As a layer of cool mist set in the early morning air, the group of seven traversed the treacherous jungle expanse.
The cold, dewy environment caused them to feel a slight chill, which would change when the sun fully rose in a few hours.
(Chirp Chirp)
Hearing the pleasant sound of birds chirping in the air, one would be inclined to feel a sense of peace and being one with nature.
However, every creature making that noise was a magical creature that wouldn't hesitate to kill any nearby human on sight and make them 'one with nature'… In the truest sense.
'How pleasant would it be if there were creatures in this world that weren't hellbent on mindlessly killing,' Cecelia thought to herself as she walked in the middle of their protective formation.
If only birds could be small and cute instead of large and deadly…
She would love to keep one as a pet and listen to it sing whenever she was tired or exhausted.
Sadly, the very idea of keeping pets was flawed.
Domesticating Magical Creatures could only be done by professionals, and even that didn't mean they could suppress their bestial nature.
…Unless someone had a specific mana art that could uprightly control their minds.
Instead, most captured Magical Creatures were kept in enclosures and used for material harvesting.
Every time a human gets close, the creatures are sedated long enough for the humans to collect the materials and leave.
An example would be the spider-like creatures harvesting the thread used for their military uniforms.
Even the uniforms they were wearing were made with the same material.
The same uniform that stuck their body with a mixture of sweat and water.
Taking a sniff of her arm, Cecelia's face scowled.
'Gods, I need a bath…'
Looking at those around her, Cecelia quickly admonished herself and suppressed those thoughts.
Everyone else seemed to tolerate their conditions perfectly fine.
She didn't want to cause problems for them on her account.
It was bad enough that they needed to go out of their way to protect her.
As she was thinking this, a sudden whistle rang out through the air.
Just as she pondered to herself what that noise was, suddenly Blaine lifted his hand, catching a needle-like object seconds before it pierced through Cecelia's head.
The needle seemed to have some kind of foul-smelling purple substance on it that made a fizzling sound as it contacted Blaine's skin.
"Hahh…"
Letting a fearful exhale, Cecelia stifled an instinctual scream.
Her life had just almost ended… And she only found out moments later.
Worst yet… The person who saved her was none other than… Him.
It seemed Lyn hadn't acted, sensing that Blaine would be enough. Still, compared to him, Cecilia would have preferred if the taciturn woman had done it instead.
The sudden attack on Cecelia served as a wake-up signal.
Without wasting even a breath, the group instantly dropped their backpacks and entered a battle-ready state.
A cold light flashed through Lyn's eyes as she lifted her two daggers, parrying another long needle.
"I'll go on ahead… Delsie, you come with me. Everyone else, find cover and protect our scientist."
With the enemy knowing their position and them being completely oblivious of the enemy's, their best bet was to send someone fast and mobile along with someone who could quickly sniff them out.
However, if there were more than one enemy, hiding would also be beneficial, as it would prevent them from attacking the group for free.
All they needed to do was stall and stay alive.
Until Lyn cleaned up their adversaries.
Without wasting another moment, the group sprung to action and quickly separated, running in opposite directions.
Since they knew the direction from which his attack had come, taking Cecelia in the opposite direction was the most straightforward way to put some distance between them.
Lorie took the lead while Rick and Ginny stood on either side of the princess.
Blaine stood behind her, watching the princess's back.
Despite their chaotic run, they never broke formation.
It was then…
(Bang)
Lifting his war hammer, Rick smashed a long needle-like object out of the air.
"Damnit, there's most likely more."
Two more needle-like objects flew at Lorie and Ginny from their respective direction.
Although they successfully blocked the attacks, their faces morphed into scowls.
"Damnit! We're fully surrounded!" Lorie yelled as she deflected another needle.
It was best to rely on their resident cheat character at times like this.
"Center the formation around Rick as well! Rick, make us a protective terrain!"
As she was officially considered the second in command for the operation, Lorie hurriedly barked orders as her hand moved like a blur, taking out another needle projectile.
"Damnit! I'm on it!" Rick cursed as he walked up next to Cecelia.
As an opening in their defences appeared, all three combatants in the outer ring moved to close the gap.
With a broader area to protect, it was much more tedious to defend the two in the middle, but luckily, it didn't take Rick long before a wall of earth sprung out of the ground, sealing the group inside.
Almost instantly, the wall shuddered as cracks began to appear in the earth.
"F*ck… We need a backup plan."
Lorie furrowed her eyebrows before turning to Rick.
"We'll use the 'mole tactic.'"
Rick sighed as he shook his head.
"I guess I'll need to kiss my mana reserves goodbye then."
***
A large black and yellow insect-like creature observed a large circular wall made of earth. It had two large compound eyes and three smaller eyes located on top of its head.
Its mandibles clicked as it hungrily eyed the structure before it.
By pure chance, one of the creatures detected several humans entering their hunting grounds and used pheromones to call on all the nearby bee-like monsters to come to assist it.
As they arrived, they luckily managed to fully encircle the entire group of humans, at least the ones that didn't split off.
Now, all they had to do was keep shooting their poison-tipped needles at their targets until they died, just like they always did.
Just as a dribble of saliva slipped through the creature's enlarged mandibles, the ground below it suddenly shifted.
The creature turned its head down to look better, but it was then…
A white, shining longsword suddenly stabbed out of the ground, impaling the creature straight through its insect-like head.
"Scree…."
Letting out a dying cry, the creature fell limp as clear water-like blood poured out of its wound.
Pulling out his sword from the creature's corpse, Blaine went back into the ground, as the hole he had just come from was sealed up as if it were a lie.