"Awooo!"
The Giant Shadow Wolf's cries echoed out into the vast forest creating a commotion of activity.
The usually quite forest suddenly erupted into a frenzied atmosphere, the various beasts reacted in different ways, many ran for shelter or retreated into their dens. The stronger beasts even cautiously patrolled their territories as if waiting for something to arrive.
Casmir and the rest of his small group heard this cry as well, causing them to shiver. Just moments ago they had left Instructor Redfire's company and were quickly making their way through the forest towards the North-West, a small mountain laid there presumable with the cave at its base.
They ran across the forest floor maintaining a tight formation with Zaya in the lead, a faint light blue bubble around 10m wide surrounded them as they moved. However navigating the thick foliage and large trees of the forest became difficult under these conditions as they didn't dare to waste a second.
As they moved Cor'Dana was using his Grade 3 Qi senses to monitor their surroundings. He could only sense a short distance of 20 m or so but even this was far beyond anyone elses capabilities. At Grade 2 the students could only extend their senses a few metres from their bodies, let alone the Grade 1 Casmir who couldn't even extend his senses beyond his body.
Suddenly Cor'Dana called out.
"Watch out in the trees!"
From the trick canopy of the trees a large red-furred Ape dropped down in front of them, pounding its chest and crying out, clearly agitated by the Giant Shadow Wolf's cry but as a dominant animal it was still willing to defend its territory.
Zaya stopped quickly, halting the group as she cautiously watched the Ape.
'That's a Grade 3 Dawn Ape.. I can use it to test this Array Orb..' Zaya thought.
The Ape continued to pound its chest and cry out fiercely but seeing no response from the group of invaders, it feigned a charge towards them in a threatening manner. It had no desire to actually engage with them, it simply wanted to gauge their response.
If the invaders attacked, it might retreat, however if the invaders retreated, it would chase them away without hesitation.
The Ape took no notice of the faint light blue bubble around them, having never encountered such a thing before. However during its feigned charge at the group it brushed past this blue bubble.
"AHHUH.. AH. AH. AH.." The Ape screamed in pain as it leapt backwards fearfully.
Its arm that had brushed against the bubble was scorched black and a gruesome blistering burn mark covered nearly half of its arm. Its eyes were wide with fear as it looked at the faint blue bubble, it quickly leapt onto a nearby tree and climbed up into the canopy.
The frenzied sound of branches shaking was heard as the Ape quickly escaped.
The short muscular Braham watched in shock as the large and proud Ape ran away. He and the other students looked at the Orb in Zaya's hand with awe and slight fear, they didn't share the Ape's tough hide and would likely lose their arm under similar circumstances.
Fortunately the Array Orb was designed only to be effective on ferocious beasts, even if they passed through the bubble they wouldn't be effected in the slightest.
"What is that orb.." One of the students asked.
Casmir was just about to answer them, as he had some cursory knowledge of Array Orb's from his tutoring under Master Bluefire, however..
"Forget about that for now! We need to move quickly, Instructor Redfire only gave us this orb to protect us until we entered the cave.. It might not last forever..." Zaya explained, pushing them to keep moving.
Casmir, Braham and the other students quickly nodded before Zaya lead them forward.
Of course Zaya didn't believe this Array Orb's function would be so time-limited, it would likely last them a day on its own but Zaya knew that getting to the Cave was their most important goal right now, they couldn't waste time talking.
She led the group through the forest as quick as she could, the small mountain gradually drew closer as the trees started to become sparser and the ground more rocky. Occasionally they would encounter ferocious beasts or normal animals but most simply ran off or hid, waiting for the group to pass by.
Only once did another beast enter the blue bubble, a small Grade 1 fox that was out of its depth attacked them. It leaped towards Casmir to claw him but when its body impacted the blue bubble it bounced off of it and was almost instantly burnt into disfigured black corpse, with no signs of life.
They didn't encounter any more Grade 3 ferocious beasts either, perhaps the Red-furred Ape was the dominant beast in the area around the base of the mountain.
Soon enough they reached an open rocky area that slopped up the mountain with various large boulders. Higher up the rocky hill a roughly carved pillar of stone with a few burnt out torches attached to it was standing, the entrance to a cave sitting just behind it around 50m away.
Zaya led the group up this rocky area, however just before the cave was a large pitch black Viper. Its body was ten metres long but it was unusually thick and muscular, at least a metre thick at its mid-section.
Its body stuck out like a boulder of coal in a field of snow, on the light grey sun-bleached terrain, however none of the group paid it much attention. Even though it was very large it didn't seem any more threatening than some snakes they had already passed by.
However the Black Viper was watching them attentively, its body coiling up defensively as it eyed them up with its cold eyes.
Zaya quickly led the group around the Black Viper to avoid any unnecessary conflict however as the Black Viper entered Cor'Dana's Qi senses range the expression on his face grew confused for a moment before he cried out.
"LOOK OUT!" He cried in frenzy.
However as soon as he shouted out in warning, the Black Viper attacked.
Its powerful body was not coiling defensively but offensively, its powerful muscles suddenly pushed on the hard grey stone launching it forwards like a arrow, the stone underneath it crumbled into rubble, clearing having been crushed by a tremendous force.
Zaya and Casmir, the two directly in the Black Viper's path, had quickly reacted to Cor'Dana's shout. They didn't know why he was so frenzied but they readied themselves nonetheless.
Casmir raised his spear at the Black Viper and stepped next to Zaya, protecting them both with his shield. Zaya steadied her sword in one hand and reached for a dagger with her spare hand.
Within a split second the Black Viper crossed the almost 20m gap between them, surprising everyone with its speed but shocking them as it completely bypassed the Array Orb's bubble.
There was no reaction from the array at all, it was as if nothing had passed through it.
Cor'Dana was the first to act, he had raised a large crossbow he was carrying and precisely fired an already loaded bolt straight over Casmir's shoulder at the Black Viper's face.
The Bolt was powerful and finely crafted but even it only pierced halfway into the Black Viper's lower jaw, the toughness of the Black Viper's body shocked the group.
And with nothing to stop it, the Black Viper charged straight into Casmir and Zaya.
Casmir activated the Will resonance state, focusing all his Qi energy into his right arm that held his shield. He was far more concerned with stopping the Black Viper's charge than attacking it as the rest of his team were just behind him, they wouldn't be able to react in time if the Black Viper charged through.
However as the Black Viper's head collided with Casmir's shield, Casmir realised that he was outmatched.
He felt as if he had been hit by a mountain, the Black Viper's body was incredibly heavy and Casmir had to focus every ounce of his strength into pushing against the Black Viper. The time worn boulder underneath him cracked under the pressure as his bulging arm barely managed to divert the momentum of the Black Viper's body upwards, causing it to fly over the group.
But even as he succeeded Casmir was thrown to the side, rolling down the hill a short distance.
"HISSS!" The Black Viper cried out in pain as it tumbled over the rocky terrain.
While Casmir was contesting with the snake in physical strength, Zaya dodged to the side and attacked it with her short sword but her attack only managed to damage the Black Viper's scales. It wasn't until she sliced at the snakes underbelly with her dagger as it passed by her, that she drew blood with the Grade 3 dagger Master Bluefire had given her.
"AHH.. God damn it!" Casmir cried out as he lifted himself up, his shield bearing arm falling to one side.
His arm was constantly pulsating and twitching, the sudden pressure of the attack had overwhelmed him and he had multiple muscle and skin tears but thankfully his bone wasn't broken. He could still use his arm if he tried but he would have to bear a constant pain.
The group had been separated into two sides as the Black Viper passed over them, Zaya, Braham, Cor'Dana and two other students had dodged up the hill. While Casmir, Daroch and another student had dodged down the hill.
"Quickly! Get to the cave!" Cor'Dana called out to Braham as he prepared his crossbow for another volley.
He could only hope that the array inside of the Cave was of a different design and wouldn't let the snake through.
Braham and the other students up the hill quickly ran for the cave, while Zaya quickly went to help Casmir and Cor'Dana fired at the Black Viper from where he was.
"Move Casmir, move!" Zaya called out as she reached Casmir's side.
Casmir was already moving up hill as he watched the Black Viper's movements, it was charging up the hill towards Cor'Dana who was repeatedly firing Qi energy infused bolts at the snake. The longer he charged the bolts the more powerful they would be, up to a certain limit.
Cor'Dana managed to fire three bolts that pierced fully into the Black Viper's body before it reached him and then he was forced to run for the cave.
From the caves entrance Braham was standing behind a Deep blue barrier, too afraid to do anything. He didn't even know if this barrier would save them, his confidence in arrays having been shaken by their prior experience.
"Quickly Cor'Dana! It's right behind you!" He shouted anxiously as he watched.
The other two students behind him were similarly too scared to act.
Cor'Dana in his clunky metal suit dropped his heavy crossbow and clambered up the hill, the Black Viper followed close behind him as it smashed into the large boulders Cor'Dana passed by.
Cor'Dana lost sense of everything except the path to the cave as he desperately grasped anything to propel him forwards but the Black Viper grew closer by the second and Cor'Dana felt as if its warm breath was creeping down his neck.
He leaped from the ground, exhausting all of his Qi energy as a propellant as he shot into the mouth of the cave.
Following a moment behind him was the Black Viper that crashed into the deep blue barrier, it blocked the Black Viper like a metal wall however unlike Redfire's Array Orb this one did not harm the Vi`per, only blocking its entry.
"HISSS!" The Black Viper screeched as it repeatedly head-butted the barrier, trying to forcefully break it.
On the floor just behind the barrier, Cor'Dana was lying face up looking up at the ferocious and brutish Black Viper as it repeatedly attacked the barrier a few metres ahead of him.
*THUD**THUD**THUD*
Cor'Dana slowly sobered to the thought that if not for this barrier, he would be dead.
"They're still out there!" Braham suddenly cried.
It was only now after escaping certain death that Cor'Dana realised it was only him, Braham and two other students in this large cave.
Zaya, Casmir, Daroch and another student were still trapped on the other side of the barrier...