Traversing the Sea of Crimson Trees

The new environment looked quite surreal as it felt like it was something they couldn't see normally in the real world. Although the forest was thick enough to not allow any light from the sky penetrate the canopies of its big trees, everything in the forest was glowing a dim, crimson light. Beautiful, but also eerie, Lloyd felt like the forest was a living creature ready to swallow them in any second.

Lloyd and the group cautiously proceeded forward and just as they had expected, the forest was populated with hellspawns. A worse hell than the one in the clearing could be waiting for them as they go deeper towards the depths of the forest.

They turned to stop for a moment and crouched in a nearby bush to look at the first residents of the forest they have encountered just a few meters away from them. They could see three walking creatures with a body made of crimson roots that were twisted in a spiral starting from its foot towards the head and has a bone-like arm in the form of a scythe.

"What do we do now, Shane?"

Ray asked softly, afraid that their voices might attract unwanted attention from the roaming hellspawns.

"The best thing we could do is to catch up with that girl, Luna. We will have more chances of fighting back if we have more people."

Ray wasn't too convinced that they could take on a hellspawn after what he had saw earlier so he didn't look to optimistic with the idea of fighting them.

"Fight them? Are you crazy?! Didn't you see how that hellspawn killed Zeke and the others? Can we even damage them when we still haven't received our innate abilities from the trials?"

"Yeah, that monster killed most of the people who came with us in just a blink of an eye."

Stanley agreed with Ray while Shane shook his head in disagreement. 

"That hellspawn was no ordinary foe. If I have to guess, that one was a bit special with a higher rank and a special skill that allows itself to blend with the environment. What do you think, Lloyd?"

Shane turned to face Lloyd. He thought about it for a while before nodding.

"I may not have lots of knowledge about hellspawns, but as someone who had to live his life constantly in danger and trying his best survive, I could tell that the hellspawn earlier was reeking of death. I only started to notice its presence when it moved which made the space bend a little bit enough for me to see a glimpse before it started killing our peers. That thing wasn't a pushover."

He paused for a while and thought about how the professor had a weird expression as he looked at the crimson portal after the gates have been opened. It would have made sense that they were sent into an abnormal trial since they had encountered an abomination of a higher rank.

However, he didn't want to share his findings yet, afraid that it might add more to the pressure pressing them down. A person falling to despair has no way of returning home alive.

"However, unlike the one we have faced earlier; I don't sense that much danger coming from those."

Lloyd pointed towards the three root-like hellspawns that were wandering aimlessly, a few meters away from them. Then he added:

"We might be able to kill it if we take it by surprise."

"I misjudged you. It seems that you're not just a rat in the outer district."

'What the hell do you even mean by that? I have a brain too, you know.'

Lloyd cursed in his head but didn't say it out loud anyway. He had more things to worry about than complaining to their remarks.

"Do you have a weapon with you?"

"No. But I have an ordinary knife."

Shane shook his head in disapproval.

"That won't do. It won't even scratch the outermost layer of their skin."

He then raised his hand and pressed the stone in a ring he was wearing. That ring serves as a spatial storage. It is a common type of spatial storage which ordinary humans could even use but it can only store limited items such as smaller ones. His clan probably gave him sufficient equipment for him to survive in the trials.

'Must be nice to have a rich family. If only mine were rich…'

Shane took out a dagger with a curved blade and handed it to him. Lloyd was surprised and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You can have it."

"Are you sure?" 

"A weapon is useless if it's not used anyway. The more people who can fight, the higher our chances of surviving."

Lloyd shrugged and took the dagger. As he was inspecting it, he found out that the dagger was forged together with a soul orb so it is no mundane weapon, although it only belonged to the weakest rank since the soul orb infused was only from a grunt.

He tried swinging it crudely and it felt so light but he could attack faster with a dagger compared to using heavy weapons. Even though he had no experience in fighting, it would be no big deal to hit slow-moving enemy like those in front of them. They then started planning in taking out the three root-like grunts.

"Now that we're equipped, let's go through with my plan. Ray and I can distract them while you and Stanley wait for an opportunity to strike them. You do know that hellspawns have a weak point just like humans, right?"

"Um…"

"Looks like you don't. Look at them." Shane pointed at the root-like hellspawns. "Although they don't seem to have any obvious weak spots, you can aim at their joints in their limbs where their skin is thin."

Lloyd remembered the details of the hellspawn's body and nodded.

"Alright, let's go." 

Shane and Ray dashed forward. The hellspawns noticed them and quickly swung their scythe-like arms in a diagonal form. Shane quickly dodged the first scythe just in time by hair's breath while swinging his unsheathed sword that was a talwar, intercepting the second scythe coming from another hellspawn which produced a soft clang as the talwar grinded with the bone scythe. 

Ray blocked the third one using his shield and used his sword to stab the abdomen of the hellspawn which pierce through. A pained cry came out from the mouth of the hellspawn.

Lloyd followed suit and went behind the one shane was currently locked into. He found a small gap just around its chest where the heart is supposed to be in the body of a human. He launched his dagger forward with full force and deeply embedded the blade in that small gap which made the second hellspawn shriek before limping and fell to the ground. Green sap burst out from its wounds and the hellspawn was dead just like that. 

"Its weak spot is that small gap in its chest! Aim for it!" 

The others nodded and faced the remaining two with ease. Stanley who was a few meters away from them, fired his gun and shot through the joints of the first hellspawn and broke its limbs, disabling it for good. Shane then chopped of its head but its body was still squirming in its own pool of sap, although without its limbs, it was practically harmless. 

"Seems like some of them won't die if not hit at their weak points." 

Then he stabbed the small gapped and finally eliminated it. Ray also killed the last remaining hellspawn with the support of Stanley's shooting skills.

"Dig all the soul orbs in their body and let's move on. It would be dangerous if something else is attracted by these corpses." 

Shane took out his sword and stabbed his sword where their weak points were located and pried their chests open. A dimly lit orb could be found near the organ of the root-like hellspawn which seemed to be its heart. 

"This is a grunt, alright." 

Ray and Stanley cut out the bone scythes in their arms and stored it inside the spatial rings, feeling that they might have some use for it later on. Weapons could break anytime, after all, and a body part of a hellspawn is sturdy enough to be made into a weapon. Then they made a confirmation to Shane. 

"We're done with here, Shane."

"Good. Let's move on." 

They soon left the area and walked for hours without making unnecessary sounds or talking. Sometimes, they would encounter large groups of those root-like hellspawns which they call 'sentinels' and they would change their routes from time to time. They have also met lone ones where they would take out immediately. They would only try to engage in a fight when there are only few.

So far, they haven't encountered a dire situation where they are forced to fight hordes of sentinels or encounter something stronger than a grunt. 

They had only encountered sentinels in the forest and no other hellspawns of different types, whether it was of the same rank or higher, was found. They were at least thankful for that small luck they had. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to proceed further as much as they had right now. They couldn't stop to rest and replenish their strength, but they also haven't faced a life-threatening situation yet.

A few hours of walking made them tired and famished while Lloyd who was staggering from hunger since he barely ate anything aside from that bread this morning, was looking worse out of the four of them. His strength was slowly slipping away and his stomach was rumbling. They had yet to find a place to hide in order to rest and what's worse was the place felt like it was an endless sea made of crimson trees as they only saw nothing else but trees of the same size.

Doubts started to creep in their minds like what if this place was just making them walk in circles.

Then, something ominous happened which made them abruptly stop in their tracks. The sky was getting darker than before which hinted that it was going to be night soon. The crimson glows of the plants and rocks in the forest slowly dimmed too, as if they were going into a hibernation during the night.

Realizing that not being able to see in the dark soon would put themselves at a big disadvantage, Shane started to panic a little.

"Oh no. We can't stay out here. We need to find a hiding place immediately!"

"But how? We have been walking for hours and all we see here are a bunch of trees." Ray said worriedly.

Lloyd looked around and something in the far distance caught his attention. He squinted his eyes to get a clearer picture out of it. His eyes lit up upon discovering that it was a cave; a hidden one which was behind bushes near a three-meter cliff. 

"There is a cave over there!"

He pointed towards a small clearing ahead of them. The moods of the others lit up. Shane looked at Lloyd's condition and saw that he wasn't doing well.

"Are you alright?"

"I… can still go on. Don't worry about me."

"Fine. We should hurry." 

They started walking at a faster pace. However, before they could reach the place, a rustling noise could be heard several distances away behind them. They saw a very familiar thing which reminded them of the horror they just felt recently at the beginning of the trials.

"Holy crap! Run!"

"Damn it all! How the hell did that thing follow us?"

Shane shouted while Lloyd spat. The thing they saw was the hellspawn with mutilated faces of humans stitched together, which was slowly crawling towards them. Thankfully it didn't notice them yet, but it would soon if they would not start moving. Who cares about the sentinels? That thing was a thousand times horrible than any adversaries they had faced.

Lloyd was already very tired and hungry, as his consciousness suddenly blacked out for a second which made him stumble and fell down.

'Curses! I have no energy left.'

"What are you doing? Come on!" 

With no time to waste, Shane and Ray went back and swiftly carried him, ignoring the sentinels that have finally noticed them. They ran faster and faster, afraid that the devil which was getting nearer would catch up to them. Before the sentinels who followed them could attack, a tentacle shot through which pierced their bodies and dragged them back towards the devil.

They finally have reached the hidden entrance of the cave which was covered with thin hanging vines and saw two people inside who was also hiding in there.

"Luna Reinford?"

"Hello." The aloof woman with a jet-black hair responded plainly without any emotion in her voice.