Chapter 4: Possibly C rank
Chapter 3
They didn’t rest for long.
Hawk gave them just enough time to catch their breath and restablize their energy before they continued pushing forward. His eyes had scanned the clearing twice already, something was off, and everyone could feel it.
Even the fog seemed thicker now, pressing down on them like wet cloth. The squad moved forward, everyone was at high alert, expecting the worst.
Kaizen stayed behind the group, still ignored. His head throbbed from the hit earlier, but he didn’t complain. He never did. Complaining didn’t stop the bleeding, and it sure as hell didn’t make him more useful.
"Keep formation," Hawk said, raising a hand.
The red-haired fire user scoffed under his breath. "Would help if everyone here was actually worth placing in a formation."
Kaizen heard him. They all did but no one said a word, not even Hawk this time.
Ten minutes in, the quiet shattered.
A roar exploded from their left flank, followed by the crack of splintering trees. A monstrous beast far larger than anything they’d encountered bursted through the underbrush. It was huge and armored, covered in thick, bone-like plates, and fast too. Like real damn fast.
"Shit—!" one of the C-ranks shouted as they scattered. If they had been any second late, the beast would have swept them all off the ground.
The beast ignored the fire blasts shot towards it and charged into their formation like a truck plowing through paper. The redhead guy was too slow. It knocked him straight into a rock wall with a loud crack, his scream cut short as he hit the ground, unmoving.