Chapter 39 - Imbeciles

Pan, contrary to what the scream with vitality indicated, also did not emerge unscathed from the shock with the fallen. Even if it was just a secondary impact and a consequence of the clash between the beast's multi-ton body and the root blade attached to its shoulder. Pan had his muscles ripped and part of his right ribs cracked. The damage wasn't greater only because he was soaked in essence from head to toe at the moment of impact.

 'I can not stop.' thought Pan. Stopping meant dying.

 The other seven were managing their battles well and the one insulting Pan even wanted to stand his ground and kill the vile creatures and didn't understand the command to run now that they had the upper hand. 

 But Pan hadn't given any futile commands until now, and even if he did, he was still their strongest leader and soldier. The scene was brief and the blade retracted as quickly as it came, but there were still roots writhing in Pan's chest. 

 A single thought lay in everyone's mind. 'Did he create an aspect? '

 But there was no time for such reflections. Pan crouched down, poured a fifth of the remaining essence into his legs, and flung himself towards the injured aspirant and into the air. Upon passing over, Pan asked Mavis to collect the poor man, as well as his sword that was nearby.

 The jump was so long that it took almost four full seconds to finish and Pan, who was once the first in line, ended up becoming the last in that three and a half second instant. 

 The jump also made Pan give a muffled cry of pain as he landed, he didn't have the natural and instinctive gifts of the browns and ended up forgetting that without essence, the result of adding his body times his speed towards a physical mass was equal to one broken and dented apprentice.

  'Hell! I forgot by essence to stop.' Pan thought while kneeling on one leg where he landed and relieved he hadn't made a longer jump, or things could have turned bad.

The impact cracked his leg bones and tore his muscles, the extensive shock also worsened the condition of his chest and made him unable to get up for the next few seconds.

 Meanwhile, the aspirants continued to fight valiantly against the three remaining Siaks, forcing their way to the exit and putting the beasts on the defensive. An achievement that cheered them up and made them ignore the previous Order of Pan, to try to finish off the remaining beasts. Seeing one of them die without even having a chance to defend himself filled them with endless dread, but seeing one of them awaken and crush one of the Siaks replaced that dread with unwavering fervor.

 "Stir, stir, stir!" Pan exclaimed while using some essence to heal the muscles, as for the bones they would have to wait, it would take a lot of energy to heal them and the fungi around them barely had any essence for themselves who would say to Pan, soon he would have to grit his teeth and bear the pain. 

 The aspirants who struggled with blind fanaticism ended up killing the third Siak. What awoke to strength had crushed the middle of his body in a furious fit when an opportunity was created by his companions.

 "Get out of there! Now!! Back off!" Pan yelled angrily as he healed, but the group didn't seem to hear.

  And when his leg finally moved, he was putting so much effort into the task that he fell flat on his face. But there was no time for embarrassment, as soon as his legs returned to the faculties Pan got up and started running towards the tunnels.

 "Run you assholes, run, or die," Pan yelled in desperation, as he ran half-limping as fast as he could, taking every fiber of essence he still had to put in his legs and balance his axis.

 Pan could feel from the fungus that there were dozens of Siaks approaching through two side tunnels. If they took even a single breath longer, they would be easily overwhelmed by the numbers.

 'Wow, why so many? 'Pan thought without looking back, he needed to go through the two side entrances before the first Siak came out.

 By the time Pan was a few meters from passing the sides, the wannabes who were blinded by the adrenaline of the surprising battle had managed to kill the last two Siaks and were cheering with excited screams. The price of his victory was several bruises, a few bites and several cracked ribs.

 Seven midshipmen defeating three fallen soldiers from the land, a commendable achievement that Pan would admire on any other day. But now he had eyes only for the way out.

"Why is he running so hard?" Aked the awakened one as he noticed that Pan was increasing the distance between them by the second.

 Hearing her words and finally shifting their focus to something other than the battle, the other six could see Pan in the distance running with genuine desperation, at times even tripping over her own feet but refusing to stop. If the strongest among them was so afraid, then what should they feel?

 "Run!" Exclaimed the muscular woman before following Pan's example and starting to run in the direction they came as fast as he could, soon the others also understood that the situation was not as simple as it seemed.

 Pan on the other hand, couldn't stop mentally cursing them.

 'That's why I hate imbecile fanatics.' Cursed Pan as he realized that the group had only just started to run towards the exit now.