Chapter 185: Vine Snakes (4)
Chapter 183
One moment Sony had been seated on a protruding rock, drinking soda and watching the Aspirants bicker as if he was viewing a TV show of some sorts.
He looked... relaxed.
As if nothing could phase him.
As if he was on a little vacation, away from the whole administrative duties back at the Corps.
Away from teaching teens and speaking for hours.
It would have been a perfect way to spend a few hours without having to do anything while the Aspirants did it all.
But unfortunately, that peace was destroyed the very next minute as around him, about five vine snakes surged towards him.
He choked on his soda, coughing immediately as dread overtook him.
He knew about the beasts in the green zones.
Though he didn’t know their specific types, he knew that they were all awakened beasts; hence, it shouldn’t have been a cause for worry since the Aspirants had some powerful meta-humans in their ranks.
But what was a normal human like him supposed to do against an awakened beast?
Even a monster-ranked creature was still too much for someone who had been sheltered almost all his life and was weak at that.
Talk more of five awakened beasts.
Not one, not two, not even three. But five!
His eyes widened as he realized he was in genuine danger.
The serpents snarled and instantly surged at him with incredible speed.
Flinging the soda can in his hand, it crashed into the face of one of the beasts long enough for the rest to pause for a fraction of a second.
That brief pause was all Sony needed.
He immediately turned his back to the beasts and dashed forward.
If he could run towards the Aspirants with the monsters on his trail, he sure as hell knew that he would be saved by one of the stronger students there.
Where he had sat was quite far from the Aspirants, as he had chosen a place where he couldn’t see them but could still hear their bickering chatter.
Now he was regretting that choice terribly.
’Damn you, Sony!’
Rushing forward with all the speed his body could muster, he quickly turned his head around to see that the vine snakes had already regained their composure and were now on the ground, slithering towards him with impressive speed.
With how long their bodies were, they were closing in on him with each passing second.
’Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!’
He kept running until he finally reached the clearing where he could see the Aspirants.
The moment he reached there, though, he unknowingly paused in his tracks.
Chaos. Utter chaos.
That was what met his eyes.
The supposedly normal vines the humans had thought of turned out to be deadly vine snakes that were now attacking the Aspirants, who were all locked in a furious exchange.
The vines had been numerous; so right now, the students were in combat with about a hundred... no, more like two hundred of these beasts.
Nobody was spared.
There was nobody to save him as the hissing sound from his pursuers grew with growing intensity.
’I’m dead.’
Before the thought could fully form in his head, he thought back to his life as an instructor.
Was he ready to give that up?
Was he ready to die and leave it all behind?
He had been lucky enough to stay away from the frontlines for years now, and simply because death grew closer, he was ready to give up?
Clenching his hand tightly, Sony took a step forward when he tripped on a protruding root and then crashed face-first into the ground with a low thud.
His heart thudded against his ribs.
Spinning around, he could see that the snakes had now slowed down the moment they saw their prey crash into the dirt.
All the determination and the resolve he had just mustered a second ago vanished without a trace.
The instructor was now shaking, shivering at the sight of the beasts which were slowly approaching him as if enjoying the fear seething from him.
One thing with monsters was that they enjoyed the fear shown by their prey.
Whether it was a predator or a beast, they enjoyed fear.
Which was why the creatures were taking their sweet time to slither towards the instructor, who was shifting backwards in terror.
"Pl-Please, do-don’t kill me," Sony pleaded as he kept shuffling backwards in fear.
He looked like he was a moment away from breaking down in tears the more the beasts approached.
His heartbeat was almost audible in his ears the closer the predators got.
Turning around to scan his surroundings, no Aspirant was still available as every single one of them were locked in a furious clash.
Even Trish and Kai were busy. Unavailable.
Turning back to glance at the beasts in front of him, he saw they were now a mere meter away—a distance they could easily close if they so desired.
All it would take was a single, coordinated lunge, and that would be the end.
Still shivering, Sony’s hands began moving frantically through the grassy terrain, searching for anything to use as a weapon.
One of the five beasts, having finally had enough of toying with their prey, reached a decision.
"Pl-Please I beg you, l-let me go," Sony pleaded, as if the creatures could actually comprehend his desperate words.
Uncaring about the games anymore, the lead beast lunged forward, instantly crossing the one-meter gap in the blink of an eye.
"Let me go!" Sony screamed in defiance.
As he shouted, he yanked something forcefully from the ground—the head of a decapitated vine beast.
With a burst of adrenaline, he proceeded to bash the severed head hard into the lunging beast in front of him.
The inertia of the impact sent the snake crashing into the dirt a short distance away from him.
The remaining four predators glanced at their fallen comrade and then back at the human, who was still scrambled on his backside.
Wasting no time on further hesitation, they sprang toward him with furious speed.
Sony froze in position as a cold dread washed over him, his breath hitching.
’I-Is this how it ends?’
"Unfortunately, you can’t die here."
A voice rang out from behind the instructor.
Almost immediately, two sharp strikes of lightning, accompanied by half a dozen bolts of black energy, surged forward.
The projectiles collided with the snakes while they were still in mid-air.
The attacks tore through the monsters all too easily, causing black droplets of ichor to burst out across the clearing almost immediately.