The Excursion (3)

After the short break, Diamond 1 searched around the forest. They explored the forest, cautious of their surroundings.

As they were walking by, Fiona heard rustling around them. Noticing her reaction, the entire group stopped.

Though they didn't feel a spike of dark mana, signifying an aberrant nearby, they still were on high guard. Some aberrants could suppress their dark mana output.

If they did, they would rely on physical means to discover its location. Most aberrants who suppressed their dark mana usually were also stealth hunters.

Jeanne put her palm to the ground as she tried to detect the aberrant that may be nearby. As a passive benefit, Jeanne's gift Terraformer could sense vibrations in the ground and feel changes in the earth. 

After a couple of seconds of feeling the ground, she frowned. She couldn't feel any change.

'Was the rustling just the wind?' She thought as nothing appeared on her radar. Shaking her head, she communicated that there was nothing to worry about. 

But the second the students let down their guard, Jeanne felt a vibration near her. "Attack from 4 o clock!" She called out to her team members.

While doing so, she created several earth barriers. Since they were hastily constructed, they weren't able to block the incoming projectiles.

However, the shields were able to slow down the projectiles so that the remaining team members could deflect them.

The projectiles were massive thorns. When Jeanne removed the barriers, it revealed a moderately large aberrant hiding in the trees.

It had glowing blue eyes with a purplish-black body similar to all aberrants. It resembled a porcupine with the quills but had the body of a panther. The quills were glowing purple and were incredibly sharp. Three of its quills lay next to the students.

The students didn't immediately rush in. The quantity of the dark mana it was releasing was far greater than the wolves from before. It was extremely suffocating.

"What species is it?" Jeanne questioned.

"I think's a Thornback Panther," Ryan replied.

"That's a grade 3!" Arlo exclaimed in fear.

They were facing a difficult opponent. Grade 3 aberrants usually required an elite or a group of them depending on where it ranked on the grade 3 scale.

Diamond 1 all watched the creature, as they felt their bodies stiffen up. It was the first they would be confronting a creature stronger than them.

"I'm killing it. The rest of you can stand there gawking at it." Tobias spoke condensingly. His overconfidence was a benefit in this situation. It allowed him to act without hesitation.

Without any time to come up with a plan, He dashed forward. Unlike before, Tobias had his oversized broadsword in hand.

Despite its weight, it lifted as if it were paper and ran towards the aberrant. The thornback panther retaliated by shooting several thorns from his back at high speeds. 

Tobias easily blocked or dodged the incoming attacks. When he reached the aberrant, he swung his sword at high speed.

The aberrant blocked the blow with its two claws which glowed a similar purple.

Tobias, expecting this didn't seem worried. As the aberrant was about to retaliate, it suddenly came under heavy pressure. The ground caved in under its weight as it struggled to move.

Tobias was about to swing again, aiming to kill it, but it shot out another burst of quills. Since he was at close range, Tobias was not able to dodge fast enough and one of them hit his arm.

Angered, Tobias swung again. But then he suddenly felt some weakness. He collapsed on the floor, coughing out blood.

Just as the aberrant was about to kill Tobias, a barrage of fireballs scared it away. 

Jeanne and Ryan appeared next to Tobias, checking if he was okay.

"Go away! I don't need your help!" Tobias shouted as they approached.

"You think you can take on a grade 3 without help? I didn't think you were suicidal." Jeanne chastised Tobias.

Tobias looked down angrily. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to take down an opponent of that level. Tobias tried to get up but fell on his knees again.

"You should rest. Thornback panthers have poisonous quills. You should concentrate on healing yourself." Ryan explained.

Despite his constant annoyance with Tobias, Ryan found his attitude useful in this situation. It compelled him to act even when he was afraid.

Tobias reluctantly agreed to Ryan. Dark mana was generally toxic to regular beings, including humans and with thornback pathers' poison on top, regular humans could die in less than a minute of receiving a scratch.

Tobias focused on purifying the mana and preventing the poison from damaging more of his body while the others focused on tracking the aberrant. It was moving in between the trees while barely making a sound.

Since the aberrant movements were causing vibrations in the earth, Jeanne knew its exact position at all times. But the aberrant wasn't smart enough to realise it.

The thornback hound could read the flow of mana of other creatures, so it knew when its targets were agitated. So it knew when their guard was down. But the aberrant's surprise attack had failed, so its targets wouldn't let their guard down again.

So it used its instincts to determine if it could attack its targets. Unfortunately, instincts couldn't outsmart human intelligence.

As soon as it approached, it got slammed in the chest with several rocks from the ground.

Following it up were several gunshots and fireballs coming from Arlo and Fiona respectively. The aberrant managed to dodge out of the way just in time.

Chasing the moving aberrant was Ryan, trying to kill it with his sword. But when he swung, all he could hit was air.

"It ran away," Jeanne muttered in annoyance. "It's a troublesome aberrant. In terms of offence and defence, it is inferior to some grade 4 aberrants. But the thornback hound specialises in speed and stealth. The main reason it is so dangerous is because of its poison. If we want to kill the damn thing, we have to slow it down and avoid getting hit at all costs."

While the aberrant was fleeing, they discussed a basic plan and everyone got into their positions. Arlo and Fiona hid in the trees, away from the aberrant to provide backline support.

Jeanne and Ryan stood in the front, taking the vanguard. Tobias, who had managed to slow the poison was in between the both of them.

Though Tobias hated to admit it, he wouldn't be able to be much help in this fight. The poison restricted his ability. He cursed his weakness, knowing his injuries were all from how weak he was.