Escape, Perspective

"On your feet, we're getting out of here!"

Johann shouted, throwing the collapsing Mage onto his shoulder beginning the charge backward towards the entrance. Meanwhile, Stacy and Anna retreated just as quickly, with the Ranger first and the swordswoman last.

At the same time, the white wolf was snarling toward them, the arrow still being stuck in its' neck, blood leaking out.

When it once again began the charge toward the escapees, Anna already had her crossbow loaded.

"I've had enough bites for today, no more bites Mr Fluffy!"

With a questionable warcry, the arrow loosened, forcing the beast to evade, which it was fully capable of. Though that did impede its momentum, it didn't help much.

As such, the party still had a very much pissed wolf on their heels.

While they were running out of options, Ian's hoarse voice could be heard.

"Out of the way! I'm going to use that!"

Anna was the one to respond.

"No way! You know what will happen to you!"

"Better that rather than being dead!"

Biting her lip, she sprinted to the side, Stacy doing the same, opening a clear view of the chasing wolf.

The air seemed to vibrate around Ian, who was still on Johann's shoulder, as the even surrounding mana converged around his hands.

With a shout that seemed to resonate with the air, a blast wave visible to the naked eye swept through space.

"GO AWAY!"

The words echoed and followed the shockwave that went by the other party members, nearly knocking them off their feet, and staggering them.

The shockwave was extremely fast, and the wide-eyed wolf was caught right in the middle of it.

The white beast was instantly halted, and flung backward, flying to the opposite end of the room, slamming into the wall heavily. Some bones would definitely be broken.

Such a powerful attack didn't go without a price though. As soon as the blast was sent out, the Mage coughed up blood, it streaming from his eyes, ears, and nostrils, followed by him losing consciousness, his later fate unknown.

"Ian!.. Damnit, run, don't waste this chance!"

With Johann's exclamation, which was completely unnecessary, the tattered part of four sprinted out of the boss room, ignoring various critters that tried to attack them on their way to the entrance. Their armor took most of the hits, however the injuries were accumulating. It would be a wonder if they weren't crippled afterward.

But the sunlight from the entrance was their beacon, and they wouldn't die here today.

As for whether they would return... Only time will tell.

--------------------------(Pov Switch)--------------------------

Lan, shortly after the party's entry

When the party was only just advancing through the underground entrance, looking around and observing their surroundings, Lan was observing them in turn.

'Stare into the abyss, and the abyss will stare back... But today, I am the abyss.'

Now that Lan had suspicions, nay, near complete confidence in the fact that he remained on Earth, he was curious how an average human survived amidst all kinds of beasts and monsters. Some average Joe wouldn't make the cut, that's for sure.

And indeed, he found some differences.

Most obvious of all, was the fact that they had fully active mana circuits, though mana pulsing through them was low in quantity compared to an average Monster. The amount seemed more appropriate for a strong Beast. (Changed regular 'animal' to 'Beast')

However, when they did engage in battle, their teamwork was good. The leader of the group, who was apparently named Johann, was blocking and redirecting the attacks, a Ranger called Anna provided ranged support, and Stacy the Swordswoman was a powerful attacker.

However, Ian the Mage attracted most of Lan's attention. The reason is that the mage could manipulate mana similarly to Lan but in a much inferior way.

This was displayed when the Ranger got wounded by a surprise attack by of one the Worm Beasts. Then the Mage displayed the process of healing by mana infusion, similar to when Lan first discovered it by healing the deer herd way back then.

This however didn't use much ambient mana, instead pulling mana directly from the mage's mana circuits, which were in fact, larger than the other members'.

This discovery also notified Lan of different Mana Circuit structure amidst the party's humans.

The party leader and the Swordswoman had Circuits of similar structure: Running through their muscles and bones, providing additional strength to their muscle. The leader though seemed to concentrate it in his arms when blocking, while Stacy used it in bursts of strength.

However, they seemed to be unaware of this. Perhaps it was an instinctual action, like when you don't think of using each muscle individually when walking.

The Ranger possessed yet another type of Mana Circuit. It spread primarily through her ligaments, tendons, and joints. This type of circuit seemed to increase flexibility and agility at first glance. Additionally, in Anna's own words, it also seemed to boost dexterity.

As previously mentioned, Ian possessed the third Circuit Type. It didn't seem to reinforce any physical capability, instead, it seemed to contain and circulate greater amounts of mana through it, and unlike other Circuit Types, it also reinforced the brain.

Thanks to this the Mage seemed to possess the talent for mana detection and manipulation, which proved him useful as an additional scout and support, though not much beyond that.

As Lan watched Ian fight, he was kind of disappointed as the only kind of attack the Mage possessed seemed to be a simple blast of concentrated mana.

'Well that sucks, I kind of expected him to start flinging wind blades and fireballs or whatever... Still, it's good not to worry about a potential forest fire. That would suck even more.'

In conclusion, from what Lan observed so far, there seemed to be three types of mana circuits. It could be said to be similar to an RPG game 'Class'. A typical Warrior, Rogue, and a Mage.

There could be more, but Lan had yet to 'meet' other humans and/or other sapient species.

The Core then began observing the mental aspect of the humans. They emitted enormous amounts of mental mana, especially in battle, compared to a Monster it could be said to be multiple times more.

However, that very same emission seemed to make a kind of a 'barrier' around them, making them impervious to any attempts to establish a mental connection. In fact, they didn't even seem to sense it at all. Though at a closer look, the Mage was sometimes turning around, as if unsettled, perhaps shrugging it off as an ominous feeling.

That very barrier also seemed to influence a part of the mana around them, making it impossible to manipulate. And while that barrier wasn't very big, barely covering the surface of their bodies, it made it impossible for Lan to, say, encase them in the ground and bury them alive, make the plants devour them, or...

Noticing rather grim thoughts, Lan shuddered mentally.

'...Where did these dark thoughts come from? Is it from a change of mentality? Did I start seeing humans as... Another Intruder?'

Nevertheless, while Lan was having a mild existential crisis, the party advanced up until the 'boss room' where Tag and Nacht resided. This brought back Lan's focus to the matter.

The wolven pair themselves were already aware of the intrusion, the shared mental link probably giving them some degree of information.

As such, they were fast awake and on the prowl. Both of them went into 'stealth' in their own ways. Nacht used her recently gained ability, and her fur seemed to darken even more, becoming one with the shadow.

On the other hand, Tag possessed Light Affinity, the polar opposite of his partner. Still, he possessed a similar ability. Light's rays seemed to bend around him, light shimmering until all that remained of his figure was a twisting silhouette of twisted light. Pretty much optical camouflage.

When the group of humans reached the middle of the room, far enough from the entrance so that they wouldn't run away immediately, Nacht began the hunt alone. Tag wasn't an active one, so unless the situation got dire, he wouldn't intervene.

The center of the clearing was convenient due to being surrounded by trees, providing ample cover and shadow to retreat into, a favorable terrain for someone of Nacht's abilities.

So it wasn't surprising that her initial ambush succeded, though partially. She initially aimed for the throat but the Swordswoman was quicker than expected.

Nacht then began probing various targets, not meeting much success until attacking the ranger.

At the sight of her nearly torn apart, Lan mentally gagged. Although he had seen plenty of violence amidst the Beasts and Monsters, it felt more like watching TV. Seeing a human like that provided a whole different feeling. Lan wasn't quite sure how to feel.

Surprisingly though the human didn't die, thanks to the Mage's healing. Instead, Nacht was pushed on the back foot. To be fair, Nacht didn't have much experience in hunting small and dangerous prey which was sometimes more nimble than herself.

As a consequence, she got beaten up to near death. Finally, she decided to give Tag the signal to attack, which resulted in the Swordswoman Stacy losing an arm.

'...Brutal. That's just how it is. It's either the wolves or the humans. Yet another battle for survival.'

With that the humans were back at a disadvantage, however in the end Nacht was killed, thoroughly enraging her mate. His anger didn't give him a sudden power-up though, but reduced his combat efficiency.

Meanwhile, Nacht's corpse disintegrated into Neutral, Life, and Shadow Mana, dispersing back into Lan's domain. However, her Heart Core and energy contained within remained on the ground, which was promptly picked up by the swordswoman.

At the same time, Lan paid attention to her Soul, which was already orbiting Lan's Core, not being absorbed in the slightest.

It would seem that the mental 'mark' placed by naming her, made Nacht's soul treated as a part of the Core, staying completely intact.

'...That's a relief... I can bring you back. Sorry for all that.'

Still, Lan continued to watch the 'boss battle' soon after, eager to see the conclusion.

He was surprised though when the Mage started rapidly absorbing the ambient mana, his circuits overloading and shining in Lan's perception.

Then, a large amount of mental mana also got added into the mix. And such a combination was fired off toward Tag.

In return, Ian's Circuits seemed to wither, devoid of any mana. At the same time, his mental barrier diminished to the point of nothingness, leaving him open to any mental connection.

Lan didn't miss the chance, throwing in a sliver of his own mental mana. This way he would have at least one 'connected' human. As to how that would work out, only time would tell.

Meanwhile, the humans escaped rapidly, exiting the underground domain shortly afterward. They then collapsed back at their camp, breathing heavily.

And while Lan would be happy to continue observing them, he had another problem at hand.

Tag, who was left alone in the boss room, stood still, blood still flowing from various wounds, staring at the distant entrance with anger in his eyes. Eventually, though he limped back towards the den, where he heavily crashed into the bedding. Alone.

He whimpered, energy draining out of him, as he was now far from a predator on the hunt, closer to a defeated beast, devoid of any will to live.

As Lan poured in mana to heal him, although Tag's wounds closed, he didn't seem to get any better. He still lay curled on the ground, without any energy. Feelings of immense grief, anger, and sadness could be felt through his connection.

Tag was mourning his partner.

Feeling guilt toward his own Guardian, his friend, Lan couldn't help but comfort him.

'You've fought well, but don't lose hope.'

Tag then raised his head, but the next words caused light to return to his previously lifeless eyes.

'She is not yet gone.'