He slowly walked through the forest, his eyes locking on to his target as he approached.
Pressure emanated with every single step of his, the air around trembled along as if singing a painful wail.
It's as if the forest itself was afraid of him, not daring to make a single noise in his overwhelming presence, not even a single breeze wind dared to trespass his considerably long black hair for a male.
He stopped at the end of the path laid out by layers upon layers of dam made of blades and roots, as his target hostilely growled at his approach.
"Nowhere to run." Mr Zheng raised his head, and said with a cold voice, his voice as if devoid of all emotions.
Yet he could tell, it was all a facade. After all...
——
Some time ago...
Mr Zheng fumbled around in his tent.
Now that he thinks of it, it's oddly funny how he could practically sleep anywhere he want if he were to be tired enough, yet couldn't sleep whenever as he pleased without first being tired.
And this is one of the nights where he isn't completely dried out. It's a shame that the kids managed things so smoothly without any of his help, he could almost remember himself unsure of what to do at school trips back in his childhood days from his previous life even in high school. Yet these kids here were able to manage themselves just fine with a clear goal in mind.
He let out a sigh as he once again turned in the tent, deciding to reach out his phone so he could do something to kill some time.
But before he could do so, a cry echoed through the silent night, causing him to pounce up from his bed in response. Yet that's all he could do as his mind went blank at the various possibilities of what could have caused it to happen, unsure of what to do.
It wasn't long until more screaming a couple of seconds later that got Mr Zheng out of his frozen mind, pulling off the mattress and dashing out of the tent, heading towards the source of the voice. Which wasn't as far as he thought, being only a couple steps to the left of his tent, just in the direction of... Edmond's tent.
'Was it Edmond who let out the cry?' With that in thought, he couldn't help but have his footsteps accelerated, as worries began swirling in his mind. But as soon as he had arrived, all his worries came to reality, as he saw Edmond's tent ripped to shreds. Before it stood a tall, black humanoid beast readying itself for a pounce, and a young girl with a kitchen knife in hand, her short, blonde hair flowing in the midnight breeze.
"What have you done to Edmond!" He was just in time to witness the girl scream as she charged forward at the beastly figure, her knife raised high up in the air as mana powered her muscles, thrashing it hard at the black beast.
But the beast wasn't paying any attention to her, as it swiftly spun around and hit the girl with its tail, launching her backwards and landed as Mr Zheng caught her in mid-air.
"Mr Zheng!" The girl was surprised as she felt her body was caught. "That aberrant! It killed Edmond!!"
But Mr Zheng didn't say anything, instead, he was carefully studying the beast before him while he set the girl in his grasp down upon the ground.
The beast returned his gaze with cold eyes, the yellow eyes glowed under the dark as faint moonlight cast down the foliage. Sensing no hostility from Mr Zheng, it turned away and dashed into the forest, disappearing into the grove.
"MR ZHENG! It's running away! We have to avenge Edmond!"
"Calm down, if Edmond is dead, his corpse would reek of blood by now," Mr Zheng motioned at the shredded tent that was supposed to belong to Edmond. "But look, there isn't any blood on the ground, nor is there anybody laying around on the ground all bloodied. Edmond probably escaped."
"Mr Zheng?" Mr Zheng looked back at the camp as he was called, recognizing the student behind him being Gary. More students emerged from their tent since most of the camp members were awakened by the noise, curious about what happened.
"Take care of her." He glanced over at Emily, before looking back at the crowd, a serious expression on his face. "Everyone! Stay here! Do not leave the campsite! I'll be right back."
With those words, Mr Zheng hurriedly rushed into the forest, urging his body to move as fast as possible by dumping all the mana he could manage through it, afraid that he might not be able to catch up in time.
When Mr Zheng found it, it was having its meal just beyond the parameters where the animals were chased out of, delving its mouth into the flesh, staining the lips red.
Seeing it eating, Mr Zheng was thinking of sneaking up to it, but as soon as Mr Zheng stepped closer, it had stopped consuming the animal corpse and turned in his direction.
"Tch, I should have known, those ears weren't for nothing." Mr Zheng said to himself as he held his usual hand up to the side. Immediately, 5 swords of similar design materialized out of nowhere behind him, floating in the air, pointing down in standby.
Seeing this, the beast cautiously lowered its body, going on four legs, preparing for battle as it growled warningly at Mr Zheng.
"Alright, quit the pretending game, where's my student?" Mr Zheng said, with a boring tone. "I've somewhat expected this, but I never expected them to send something like you. Let me guess, they offered for you to get stronger, while in exchange you work for them and lose half of your sanity?"
But the beast didn't seem to react and continued to growl at him.
Seeing this, Mr Zheng let out a sigh. "Don't tell me they took your ability to talk as well, this ain't even funny anymore. It's human experiments we're talking about, for god's sake."
"Very well, if that's the case," With those words, Mr Zheng raised his hands, and the blades hovering behind him flew up and aimed its tip at the beast. "I'll make this quick."