As the day continued to progress, the fifteen teams found themselves venturing deeper into the forest. Their encounters with Level Zeros had virtually ended while the Level Ones seemed to be popping up more frequently. In seventeen hours, the teams had gathered fifty-eight of the needed seventy-five beast cores.
At their current pace, they would all have passed the practical exam before midday tomorrow. With added confidence, the teams became more aggressive. Being grouped with three other teams gave them a significant boast in strength.
Following the plan, every team could cover a wide area while being slowed only briefly in combat. Twenty united members easily overpowered the smaller groups of two or three beast in a minute's time.
Clara's group was spearheading their push while John and Ari covered the outer flanks. No beast was capable of ambushing anybody from the rear because Joe was removing them from life before they could even be noticed by the other teams.
Suddenly, an updated series of data flooded to Joe.
'Level Two beast encounter at the front.'
'All adjacent teams have been ordered to retreat by the Second Squad leader.'
All the information that was provided before the test showed no indication to any Level Two beast being active in this area.
Even between species, strength was respected. The weaker beasts remained on the outer most edges of the area while the strongest would dwell at the heart of the forest. For a Level Two to have crossed into the Level One's area, something must have drawn it there.
Perhaps it was the rapidly decreasing numbers within the Level Ones that alerted it and drew it out. Despite the beasts respecting the territories of weaker beings, they would take notice to the power shift within the areas surrounding theirs. With the rapid drop in the number of Level One beasts, this Level Two was likely trying to take claim to the now freed area.
With every ounce of power, he could muster, Joe's legs propelled him in the direction of the beast. His map indicated that every team had already begun retreating to the outer edges of the forest. Still, a single dot remained where the beast was spotted. It didn't take much deliberation for Joe to know that Clara had remained behind to buy the others time to escape.
After almost two minutes of Joe traveling at his peak speed, he reaches the clearing in which the beast was waiting. Towering at nearly eleven feet tall and easily breaking the thousand-pound measurement, a black bear was standing over the unconscious body of Clara.
To an average person, meeting this beast face to face would invoke immediate fear. Its crimson eyes fixed themselves on his position. With a monstrous roar, it showed a set of two and a half inch long canines that were dripping with a bubbling fit of saliva.
Without much thought, Joe drew his daggers and lunged in the direction of the beast. His eye became bloodshot and every muscle in his body tightened when his gaze saw the condition of Clara. A pool of bright blood was slowly forming below her unmoving body.
'You will pay for what you've done with your life.'
As Joe was about to drive one of his daggers into the exposed chest of the beast, his torso was met with a spike in pain and a wetness began to fall from his shoulder. The Level Two black bear had thrown the attacking Joe five feet to its right with a single strike. The same strike that had ended the fight with Clara.
This beast was not as mindless as all the Level Ones the class had encountered up to this point. It deliberately left its chest exposed to draw in its enemy. To its surprise, this new foe fared far better than the last. A single strike decided the previous battle and it was about to take the life of the fallen foe when this new battle commenced.
Feeling the warm blood flowing down his arm, Joe began to control all the muscles around his wound. With the amount of training his body had undergone in days past, he had gained a more refined control over how his body functioned. Although his control wouldn't stop the flow of blood entirely, it would significantly reduce the threat it played on his life.
The pain still seared its way throughout his arm, but he had enough mental fortitude to ignore it for the time being. With the added adrenaline coursing through his body, Joe was prepared to move as if he had never been struck. Realizing that this beast held more intelligence that those he had slain up to this point, Joe revised his attack strategy.
Leaving a cloud of dust behind, Joe began to run circles around the beast. Every lap led to a shorter distance between himself and the beast. Just as he was within range of the beast's claws, he changed directions with a single pivot of his heel. The entire arm of the beast narrowly passed over him as he turned his direction to pass directly behind the legs.
As he passes the trunk like legs, Joe dragged the edge of both blades across their backsides. Two deep gashes appeared, and a roar filled the trees. The beast immediately began turning to take another swing at its attacker but was meet with another series of slashes to its left side.
The blood flowing out of the wounds quickly found its way to the forest floor and began to turn the dirt a deep red. As the beast fell onto all four of its legs, Joe was directly above it. With the added weight from the fall, Joe's daggers plunged themselves into the back of the beast and were only stopped by the slamming of their hilts against the breaking bones.
Before hopping down, Joe drove his hand into the beast and ripped the core from its chest. The barely alive beast let out a blood curdling roar as its last breath escaped its body. Storing the core away, Joe immediately rushed to the injured Clara.