Everyone in the group stopped their movement, appearing stunned by what they were seeing. Each of the trees around them had some creature which looked completely different from what was found in the simulation. Instead of having tentacles and the conventional arms and legs, these things had four legs, two arms, and a tail. If this were the extent of the oddity, then Han wouldn't have been as alarmed. The creatures' legs looked like the leg of a human. Both arms were unnaturally long and thin but were likely unreasonably strong. When looking at the face, all Han noticed was the largemouth. There didn't seem to be eyes or ears on the creature.

He was curious as to how they heard the noise and guessed they may have been like spiders. Or there may have been some type of concealed organ used to translate sounds to help them hunt. With the forest having limited light, the need for eyesight would likely not be required. It was a little confusing since the wood hadn't been around for a while, so did the creatures emerge from someplace else or did they adapt.

"Are you kidding me?" Steve said, the first to say anything in the group. "Is this a new group or did one of the former creatures turn into these monsters?"

Steve words were like a bucket of cold water poured onto Han and Jackie's group.

Harmony tried to say something, but could only make quivering sounds.

Being the only one in his group that seemed to maintain their composure, Han asked, "So you've never seen these things before?"

No one seemed to notice how his voice was calm, lacking the sense of dread everyone else was experiencing.

To answer his question, Lexi replied, "We've only run into the species seen in the simulations, though others have said that they've seen far different creatures even compared to these things surrounding us."

"That's why those people were considered to be imagining things, especially with Charles, who's been adamant about his friends being inside of the forest still but likely running away from something," Kimberly added in a depressed voice.

"So, guys. What are we going to do about these things?" Jackie asked.

"Be calm and don't move," Jade answered. "Though I'm starting to think that Charles was right, all along, I don't want to make an assumption about these things. I do not see any eyes on any of them, and they don't seem to know that we're here. If we stay calm, we may be able to get out...,"

Snapping of wood made everyone look at the source, and saw Jae-Hwa freezing along with a stick broken in half.

Checking on the creatures, they saw that all of them were on alert and looking as if they were trying to locate the source of the sound. A couple of them moved closer to where all of them were standing, but it was not done with confidence as if they were trying to figure out if the sticks came from prey.

"I'm sorry you guys," Jae-Hwa quickly said.

Screeching sounds were made by the monsters, and they began rushing towards them.

"Why is your comm not set to private group?!" Jade yelled.

For whatever reason, Jae-Hwa had accidentally voiced her apology with the communication mode set to public, making the creatures dash towards them in a frenzy.

"Don't get too spread out! Make sure to stay together!" Jade yelled out through their comms, still maintaining silence even with all the creatures creating chaos near them.

Han quickly dodged the tail of one of the monsters, the end of it having a massive spike, likely to impale the prey. Grabbing the tail, he pulled the creature closer to him and drove his weapon into the side of the beast. Bluish liquid came spraying from the wound as he kicked the creature off of the blades.

In a fluid motion, he swung his weapon sideways and decapitated another. Though his eyes widened at seeing the creature's mouth continuing to open and close as if trying to take a bite out of him.

"Han! Watch out!" He heard a voice call out to him, soon followed by the feeling of being forcibly pushed aside.

As he came crashing to the ground, he noticed that it was Ivy who had shouldered him out of the way just as one of the monsters was falling from a branch above him. He watched as the thing crashed on top of her and plunged its tail straight into her chest.

"Ivy!" Han screamed.

The monster was about to take a bite out of Ivy but looked at the direction he was shouting from. It launched itself off of Ivy and rushed towards where he was laying, still shocked by what he had seen.

A metal cable wrapped around the monster and turned deep red, a sizzling sound and smoke rising up as the metal cable sliced through the thing. The upper half toppled to the side and revealed Ivy standing behind it.

Ivy saw Han laying on the ground and ran over to him, quickly trying to get him back on his feet. "Han! You need to snap out of it!" Ivy pleaded with him, fear in her voice and her head looking to either side in case they were being attacked.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"But... How? I saw that thing impale you." Han tried to organize his thoughts.

After she got him on his feet, she said, "It didn't hurt me. I moved to the side enough so that it impaled the ground right below my shoulder. I'm okay, Han." Turning him towards her, she stressed as she faced her helmet to his. "I'm okay."

Numbly nodding his head, Han said, "We need to focus on killing these things."

"I have your back!" Ivy nodded her head. She moved to have her back against his.

Feeling Ivy's back against his, Han felt like his mind was clearing up, and he was back to his usual self. Swinging his sword, Han cut off the tail of a monster and twisted the blade to block the swing of another monster's strike. He saw that the monster had sharp claws, strong enough to leave scratches on the blade. "These things are definitely not playing around," He muttered, deflecting a spike and proceeding to cut the spike off the tail.

All around him, Han kept hearing the screeching of the monsters. Han looked over to where his mom was fighting a monster and saw her grab its shoulder with one gauntlet and use the other to rip off an arm. Jennifer sped past their mom and used her spear the creature through the chest. With her skills with the spear, the monster exploded from her twirling the spearhead and unleashing the built up force.

Twirling the spear around, flames began to appear and turning her into a whirlwind of fire. Slapping the spear onto the ground, the ground erupted in a straight line with fire spewing out. A dozen monsters burst into flames and transforming the forest from blue to red.

"Glad to see my special attacks work out here and not just in the Arena!" Jennifer cheered happily as she slashed several monsters heading towards her and their mom.

"It feels like they'll never stop coming," Their mom said, smashing her fists together, creating tendrils of lightning to spark around her. Punching a nearby monster, she sent bolts coursing through the beast and the ones behind it. Each of the things tensed up, having thousands of volts seizing up their muscles and cooking them from the inside out.

Ruby appeared out of nowhere and stabbed two of the monsters that were close together in the skull, dropping both of them. From her blind spot, a monster reached her, and when she noticed, Ruby raised her daggers to block the attack.

From the ground, tentacles made from shadows wrapped around the monster and prevented it from moving. A blade exploded out of its throat, and when it fell to the ground, Lexi was behind it.

"You need to pay better attention, not get caught up in your most recent kill. If you're going to play the assassin role, you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings." Lexi criticized Ruby. Behind her, several monsters lept towards her. Before any of them could reach her, they were frozen in place. With a sweeping gesture, she lithely lopped off the heads of each of them.

"Thank you, Lexi. I'll make sure to improve my skills." Ruby said, her face turning red in embarrassment. Fading from view, she went off to find more monsters to kills.

Seeing the never-ending horde of monsters, Han kept an eye out for all the various members in the group. Even Ruby appeared as a shimmer in his eyes, though his helmet didn't register the movements unable to pierce through her ability.

With one hand still on his weapon, Han reached into one of the many pouches around his waist. Reaching into it, he pulled out a large sapphire gem and a large moonstone gem. Slapping both into the many empty slots still available, he felt the mana raging through the blade.

Unfolding his blade, both gems glowed brightly and streaked in the air as he spun his sword above his head. "Everyone! Stay where you are!" He yelled, hoping that everyone heard him. Driving the bottom part of the Jackknife into the ground, there was a gust of wind that whirled around him and moved between his teammates and hunted down the monsters.

Han could tell that everyone was confused by what he was trying to accomplish, considering the wind wasn't strong enough to hurt even a leaf. After a moment passed and he felt it was ready, he yelled, "Welcome to my prison!"

From the ground, under each of the creatures, a patch of ice appeared and in seconds encased each one of the remaining monsters. All of them were covered in several feet of solid ice, the tip of the prisons nearly reaching the branches above them.

Only a few breaths passed before all the icicles began cracking and exploded into a mist, being blown away by the gentle breeze from earlier. All of the creatures they were battling against were gone, leaving everyone to turn towards Han looking for an answer.