Chapter 49

"What the?! Why are there so many Ursa?!" Russel nervously stepped back, his knives at the ready. "There's no way that fight could have attracted so many!"

"The sap..." Weiss turned to the recently killed Ursa Major which was slowly disappearing. "I read that the sap from Forever Fall trees can attract Ursa."

"So it's Jaune's fault!" Russel shot Jaune a venomous glare as Pyrrha helped him to his feet.

"No...not Jaune...Nora's team..." At that moment, everyone's eyes widened, remembering Nora and Cardin smashing trees, most of the sap being carried by the wind. I immediately took my jar of sap, throwing it at a nearby tree. As the sap splattered to the ground, it caught the attention of the group of grimm, buying us a little more time. "Jaune! Can you still fight?"

"Well..." Jaune nervously looked at the many of Ursa. "I'm not in great shape, but I can still try."

"No." Pyrrha firmly shook her head. "Right now having an exhausted teammate will only slow us down. And there are still more Ursa attacking other teams, I don't know how well Ruby and Jacey are doing on their own. they still haven't come back with Port."

"Damn..." she's right. "Okay, Pyrrha take Jaune somewhere else and go check on your group."

"Wait a minute! I don't wanna stay here and fight these monsters! I'll take care of Jaune!" Russel desperately yelled, eager to find a way out

"Right...as if you wouldn't immediately ditch him and run off on your own the second you got a chance. You stay here and help us, or the next thing I throw at the Ursa to distract them is gonna be you."

Russel grit his teeth, silently glaring at me, but otherwise didn't try and talk back, turning to face the grimm. Of course, I'd never actually do that to Russel, I just need to convince him that I would. Trying to appeal to his sense of morality would be completely useless.

"Right now our only option is to try and hold these grimm off."

"But Aero-" There was a deep roar as the sap distraction stopped working, the group of Ursa charging towards us.

"GO!" I and the rest of Chartreuse stood in front of the pack, keeping their attention on us.

Pyrrha hesitated for a moment before nodding and pulling on Jaune's arm. "C'mon, you heard him. The sooner we deal with the other grimm, the sooner we can come back and help them."

Jaune looked reluctant to leave, making a bitter face. "Alright, you believed in me, so I'll believe in you Aero!" he said before lowering his sword and running off deeper into the forest with Pyrrha.

"Here they come!"

The large group or Ursa surged towards our team like a black wave intending on snuffing us out. It was honestly enough to shake one's resolve.

"Weiss, we'll take their attention for a moment, try and give us some obstacles!"

"Got it!" Weiss nodded her head without a word of complaint, immediately closing her eyes to focus despite the horde of grimm coming at us. How she managed to do so in an intense situation like this is beyond me. But it's up to us to make sure we don't betray her trust.

Raelin and I immediately charged in toward the swarm of grimm. Russel grimaced for a moment, hesitating before running in right after us.

"Raelin draw the grimm's attention for a brief moment. Russel, come give me a hand, I need some extra muscle right now."

Raelin threw both of her chakram, the bladed discs smacking into two of the grimm and enraging them. Then ricocheting off to hit two other Ursa before returning to her hands. The creatures roared, turning their attention to her, with the other Ursa next to them following suit. As the group ran towards her, I fired the chain on my spear at ankle length level, the claw gripping tightly onto one of the trees.

GWOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!" The first Ursa that ran into the chain too angered by Raelin's attack to notice it. The beast was heavy but clumsy, tumbling down and crashing face first into the ground.

Russel and I held on with all of our might, grunting as two more of the Ursa ran into the chain. The both of us just barely strong enough to hold the line taut and trip them. The fallen Ursa piled up at the front, causing the grimm rushing in behind them to crash into the pile and temporarily stop the group. Unfortunately, the weight of several grimm proved to be too much. My spear's grappling claw tearing a chunk out of the tree it had gripped, and the chain became slack.

"Alright, I'm ready to begin!"

No sooner had that happened, when Weiss finished her preparations, stabbing her rapier into the ground. Immediately four large pillars of ice rose into the air next to us. The pillars were evenly spaced with about 5 feet between each one in a square formation. The temperature in the surrounding area plummeting many degrees in response.

"Everyone, use shelter in the pillars as choke-points, and!" I said, calling out to them, and recalling the chain back into my weapon. "If we're careful, only one Ursa should be able to squeeze through at a time! This should help prevent us from being swarmed!"

Running between the spaces of the pillars, the other three did the same. With the grimm hot on our heels, they mindlessly charged at us from all sides.