*

The animals caused quite the ruckus. With our heightened senses, we were all able to get up and get ready before they arrived at our location.

Gary still had a few spheres of saliva dripping off his mouth while Charlotte questioned, "What's with all this? Any ideas?"

It seemed like my knowledge had become pivotal and I had earned her respect, "I have no conclusive evidence. So, it might be due to a forest fire, a migration, or some other natural phenomenon, which are all unlikely given that this is the Forest of Marsh."

Turning resolute, I continued, "Most probably, they're being chased by a bigger predator."

My words were followed by a high pitched screech from far away. Training my eyes toward the sound, I could make out the blurry figure of a huge winged creature making its way towards our location.

I informed them, "Krahang spotted, at around one kilometre north-west."

As the two of them nodded, I could see Gary struggling a bit under the pressure. This was most likely due to his recent trauma.

Charlotte also noticed this. Taking charge, she shouted, "Get ready! Jason, transmute the ground around us as flat as possible, leaving only a few trees. After that, make the largest spikes you can in an area of one hundred metres. I'll buy you the time necessary, go!"

I commended her leadership and quick thinking instincts, immediately following her instructions as she continued firing off orders, "Gary! I swear to God, get your head in the fucking game. Follow Jason and suck the moisture out of the few trees left by him. Light them on fucking fire! Go!"

I watched as Gary broke out of his reverie, nodded and started following her instructions.

Charlotte shouted, "Jason! I trust you to know what to do afterwards."

I glanced back, nodding.

She stood in the same place, seemingly staring down at the Krahang that was flying high up in the sky.

*

I ran around, transmuting the ground around the area into a flat surface, making two metre spikes jut out from the ground in five metre intervals. Since I was not raising the spikes all at the same time, it was relatively not too draining on my mana reserves.

These spikes would be used as cover from the air, with the added bonus of having the off chance of successfully luring the Krahang down from the air to impale itself, if we could.

Gary was closely following behind me, breathing heavily as he did his task of drying and lighting the trees on fire.

This was so that the heat vision of the Krahang would be impaired. Charlotte managed to put together a plan that put us at an immediate castle defence scenario even in an unforeseen situation. She really did have the great instincts of a leader or commander in her.

I was finding her more and more interesting, while Gary conversely began to bore me.

'Maybe I should make some more art soon.'

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I neither wanted to help them too much nor try too hard. That would come later, if they were deserving of it in an actual life or death battle.

*SCREEECH!*

I looked up to see the Krahang around four hundred metres away, flying around crazily. Presumably because of its confusion or happiness due to the abundant amount of prey.

Looking towards Charlotte, I could see she had already unsheathed her sword.

'She knows her role.'

I looked away, trusting her to fulfil her role to its utmost entirety.

*

Charlotte took a deep breath, calming her mind for her upcoming task. She gripped her sword tightly, smiling at the irony that this act calmed her nerves more than anything else she had tried before.

She quickly ran towards the Krahang while directing her mana to her legs, allowing her to explosively speed up. After she traversed the distance in only a few seconds, she picked up a stone in one hand.

Putting her sights on the Krahang, she focused mana on her hand and eyes. The veins on her forearm bulged as she put one leg forward and threw the stone as hard as she could.

The act itself made a small contraction of air, resulting in a boom as the rock broke the sound barrier and flew at a breakneck speed toward the Krahang.

The creature, as sensitive to sound as it was, could not dodge it completely, causing a part of its featherless wings to be torn.

It screeched loudly and turned to see Charlotte on the ground, flying towards her direction with visible rage that seemed to burn brighter than the fires around the area.

Charlotte, on the other hand, smiled at the chaos unfolding in the area around her. She could see all the animals belonging to different groups of the food chain suddenly meeting here and creating what could only be described as pandemonium, which served to their advantage.

The more sounds there were, the better it was for her and the team.

As the Krahang flew closer, she ran back to where the others were. Alas, her act of focusing all her mana into only specific parts of her body made her weaker, and even her speed as an Awakened was still too slow to outrun the Krahang, a mutated beast with the ability to fly.

She ran around in random directions, taking cover under the trees once in a while. If she decided to run in the open for too long, she feared an attack would come when she least expected it.

Alas, it was still inevitable.

Charlotte heard it coming down sooner than anything else, before feeling a swift cut in the air as the creature swooped down. She decided to roll sideways whilst swinging her sword backwards with full force.

*Swish*

Her swing did not cut into flesh as she had hoped, but she did not have the time to be confused as she was thrown back suddenly with a force akin to a horse running into her at full speed.

As she was being thrown back, all she could think about was how she hadn’t been able to calculate it correctly, and how easily a single mistake could be fatal.

Surprisingly, she was able to keep a firm hold on the handle of her sword.

Charlotte flew across the area, blood flowing out of her mouth, while crashing through several trees in the process. She tried to regain her bearings by putting her mana circulation at an all time high while her adrenaline fueled her senses to the extremes.

As she was about to fall to the ground, she somersaulted by concentrating her mana to her hand and pushing herself in the air, through the finest atoms, while simultaneously preparing to throw her sword.

A split second later, she saw the Krahang arriving at the ground she had just pushed off of.

Smiling gleefully, she threw the sword with all her might.

*

*SCREEEEEEECH*

We heard a screech much louder than any of the ones before.

Gary looked at me in worry, "What the hell was that sound? Is Charlotte going to be okay?"

I replied, "Probably. She can take care of herself."

'Now, let's see how you react.'

Gary showed a sliver of rage in his eyes, "Probably?! You think that's enough? I'm going to go help her."

I stopped transmuting the ground and stood up, "And leave the task she entrusted us with? What if she's coming back right now and the success of all this depends on how good our home turf is? What if this decision leads to all of our deaths? Would you be able to shoulder the weight of that responsibility?"

Gary looked me in the eyes, I had never seen his eyes clearer or purer. The trembling pupils that froze with a broken mental state were no longer visible, in its place was a strong and unwavering conviction, "I will never choke or stand by again when I can help my friends. This may be the wrong choice, but I will go there to help her. She's my sworn brother."

With that, he turned around and ran towards the sound. I shook my head, smiling.

'Well, isn't this nice?'

****