Their group headed for the ocean as they talked about the possible scenario they were now being tested on right now.
Leo had thought about it and concluded that the cross between the worlds might be the greatest filters. Most of the ruined fighters that they had heard about might have failed because of the fear induced by the darkness. Apparently, it was a deadly threat coming from reality itself, the three had described to Leo.
It was like the world was threatening them with death if they decided to leave the world. Maybe like a deadly jealous mother. Leo didn't perceive it when he was heading towards the darkness not as clearly as the girls did. They felt it in body as well in their mind, their whole being.
It only made sense for Leo to not feel as threatened from the world as others did. For one, Leo trained himself to be extremely resilient against almost any threat, for another his soul or at least his memories weren't from this world in its entirety.
He did feel it in his body, the rising fear, but with his mind clear such emotions were easily warded off. In a sense, the girls had proved themselves to be worthier to be here than he did.
Leo could vividly imagine how all the previous fighters that returned malnourished because they had locked themselves in a room out of fear and the injured fighters were probably wounded by trying to rush to the darkness not unlike the Japanese girl did earlier.
These failures made their success only that more precious and with it raised the question if those lenient tests that don't result in death were only meant for the participants that didn't cross to the other world or if it extended to this world as well. Either way, Leo would make sure he would see it to its end.
They continued speculating on what the test was as they made their way towards the ocean.
It was only an hour after starting their journey did, they hear something they would rather have not. A scream ripped through the relatively quiet forest. The fact that it was a human scream made it even more worrying.
Was it some natives of the forest that was attacked by a predator or was it a monster mimicking previous victims? They decided to ignore it as they still haven't recovered to their full strength and wouldn't want to face any monster that lured in humans on a regular basis.
Sarah unexpectedly wanted to help but was quickly rebuked by the others as it would put the whole group in danger.
They advanced without looking back trying to ignore it, but as they walked the scream continued, trying its best to lure them away. It followed along as they crossed the forest. The screams got weaker, and it was clear that the man was being tortured for them to hear.
The screams got weaker in the following hour until it stopped. After another 10 minutes' walk of daunting silence, they finally came across the body of the old man with his throat ripped out.
"He must have died quickly. He didn't even put up a fight" Leo added as he looked at the body before guiding the group around it. Leo was surprised to see the old man. It only meant that he had crossed to the new world like they did.
Leo wasn't sure if he was able to after seeing how hard he struggled to walk towards the darkness, but it seemed like he just needed time. If that's the case the rogue must be alive as well, at least he did better than the old man did, indicating that he might have been able to cross as well.
The old man's corpse couldn't have turned up in a more opportune time, Leo cursed in his mind. A corpse wasn't something the group should have seen after being tossed into an unknown forest in a seemingly different world with no way to return. The cherry on the top was the sun that was slowly setting.
There was no cave for them to seek shelter in, but "I came prepared.". Leo told them as he pulled out a rope and anchor out of his bag. After a while they searched a tree that was higher than his immediate surroundings and started to help Sarah up the tree.
They would sleep in the trees by tying themselves to it. It won't be the warmest or most comfortable sleep, but it had to do. It was important for them to get some sleep, especially after being banged up by the trip through the darkness.
Shunlei and Laura had some emergency tools as well, taking a book out of Leo's obsession of being always prepared. They used a tree sap tap to collect some water out of the tree for the next day. They would need to preserve as much as they could after Leo had used most of it up.
He was a bit regretful because of it but at that time he wasn't in full control of his actions.
Now, they slept in trees and drank its water like some of those that rejected everything what was perceived as modern. Leo could only smile bitterly at that thought, at least their vacation was somewhat interesting.
He was the first on night watch and so he kneeled on his branch while looking over the others another time, confirming that they were secured before observing their surroundings.
They had intentionally picked out the tallest tree to sleep in because it made observing the surroundings easier and anyone that was trying to sneak up on them would be noticed without a doubt. No one could ambush them from above and therefore only one possible attack direction remained from below.
Of course, if it were a powerful predator that they couldn't do anything against even with the high ground, they would be sitting ducks. Well, if it were so powerful that it could climb a tree and slaughter them simultaneously, they wouldn't be able to do much anyway.
They gambled with their lives and that was the best bet they could get.
After a few hours, he woke up Laura, who swapped guard duties with him. They shifted guard duty until the sun rose.
'The night was uneventful, and the coming day will hopefully as well.' Leo thought as he slowly climbed down the tree.
Unsurprisingly, the day did not go uneventful.
After walking for a quite a bit while talking about their next step if they have indeed come across a harbor, they heard a rumbling coming from the ground.
They first thought it was a weak earthquake but after just a moment that turned out to be a poor guess as they heard the stampede of a hundred beasts coming their way. Not far away they could already see the wave of what appeared to be wild boars running their way.
With quick thinking they all threw themselves in different covers. Laura dragged Sarah ran down a 2-meter drop and hid near the wall under the drop. Shunlei and Leo quickly climbed up a tree high up out of the sight of the wild boars.
Hiding up the tree seemed to be the more dangerous option as the boars were the size of small cars. The boars were not only large but looked black grey, had some glowing marks on their bodies and had giant tusks which's tips were glowing red as if they would burn you if you touched it.
If one of those beasts decided that their tree was in the way, the tree wouldn't stand for longer than a second. Fortunately, the boars didn't seem to find appeal in bashing their head against a tree.
After a few minutes, the group of wild boars finally left them with a few of the boars limping behind.
"Did you see that?" Shunlei asked to which Leo nodded, "Yeah, some of them were heavily injured."
"It looked like one had its leg ripped off with one bite." Leo could only nod again.
Something preyed on those behemoths and casually taken a bit out of a boar of a rampaging herd. It didn't even decide to take one down completely. It probably treated the herd as a buffet and had a taste of most of the menu.
"We should get moving. I don't want to figure out what did that." Leo decided before grabbing the two girls hiding down the drop.
Their pace quickened after their little encounter with the herd only stopping to get some water out of the trees.
They came across a shallow stream on the way and filled some water bottles to the brim. Flowing water had a lower chance of being contaminated but even then, it wouldn't be as good as tree sap since the vascular system of a branch contains membranes to filter out harmful bacteria to as much as 99%.
However, it takes a while to get enough out of the branches, so they decided to get some from the stream as an emergency. Besides, those bottles had an integrated filter inside of them even if it probably won't get all the bacteria out of the water. It was better than nothing.
As they filled their water bottles, they saw an injured wild boar lying a bit behind the stream. Leo decided to take a look. In a huge arc he walked around it to see if it showed any sign of attacking. Maybe if it were exhausted enough, he could end its suffering and earn some meat for the next few days.
Of course, he wouldn't be able to take all of it, but it would be worth it to make some jerky out of it. He would also need to do it quickly before any other scavenger take in the scent of the injured boar. After going full circle around it, he knew that it was the boar with one fewer leg.
Even back then Leo knew that the boar would likely die with such an injury despite his struggles to keep up with his herd and with a predator looming over their head, they couldn't risk staying behind another member who was certain to die.
Obviously, they didn't leave with such a reasoning or even weigh the likelihood of its survival, they would know intuitively and leave it without hesitation.
'Better get some use out of you. Your death will boost our survival chances.' Leo thought as he took out a kunai, he took from Shunlei. He bound it to a metal wire specially made for him. It was extremely tough and thin as a guitar string. He could behead people with it if he wanted to.
Why he carried something like this with him, you ask? Well, he could find many purposes for a strong but not easily noticeable wire. One of these purposes would be to suffocate people while dragging them away stealthily ala Hitman style.
He had learned all kinds of strange tricks and methods, that he replicated some feats from video games from his past was something he would proudly declare.
After binding it to his knife, he found a strong branch that would at least give him some leverage against the weight of the boar and threw it over the branch before catching the knife again. Another obvious purpose for this much wire was to use it as tripwire.
He waited for a moment making sure that the boar didn't notice him before he flung the knife like the professional, he was. By now something akin to throwing a metal needle through glass was child's play for him.
If he hurled the knife at any normal human, it would only leave behind a bloody hole in its path. He was confident in his throwing skills and strength that he wouldn't be afraid to go against any animal from both his worlds.
So, the fact that the knife barely penetrated the skin of the injured boar was disheartening to say the least.