The sun was already down, and the group members silently carried torches as well as lanterns. They talked among themselves and shared their experiences with each other. Some of them saw other animals in the forest with similar characteristics. One of them said that he had seen an elk that behaved like a mutant deer. The other said that he had seen a wolf with such characteristics.

"The situation is stranger than we thought. If they're telling the truth, then this is a mission not meant for us beginners," Luz muttered to himself.

But even though they were on their way back, the echoes of animals were becoming louder. Instead of normal animal sounds, agonized cries of animals echoed through the forest.

The previous chatty atmosphere died away. Instead, the only sound the group members made was their footsteps.

"You three better put your crossbows away, too. We can't see 30 meters in the dark. We'd rather use melee weapons and magic," Francis stated.

The other two girls and Luz just nodded in agreement before quietly changing their equipment.

"Luz, you don't happen to know any beginner spells do you?" Francis asked quietly.

Luz just shook his head.

To be honest, he only knew the magic disciplines of space, fire, and water. He had also studied a bit of Necromancer magic, but only to help his little brother Az. Furthermore, his understanding of them was at the beginner level.

Looking at the other members of the group, Luz saw how their weapons differed mainly between sword and shield and between spears. In contrast, their group leader pulled out a thin sword with a handguard out of its sheath. The thin blade was covered with lightly glowing runes.

sheath

'Interesting. and why the hell are runes all over it? Why hasn't Master Simon or anyone else taught me this yet,' Luz cursed in his head until he remembered that Master Simon had given him a book on the subject.

'Come to think of it, didn't Master Simon give me books on magic disciplines outside of magic? I'll definitely have to look into that after returning home.'

The group kept walking, and suddenly a rustling sound came from the bushes accompanied by the sight of a mutant fox jumping out and staring at the group while hissing and drooling.

Some group members jumped to the side, and it became loud. It seems that no one with melee weapons wanted to take the risk. The fox continued to hiss and slowly walked towards the group in attack position.

Francis, on the other hand, took out his crossbow. With a sigh, he shot the fox's head with a mana arrow without even blinking. The head splintered, and the group became even louder, trying to wipe away the blood from their bodies as well as clothes.

"Anne. We will continue walking with only our masks on," Francis ordered with a serious tone as he extended his hand to her. Anne handed each of the three a mask.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Are we going to use crossbows or melee weapons now?" asked Luz, and Francis suddenly stopped for a moment and sighed.

"I was wrong. I think it would be better if we continue using crossbows. The other ten already use melee weapons," Francis admitted, and Luz just nodded.

A black liquid ran out of the animal. While everyone stood as far away from it as possible, Francis stepped closer and used magic to trap the mass into a container.

After the group walked about 20 meters, they saw several mutant deer screeching and running toward them from afar.

The group members panicked, and some of them leaped off the path, hoping to have a better chance of surviving in the dark forest under the moonlight.

Luz, as well as the remaining three, shot at the deer silently. More than 5 of them were hit as mana arrows shot through the deer. The remaining deer stumbled, trying to run over their fallen kin and fell over.

'Only 5 deer left. If the others can buy us a moment, then it would be great...' but before Luz could think further, Francis interrupted him by muttering a spell.

"[Fire Wave]," Luz heard, and a wave of 5 meters width spread on the path in front of the deer.

All of them were happy that these deers were dead. But unfortunately, their happiness didn't last long because it was only the beginning of the end.

The next moment screams asking for mercy and help echoed through the forest.

"What the hell is going on? Why are so many mutants hunting us now?" cursed Luz as he turned to the place from where he heard the screams coming.

From the bushes, a man fell in whom Luz recognized.

''Wait, isn't it a group member from the other group?'' Luz wondered as people called out his name.

But as people rushed towards him, rodents were seen jumping from the bushes. They bit his face, and his screams became louder.

Luz had to look away from the sight and would have preferred not to hear his screams.

'These screams will definitely haunt me to sleep if I survive at all.'

"This is definitely not normal," Francis commented.

"No shit, you fucking smartass," Alice told him.

The man tried to get back on the path, screeching but was pulled into the bushes by a creature whose yellow eyes were visible in the darkness.

"What the hell is going on here, and why isn't it attacking us?" asked the female group leader as she fell to her knees in despair.

Slowly more and more yellow eyes appeared. All of the eyes stared at the group through the darkness.

"I don't have a plan, but you better get up," Luz cursed out loud as he desperately tried to decide where to aim his crossbow.

In contrast, Francis shook his head as he walked towards the female group leader. Arriving in front of her, he took a deep breath in and out before coldly stating to her, "If you are too incompetent to lead your group, then I will take command from here."

"If you think you can lead us to safety, I'd be happy to," she replied while trying to control her fear.

"I don't know if I can do it yet, but one thing is for sure, I'll be able to do it sooner than someone who can't control himself on the ground," Francis replied coldly.

And so Francis became the leader of the group of 13 members.

"We will continue to walk the path. The monsters on the side are just staring at us and won't attack us until we leave the path," Francis announced while reaching out his hand to the former leader.

She grabbed his hand, and the group continued moving. It didn't take long till a shrill female voice shouted: "Brother?"

'That's definitely not one of my siblings since none of them had such a voice,' went through Luz's head.

He aimed at the bipedal creature standing silently 100 meters away from the group on the path.

"What the hell is going on, Luz? What does she mean with Brother? Is she your brother?" asked Francis to him in confusion.

But Luz only shook his head, and all 4 of them aimed at the standing creature that looked more and more like a human the closer they got to it.

"I only want my brother. If you can give him to me, I'll let you all leave," the female voice called.

"Are you the one controlling all these beasts?" stammered Luz.