Where to go?

«Hey. Sorry I'm late,» Chris said in a soft tone, he could see the complicated mix of emotions she was portraying, and hoped it could give some reassurance.

Theresa stood there simply staring at him her eyes drifting all over him, noticing this Chris decided to look down at his body.

Seeing the thick dark mana covering him he couldn't help be a bit surprised with himself and let out a "wow" in a mumbling manner.

He started inspecting himself thoroughly as he was intrigued by this new mana technique he had created. He could also observe that his surroundings was darker as well . 'Hmm, seems I attracted this darkness somehow.. This could be very useful. If I can mimic what the spiders did previously, it would be a perfect tool for me,' he thought with some excitement.

Noticing his improvised weapon he felt it nostalgic as it resembled the weapon his teacher had brought him before, though it wasn't nearly as beautiful as the katana he had a vivid picture of in his mind.

Still he was quite proud of this newfound technique, knowing it needed a lot of work to perfect however. He felt its durability was quite low as it was a weapon simply condensed with energy, he would most likely have to get himself a new weapon capable of withstanding his own corrosive mana or increase his mana reserves to sustain the massive usage.

On that note he let go of his intent and allowed the technique to deactivate. The improved darkness of the area resided and revealed a very lush and massive forest, trees standing compactly in every direction. He couldn't remember seeing such a massive vegetation nearby when he arrived at George's and Theresa's earlier. 'Seems mana works as a form of sustenance for the green life too huh,' he thought.

"Ehem!" bringing Chris out of his stupor, Theresa harrumphed from the side. Though instead of looking frightened she seemed annoyed and baffled; "are you trying to give this old lady a heart attack? Cover yourself would you!"

Standing buck naked, showcasing his athletic build, Chris realised another issue with his new technique. However, neither George nor Theresa brought any extra clothes so he would need to improvise.

"Gee, just use George's shirt, and check on him as well would you" said Theresa hastily while looking away.

Chris followed her suggestion and made a makeshift underwear with George's cloth. After checking George's condition, and finding him to be seemingly in a decent state, he made a mana dagger and began helping Theresa escape the web holding her in place.

Now with George hanging over Chris in a fireman's carry and Theresa by their side there seemed to be one question that plagued the two of them: "Where to now?" Chris questioned.

"Well, we've ran quite far from our house already, and there is no telling if the spiders where chased out by something more terrifying.." answered Theresa with a small shudder. "However, there should be a very small town not too far from here. Though with all this new forest growth I'm not entirely sure about its direction."

"Hmm.. I think its our best bet, lets just give it a go and see what we might find. We're bound to encounter something on the way I reckon," Chris said after grumbling for a short moment.

"Very well, follow me!" Theresa spoke giving a glance towards Chris and drifting her eyes over George who was still unconscious. She was quite eager to get going in the hope of giving George a proper place to rest and recuperate.

Now running through the forest, Chris and Theresa could be seen with their feet barely touching the ground as they bounded forward, weaving between trees and leaping over fallen logs. Leaves rustled and twigs snapped beneath their feet as they sped through the thick forest. The lush greenery around them became a blur as they hurtled forward, with mana strengthening their legs, giving them speed resembling a motorbike in high speed.

Having run for about half an hour south of their previous location they noticed how the trees began to thin out, giving away for the morning sunlight to shine through ahead of them.

With some excitement Theresa and George quickly found themselves gazing towards what was a small town. However, they hadn't expected it to look so ancient. With moss and vines covering most of the buildings and the streets. it looked as if nature was slowly reclaiming the land.

If not for the people making spike fences out of wood and people guarding the outer area of the town, they would've thought it was some kind of old abandon town.

Gaining some relief in finding other people they began trotting down the small hill.

One of the workers were making a loud gasp as he seemed tired from waking up early and shifted his head up to the hill and had a sudden fright at seeing something move.

However, making out three figures and all of them being human he relaxed slightly and yelled to the others: "Hey, we got company people!".

Men, women and children could be seen turning their heads in fear by the sudden yell, but just like the previous man they also calmed down after noticing that they were humans.

"Don't scare us like that, Jack! Gee, have some common sense would ya?" Came from a tall slim man, obviously very startled by the sudden yell.

Jack didn't bother giving a retort, but despite feeling relieved of the three figures being humans, he was giving quite the reserved and skeptical look to the newcomers.

With Theresa and Chris now standing about 15 meters from their nearest blockade of chairs and other furniture mixed with wooden spikes, Jack spoke out in a restraining voice: "Well, who might the three of you be?"