"Zen. Are you okay?"
Zens eyes slowly opened, and the first thing he saw was Xavier. He slowly got up, trying as hard as he could not to fall back down. His head hurt and his ears were ringing. Something was definitely wrong with that portal.
Zen got up and saw Sable comforting Jade while she threw up her guts, and the same happening for Neo.
"Looks like even you're not completely unaffected. Looks like whatever malfunction that brought us here also made it hella bumpy"
Zen quickly got his bearings before asking.
"Do you know where we are?"
Maximilian replied this time.
"I checked my locator system and it's saying we aren't on a registered planet, and assuming my watch isnt malfunctioning,there are two possibilities, and neither of them are good. Either we're on an undiscovered planet,or were on an apocalypse tier planet "
The entire group went silent. Despite how ridiculous it sounded, they might actually have a higher chance of getting off the planet if it was an apocalypse tier. If it was an apocalypse tier, they would be able to find some abandoned human city or outpost and find resources to help them contact earth., and even if they couldn't, they could still wait for the academy to send someone to find them.This was of course considering they could survive which was almost impossible.
On the other hand,if this was an undiscovered planet that they had been accidentally sent to due to a glitch, malfunction or error with the portals coordinates, then the chances of them leaving were very low. Not to mention that there was a chance that the beasts here could still kill them instantly.
No matter which one it was, they wouldn't have any human contact for a while.
"What do we do?" Neo asked.
Maximilian looked up at the planets moon which looked very similar to earths.
"Our best chance is to wait here for the academy to send help"
'Not exactly' Zen thought
If this really was an apocalypse tier, and the academy does send help, then there's no guarantee that the academys help would end up here. They could be teleported to anywhere on this planet. The fact that they all ended up together itself is extremely lucky. He wouldn't count on it happening twice.
Zen left them alone to think and looked around. His original plan to find high ground to get his bearings was ruined. It looked like wherever they were was just land that stretched on for miles and miles. Luckily it was night on this side of the planet, and the moons of the planet provided sufficient light .
Zen picked up some sand and realized it was pitch black.
"Strange"
Zens mind suddenly thought back to the voice that he had heard. It definitely didn't come from his mark.
"Ummm guys? We have a problem"
Maximilian suddenly said worriedly while looking off into the distance.
The others looked at where Maximilian was looking and immediately understood him.
Coming after them were multiple large beasts with features resembling a wild dog
Zen wanted to use read, but he was too far away,
"We should run" He suggested.
"Huh? But we can take them" Xavier said.
"Perhaps ,but we don't know how long we're going to be on this planet. We need to save as much strength as possible" Maximilian explained
"For now, it's best we run" He added
Although Xavier didn't seem to like the idea, he understood that it was their best shot.
Immediately they started running in the opposite direction trying to avoid the beasts.
"I just don't get it" Maximilian suddenly said while running.
He suddenly felt someone looking at him and turned to see it was Zen. Seeing Zen s inquisitive look, he decided to explain.
"Those beasts, i have no idea how they got so close. It's like they just appeared out of thin air"
Zen felt like that description was familiar but didn't try to remember from where.
"Oh no"
Everyone suddenly stopped as they saw another large group of dog like beasts, each as tall as two horses stacked and as wide as a bull,in front of them,this time much closer.
"What do we do now?"
"Split up" Sable replied, suddenly breaking off into a random direction while pulling Jade with her.
Zen had already expected such an outcome, so he was immediately prepared. Before Sable had even finished her words,he was already running off into another direction.
Sable had been running for a few seconds when she suddenly heard Jade.
"Wait. Stop" Jade said pulling her back.
"What are you doing?"
"Look" Jade said, pointing behind them.
Sable suddenly looked back at what was happening and her expression darkened considerably.
"Let's go" They immediately started running towards the beasts.
Zen suddenly felt something was wrong. He suddenly looked behind him to see that all the beasts had abandoned the others and were chasing after him.
"Tch. Well that tracks"
Zen suddenly looked at the beasts out of the corner of his eye and pulled out his throwing star.
He quickly threw it back as quick as he could towards the closest beast.
Something similar to the last time happened and Zen got a notification.
[Skill(s) selected: Freeze,stun]
The weapon landed squarely on the beasts face, causing it to immediately halt as a thin layer of frost appeared on its face.
Zen quickly caught the star that had returned to him and realized this wouldn't work. Even before Aether was a thing, throwing stars were used for many things, but never as a primary weapon for combat. It was no different now.
With no other choice, Zen made another toss
[Drill strike]
The weapon suddenly found its next target, mid-air, its spin suddenly accelerated multiple times over as it drilled into its targets body, causing a gash to appear on its neck. It might have been able to finish or at home critically wound the beast, but the boomerang skill made sure it always curved and returned to him.
Zen caught the star and immediately threw it back.
His aim was impressive considering he was targeting a specific area on a specific beast while running away from the entire horde at his top speed.
Zen did this a few more times, finally managing to kill one.
[Killed intermediate tier beast]
[Gained Exp]
Zen looked at the exp gained and realized he'd still have to do this for a while before he could level up.
"Got any ideas Freya?"
"Yeah. Watch out for that cliff"
Zen quickly found out what she meant as he was forced to stop running.
With no other choice, Zen kept the throwing star and pulled out Maximilian's dagger. His eyes glowed as brightly as his mark as he immediately charged towards the horde of beasts, brandishing the dagger without an ounce of hesitation.
Zen immediately plunged the dagger deep into the eye of the closest beast, before leapfrogging over its head and onto its back, dodging another attack in the process.
Zen held on to the beast while plunging the dagger deeper and deeper into the beast's eye, determined to kill it as soon as possible.
Zen suddenly caught a glimpse of a giant beast claw out of the corner of his eye. Unable to leave, Zen decided to do as much damage as possible and pushed the dagger even deeper, piercing the beast's brain.
The beast claw landed squarely on his chest as Zen was launched off the beast and a chunk of his HP disappeared.
Steadying himself in the air, Zen landed on his feet, the thought of a horde of beasts trampling him on the ground being a good source of motivation.
He looked at the charging horde and noticed his dagger still stuck in the eye of a beast corpse.
He didn't have much time to think however as another beast had chanrged towards him while baring its deadly jaws,its intention to eat Zen obvious.
Zen quickly grabbed the jaws of the beast, sliding for a few steps before stopping the beast in its tracks.
Zen grunted as every muscle in his body started working at maximum capacity. His veins popped and his bones shifted inhumanely as Zen suddenly lifted the 2000 pound beast before throwing it back at the horde.
The beast suddenly stopped charging as they looked at Zen.
He didn't notice it but his left eye had gone completely black with only a glowing white ring where his iris used to be, and his mutated right eye was glowing even brighter.
Almost immediately, the fear in the eyes of the beasts vanished and was replaced with anger, something which Zen had never encountered before.
Both sides charged at each other,fear of any sort absent from both sides , meanwhile,a third side was hurrying towards the scene as quick as possible.
"How in the world can he run so fast?" Maximilian pondered while running.
Sable and Xavier were neck and neck, running towards the site as quickly as possible, Maximilian himself was only slightly behind,and poor Jade and Neo who weren't members of some special family, and hadn't received any special training,were in last place. The others couldn't afford to wait for them ,with each second they wasted, Zen was in more and more danger.
While running, Maximilian couldn't help but think.
"Why exactly are the beasts only chasing him? What's attracting them to him..... and...what's that strange feeling that I've been here before?"
Maximilian didn't know why but there was an eerie feeling of familiarity with this place. He couldn't tell if it was a good or bad kind of familiarity, but he just couldn't shake of the feeling.
If he had asked Xavier or Sable, he would have known it wasn't just him. They too felt the disorienting feeling of familiarity, perhaps even more so than he did.
Jade on the other hand was feeling even more useless than before. She couldn't help but ask herself what she would even be able to do if she got there. She remembered her promise to one day return the favor to Zen and Silver, and couldn't help but doubt if that would ever be possible.
Her mind suddenly thought back to how Zen helped her shoot an arrow in the dungeon. He was so confident,so steady,so calm and concentrated.
How could she ever be late like that?
He didn't even have an ability yet he was already so awesome.
Wait a minute?! He didn't even have an ability yet he was already so AWESOME!
That's it. The only difference between them was that Zen didn't have an ability, and instead had training. If someone could train her like Zen was trained, she could be even better than him because she had what he didn't:an ability!
What if Zen himself taught her? Could she then be like him?
Jade had gotten so excited from her thoughts that she didn't notice as she slammed into Sable.
"Ouch"
Jade looked up and saw Maximilian,Neo, Xavier and Sable just standing there watching with shock in their eyes.
Confused,Jade stood up and looked at what they were watching and immediately froze.
Zen was covered in black viscous blood and fighting the beast horde with terrifying vigour and brutality. Every punch, every kick, even every block was done with the intent to kill.
The claw of a beast suddenly managed to stab Zen's abdomen, piercing all the way through. Without skipping a beat, Zen twisted back just enough to avoid worsening it and yelled out something they couldn't hear before punching the claw. Like a knife through butter, his hand cut tore through the beasts flesh, before a quick jab destroyed the bones in that part of its body.
He immediately pulled out the claw with his two hands before jumping to the beasts level and thrusting its own claw into its face, killing it instantly.
Like the previous altercation didn't affect him at all, Zen leaped to the eye level of another beast, using the beast claw he had severed to end its life instantly.
A large beast swiped its paw towards Zen aiming to strike while he was in the air. Almost like he had expected it, Zen didn't block and met the paw with his fist, and the pained howls of the beast made it obvious who was the victor.
Zen released the beast to dodge another attack and immediately jumped just high enough before kicking the beasts lower jaw, seemingly shattering it.
Close by, the others were watching. They knew they should have jumped in to help, but what they were watching seemed too ridiculous to ignore.
He wasn't fighting like he was on the defensive in the situation, instead he fought like he was the predator in the situation. Yes he was getting hit, but he made sure that any beast that dared touch him regretted it dearly.
Jade was stunned as she saw him move. Her previous thoughts resurfaced. She didn't notice, but she actually spoke out loud and said.
"Yes. That's it. That's what I want to be"
The others looked at Zen flabbergasted. They never guessed he'd be so vicious and brutal. It just didn't seem like part of his personality.
To them, Zen seemed like an introverted,emo or goth kid who prefered his own company, silence, and stuff like books and music. He had never acted or even looked a tad bit aggressive before, but here he was now, practically oozing bloodlust and radiating killing intent.
"My grandfather once told me that the players were more than just fighters. They danced on the strings of fate itself, like living miracles themselves. He said that he had never seen another creature fight with such brutality and pride. He said that they couldn't even be called human anymore. People on the battlefield called them many names: Demons of destiny,angels of death, kings of war"
Sable looked like she was in thought and continued.
"I used to think he was exaggerating...but..."
Xavier suddenly asked.
"They can't all be like this, right?"
Jade suddenly remembered when she met Beatrix and the beast incident. Confidently she replied
"Yes"
"In fact, considering the fact that he doesn't have an ability, I'd say they're all stronger " Maximilian added.
They all went quiet. Some of them had dreamed of fighting off the invading organization slaughtering them to protect those they loved. This incident felt like a slap back to reality.
If a player without an ability could fight a small horde alone,then...
None of them dared finish the thought.
Perhaps they were lucky to have found a somewhat tolerating player.
Xavier suddenly shook off all those thoughts
"What the hell are we waiting for?! Come on, let's gooooo!"
Xavier immediately jumped into the frey, his gauntlets immediately finding an unfortunate beast before slamming into its head, knocking it to the ground but not finishing it in one blow.
Sable's thoughtful expression was replaced with a smile
"Is this our plan? If so i like it!"
She immediately jumped in after him, brandishing her katana ,and in the blink of an eye,a beast had lost its head to her blade.
Maximilian looked towards Jade
"Maybe you should stay here. Your ability allows you to be a good enough sniper, and help in other ways from a distance too"
Jade nodded. She knew what he really meant was that she would be useless doing anything but what he said, and would constantly be put in danger,but she was happy to help anyway she could.
"We'll be in your care,Jade" Maximilian smiled.
"Neo"
"You don't need to say anything. I won't get in the way and use hit and run tactics and the staff's electric sting to create openings for you guys "
Maximilian nodded and jumped in after Xavier and Sable. He may not be the strongest, but he was completely confident in not getting hit.