Smarter Than I Thought

Mikaela who was the nearest to me at that moment heard me.

"Who is preparing an ambush?"

"I think the beasts might be getting ready for one."

"Why you think that?"

"They should already catch up to us if they were following, it's unlikely that they just give up like that."

She was confused and scared.

I needed Rose to let her scout and be ready when the time comes.

Besides this, my mind was full capacity trying to predict the place of the ambush. It will take us about three more hours to arrive at Green Shelter at this pace, from what Dante explained to me he was cleaning the surrounding from beasts, I received an approximate area of what he was covering.

Thanks to Dante I Could narrow the timing of the Ambush between one and two hours, the reason I knew it wasn't sooner was that if they want an ambush they would be moving some of the slower beasts too, I don't know how much they could really prepare, so an earlier trap wasn't impossible either.

I called G and walked towards Ian and the others followed by a pale Mikaela.

"I'll be direct here, something is wrong… and I think that we are going to fall into an ambush."

A couple of gasp of surprise sounded, Ian had a serious face, and I think that he also noticed that something was wrong. G looked at me, even if he found it weird, he knew that I wouldn't play with something like this.

"What do you mean with something wrong?"

Rose chose that moment to appear, Ian didn't let me respond to G, but he answered with his question instead.

"It's about the lack of attacks from the beasts, right?"

"Yes."

"But there have been beast attacks, I have seen the hunting teams fighting them a couple times!" Robbert said.

"That barely counts as a normal attack, the scale of the attack that should have arrived is larger than that."

I nodded to support Ian's point. G still thought that the lack of attack wasn't enough to believe something like that.

"Maybe Dante is making them move in another direction?"

"He is cleaning the surroundings of Green Shelter, but we are outside his area right now, so this has nothing to do with him."

"There is someone capable of re-routing beast in Green Shelter, why he didn't come with us?"

This was Cecily's question, she couldn't believe that there was something that powerful on Green Shelter.

"He was tired, he has been in a rescue mission in the last couple of days…"

Her eyes almost pop out when she got that this "person" was the one that saved her from the NDR.

Ian was a little confused by the mention of Dante, and he probably didn't link it with my cat, so he returned the subject to the original one.

"I get that there is something weird, but are there animals capable of planning and executing an ambush?"

"Not all of them, but Dante explained to me that there is some beast that has control over the others and usually is also a little smarter. He calls them Alpha, and if they are directed by an Alpha, they might be able to pull off something similar to a trap. Probably not something where they will jump on us at the same time and take us all out, but they can be waiting for us somewhere and try to surround us before attacking."

It was unexpected for all of them.

"I need to go talk with Mr. D'Aurora, all you of the need to be alert even a bird flying over us can be a signal so be careful. Rose, can you scout ahead?" I said looking to what for the rest was empty air.

'Don't you prefer me to go talk with Dr. Harting to see if he can send more reinforcements?'

'I'm on it~.' Dante's voice sounded.

'Ok I'm scouting then, if I see any weird movements, I'll tell you."

After that it took me some time to find Mr. D'Aurora, he was with two guys with suits that looked like his personal bodyguards.

"Mr. D'Aurora, do you have e minute to talk about something?"

He noticed that something was off, but I couldn't talk about it there.

"Sure, lead the way." He followed me out of the formation together with his bodyguards. One of them had a body enhancement, the other wasn't an Esper. Luca D'Aurora was also a normal person, but he was able to stay in the top of the power chain thanks to his management abilities.

Now that I think about it not getting an Esper ability doesn't necessarily mean that they didn't get anything from the meteor shower, powers like eidetic memory or cold mind didn't count as Esper powers, but they were a significant advantage in most situations for average people.

Together with Mr. D'Aurora and his followers we left the formation, so no one else listens to what I'm about to tell him. It would cause panic, and if that happens, we will be an easy target. Once we were some distance away from everybody, I explained what I noticed and the fact that there might be an Alpha involved in an ambush. I also added my prediction.

He talked to both his guards to go get the group leaders to stop in 3 blocks, for a break and a reunion.

The break had to two functions.

It was the perfect excuse for all of us to stop and try to coordinate the defenses. Also, if my predictions were correct when we take the break, we will be near the area that I think the beasts are going to attack us. This will give everyone the chance to rest and recover some energy before the battle if that happens.

Thanks to this no one found it weird when we decided to stop for a break, and make a little reunion with the team leaders. I also met the responsible for collapsing the buildings, Giorgio Visconti, an Esper with an aura like Leon's but more powerful.

Battle cries and shots could be heard from time to time, but most people were already used to it and found them normal to listen by now.

Rose has done her part and located a cluster of beasts about 5 blocks ahead of us, to completely avoid it we must make a big detour. Mr. D'Aurora explained to everyone the situation I mentioned, everyone was a little more at ease since we could avoid the ambush without problems thanks to Rose.

Surrounding them to the north was a bad idea since the buildings were scarcer and we would be in a more vulnerable position if they followed us. Also, it would take longer to arrive at Green Shelter this way.

Since we have to move towards the south, Cecily's presence could make the NDR try something… I had to explain a little about her situation, but we all agreed that it was unlikely for it to happen. I just said that she was being used and was rescued by us not that she was a willing part, that could be a lot more troublesome if they know about it.

I received a message from Dante telling me that most of the hunting teams were on hold today, and a part of them was getting ready to leave Green Shelter as soon as we have decided on a route.

On the next intersection even though the NDR could try to do something we moved towards the south to avoid the beasts ambush.

The way the teams rotated was the same as before, but the wheels we had were already in a horrible state. Most people were being either carried on stretchers or by someone, which make us move even slower due to the need of short rest or the need to change the carriers from time to time, most of them were normal after all. I was walking with my group again. I asked Rose to keep an eye on the beasts that we avoided.

I felt a presence and suddenly had a bad feeling. I looked towards the sky, from where I knew someone was peeping again.

Were they planning something?

"Tell Ramsey that she is not going back, Chambers."

Cecily looked at me and then at the sky when she understood what just happened. Despite the disappearance of the presence on the sky, the bad feeling remained. Something was about to happen.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~!!!

Like a thunder, a cow made a sound that made almost everyone stop their movements.

From the buildings around us, a sound came to our ears.

Baa~, Baa~.

Rose voice came into my head while I got a notification from the system at the same time.

'The beasts are moving on your direction now.'

[Large area sleep effect resisted]

Around me, I could see people yawning, stretching and one even plant his face on the floor when he fell asleep on the spot, at least the sudden impact managed to make the others look at him dumbfounded and don't fall asleep right away.

That was the last time that I underestimated a beast intelligence.