway across the ice bridge when the first wave of enemies attacked them.

Coming out of the water were dozens of long slime fish with long pointed noses.

When the first one leapt out of the water a loud boom sounded behind it.

In an instant the fish launched itself faster than the speed of sound and hurled itself like a projectile.

However, the speeding fish never reached a single person, and when it was just about to pass over the ice bridge, it was lit up by lightning.

The first fish was followed by several others and each one was fried by a jolt of electricity when it got within a certain range of the expeditionary force.

‘Pest Zapper.’

The moment Thegia had alerted them to danger, Marcus had cast a defense tier six lightning magic spell around them.

This spell created a field of electricity that held very little energy and was practically invisible until something interacted with it.

When any creature not designated by the caster as allowed to pass through touched the barrier, a surge of electricity would converge on the intruder.

As fast as these fish were traveling, their speed meant nothing to an automatic lightning attack.

“Mraz, have you figure out what these things are yet?” Marcus asked.

“Yeah, they are something called sonic needlefish. Their levels range from sixty to sixty-seven, and judging by their stats and abilities I would guess that they are rare grade beasts.”

Before even setting foot on the island, they were besieged by a group of beasts that could easily devastate an average city. And this was sure to be the weakest attack that they encountered.

The needlefish continued to throw themselves at Marcus’ defense lighting magic spell, to no avail, until each and every single one of them was dead.

They were clearly simple-minded creatures that just attacked whatever entered their domain.

“This is an incredible spell you are using. Where did you learn it from?” Thegia asked, ever interested in magic.

“Sorry, that is secret.” Marcus replied.

This was one of the spells he had received as a reward in the special dungeon, and he had no intention of divulging that information to anyone here.

It did not take long until they arrived on the shore of the island and jumped onto the beach where Mrazivý’s ice path ended.

The instant that they made land fall, they watched as Dulen and Tezadus flew away.

“The ground here feels… different.” Fianna said, skittering in place with her eight legs.

As soon as she said this everyone else noticed as well. 

“You’re right. The earth on this island is empowered somehow. It does not feel exactly like mana, but there is no doubt the land here is much tougher.” Thegia said, their expert on earth magic.

She knocked on the sandy beach they had landed on a couple of times, before lifting her hand and smashing it into the ground.

Despite being a mage, Thegia was still level seventy-eight, and a serious punch by her would cause a fissure to form in the ground if she hit it with all her might.

Yet, the soft sand took the impact far better than it should of and she only created a four-foot-deep hole.

“This is just a assumption on my part, but I believe that everything on this island is much tougher than what we would normally find out in the open world. I can only imagine it is empowered this way because everything that lives here is strong and the land needs to be capable of withstand high-level battles.” Thegia said a contemplative expression on her face.

“What does it really matter? We already knew that the place was full of dangerous creatures. All this means is that we do not need to hold back as much in fear of damaging the land.” Cassius said, wanting to get moving instead of worrying about something he did not care about.

A small argument soon broke out among several people, but it was not long until Iardi, the weasel beastwoman that was part of Fianna’s party interrupted them.

“Everyone be quiet. Something is coming.” Iardi said, her ear down on the ground and listening.

The once heated argument quickly stopped and the entire expedition force became serious.

In only a moment they formed up into their predetermined formation and waited for whatever was coming to arrive.

‘Got it.’ Marcus thought when he felt a ping from his life sense skill.

He then felt another, and another creature move to within the range of his skill and trained his eyes in the direction they were coming from.

Yet, despite the heavy fog, the creatures should have been within visual range at this point, but there was nothing there.

“They are below us! They are traveling under the sand!” Thegia shouted.

A moment later, several large forms burst out of the sand and attacked Marcus’ and Mrazivý’s group that was at the front of the expeditionary force’s formation.