"I can't sense the water body, I can only sense the demon," Aiden said, his brows tense and furrowed.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Is there a river or not?" Felix suddenly yelled from the side, his irritation evident in his tone.
"Whoosh!"
He dodged another tongue as he grunted.
"You have to be serious Aiden!" Mai also darted in from the side sounding rather urgent.
The group didn't have time for games, the situation didn't allow it.
If Aiden couldn't sense the river with his special ability, how did he know that a river was there in the first place?
"Whoosh!"
Feeling helpless Aiden casually avoided a demonic tree attack before yelling, "You guys should pay attention, focus on your hearing!"
With that the group proactively focused on their sense of hearing and in the next moment with raised brows, their face revealed an expression of brief confusion followed by realization.
There was a rushing water body in the distance, they had been so focused on the demonic trees that they overlooked it.
By now the group had run for so long that the sun had started rising, and morning had come.
"There's actually water," Kevin gasped, before adding, "It's Luminara!"
"Luminara?" Serena echoed in confusion, hearing her question Kevin was reminded that Serena wasn't from the Seventh Shelter.
"It's a river. Don't you know that our water is the purest amongst the ten Shelters?" Kevin asked before darting in.
"River Luminara's water is even purer than the water found from drilling into the earth. Nobody knows why but it's unable to be polluted, and as a bonus, it's good for health, the river is also the reason why our Shelter has the largest supply of fis-"
"Whoosh!"
As Kevin spoke a tongue shot past him reminding him of the grimness of the situation.
By now their surroundings had started to change, there were fewer trees and more grass, and the soil beneath their feat also felt a bit softer.
"Let's head for the river, it leads to the Seventh Shelter!" Kevin said.
Without even waiting for anyone's approval he ran towards the sound of rushing water with the group following behind him.
Aiden didn't object either, even though he sensed the presence of a demon he was confident that they could handle it.
At this moment there were no more trees around them and the soil had started to become softer, with this Aiden let out a sigh, they had finally escaped the demonic trees.
In the distance was a large river. The water was clean and clear and if one was close enough they would be able to see the fish swimming inside.
As they approached the river the group slowed down, "What now?" Ethan asked, a faint look of fear in his eyes as he brandished his weapon.
The reason he was afraid wasn't because of the river, water was the bane of all demons and a large amount of it would weaken them drastically.
What he was scared of was the space in front of them.
In front of them was a large field of dry mud, but how could the soil near a water body be so dry?
The reason for its dryness was that the water that was supposed to hydrate the soil was suspended in midair.
This hinted at the presence of a demon, "let's go around the field," Mai suggested, but before anyone could reply the group shook.
"Gruuuuu!"
"Boom," something burst out of the ground, launching itself into the air.
"Bang!"
The ground shook as it landed, a terrifying presence paramount as its grotesque appearance was revealed for all to see.
Its entire figure was skinned but it had no blood.
This headless figure had six legs, a mix of flesh and bones with a faint resemblance to the legs of a crab.
The only rebalance this creature had to a human was its torso apart from that the rest of it seemed utterly terrifying.
It had two bony and long arms about five Meters long. It's arms had scales and its fists were as huge as a dining table.
From its back, you could see two shorter arms that didn't seem functional.
This creature was silent, it didn't roar, and neither did it move, it just stood still quietly.
Although it didn't have eyes the group knew that it had already spotted them.
Brandishing his blade Aiden glanced towards the rest of the group, his eyes a mixture of reluctance and fear.
Felix had a heavy frown on his face, he seemed a bit restless as his body tensed.
Mai also seemed fidgety as her red eyes darted around, and her fingers repositioned themselves around the hilt of her blade.
If even Mai who was known for having a cool head was like that then naturally the rest of the group weren't faring too well.
Nobody moved, instead they stared at the creature in front of them grimly.
As the candidates pondered, the headless demon in front of them finally showed signs of movement, its skinned humanoid torso trembled as if reacting to a cold.
The sight of its trembling tissue painted an odd picture for Aiden and the rest of the group making them stare at the being with even more intensity.
Even though it was skinned it didn't bleed, to Aiden, the torso of this demonic being resembled those human anatomy figures in biology books.
That wasn't the end though as the creature moved even more, its crab-like legs which seemed to be made up of a mix of raw meat and bone matter constantly repositioned themselves.
As the being shuffled from side to side in a crab-like manner, its feet dug into the soil as if looking for balance.
Meanwhile, the candidates all had grim expressions on their faces as they watched the oddity in front of them move.
They had long since gotten into position, with Kevin, Aiden, Mai, and Adrian in front while Serena and Ethan were further back ready to shoot at any time.
Felix stood close to Serena while David was further behind, holding onto their weapons cases with a fearful expression on his face.
"What is this thing doing?" Aiden thought to himself as he watched the demon perform its little dance.
Although he looked composed, his legs felt weaker and his heart threatened to burst out of its chest.
The more he analyzed this demon the more he felt fear, the way those crab-like legs pierced the rock-hard soil of the riverbank frightened him.
Just its arms alone seemed to make up a sizable portion of its body weight as its humongous fists rested lazily on the ground.
"Bam!"
The sound of a small sonic boom suddenly sounded out jerking Aiden out of his thoughts.
Somehow the demon had moved. Its sharp legs dug into the soil flinging it forward as it appeared in front of the group swinging its huge limb at them with a frightening amount of force.
Aiden felt the shadow of death whisper to him as he stood there dazed.
"Snap out of it!" A voice yelled out urgently, it was Kevin who had rushed towards the front of the group, he lowered his body lifting his shield to block the imminent attack.
"CLAN-"
"BANG!"
"SHATTER!"
The brief sound of a collision sounded out, as sparks flew. All Kevin felt was an overwhelming amount of force causing his muscles to vibrate, the force was so much that his shield caved in and shattered.
Kevin was forced down as his knee violently hit the ground causing the rock-hard soil to crack, his vision blurred and before he knew it he hit the ground falling unconscious.
Kevin's earlier shout had given the group time to reorganize themselves, quickly, Aiden and the rest of the candidates formed a circle around the demon.
"We have to go all out!" Mai yelled as she discarded her blade, "whoosh," a new blade of raging fire appeared in her right hand.
Without warning she shot forward swinging her blade towards the demon's legs with all the force she could muster.
"SLA-"
"CLAG!"
The sound of a metallic collision could be heard as the group watched a good half of the demon get engulfed in flames.
Mai who was at the forefront of this attack suddenly widened her eyes, "its skin is so hard," she thought.
She felt no resistance when her blade cut through the flesh, but as soon as her blade hit bone matter it came to a screeching halt.
Although she couldn't sever its legs she had caused quite the damage as half of the demon's lower body was burnt, the demon didn't scream since it had no head, but by its trembling upper body, one could discern that it felt the pain.
It suddenly raised its leg in a phantom-like manner much faster than Mai could react, but before it could bring it down.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Two arrows tore through the air "Bam, bam," both arrows hit the demon's chest at the same time.
Although the arrows didn't injure the demon they stunned it for a second allowing Mai to process and upon noticing the demon's leg she backed off.
The demon didn't relent though as it swung its fists at Mai who paled in fright, and quickly she raised her flaming blade to block.
"Bang!"
"Crack!"
Another loud bang sounded out but surprisingly Mai's blade didn't shatter.
Instead, it became filled with cracks, although the blade was fine, Mai wasn't, instead her knees buckled.
"Barfh!"
She vomited, if one looked closely one would notice some speaks of blood in her vomit, her physique was nowhere as strong as Kevin's.
"Boom!"
Another sonic boom sounded out as the demon swung its other fist toward Mai again.
"Clang!"
"Crack!
"Ahhhh," a collision could be heard followed by the sound of a suppressed scream.
Felix had blocked the second attack with the power from his contract, but as a result, the long blade that extended out of his injured arm was broken causing him another layer of pain.
"Whoosh!"
The sound of an arrow being fired could be heard as Serena and Ethan tried to find a weak spot on the demon's body, but the arrows they fired didn't leave a dent on the demon's skin with some even bouncing off.
Seeing the chaos in front of him, Aiden remained rooted in place, apart from David and Adrian, he was the only one who hadn't done anything.
"Am I this fearful?" Aiden mocked himself as he commanded his body to move, but he just couldn't.
This wasn't that place where he had thousands of lives, this was the real world, and over here he had just one life.
Meanwhile, with the time Felix had bought, Mai was able to retreat, leaving Felix to fend for himself.
But unlike her who remained stunned by the demon's attack, Felix shook it off.
Despite the terrifying wounds on his arm, and the blood leaking from his lips he ran past the demon.
Mai on the other hand let out a heartwrenching scream as her hand slowly burnt, this was the price for using her Contact.
Quickly she removed some healing pills from her pocket and stuffed them in her mouth.
In the midst of all this, the demon wasn't stationary and it obviously wouldn't let Felix escape, it twisted its body and swung its fist at him.
Due to Felix's position the demon's humongous fist was slower but it still packed quite the punch.
Feeling the pressure behind him Felix gritted his teeth, his emotions a mixture of fear and determination.
He turned back, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest, the pain Felix felt only served as fuel for his rage.
"FUCK YOU!" He yelled as he swung his left arm at the demon's attack, a new blade bloomed tearing through his flesh and body armor scattering blood everywhere.
At that moment Felix's pupils dilated and his eyes caught sight of a certain youth who remained frozen in place, it was Aiden.
They locked eyes, Felix, his determined gaze boring a hole through Aiden's fearful and cautious gaze.
"Wait a second, this bastard hasn't done anything since," Felix thought as his anger rose.
Even though he knew that Aiden was powerless, the same went for the rest of the group, but even with that they still stood their ground and fought.
"AIDEN YOU COWARD!"
Felix voice cut through the air like a blade stunning Aiden who widened his eyes.
"Boom!"
"Splash!"
The sound of another collision sounded out as Felix was shot like a ragdoll into the river, the force of the demon's attack was just too much.
A big splash could be seen as water scattered everywhere, but the ones that came near the demon remained suspended in midair, painting an odd picture of stillness.
Meanwhile Aiden, his shock rapidly turning into anger tightened his first's around his blade.
Felix's words had hit a sore spot.
"I'll hold it off, you all head for the river, it's our only means of escape!"
Aiden suddenly yelled as his feet left the ground.
Without hesitation, he summoned his weakened soul armor and readied himself for a clash that would inevitably end in his defeat.