Nico looked back at the fading form of his instructor and clenched his fists. He hoped William would be alright.
Well, he should be, right?
He was the man in charge of the Camp, after all. His combat ability couldn't be low.
Nico sighed. He gripped the spear in his hands - a weapon that William had loaned to him for the duration of their journey in the case of an attack - tighter, his knuckles turning white.
The brown-haired boy glanced to his left and found that Leon and Henry both had alert postures. The grips on their weapons were iron… just like his.
At the instructions of Phantom, the young trainees quickly separated themselves from the area where William had spilled his own blood, entering a wide, empty clearing.
Nico cast a furtive glance at his weapons instructor, discovering that the bearded man's face was grim, bleak even.
That didn't bode well for any of them.
Suppressing his anxiety, Nico focused on what he could control: making sure he got as far away as possible from the horde.
As the droning sound reached a fever pitch, the trainees - hidden by a large thicket of bush - held their breaths. Phantom stood in front of them, spear at the ready. The man with the eyepatch could deal with any creature that stumbled into the shrub.
However, that didn't stop any of the trainees from feeling nervous. After all, they doubted any of them could deal with such a large threat, besides their instructor's, of course.
Fortunately for the young teens, nothing came their way. A fair distance away, the sounds of a fierce clash reverberated through the Wilderness. Snarls, growls, and whimpers of pain filled the air.
The sound instilled the black-clad trainees with a sense of confidence. They believed William and Nix could triumph against the horde.
Unfortunately, life was never that simple.
Phantom - who was straining his senses to decipher the current outcome of William's clash against the horde - suddenly stiffened. His eyes widened slightly.
Behind their group, a bestial roar rolled through the air, accompanied by a vast aura.
The young teens stood rooted to the spot. Their bodies trembled in the face of that overwhelming presence. Only one word flashed through their mind:
'A Mana Beast.'
What was a beast of that caliber doing here? They weren't even in the core region, so why had it ventured so far out?
Phantom's figure blurred, disappearing from the spot. None of the trainees could even track a hint of his movements. He had left just like a sudden gust of wind.
Nico whirled around, staring at the empty clearing behind him. His eyes searched for any sign of his Spear instructor, yet found none. A moment later, a distant roar and snarl answered his silent question, as the sound echoed from deeper within the Wilderness.
He prayed Phantom could deal with the Mana Beast. Otherwise, they would all be done for.
The trainees glanced at each other, at a loss for what to do. Their faces were pale, and their breathing came in short bursts as if one more unexpected thing would send them into a panic attack.
The feeling of powerlessness descended on them in full force. Some youngsters who were confident in their combat ability, stepped forward, wanting to enter the fray and help Instructor William.
That was met with a large rebuke, with several others chastising them for entertaining such a thought.
As heated arguments bubbled to the surface, Nico scowled and swept his gaze through the throng of black-clad teens. His eyes paused on a certain figure. Lean with spiked, fiery-red hair, Lucas stood expressionlessly watching everything around him unfold into chaos.
The once haughty heir was too calm for someone who could end up dying at any moment - if their instructors had failed to deal with the horde and Mana Beast, that is.
Nico stared at his nemesis with narrowed eyes.
Maybe it was the fact that Lucas was confident that no harm would come to him. As a scion of a medium-sized house, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility if his family stationed several bodyguards near the Camp, in the event that things suddenly turned drastically wrong.
Yet, Nico felt the redhead's calmness came from something else. He observed silently as the Stanburg heir shifted his gaze and stared back at him.
The noble's lips curled up in a subtle smirk.
As he witnessed that faint movement, Nico suddenly felt ice cold. The unease in his stomach flared, as his eyes dilated.
'No, no, no… it can't be.'
Nico shook his head furiously, banishing the thought from his head. Even for Lucas, that would be going too far.
Yet, in the next second, Nico's heart dropped. Behind him, at the far end of the clearing where a treeline stood, a nefarious cackle resounded.
The brown-haired boy hastily turned around. Five figures emerged from the shade of the treeline. The furthest left one wore a cloak, with the hood drawn back on his shoulders, exposing his features for all to see. Which did not reassure any of the trainees.
The man would have had a normal face, if not for a slanted eye. As it was, to Nico, it looked like he was glaring at them. Which was probably true, considering that he probably didn't come here to do anything good.
Seeing his mouth part slightly, exposing a set of crooked teeth stained yellow, Nico felt a sense of revulsion rising within him.
Beside the man with the slanted eye, stood a figure garbed in a navy-blue cloak. Unlike the previous male, the hood fully shrouded his features. Nico saw a flash of silver come from beneath the hood… estimating it originated from the area around the man's mouth, although he couldn't be too sure.
Nico's gaze shifted to the figure in the middle, who strode a step ahead of the others. He had a bulging stomach, multiple golden rings adorning his chubby fingers, a golden necklace draped around his neck… in addition to a menacing axe strapped to his back.
His bald head glinted in the sunlight.
Looking to the right, the brown-haired boy discovered that the other two figures also wore cloaks, just like the first two. The only distinguishable traits they possessed were, one being extremely skinny, and the other shifting his weight every so often… as if unable to stand on a certain leg for too long.
Nico's eyes narrowed once more. This group gave off an eerie feeling, that only strengthened the deeper he scrutinised them.
He took a deep breath and suppressed his anxiety. Peering closer, Nico studied the person he presumed to be the leader.
Wincing, as the golden jewelry sparkled in the sun, almost blinding him, he idly scanned the man from head to toe, not expecting to find anything else of note.
Nico's gaze paused on the man's wrist. His eyes widened.
There, the image of a white serpent with its tail coiling around itself etched onto the bald man's skin.
Nico's breath hitched.
His hands trembled as a stunned expression formed on his face.
The White Cobras were here.
'You have got to be kidding me…'