The area wasn't flat. Despite the leafless trees being absent, the various slopes and snowy dunes prevented Liam and the others from having a clear view of the environment.
Even the alleged river wasn't visible. The map marked it in front of the group, but they couldn't see it.
Yet, the black dot seemed to stand on a distant elevation, and the white environment highlighted it. It was too far away for any detail to stand out, but two things became immediately clear.
Whatever that dot was, it was dangerous, and it was eyeing the trio.
Experience in those fields was unnecessary to acknowledge that danger. Even without the sixth sense developed in the mountains, Lucy and Erik froze, the instinctive fear rising through them explaining exactly what they were.
Despite being cultivators wielding abilities that could only be described as magical, that situation had turned them into mere prey.
As for Liam, he experienced the same fear, and his knowledge in those fields even deepened the intensity of that feeling.
However, that same knowledge allowed Liam's mind to remain active. He still froze, but his stillness was on purpose, driven by cool-headed calculations.
'Is that the alpha?' Liam wondered, his fear basically confirming that point. 'Is that a magical beast?'
Liam's mind had started to catch up with his discoveries. He could now recognize when Qi was involved, leading to that confident guess.
Nevertheless, Liam didn't fall prey to despair. If everything he had guessed was correct, that meeting wasn't necessarily dangerous.
'Is it just overseeing its pack's battle?' Liam considered. 'Will it ignore us?'
That wasn't Liam being optimistic. The fight between packs would theoretically take priority in the alpha's mind. That was how wolves behaved.
Besides, the alpha had to experience some fear, too. Liam and the others weren't ordinary prey. They were three Qi-enhanced individuals. Magical beast or not, they couldn't look like easy marks worth hunting while another battle was unfolding.
At the same time, a battle among ordinary wolves could look trivial in the alpha's mind. Instead, the presence of three cultivators in its hunting ground could appear as the real danger, shifting its priorities.
'Should we run?' Liam thought. 'It won't try to hunt us while its pack is busy, right?'
"Let's retreat slowly," Liam eventually said. "It should let us go."
Lucy and Erik didn't turn but still nodded. They also waited for Liam to take the first step before following suit, slowly retreating toward the trees behind them.
However, magical beasts weren't mere animals. They often behaved like one, but had also developed traits beyond their basic programming. They wielded traces of intelligence, and with that came emotions.
Taking offense toward the invasion of a domain was among those emotions, as well as the urge to teach those invaders a lesson.
Before the trio could take another step, a loud howl resounded through the white landscape, carrying meanings that didn't need translators to understand.
Liam's hair stood on end, but his face remained stern while he uttered a single word. "Run."
Lucy, Erik, and Liam turned simultaneously, unleashing their full speed to shoot toward the trees. Liam even folded the map, not needing it in that situation. After all, the distant Three Peaks acted as the perfect landmark the group could head toward.
Theoretically, that should have been it for the threat. Liam and the others were unbelievably fast, and the forest provided the perfect cover.
Nevertheless, a sense of tense dread kept pressing on the trio's minds, intensifying with each passing second, disregarding how quickly they escaped from the confrontation they didn't want to face.
And then, Liam heard it, softer when it hit the snow, and louder when it slammed on the ground. Heavy footsteps filled his ears, getting closer and closer, faster than anything he had ever managed to sense.
The noise eventually made Liam glance to his right, spotting a blurry dark figure moving behind the trees. The succession of trunks prevented him from getting a clear view of the beast, but the latter soon fixed that.
The footsteps grew even closer until they claimed Erik and Lucy's glances, too. The dark figure was visible now, nimbly navigating the trees despite its huge size. The creature was indeed a wolf, but a two-meter-tall one donning pitch-black fur.
Now, Liam had never really dealt with wolves. He had seen them, but they had never been potential targets of his hunts.
Still, that clearly wasn't a mere animal. That size, speed, and agility went beyond anything Liam had ever seen. He should have the advantage inside the forest, but the magical beast didn't care for reason.
And something else happened during Liam's inspection. Lucy and Erik looked away, exchanging a solemn nod before the former split from the group, rushing to her right to cut the beast's path.
"Lucy!" Liam shouted, but to no avail. Lucy rushed through the trees, and that diversion claimed the wolf's attention, making it chase after her.
"Junior Broth-!" Erik began to cry, but Liam was already on the move, shooting after Lucy and the magical beast, his body depleting more of his Qi to unleash a superior speed he didn't know he was capable of.
The sudden acceleration brought Liam to the huge magical beast's side. He was lagging a few meters behind, but the chance to catch up soon manifested itself, making him draw his knife.
As soon as the magical beast swerved left to dodge a trunk on its path, Liam leaped, closing that distance, thrusting his whole body forward, so that his left arm could reach the black fur.
Yet, when Liam slammed his knife into the beast's side, the blade split, its severed half bouncing on that tough hide and flying away.
The magical beast disregarded Liam and continued to chase after Lucy. Meanwhile, Liam crashed onto the snowy ground, his body rolling to no end to disperse the accumulated momentum.
However, Liam quickly restored his balance and jumped to his feet, planning to resume the chase, only for something heavy to slam on the back of his neck.
Liam's vision spun as his balance crumbled. He fell on his back, struggling and failing to stand up, until he spotted Erik towering above him, a serious look on his face, while he reached down to drag him away.