Nowhere Safe

The small group of students, along with the survivors, sped across the area, leaving the zombies behind. The only problem was the beasts, which would pop out once in a while. They had been riding for some hours now and finally were close to the centre.

The group of students she talked about had met up with them, and currently, they appeared to be in a desert-like area with scanty buildings.

The area, although low on zombies, hosts greater threats. The area was thick with energy, and they could feel they were being watched.

Suddenly, they could see the rising bump from the sand moving towards them. "Prepare yourselves!" Alex shouted, drawing out his sword. Without wasting time, a lightning bolt was sent shooting towards the moving sand, causing it to explode everywhere.

From within, a large creature with a hunched back and spiny limbs leapt towards them. Alex leapt from his horse, swinging his sword in a wide arc. The beast had dodged it completely and, with a swipe of its claw, sent him clashing down to the ground.

"Ughhh!" He groaned, coughing out blood. A large cut with blood dripping was seen across his chest. "Quick! Don't let it get closer. Take it down!" They did their best trying to get the beast, but its speed was too much for them to handle.

The beast leapt onto one of the students' horses, taking it down along with the girl on it. A splash of red covered their vision as the beast tore through her flesh, ripping her body apart.

"C'mon! Move, it's a high tier." Elena said, casting a spell. "Mist spray!" The area was surrounded by a thick mist enshrouding them. "ARGHH!" They heard another scream within the mist, and the rest doubled their pace, trying to get as far away from the beast.

Alex, struggling to get up, saw the beast charging towards him. He quickly brought his sword forward with the beast's claw landing on it and sending him across the ground, breaking through the mist.

Alex rolled a couple of minutes before finally stopping. He could feel the bones in his body aching badly. Trying to get up, the beast let out a roar and once again charged at him. "Do you think I am scared?" Alex said, with a little chuckle.

Standing up with the support of his sword, his skin began to glow silver up to his neck. "I'm not dying here, and not even you can stop me!" With his Qi surging around him, giving out a faint glow, he clenched his sword tightly.

Kicking off the ground, he slashed at the beast, which easily evaded the attack. The beast swung its hind limb, trying to slam him to the ground. Alex, performing a back flip, was able to evade it, and then, he threw his sword forward, landing on the beast's face.

"Just have to buy enough time for them to get as far as possible from here." Clenching his fist tightly, he kicked off the ground with Qi exploding from his feet. He charged forward, avoiding the beast swipe and deadly teeth. He swung an uppercut, which perfectly slammed the beast mouth, the force lifting its head.

Alex made use of the stonebreaker palm technique. Now he had formed his dantian, and he could somehow feel the energy flowing through one due to the technique. He punched the crook of the beast arm, causing it to crash to the ground.

The beast roared in pain for once, unable to make use of that hand. The energy flowing across that area had been disrupted, causing immense pain. Alex made use of the opportunity edged closer with his face set in a hard line.

He swung his legs, which slammed onto the sides of its head. Clenching his fist tightly, he began pouring a large amount of qi. He then bends a little, shifting his legs, "Yaaaaa!" He yelled as he threw his fist forward. The beast with anger swipe his other hand towards Alex, and both attack collided.

"ARGHH!" Alex groaned in pain, his hand slightly twisted. "The monster strength is so high," he thought, supporting his broken hand with the other. The beast on the other hand received little damage and with a roar, charged furiously at Alex.

"Damn it! My Qi is almost drained and I think I've lost a lot of blood from that first clash." Stomping the ground, he leapt from his position widening the gap between both.

He could hear the stumbling feet of the zombies coming closer. "I guess we've caused enough ruckus," he thought, watching the beast every movement. Finally, the beast began to move again. The technique had elapsed and its hand was free.

Lunging at Alex, it swung its claw. Alex slow to react got struck with the force sending him a couple of meters away before finally landing on the cold ground.

"Ughhh!" He coughed out blood, trying to stand up. He felt a sting at the side of his head, with a warm liquid trickling down. His vision was getting blurry but he held on. He didn't see the beast leapt high and landed behind him.

Before he could turn, he was already late. The beast claws dug dip into his back and in a ferocious manner, slammed him hard to the ground a couple of times before flinging him away.

Roar!

The beast let out a victorious roar and then charged towards the rest, leaving him to slowly bleed to death.

~~~~

The rest have gotten far with a few releasing a breath of relief. Zoe sobbed quietly discovering Alex had been left behind.

"Don't worry, he's going to be fine." Elena said comforting her. They haven't gone far when a figure streak from their sides clashing onto a horse. "Not again!" Elena shouted, the figure finally got off the ground revealing it's grotesque face.

"Zombie!" They thought with a confused expression. Realisation dawned on them, "Shit! It's a high tier zombie," Zaire said. Zaire, lifting his hand sent out a little fireball, which exploded on the zombie's face.

With a roar, the zombie charged towards him leaving those on the ground.

Sam, having replenished most of his mana, raised his hands forward. 'The dark torrent spell would be best for this situation,' he thought. 'But it might harm those nearby. By the look, this is a tier 2 zombie.'

"Thorny vine!" A long single vine with sharp edges shot at the beast, piercing through its skin. Swinging his hands, it tried cutting through.

Dark strike! Dark strike!" San unleashed his spell on it, causing blood to spill around the area. The beast finally fell after the third, losing its life.

Jumping down from the horse, he shouted, "Ray! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he muttered, getting off the floor.

"What happened to your arm," Sam asked with a slight shake in his voice.

"I think might have scrape it when I fell off." He said without much thought. "C'mon let's move," Elena said quite surprised. 'By the spell, he would definitely be higher than us,' she thought.

Just as they were about moving, they could see the bump on the sandy ground just like last time. This time around it, a total of three was heading towards them.

"Prepare yourselves!" Sam shouted taking command. "These are tier two beasts, work in a group of five, three mages and two warriors!"

"We would never make it there," one of the student muttered in tears, finally broken from the continuous clash.

"Don't give up now, we are this close!" Behind them, a beast leapt from the ground slashing one among them at its neck.

"Behind us!' Another exclaimed before getting slammed to the ground. That wasn't all, they sighted a total of five zombies, all tier two charging towards them.

"This is the end," one muttered, accepting his fate already. Their first expedition they had embarked on had transformed into a harrowing event that would be etched in their memories for a long time.