Nathan studied the wooden flute for a few seconds, still not quite understanding how or why the calamity was using it.
'Was the snake attack really his fault?'
With no answers, Nathan left the flute and looked at his team, who had just finished with the last tribal calamity. Slowly, leaning on his sword, Nathan began to approach them.
The other cadets, including Maya and the soldier, noticed his approach and looked at him in surprise. They didn't know how strong he was, but they were looking forward to seeing the Devil's Disciple in action, and they felt somehow motivated to have this opportunity before many of the other cadets.
Nathan didn't blame them when he saw their slightly surprised looks, he himself was also looking forward to facing his first real opponent.
Maya was the first to approach.
"Did you kill it?"
Since they were still fighting when Nathan finished, none of them could really see the outcome of the fight.
Nathan merely held up his flute, signaling that he had taken it from the body of the calamity. Then he looked at the condition of the other cadets, several of them wounded and leaning against the trees. Maya and the soldier were also wounded, but not as badly.
Nathan had the worst injuries, his left arm was still numb, his legs were weak, and he could barely stand up.
But either way, Nathan knew that either Maya or the soldier would have been able to fight the Special Category somehow, he doubted the other cadets, but surely the two of them would have been able to take him on.
Either way, they were victorious, now all they had to do was go back and meet up with the other group.
But first, while the others were catching their breath, Nathan did the same and sat down on a nearby root sticking out of the water.
He felt that if he closed his eyes, he would fall asleep instantly, so he just stared at the horizon, trying to distract himself from passing out.
Almost twenty minutes later, everyone was rested enough to return and start walking.
Everyone was worried enough as they walked back in complete silence. The previous battle had left them completely exhausted and some of them too wounded to fight a second time. Among them was Nathan, who doubted he could even fight a couple of normal tribal calamities and come out unscathed.
He could barely keep his balance on his own, so he was definitely not ready for a second round.
Fortunately, there were no more calamities on the way, so they reached the rendezvous point without any problems.
They had arrived earlier than expected, almost ten minutes before the hour, so they waited quietly and hidden for the other group to arrive.
The time came and the other group did not arrive, everyone thought they were a bit late, so they decided to keep waiting.
Ten minutes passed, then twenty, then half an hour, and the other group still had not arrived.
Everyone was visibly tense. The cadets were muttering to each other, while Maya looked worriedly at where the other group had gone. Even the soldier was a little tense about his companion's disappearance.
If they had encountered the special category calamity and had barely emerged victorious... What could the second party have encountered that would have prevented them from returning?
Nathan thought of Syril, who was strong. He had seen a glimpse of her strength the night before when they had fought the scout party. Her movements were fluid and her attacks powerful, as was her mysterious technique.
He could not imagine that he had defeated her, but surely something had overcome her.
In an unspoken agreement, they decided to wait another half hour... but the second group never arrived.
Nathan was already on the verge of losing consciousness, and he really didn't think he could stay awake for more than ten minutes if he sat still. The cadets were the same, they all needed to rest and recover quickly.
So, after a long silence, it was Maya who spoke.
"Let's go back, they... they're not coming"
The cadets wanted to protest, some had friends in the other group, but deep down they all agreed with Maya's words.
Staying there would only expose them further and put them in danger, they couldn't afford to wait any longer, not in the state they were in.
Slowly they all stood up and began to walk back to the cave with bitter looks on their faces.
In the state they were in, it took them more than twice as long to get back to the cave. Fortunately, the swamp seemed strangely quiet and empty, so they arrived without any problems.
Not bothering to discuss anything with anyone, Nathan entered the cave before sitting down beside his pack and beginning to heal his wounds.
Soon the others began to do the same in silence, not knowing what to say. The atmosphere was strange, they had suddenly lost half their group and their condition was unknown. But most likely they were already dead, that was always the most likely outcome when it came to calamities.
By the time Nathan had finished healing his wounds, he could no longer resist and fell asleep a few seconds later. He didn't care if someone tried to remove his mask, he was in no condition to worry about that. Besides, with what was going on, he doubted anyone would care.
Sometime several hours later, Nathan opened his eyes sleepily and looked around.
He had no sense of time, but from the way the other cadets were already awake and eating around a small campfire, it must have been night.
With some effort, Nathan got up and walked over to the pot to get his ration. He had woken up starving and wanted nothing more than to eat.
Nathan left the central part of the cave and went back to where he had eaten the night before. Without thinking, he took off his mask and began to devour his food.
"…"
Nathan felt a little bitter about the deaths of the other cadets, including Syril, but deep down he knew that this was a common occurrence in this world. Besides, they had all accepted the mission knowing that they could die, so they were all aware of the real danger that existed.
Nathan began to understand even more that strength was something that was absolutely necessary to survive in this world. If his group had been smaller and faced the same situation, they would surely have been overmatched and the outcome would have been different.
With that in mind, Nathan was beginning to understand that although he preferred to do things alone, it was not all bad to have support.
But the problem had only just begun, and with his strength reduced by half, the mission had become more complicated. At least Nathan had dealt with the special category calamity, which meant that all they had to do was find the relic and get out of the realm.
It could be called easy, but there was still one question.
Why had the other party disappeared?