"Do you think what we did was enough?" Benedict asked Erik.
"Probably not. If they could find us the first time, it means they can do it even now..." Erik said.
"Then why send Anderson and make Amber release her gas?" Floyd asked.
Erik kept looking at his surroundings, hoping not to spot any thaid on their way to the main gate, and then replied.
"First of all, we don't know how they can track us. It could be because of the footprints, smell, or even a tracking device. In the last case, there is nothing we could do, but in the other two, we could have at least made it hard for them to find us. The explosion took care of the smell and the footprints, while the gas at least covered the latter. Besides, the gas will either make them take a roundabout way to reach us, wasting their time, or injure them a bit," the young man added.
"I get it," Floyd said.
Erik's role here was challenging since he had to navigate the others through the forest while avoiding Lomalins and other creatures. He was also expected to keep a watchful eye out for any suspicious activity from the pursuing men, all while paying attention to the safety and well-being of his companions.
It was not like the 29 students could be easily killed by any thaid around, but they would lose time, and the five men would catch up to them if that happened. The group moved forward cautiously; they were currently headed toward a clearance. Aaron's group previously went there, so he approached Erik.
"Erik, I think we should avoid the clearance before us," Aaron said.
"Why?" The young man asked.
"Because my group and I previously went there, and we killed some thaids, I think that many more of them rushed there to eat what remained of our kills..." Aaron explained. The young man was aghast at Aaron's words. Judith was beside him, constantly telling him what the hound had seen.
"Fuck..." Erik exclaimed. "Judith, is there something ahead?" he asked.
"Indeed, my hounds just came there. There are three thaids I don't know eating the corpses..." Judith said.
Erik spent a couple of seconds thinking. Was it better to confront the three thaids with the thirty students, or change the route? What would waste as little time as possible?
"Describe the thaids to me, Judith..." Erik said.
"Well, they are insect-like creatures, very similar to mantises. They have two short antennae and two compound eyes that take up most of their head's space. They have some mandibles that open on the side of the head and some horrific teeth. It has two front paws and two back ones, but its butt is similar to that of a wasp..." Judith said.
"Do you happen to see if it has some white stripes on the back?" Erik asked.
"Yes, they have them..."
"So, we are dealing with Tedeas..."
"Are they dangerous?" Aaron asked.
"Not with our group, but fighting them will slow us down..." Erik said.
"How much time will we lose if we avoid them?" Amber asked.
Erik thought about it and then replied. "If we circle the clearance, we should lose thirty seconds. If we fight the creatures, we should lose around 20–40 seconds, depending on the thaid's strength and unforeseen events, but we will also risk getting injured..." he explained.
"Should we risk it or not?" Gwen asked, pressuring Erik to take a decision. The young man deliberated for a moment and then made his decision. In the end, he was sure that the best thing to do was not to risk it and avoid the clearance altogether.
"No, let's avoid the place," Erik said. Gwen accepted his answer and breathed a sigh of relief.
"All right..."
"Ah, fuck. This will make us lose a lot of time..." Some may think that 20–40 seconds are not that much, but with people that could run kilometers in the span of minutes, this was a lot of time. Erik then turned to look at the others. "We must avoid the next area; follow me!" and then he and the other students steered to the left, circling the clearance to avoid the thaids.
***
Zachary and the other four men quickly entered the fog, and their skin started sizzling and burning immediately.
"Fuck, this is worse than I thought it would be..." Zachary said.
"Circle your mana around your skin; you shouldn't have problems." Death said.
pαndα noνɐ1,сoМ Death's advice was heeded by the others, who began to slowly and methodically circle their mana around their skin, forming a protective layer over themselves, which greatly helped the five endure the corrosive fog. However, even though they weren't burning anymore, the feeling was like being stuck between two hot plates.
"This is really uncomfortable," Laser said.
Death looked at his surroundings. He couldn't see anything except the mist rising up from the ground and blanketing the area with a dense fog. Everywhere he looked was an eerie shade of gray, and the atmosphere was so still that it felt like time had frozen in its tracks.
Zachary was more or less able to understand where they were but relied on the device to find the way toward the students. Instead, the master assassin could navigate through the thick fog easily by relying on his acute senses and the various scents of the forest to guide him outside of the fog.
"This way..." Death said, and the others followed suit.
The scenery in front of them was grotesque since the fog melted everything in their surroundings. Even the bare earth was not left untouched.
Everything quickly became a gooey substance that almost made them slip several times and caused the group to walk cautiously and carefully; most of the vegetation caught fire due to the intensity of the heat, and it was hard to know if they were walking in a sea of fog or a sea of flames. The trees fell under their own weight and then started burning, setting the surroundings ablaze. Remains of thaids and small animals littered the ground here and there; some of them were still alive and twitching in pain due to the corrosive substance.
Greg actually observed a small squirrel with the right side of the head completely gone. The creature was basically waiting for death with a defeated look, and after a couple of seconds, life abandoned it once the corrosive gas started eating its brain. The ground was strewn with the bodies of small birds, rodents, and other creatures that had been exposed to the gas, and the more Greg observed, the clearer it became that none of the few still alive would make it. The fog was that terrifying.
"Poor little fella..." Greg said.
"What, that squirrel?" Slice asked. "Bro, you killed hundreds of thaids not even five minutes ago. How can a squirrel's death make you sad?" he then asked.
"I have a soft spot for cute animals..." Greg replied.
Laser laughed. "That's because you're an idiot..."
"Look, we need to keep going forward, so let's move on before the fog eats our brains too," Zachary suggested, attempting to defuse the situation.
They kept walking and saw the desolation brought by the fog, and after a couple of minutes of running at full speed, the group finally got out of it. Creating all that gas was not simple for Amber, who almost exhausted her mana supplies.
The path was clear for the five men from there on out; due to their physical statistics, it didn't take long for them to reach the clearing where Erik and the others had gone close to. Once they got there, they quickly found the three mantis-like thaids eating off the other creatures' bodies; however, contrary to Erik's group, they didn't take even 3 seconds to kill them and quickly passed their corpses without even looking at them.
"They are four hundred meters away from us," Zachary said while checking his device.
"FANTASTIC! I can't wait to have some fun," Slice said. Due to how much time the students made them lose, this time, Zachary didn't oppose the assassin.
Death was starting to concentrate on the task ahead; the others couldn't see it due to the mask he was wearing, but he had a look of pure focus. It seemed like the man wanted nothing else but to get the kid and head home to get his money.
Slice and Laser, instead, couldn't wait for the carnage to ensue. In contrast, Greg and Zachary were very nervous since the kid proved to be a real pain in the ass. Zachary was sure that the awakener had at least another trick up his sleeves.
After two minutes, they finally started seeing the kids running. They were obviously slower than them since their stats were significantly lower. Zachary actually spotted Erik in front of the group of students leading the way to the city.
"I can see them!" Laser said. Even he became more serious now that the real job was about to begin.
"Remember, get the kid and get the fuck out of here, ok?" Zachary said.
"Yes."
"Ok."
"Don't worry."
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