The Excursion (2)

As Diamond 1 entered the forest, tensions among the group rose. The further they delved into the forest, the denser the dark mana. It was instinctive fear that all humans processed. It was the rejection of mana and dark mana. They could never be compatible.

Despite their nervousness, the group confidently moved. They passed by many strange trees and flowers. The fauna couldn't be found in the human domain as these had plants mutated to adapt to black fog.

They were considered pseudo-abberants. Though not hostile to humans, they produced dark mana which was dangerous to living beings.

Taking them out of the forest would cause them to die quickly as they wouldn't be able to survive in an atmosphere full of mana.

The plants had weird shapes and were coloured in different darker colours. There were no signs of the vibrant green that regular vegetation had. It was unnatural.

The sun barely penetrated the fog, making it extremely difficult to see past 10 metres. The only way to navigate the forest was to use mana to purify the fog and use mana to detect nearby objects.

Arlo and the rest of the students had been taught how to during their lessons. But he quickly found the teachings to be useless. He had to rely on instinct most of the team. Arlo noticed that the rest of the group faced the same difficulties, but they were adapting much quicker than he was.

This was another reason why this excursion was so important. Being able to navigate the fog was essential for a mage. Another reason would be to overcome their fear of the fog.

As the group hiked in silence, Jeanne suddenly motioned for everyone to stop. Everyone halted their movements and looked around. They also looked around in silence. Their hands were shaking as sweat rolled down their backs.

Arlo could feel a large concentration of dark mana moving around, but he couldn't pinpoint the location. He was hyper-aware of his surroundings. An aberrant in their natural habitat was dangerous.

As he felt the mass of dark mana approaching, Tobias arrogantly stated, "This one is mine. Don't interfere." 

It wasn't just a statement to his teammates. It was also to himself. Despite his instinctive fear, Tobias held absolute confidence in his abilities.

Without waiting for anyone's response, he rushed forward. As the aberrant appeared in everyone's vision, Tobias rushed before it.

The aberrant looked like a wolf mixed with a reptile. It was over 5 metres long and stood at nearly 2m tall. The aberrant had extremely powerful jaws that could crush steel and tough scaly skin. It was a Lycorix.

Before the Lycorix could bite him, Tobias punched the creature in the face. The creature rolled onto the ground, the it got disoriented by the blow.

Following his initial attack, Tobias kicked the Lycorix's head and it was sent flying into a tree, snapping its neck.

Arlo was amazed at how strong Tobias was. That was a grade 4 aberrant and Tobias was able to kill it with two blows. He didn't even need to use the enormous broadsword on his back.

Arlo couldn't imagine himself doing such a thing as he was currently.

'Is this the difference between us? They're the same age as me and can do such amazing things. I must train even harder to surpass them.' Arlo reaffirmed his ambitions.

Arlo was also suprised at the toughness of the trees. If the Lycorix hit a regular tree, it would immediately break under the force.

After the Lycorix died, Ryan immediately rushed over to Tobias. After seeing an aberrant being defeated so easily, their fear disappeared.

Ryan grabbed Tobias' shoulder and asked, "Why'd you do that? We're a team. We need to practice working together."

Tobias removed Ryan's hand and responded with "Why do I care? Teamwork is for weaklings. As long as I have power, I'll be able to defeat any aberrants."

"Guys... don't argue—" Fiona tried to pacify the group.

"—Can you boys stop fighting? They're more Lycorixes." But Jeanne immediately interjected.

Tobias and Ryan reluctantly stopped fighting and faced approaching the aberrants.

"Don't count me in your group activities. I'm just here to kill aberrants." 

Ryan sighed and let Tobias do as he wished. Unless an exceptional circumstance occurred, he would be completely fine. It would take a strong grade 4 or grade 3 for him to be any sort of danger.

It was the same for Ryan as well. But he wanted to practice working in a team because it was essential for mages.

As a leader, he organised his other three teammates. He and Jeanne would take the front lines, while Arlo and Fiona would be at the back.

Though Fiona wielded a sabre, she was more of a backline fighter. The sabre was mostly for defence in case an enemy attacked up close. 

Arlo used gun MAWs loaned to him by the school. Arlo decided this was the best way for him to use the meagre mana capacity he had.

He practised with guns at school and found it to be the only thing he was somewhat good at.

Arlo fired the gun at the approaching aberrants. They were nearly identical to the ones that Tobias faced previously.

It took on average four shots before he could kill a Lycorix. Each shot drained a small portion of his mana.

Even still, all the shots added up and he was soon running out of mana. 

Meanwhile, Ryan and Jeanne sliced through the aberrants as if they were butter. Ryan with his longsword and Jeanne with her glaive.

If they had not taken the majority of the attention, Arlo was sure he would be killed. 

Fiona fired arrows made of fire at the aberrants, killing them in a single blow.

It took 15 minutes, but all the grade 4 aberrants were killed by Diamond 1.

Tobias, Jeanne and Ryan were all covered in blood from the Lycorixes. Despite fighting weak enemies by their standards except Arlo, everyone was exhausted. 

As they fought, the fear they held for the aberrant slowly disappeared as they faced got used to fighting the terrifying monsters.

But the main issue was the rejection of their mana in the fog. They all realised that constantly maintaining mana control in an environment full of dark mana was draining. This could only be solved with experience.

Arlo's reserves were bottoming out, while everyone else had expended nearly half their reserves.

They all shared one thing in common, they were mentally exhausted. They sat in a small clearing, taking a break and hopefully regaining some more mana before fighting aberrants once again.

Despite everyone still having to cover their bodies with mana to repel the dark mana, they were still recovering more than they lost, so it was a net positive.

Arlo took some water from his satchel and shared it with everyone. As a way to contribute to the group, Arlo decided to carry all the food and water.

While everyone was resting, Arlo asked Jeanne, "Why did you call me to your group? I know it wasn't because you felt bad for me."

"Haah.... I guess you were going to ask eventually. Whatever, I'll tell you now. The reason is that I just wanted to know what Alexia was doing. You're in her group, so maybe you'd know." Jeanne chuckled.

Arlo saw Jeanne smile for the first time.