Assignment 2

"We have to run away!" Noah rushed inside the shelter with a pale face.

"Level three beasts...two of them." Noah continued without giving the others any chance to question him.

"Are you sure? You aren't kidding right?" Veldic asked in a slightly angry tone.

"He isn't. There are actually three beasts. The third one is also moving in our direction. It's just that the third one is coming from the opposite direction." Ariota said with an annoyed expression while her face paled.

"Wha..what do we do now? The shelter should be able to fend those beasts off..."

"No. We can't stay here." Veldic said with a serious expression.

"It may be a coincidence that those beasts from different directions are heading towards us, but what if it isn't?" Veldic said while stressing on the last part.

"Exactly. If something is attracting those beasts towards us, then what if more beasts arrive and we are surrounded by a horde of them."

"What!You mean someone intentionally sent them our way?"

Everyone panicked when they heard these words.

"Not necessarily. We should get out of this place before continuing this conversation." Ariota said as she rushed out of the shelter.

Following Ariota's lead, everyone rushed out of the shelter. Once everyone was outside, the shelter shrunk to a size that could be put on a palm and Veldic put it away.

"This way."

Ariota was given the task to lead the group out of the region. She activated her skill and immediately rushed towards one side of the forest.

The group followed behind their scout as they zigzagged their way through the trees while avoiding running into beasts.

"Hey, there are two level 2 androids over there." Noah said as he spotted two androids while running away.

"Go fight them if you want. But don't expect us to come to your rescue if the sound attracts those beasts towards you." Even if Ariota kept her voice down, the anger in her tone couldn't be any more obvious.

"But ....sorry." Noah wanted to retort but there was nothing wrong with what Ariota said.

After running for a few hundred metres, Ariota suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"We won't be able to avoid a confrontation." She said in a deep voice.

"There is a group of level 2 beasts to our right and level 3 beasts on the remaining two sides." Ariota answered before anyone could ask her.

"Can you identify what kind of beasts they are?" Kyle asked.

"I can't. My skill only allows me to see their level of existence and location." Ariota replied back.

Kyle thought that it made sense. There was only so much that a skill of ascender level 2 could do.

"We need to decide which one to face out of these beasts." Veldic said with a light frown. "How many beasts are there in the group?"

"Umm... seven." Ariota replied.

"Can you track the speed of their movement?" Veldic asked once again.

"Let me see... the level 3 beast towards our left has the largest frame and also the slowest speed among the three."

If it had been any other time, Ariota would have definitely ignored Veldic and acted like he was invisible. But their situation didn't allow her the luxury.

"Alright then, we will move towards our left." Ariota still had to report about the other two sides, but Veldic immediately cut her short.

"But that kind of beast should have high defence and strength.." someone from the group said.

"We are not fighting it for points. We are just trying to prevent anyone from dying." Veldic replied.

"Even if it is the slowest, it may be faster than some of us. But that is still better than losing people from our group because they couldn't react to the speed of the level 3 beasts or getting surrounded by level 2 beasts."

After listening to this reasoning, no one in the group was opposed to this idea.

"It's a Perena mammothian." Ariota who was leading the group was first to get a view of the beast.

Kyle looked at the beast which looked like a cross between an ox and an elephant missing both horns and trunk, but slightly larger than an elephant.

This creature which had evolved from elephants due to exposure to mana had several spiky protrusions on its back.

[XXXXXX (unregistered)]

[HP: 115/115]

[MeP: 70/70]

[Stats:]

[Strength:110] [Agility:20]

[Stamina:60] [Endurance:95]

[Intelligence:75] [Energy affinity:70]

Humans were the only species from Earth that had been registered in the Ascension Temple. So, there was no name given to this beast in the interface.

Not that the name mattered. Being able to see the stats of the adversary they were going to fight against was enough for the group.

"The agility is only twenty. Its movements can definitely be tracked if you concentrate a little."

"If we are somehow able to incapacitate even one of its legs, we have the chance to run away before the sounds attract the other beasts." Veldic said while taking a fighting stance.

"You people should spread out and try to stay as far from the beast as possible." Ariota said to the level 1 ascenders in their group.

"Don't worry, you should be able to dodge even if the beast turns at you if you keep your guards up." Veldic added lightly.

The group of nine spread out and surrounded the mammothian. The level two ascenders spread out within a few metres distance to the beast whereas the others were further away.

Kyle decided to join the fight. He had already shown his ability to Ariota. Adding to that, they weren't in a situation where keeping his strength hidden would do him any good.

Veldic and the others also smiled lightly. They knew that Kyle wouldn't be dragging them down, so they had no objections to him joining.

"As long as we don't get carried away and target its legs, we can easily pull this off." Veldic said as he made his move.

The plan was simple. The five of them took turns at attacking the beast's legs. Once the attack connects, the person would draw the attention of the beast while the others either prepare their attacks or attack the beast.

As long as they were attentive enough, they could avoid getting injured.

"Hey, can someone search for this thing's info on the virtual network?"

"Give me a minute..... It's called Perena mammothian. They are level 3 beasts which attack primarily by using physical enhancements."

"Their skills are.... Trample, destruction dash, sound manipulation attacks and physical enhancements." The girl who had been panicking earlier said as she fiddled with the projection emerging from her wristband.

"Then you people should look out. We were taking on this beast because all of us can follow its movements. But if it suddenly accelerates in the midst of the battle, some of us may lose track of it." Veldic cautioned everyone, needless to say that it was mostly meant for the level 1 ascenders of their group.

As soon as his instructions were over, Veldic immediately charged at the mammothian. He swung his sword at the beast's jaw.

'Clangg!'

The beast responded to the attack by thrusting its reinforced forehead at the incoming sword.

Veldic was pushed back by the impact of the attack. The difference in strength was enormous, while the larger frame was also an advantage for the beast in frontal confrontation.

When Veldic attacked, Kyle also moved out. Both of their attacks were in sync. Just when Veldic's attack connected with the beast's forehead, Kyle slashed at one of its legs.

The cut was a few centimetres deep, not much when compared to the size of the beast. But Kyle didn't stay to look at the damage dealt.

"Wow! Its defences are quite something. That attack only scraped its skin a little." Noah said in amazement.

Just as Kyle withdrew, Noah charged towards the beast. He jumped up and punched at the beast.

His punch was intercepted in the same manner as Veldic's sword, but the orange flame seemed to have dealt some damage. At the same time, Veldic's sword deepened the cut made by Kyle's previous attack.

The cut deepened and a thin stream of blood began to flow out of it. The mammothian let out a trumpeting sound. Veldic and Noah retreated.

At first, it sounded like a pained yelp. But soon, it started getting uncomfortable.

Just when the group felt that the sound was about to pierce through their ears, there was a flash of light.

'Kyuuunnnkkk!'

This time, the sound was louder, but not uncomfortable. Kyle and Veldic turned towards Ariota simultaneously. It seemed that they were the only two in the group who understood what had happened.

What they expected to be a pained cry earlier was actually a sound attack. Ariota, who was the first to understand this, immediately took action.

The flash from earlier was an arrow which was now embedded in the mammothian's eye.

At this point, the head of the mammothian was slowly turning red. Once the head turned completely red, it immediately charged towards Veldic's direction. The speed of the beast was nearly double its regular speed.

"Get away from here." Although there was no one behind Veldic, he had to make sure that the level 1 ascenders of their group avoided this direction.

The mammothian charged at Veldic with speed greater than what it had been showing till now. Veldic held back the impulse to get out of the way of the beast. Just when it was at an arm's length, he vanished from his spot and appeared a few metres right to the beast.

Although Veldic's timing was precise, he made an error. As soon as the beast sensed Veldic's presence, it turned around at an unexpected angle and dashed towards Veldic.

Veldic was caught off guard, but it was within a manageable margin of error. He could still get out of the beast's way.

Just when Veldic opened his mouth to tell the people behind him to get away, he heard a sizzling sound followed by another pained sound of the beast.

Another arrow had found its spot beside the first one.