Nobody moved from their position. Everyone grabbed their mask and goggles that hung around their neck to put it on. Certain areas were known to have toxic gas or dust. It is expected of every Elite to carry the proper gear for different circumstances.
Why are we not moving? Running away seemed like a more logical idea than standing still, but Ryuzo did have to admit that a part him wanted to see what's approaching.
"Squad fifteen, Austin here. Please send Ellyia here ASAP." Austin was using a Tag.
The Tag blinked as someone replied, "Roger, Austin. She'll be coming to the Insanity Forest."
"Thanks." Austin released the Tag from his hand.
Nobody moved. The branches of the trees nearby rustled as the leaves rained down on the floor. There was also a sound Ryuzo couldn't familiarize himself with—it sounded like the ground was breaking if that made any sense.
Ryuzo held his breath, waiting for an ambush to arrive. The sound near the trees and bushes confused him. What was happening? Normally, when you hear something approaching, the sound will become louder and louder. These sounds, however, kept a consistent loudness. Why? Nothing seemed to appear, until, without warning, the ground trembled violently.
"Shield up, now!" Austin yelled.
Vines shoot from below the ground and rapidly attacked everything it could find. Ryuzo managed to cast his barrier just before he got hit. Vines from different directions flashed by like whiplashes before it started to surround Ryuzo's barrier. Afraid to be hurt, Ryuzo kept his barrier activated, and stood helpless for a few seconds. The vines around his barrier loosened its grip and retreated back to the ground. Why did it retreat? What now? Panic struck Ryuzo, but fortunately, it was only temporarily. Calm down, calm down, my barrier is still on. Ah, I should use my time to observe the situation.
All the elites seemed safe from harm, recruit Yuu too. Bayne and Maiden, however, were caught and screamed aloud. They were both damaged. Multiple cuts were visible throughout their body. What was the enemy? Bayne was caught by vines bundled together in shape of a large hand, or rather a claw. It looked like the body of the creature was behind Maiden since the vines were all connected to that trunk-like figure. Since it had plant characteristics, it was without a doubt, some kind of tarmin.
Bayne tried to cast a shield a couple of times, but it just didn't activate. Ryuzo hesitated whether he should help Bayne and Maiden. Both were currently struggling, trying to rip the vines from their bodies, but the tarmin's grip was too firm as more and more vines continued to wrap around them.
Should he leave this to the elites? Will he be in the way? Will he make matters worse? Doubtful thoughts passed Ryuzo's mind, but he regained his courage when he grabbed his knife from his belt. He deactivated his shield and readied himself to act. In that same moment, something grabbed Ryuzo by his shoulder. With a frightened look, Ryuzo turned his head to his left shoulder. A hand stopped him from moving. "Don't act too rashly," Austin said, standing next to Ryuzo and pointed at his allies. "First analyze the situation before you act."
The two elites, left and right from Bayne and Maiden, slipped passed a few nearby vines, cutting a few in the process, and dashed forward. One elite went towards Bayne, the other to Maiden. The elite close to Bayne, drew his wooden sword and sliced a bunch of vines in quick succession, loosening the tarmin's grip on Bayne. "How can he cut so easily with just a wooden sword?" Ryuzo thought. On closer inspection, the sword, or actually the katana, had a glowing aura around it. That must be the elite's Fes ability.
Bayne broke free and distanced himself from the tarmin. "Thanks! I was caught off guard there." Bayne took on a fighting position with his fists raised on shoulder level. He was hurt, just released from the enemies clutches, yet showed no sign of fear in his eyes. Impressive, Ryuzo thought to himself. A female elite with a big backpack sprinted towards Bayne and tended his wounds while having her shield active for the both of them. She was apparently specialized in healing and support.
As for Maiden, her situation turned significantly worse. The tarmin was clearly aiming for her. She couldn't be seen due to the vines being all clustered around her like a cage or a big cocoon. That made it hard to tell what her condition was. She could have been strangled, twisted, pierced, eaten, who knows—these scenarios were all possible. The horrifying imaginations were vividly playing in Ryuzo's head.
The female elite couldn't cut the vines around Maiden. "This is a real tough one!" the elite woman shouted. She even used her Fes to create light-emitting blades that extended from both her arms. Her arm-like-blades could easily cut down the vines that attacked her, but that tarmin seemed impossible to cut no matter how much she tried.
The other elite that saved Bayne, supported the female elite with his sharp wooden katana, but he couldn't do any damage either this time—not even a cut. The tarmin's aggressiveness rose as it gave the elites less and less space to come near Maiden. "Damn it! What now?!" the young elite asked as he either waited for the response of the other elites or just the decision of their leader Austin.
The situation felt hopeless. Ryuzo stood there, unable to make a decision. Are we going to abandon Maiden...? Is that the best decision? Is she still alive? Damn... If I paid more attention to the ground, I could have warned everyone on time. This is my fault. This is all my fault.
Austin didn't open his mouth, but only raised his arm up. He was about to give the definitive signal. It was either abort the mission or continue the rescue operation.
"Austin. I'm here with Faye." In a blink of an eye, a blue light butterfly appeared in front of Austin. According to Ayuki, the butterfly is part of Ellyia's ability.
"Great timing!" Austin exclaimed. He lowered his arm and pointed his finger forwards. "Ellyia, you see that cocoon thing over there? Can you look inside for me? And Faye, can you show it to me?"
"Okay."
"Got it!"
Both Ellyia's and Faye's voice came from the blue butterfly direction. A small portal showed up in front of Austin's face. The butterfly approached the cocoon-shaped and even flew inside the cocoon, like a ghost passing through a wall. "I see a person!" Faye yelled.
Ryuzo didn't understand how it was possible, but the portal in front of Austin displayed an image of Maiden struggling. She's still alive!
"You're a hero!" Austin pumped his fist as the Fes surrounded his hand. "Maiden is safe, I got her!" Austin shouted.
Just hearing about Maiden's safety, felt like a tremendous pressure being lifted. Ryuzo wasn't sure what Austin did, but if he says she's safe, then she probably is. The only problem left, was to find a way to release Maiden from the vein's grasp. Well, escaping was also an issue...
Austin signaled to continue the attack. The young elite with the katana dashed forward for a rescue attempt. More vines, however, sprouted from the ground, and bundled together into a giant three-fingered claw. The claw clashed against the elite's katana with great speed and power, sending the young elite flying in mid-air. He should've crashed against the ground, but that didn't happen. His well-timed quick shield performed above the ground prevented any fall damage. This wasn't a good time to be impressed but Ryuzo couldn't help it—these elites were that talented.
"Its defense becomes stronger if the vines are joined together!" Austin shouted. "Try to cut the vines before they combine!"
"Easier said than done!" The female blade-arm elite replied. She slashed the vines only when necessary, dodging lunging vines left and right, even make the tarmin miss with a couple of feints. Despite her tactful fighting approach, she still couldn't reach Maiden. "Damn it, if only we had a fire user..." she muttered.
The tarmin let out a high-pitched shriek as its vines twirled in a massive swing, hitting all the elites and recruits in almost endless sweeps. The swings were rather slow, but there was hardly enough space to dodge it, which is why the elites and recruits kept their barrier active. The strength in each strike was fierce. Every hit resulted in a loud bang. Fortunately, thanks to the elite's barrier support, nobody got hurt during that rampage.
The cocoon-like vines opened up. Something was about to happen. It launched a large object towards Austin. Wait, it wasn't an object to Ryuzo's surprise—it was Maiden. It threw Maiden away! Austin was surprised at first too but reacted in time to catch Maiden safely into his arms.
"Leaveeeeeeeee!" A scream echoed throughout the forest.
The loudness of the scream paralyzed Ryuzo from shock. D-did it just spoke?
Whatever the case, standing still wasn't an option. Since Maiden was now secured, the whole team moved out of the forest as fast as they could. Surprising enough, the tarmin didn't follow them. Once safety was confirmed, a portal opened up, and the recruits stepped in first followed by the elites, to return to the city.
There were a lot of questions that remained unanswered that day. What was the enemy? Squad fifteen never met this kind of tarmin before nor was it mentioned in any of the books. Unlike any tarmin or dark nature creature—it was highly intelligent. It shook the bushes and branches of the trees as a distraction to manage a surprise attack from below. This creature was fully capable of killing Maiden, but it didn't. It deliberately let Maiden go. Why? The Dark nature hasn't shown any mercy before.
The scream back then still freshly resounded in Ryuzo's head. There's never been a case of communication with the dark nature, never. The whole team had heard the scream and agreed that it did come from the mysterious tarmin. The mission got canceled as squad fifteen notified the Order of the mysterious tarmin creature.
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It was breakfast time. All the recruits were gathered together, enjoying the short time of peace. Well, even that wasn't that peaceful. Everyone was fully excited and listening to the stories of the Insanity Forest mission. The mysterious tarmin became the highlighted topic of the morning.
Yuu was talking loudly about their last training session. "I tell you, it was insanity alright! If it wasn't for the elites, we would have been toast. No jokes here."
Many recruits shared their training experience, but what Ryuzo and the rest witnessed, was by far the craziest one. To think that a simple collection mission, turned into a deadly tarmin assault. It's a miracle that nobody received a severe injury.
"Are you alright?" a couple of girls asked Maiden. She looked stunned, just gazing into the distance with a blank expression.
Maiden didn't make eye contact with anyone but eventually replied, "Yeah... It's all true. I really thought it was over for me. I was completely overwhelmed and terrified." Colors started to return to her face. "It's strange. Now that I'm thinking more calmly about it, the tarmin didn't try to kill me at all. If anything, it was just observing me, I think."
A discussion took place, speculating the types of tarmins people heard about or why it didn't kill anyone. Ayuki listened attentively to their stories. It was always nice to hear a story—it completely draws you in, making you forget the reality from time to time. Speaking of stories, there's something that came to Ayuki's attention regarding the mysterious tarmin. It took a bit of courage to speak out loud to a large group, but Ayuki decided to do it nonetheless. She felt more at ease with the recruits. In fact, many recruits were nice to Ayuki ever since the defarin moment at the gates. The recruits must have appreciated Ayuki's attempt to help at that time.
Ayuki cleared her throat. "Y-you know, this tarmin may not be mentioned in any books, but it does make me think about the forest guardians."
People went silent and raised their eyebrows at Ayuki's remark. "Forest guardians?" some recruits asked simultaneously. They clearly didn't knew what Ayuki was talking about.
Ayuki continued, knowing that people were interested in her comment, "I, uh, read this in the 'Folklore's Collection'. In the old days, the people talked about the existence of forest guardians. They would say that these guardians protected and nurtured the forest with their lives. Multiple witnesses told their experience of seeing a guardian, but their stories never matched with each other. It was a fox, a tree, a mountain, they would say. The appearance or treats of the forest guardian always differed from story to story, but there was at least one resemblance—it could communicate with people."
"But that's just folklore." Dwayne replied. "You know how many training sessions we had in the headquarter's forest? Enough to tell you, there's no such thing as a forest guardian." Dwayne can be pretty annoying... Ayuki already regretted making that antidote for him. He may have a handsome face, but his nagging mouth and personality waste it.
"The headquarters' forest is inside the walls, and the people planted it, did they not? The forest guardians might only appear in the forest found outside—the natural ones." Ayuki pointed out. After a few more arguments, Dwayne at least admitted the possibility for it to be a forest guardian, but what to do with that kind of information was another thing. No recruit was looking forward meeting that dangerous tarmin. There's no guarantee it won't kill the next time it will appear.
Multiple discussions were taking place now, too many for Ayuki to follow. The recruits may have decreased in size, but Ayuki felt that the atmosphere improved. People were laughing, eating, talking to one another, having a good time. Ayuki eventually shifted her attention to Ryuzo who sat beside her. He was quiet, although that wasn't something new, and looked more dejected than usual.
When Ryuzo noticed Ayuki's gaze, he suddenly began to talk. "I felt useless there. I couldn't do anything."
Ah, I did felt it was something like that. Before Ayuki could respond, Yuu laid his arm around Ryuzo's neck. "Come on, remember what Austin said? Not getting caught by the enemy is a good achievement by itself. You did a good job staying safe, and so did I, hahaha."
Elizabeth snickered. "Yeah, good job not getting hurt, coward." She said it just loud enough for Yuu to hear it.
With an offended-looking expression, Yuu stood up and provoked Elizabeth with a hand gesture. "Oh, you had something to say, huh, fatty?"
Elizabeth showed no sign of agitation and grinned. "I sure do. You have months of experience, and you didn't help? Nada? Hah, coward is all over your face!"
Elizabeth wasn't fat at all. She's muscled, but it suited her well. Her figure looked still pretty slim. She's beautiful too, Ayuki had to admit it. Her long blond hair was perhaps not well-taken care off, but her face was unquestionably an eye-catcher. Ignoring Yuu and Elizabeth's never-ending bickering, Ayuki returned her attention to Ryuzo and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm glad you made it back unharmed. It must have been a dreadful experience."
Ryuzo snorted a bit and smiled. "I have to thank the quick shield training for that. Our efforts are bearing fruit, I guess. It sure is a lifesaver." He stroked his neck. "I'm glad it's over, the whole tension part."
His dejected appearance was gone now. "Yes, but there's still more to come. Remember? Ayuki said. "We've reached the third day now."
Ryuzo sighed. He probably wasn't looking forward to the upcoming days. "Yeah, that's right. The final challenge right?"
According to Aisha's warning, there's a high chance of the last three days to be a final challenge mission. All the experience from the training sessions and knowledge gained so far are expected to be applied to this three-day challenge. What this challenge will be, remained to be seen. One thing was for sure though—breakfast time was almost over.