Operation: Hollow Forest (2)

Echo Blackbirds had jet black feathers with blood red eyes. They were small birds, being only slightly larger than a regular blackbird.

They had low defences and they lacked offence. However, their speed and ability to synchronise their attacks with the entire flock made them troublesome opponents.

"These are Echo Blackbirds! If we want to defeat them, we need wide-range attacks!" Arlo informed his comrades.

"Okay, Shivan you're up." Alexia, sheathed her katana, leaving it to him.

Shivan nodded and stood in front of everyone. A flock of these aberrants were dangerous opponents and could kill entire platoons.

Unfortunately for them, they faced their one true counter.

A blackbirds screeched, a chorus of sounds attacking them in a concussive wave.

Shivan wasn't to become a punching bag. He retaliated with his own attack.

"{Wave Crash}!"

That was the name he decided to give the technique he used in the escape. A power tremor was created, colliding with the concussive sound waves.

But one was easily more powerful than the other, as Shivan's attack hit the birds. The aberrants could not avoid the attack in time and the pressure waves were fatal to most aberrants.

The ones that survived were disoriented from the attack and severely weakened. Alexia unsheathed her katana and sliced the rest up.

The battle ended in less than a minute.

'That was easy.' Shivan thought to himself when he viewed the dead aberrants. But that was only because he had to matchup advantage.

That attack didn't take much of him, so they pushed forward. The concentration of dark mana was increasing and it was getting hard to control their mana. Every regarding mana, making increasingly difficult.

Alexia, Shivan and Chloe finally got to experience what the entire cohort had to go through on the excursion. The lack of the ability to see more than 10 metres away and constantly controlling their mana was taking a toll on them. 

They walked through the forest for half an hour before deciding to take a break.

They sat in a small clearing and focused on recovering their mana. Shivan confirmed that nothing dangerous was nearby, then leaned against a rock and rested. The others also rested, sitting near each other.

But for some reason, Alexia was on edge, though it went unnoticed by everyone else.

"No wonder this is considered the test to separate those who are capable of becoming a mage and who cannot," Chloe commented while looking at the bizarre fauna.

The leaves were an unusual purple colour with the bark being reddish-brown. Some trees grew spikey flowers and unusually shaped fruit.

Being inside the fog truly felt like an alien world. It was wildly different from the world they were used to.

The longer the group stayed in the forest, the more control they had over their mana and the less mental energy they devoted to it.

Chloe, intrigued at the fauna approached a fruit and inspected it.

Suddenly Alexia grabbed her katana and swung it at the branch Chloe was approaching.

"AH!" Chloe yelped in surprise.

The katana collided with the branch and was deflected. Chloe backed away.

The branch started moving as a long creature, purple creature started to reveal itself.

The head of the aberrant appeared. It was a huge snake. The branch was the tail of the aberrant.

"I knew something was off," Alexia commented as she faced the aberrant.

Arlo with his studies on aberrants recognised it as a Silencer Anoconda. It was an ambush predator, disguising itself as a branch to deceive prey. 

It was over 30 metres long, had tough scales and its tail could move at surprisingly fast speeds. And with its weight, it made it a terrifying blunt weapon.

Though it had no venom, its physical strength was impressive. Unless its target had greater strength than it, being constricted by it was a death sentence. And within its grade, only a few matched its strength.

Shivan wasn't able to detect its presence before for two main reasons. Firstly, the Silencer Anaconda had to ability to thin its presence to the point it was nearly impossible to detect without a special ability.

And secondly, the anaconda was at the location before them, meaning it hadn't moved at all during the group's break.

Chloe hopped away from the aberrant, a bit spooked. Had the tail of the aberrant connected, she would have been concussed at best. At worst, killed.

It was only due to Alexia's intuition that she had been spared from such a fate.

"You won't let us go right?" Alexia asked the creature jokingly. Not understanding human language, the aberrant hissed back.

"Arlo, kill it with the rifle if you get the chance," Alexia instructed him.

Arlo merely nodded before retreating and setting up the sniper rifle.

Meanwhile, the anaconda rushed forward at a speed that shouldn't be possible with its size. It rushed forward to bite Alexia, but she easily dodged to the left.

The anaconda attempted to coil its body around Alexia, but she jumped in the air and onto a tree. She tried to swing her to cut the anaconda, but it was too tough. The katana was deflected in a shower of sparks. 

"Tsk." Alexia clicked her tongue in annoyance as she hopped in between the trees.

Shivan wearing his gauntlets, punched the aberrant while simultaneously launching his {Rupture Wave}.

The impact of the blow caused it to crash into a tree, knocking it over.

The actual damage it took wasn't much, but it distracted and angered the anaconda to the point it targeted him instead.

The head of the anaconda faced Shivan with its mouth gaping wide open and tongue hissing. Shivan faced it head-on, as it dived towards him.

Shivan stood his ground and brought his hands together, uttering the word "{Thunderclap}". The pinpoint wave exploded from his hands hitting the inside of the anaconda's mouth.

The result dealt some damage to the snake, but not enough to stop its charge. Before it could make contact with Shivan, Alexia came from the side with her sword.

She swung it towards the anaconda's eye. The anaconda managed to close it in time, preventing permanent damage. However, the swing of the katana knocked it off its path and it crashed onto the ground next to Shivan.

When the dust cleared, the anaconda was up again, but this time with cracks on its scale near its eye.

"Oh... I just needed more speed." Alexia commented as she looked at her handiwork.

BANG!

As it was about to attack again, a powerful mana blast crashed into its eye and the anaconda hit the crowd with a loud thud.

Nearby, Arlo was holding the glowing sniper rifle, having just fired a powerful shot.

"Is it dead?" Chloe came out from hiding having watched the events unfold.