Numbers

Shina runs at it, her cold demeanour never breaking, Ayuri and Toki watching from the sidelines, waiting in anticipation as the two are about to clash.

Shina manifests her orb, her power easily surging, her eyes close in slightly, and her body tenses in preparation. She then puts her hand out in front of her as a shield.

“Disgusting,” her hushed voice sent a shiver down the creature's spine. Was she really as terrifying as an abomination such as that?

The creature swings towards Shina, its body extending to maximise its distance from her while using as much power as possible. Her hand goes towards the attacker, the beast, unaware of the dangerous power it will face.

The arm clashes with the orb, causing the hand to start dissipating. The rate of the dissipation was beyond what Spear could ever achieve, as the creature's body instantly vanished, only to be seen by the one tending to Hiwo.

Its white eye takes in the new threat before slowly starting to back away, and after a full sprint on its three legs away from the scene, it knows it couldn't win the encounter due to Shina's presence.

Destroy them; don't let anything live. Join us.

Shina hears the internal thoughts of the abomination, her eyes widening as a strong sense of destruction brings her to a stop, her eyes scanning her group. Thoughts about consuming them coming out

Maybe just getting rid of one of them…

She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the thoughts, before turning to the other one, trying to stand firm after getting cut, her destruction focused towards it.

It struggled to keep upright and stumbled around while running away.

 The goddess was right about them being smart creatures. Staying here is a huge risk, considering they can get more numbers.

His arms were still near Ayuri just in case. All she did was tremble in fear within his hands, knowing she couldn't do anything to help; it was bothering her.

“Everyone, I think when the two hours are done, we should move our camp into the forest,” Toki speaks out, bringing all the attention towards himself.

They all go into deep thought; their encounter just now was just luck at its finest. Surviving another couple of rounds of their onslaught will prove to be difficult.

Hiwo disagrees: “In the forest we could get sneaked up on from any side; there is also less place to fight.”

Shina, however, adds, "Their massive form, despite them showing flexible prowess, won't be able to lunge across from the top of us; they have no claws. We're much smaller and rely on one attack hit anyway.”

Everyone turns to Ayuri, waiting for her decision.

“We perhaps…” She tries to find the right words to leave her mouth, her orange eyes widening and darting around.

The silence penetrates the thick atmosphere.

“Let's find some group to team up with.” The unusual request left everyone speechless.

That's a good plan, but we don't know if anyone is trustworthy. We would also need to cross the forest, which would take at most two hours.

Toki huffs, knowing it's like they could be of use in this situation. "We need more people; you two alone won't fight off more than five of them, and even if you do, then we're going to be killed, leaving you with two fewer members."

His reasoning seemed to make sense; they two were the only ones that could defend themselves, and if more than two came, then they would easily be overwhelmed.

Both Shina and Howi nod in agreement at their request; there was still an hour left to endure. However, this left them with no trouble to wait out; nothing else even attempted to attack them out of fear and lack of preparation.

Once the two-hour mark ended, the sky went back to its original state, clear and beautiful. The moon and sun, however, were still colliding above them; it was even more surreal than the last scene before the meteor shower.

“Finally, the nightmare is over!” Ayuri's voice was filled with happiness.

Hiwo chimes in, “Two hours; let's hope there is someone at the other side.

They nod affirmingly, they start grabbing all their useful resources, any berries and water they collected go straight into their backpack. Bandages are also just in case of injury or as an offering to the other team.

The tent was barren of anything valuable at this stage. Even if someone decided to come here, they could have a free tent or two if they even knew how to carry them in their grasp; they started walking towards the opposite forest. The terrain being unexplored was going to be harsh, but they couldn't lose time.

They give one last look back towards the camp as Shina leads the way, just in case the foliage around them takes them in as one of their own.

The forest had tons of trees, vines, bushes and, most importantly, a river running down its middle. They scavenged through the terrain, taking small breaks, letting Toki rest from the hard walk, still not being fully healed despite some herbs helping him.

After just over forty minutes in, they managed to see the centre of the river, and their expression turned solemn once they reached it.

There was a deer on the side of the river; its body was luckily turned away from what happened at the other side. Their minds, however, didn’t have to imagine what they could've seen; the beasts that hunt them for this day weren't just aiming for them but also anything that could even provide them food.

The strategy was crude and twisted, but it effectively made it harder for the mortals to exist within this messed-up game.

Toki looks back at the path away. Shina was going off without the others. The least of her concerns was some dead animal at the side of the river.

Walking in the forest fed them tons of information; trees towered over. The broken foliage is trying desperately to cling to the ground, the destroyed terrain. It was all from the same things; they were lucky to escape from

“This event might just end up eliminating more than half of the representatives. I mean, even with two people that can handle the monsters, they were basically on last resorts.” Toki chuckles a little, trying to lighten the mood.

He heard no one even add to his words or reply to him; they just continued in silence for the next thirty minutes, their hope poured into this one final opportunity that someone was still alive at the other side of the forest.

The forest trees started to part; a huge open field was upon them, the same as their base, the mechanical construction of the world always reminding them that this wasn't their home but a creation for entertainment.

Shina stops at the very front, and they all stop in order.

“Stay low,” she let out a sh sound.