Ch 6 : The Unexpected Forest

"Guys, we are traveling at night so there will be many problems and I believe outside of the campus is more dangerous. We can only travel by foot if we don't want a whole army of stalker behind us and since we have to avoid anything that seems dangerous we would need more time and energy than normal just to get to the city. We don't know what kind of crazy shits are waiting for us outside the campus, so if anyone want to leave than you can do it now. If you desert in the middle of the journey, I believe I would not make any exception and make you guys wish you were dead."

After giving warning to everyone, Ivy urged the group to set off. The moon is up high when the group go on the trip. Invaders just keep popping everywhere and after finding no one nearby they set off towards the outside of the campus, seemingly going to their campsite. The school ground has little skeletons but as they go outward the wandering skeletons keeps increasing by multiple fold. Ivy's group has to fight several time before the got off the campus ground. The skeletons looks more vivid and creepy in the dim moonlight. It is great that most of the group are recruited from the people who are fighting at noon.

Outside the campus the whole world looks different like they have time travel back for several millions years. The whole place is cover with flora as if there never was traces of civilization. The plants are overgrown and their species becomes hard to tell, the road to the city that should be there is nowhere to be found. Most people from the group looks stunned while Ivy was deep in thought.

"Miss Ivy, what should we do now. Should we return and inform the leader and come back at morning?" said one of the girl.

"No, if just about half a day can turn the plants into this, I doubt we would have much time left. The campus is self-sufficient and even if they don't get more supplies for one or two weeks, there will be no problems. The problems here would be 'what if the campus lose contact with outside much longer than they can handle.' We need to get to the city fast and inform them about the situation and ask for their countermeasures." said Ivy. "If the flora changes because of the Abyss, we can not say if the fauna. The most dangerous creatures right now should be insects. You should be careful along the way."

After Ivy persuade the group for a moment, they decided to go to the city to look for help. The forest looks sinister in the dark night as if they would instantly comes in life and become monsters. The group heard flapping wings and crunching of the branches. After walking in the forest for five hours, the whole forest is eerily silent as if they are inside the center of the storm. Everyone inside the group becomes tense and nervously looks around to find something suspicious.

"Guys, where is Ivy? Where did she go? She is just here a moment ago." said one of the boys.

Just as the group is panicking and looking around for Ivy, a shadow jump down from the tree with a roar and pound on a boy. It was a big tiger with dull black fur covering the whole body. Even after pounding on the boy from the tree the tiger is swift and silent as if it is a snake. Before the boy can even shout the tiger bit toward the throat. If it weren't from the commotion, other people wouldn't even notice the tiger at all. Several people near the boy strike the tiger with their weapons,but the tiger jump backwards and tries to drug the boy onto the tree. The bitten boy keeps struggling but not only did he fail to be released the throat get more and more torn. But the boy's struggle delay the tiger from climbing up the tree and the group surround the tiger.

"Everyone, quickly kills the tiger. If we delay he would be dead. I will distract it with two other the rest of you try to attack from it's back quietly."

The leading boy distract the tiger while the other two defend him. The leading boy has the ability to manipulate fire which is the best to get a creature attention. Although the ability is useful the boy doesn't have the energy to use it for long as it is a high grade ability. While the tiger is distracted by the three, other people try to strike the tiger as much as they can. The one who make the most damage to the tiger is Amelie, the girl with the blood-lust ability. As expected of the one with blood-lust ability, Amelie doesn't care about anything other than killing the tiger from the start of the fight. While other people are fighting the tiger, only the girl with apathy ability, Tilly, is looking around the battlefield while waiting for the opening. After getting many wound, the tiger become agitated and slashing it's claws every direction. Tilly saw an opening while the tiger is distracted by the fire and Amelie and swiftly stab her sword towards it's neck.

Just as Tilly stab towards the tiger, a roar is heard behind her and everyone saw a creature nearly as large as an elephant jump down from a tree. It was a large black tiger covered with spikes instead of fur. Seeing a big tiger render the group paralyze other than Amelie and Tilly, who are stabbing toward the smaller one without caring for others. The big tiger is enraged by the actions of the two and pound towards Tilly. Just when the tiger is in the middle of the air, Ivy instantly appear and jump and slash down from the above, towards the tiger spine. Even with the perfect timing and her strong halberd, injury done towards the tiger does not seem fatal. Although the tiger is seriously injured it still has some ability to fight as it does not run away from Ivy.

During the time Tilly and Amelie managed to kill the smaller one, but the bitten boy was long been dead. The big tiger is enraged by the dead of little on and sprinting toward Tilly and try to bite her without caring for her injuries or Ivy. Before it can bite Tilly, Ivy appear before her and stab her halberd into the tiger's mouth, while her other hand grab the sword from Tilly and slash the tiger eyes. After blinding the tiger, which is now raging around, Ivy slash her halberd to the tiger's neck and sever it's head.

"Where have you gone while we are fighting the first one? If you have this kind of ability you can save him. He shouldn't be dead like now."

"Yeah, even though you have great power and you are just around, you keep looking at it and did not even try to warn or save him. You can just warn us for the least."

"If not you are doing you job as a leader he would not have been die. You just look at him die with a cold blood and you are not even feeling apologetic. We couldn't know if you would watch us die without batting an eye too."

Ivy looks around the clamoring people and said "I already told you to vigilant before the trip and you don't even notice the danger or when I disappeared. If you have the ability all of you would be alive but you are throwing your incompetence on other's responsibilities. And if it was not for me everyone here would be dead as I can not kill the big one in the short time while protecting everyone from another. If I have not hiding and looking for changes and kill the big one as quickly as it is now, all of you would be killed by another one."

"What another one! The smaller one has been killed by us."

"The partner of the one I killed. The one behind you guys."