Earth shaking roar

At this time, Rick and Leon sat below the shade of a tree as they panted for breath in exhaustion.

"I can't believe.. huff.. we made out of it alive! Huff.." Leon said with a smile on his face.

"I'm even more surprised with your quick thinking and newfound courage as soon as you slapped yourself. Huff.." Rick said while panting for breath.

"I don't know, it just happened. For some reason, my mind was strangely calm" Leon said as he recalled his state of mind earlier.

"Well, I wonder what Carla's doing now" Rick said as he rubbed his chin.

"Ooooh.. That's right! I hope she stays safe" Leon exclaimed with a worried expression on his face.

"Don't worry about her. She'll be fine. She must have escaped just like us" Rick said as he patted Leon's left shoulder.

"Just stay right here. I'll be right back" Rick said with a smile.

"Huh? Wait.. Don't leave me behi-" Leon hurriedly said in a panic but his words were cut off when Rick suddenly disappeared from his sight without a trace.

"Huh? HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?" Leon exclaimed as he looked at his surroundings, trying to find a trace of Rick or his footsteps but to his surprise, he found none.

...

At this time, on a tree branch. Carla sat as she leaned on the tree branch while panting for breath with her clothes slightly wet from sweat.

'I wonder where those two are now" Carla thought to herself as the corners of her lips slightly curled upwards when she recalled Leon's sudden growth.

She recovered her breath and sat properly as she looked at her surroundings.

Suddenly, she felt a touch sensation on her shoulder. The corners of her eyes widened in fear as her heart skipped a beat in panic.

She was about to scream when she heard a familiar voice.

"Yo. How are you doing?" Rick said with an amused smile as he looked at Carla.

She turned around and saw Rick's face, to which she heaved a sigh of relief and said "You scared me for a moment".

"Well, I'm sure you were" Rick said as he chuckled when he saw her expression. The corners of her eyes suddenly narrowed and glared at Rick.

"I could have fell down, you know" Carla didn't stop her glare.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, Ma'am" Rick said with an apologetic gaze. Carla then stopped glaring at him and nodded.

"Anyway, how did you come up here without me noticing? And weren't you supposed to be with Leon?" Carla asked with a curious expression on her face.

"Well, it's not that much of a secret anyway. You know that I have affinity for Spatial Magic, right?" Rick said with a faint smile. Carla's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Rick.

"Don't tell me.. you learned a Spatial spell? Was it Teleportation?" Carla guessed as her eyes narrowed.

"Something like that, yeah" Rick said as he nodded.

"Wasn't it supposed to be an elite spell? How did you do it?" Carla said and looked at Rick in a new light.

"Well, let's just say that I'm a genius" Rick replied with a shrug as he shamelessly bragged about himself.

Carla was about to reply when suddenly, the ground shook. Their eyes lit up as they quickly climbed down the tree and rushed to a nearby open space and ducked down.

'An earthquake' Rick thought to himself as he looked at the surroundings. The entire forest shook as birds flew away while the ground animals scattered and made loud noises as if a disaster was about to strike.

"Strange, the shaking still hasn't stopped" Rick said with a low voice as he frowned.

After a while, the ground finally stopped shaking as silence engulfed the entire forest.

"It finally stopped" Carla raised her head and was about to stand up when Rick stopped her and said "Wait, this is strange. It's too quiet"

Rick looked around the surroundings for a while before he slowly stood up but still bent his knees.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Rick said with a frown as sweat fell on his forehead.

"ROOAAAR!"

A loud roar, so loud that the Brown bear's roar from earlier sounded cute in comparison. It shook the entire forest as no creature dared to make a noise after that roar.

Rick and Carla covered their ears as they grit their teeth in pain. The roar seemed to have shaken their soul.

After the roar ended, Carla fainted while Rick was barely able to hold on to his consciousness as he grit his teeth. His head ached with intense pain but Rick endured it through sheer will.

He dragged Carla's body on a nearby bush and covered her in leaves as he endured the pain. He wanted nothing more than to just lose consciousness to ease himself of the pain but he endured everything for survival.

"Phantom Rush"

He then teleported back to Leon through the crumpled paper he gave him earlier. He found his fainted body and dragged it to a nearby bush and further covered his body with leaves.

'Damn it, I still can't teleport anyone with me to teleport' Rick cursed in his mind.

"Phantom Rush!"

He teleported once again but this time, he teleported right beside Narlie who appeared to be running as she passed by him instantly.

"Teacher Narlie!" Rick shouted.

Narlie then turned around and saw Rick's figure with an exhausted look. She then quickly approached him and touched his forehead as she asked "Are you okay? Where are the others?"

"They fainted but I hid them somewhere in the forest. Just follow me, quick" Rick said as he rushed towards Carla's direction.

He didn't bother asking Narlie about that roar and just went to find both Carla and Leon. He just had to ask when he wakes up.

Shortly afterwards, they found Carla's body and carried her as they rushed towards Leon. When they found Leon, Rick finally collapsed and lost consciousness in exhaustion.

"You did well, young man" Narlie muttered with a low voice as she patted his forehead. She then raised her head and looked towards the direction of the village.

"It's still too early" Narlie muttered with a troubled expression on her face.