"RUN! We must get as much distance as we can from them!" Erik shouted. These pivotal moments in his life would determine whether or not he died miserably.
He had to move fast and keep making distance between himself and the five men, but he couldn't just run blindly into danger without knowing what was ahead of him.
He first asked Judith to send the hounds ahead, and she complied immediately. He then looked around for any clues that would help in determining how best to proceed from there on out; however, all he saw was a large expanse of forest, and without having the possibility to check his surroundings properly, his only way to know if thaids were ahead were Judith's hounds.
His heart raced while he ran, hoping the five men wouldn't catch up with him before the teachers came.
"Ok, Anderson, we have come far enough... It's your time to shine! After you are done, remember that we are going to go west, toward the barrier's eastern entrance, ok?"
"Yes, don't worry..." Anderson replied. He then suddenly stopped running, but the others kept going forward. He now only had to wait thirty seconds. That was enough to let the others run far enough for them to be unaffected by his power.
That was Erik's plan; he wanted to erase their tracks by destroying the surroundings with Anderson's power.
Nothing that complicated, but it was the best thing he could do in that situation; he only needed to run, after all.
However, by making this plan, Erik left Anderson in a very dangerous situation since he would be alone facing the forest's thaids, or worse, the five men.
"3...2...1..." At that moment, Anderson channeled at least half his mana into his body through his neural links and started gaining energy; after ten seconds, he started producing light.
He looked like a giant lantern, illuminating everything around him. The lights soon became brighter than the sun itself, so bright that even someone hundreds of meters away could see them among the trees.
***
"What the fuck is that?" Slice said, pointing at the forest.
"I don't know, but..." A giant explosion cut off Zachary.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The explosion had at least produced a hundred-meter blast, but the shockwaves, heat, and debris affected at least a one-kilometer radius.
***
Erik and the others heard the explosion, and since they were still close to Anderson's position, the young man knew he had to do something.
"FLOYD, SHIELD US FROM THE EXPLOSION!" Erik ordered.
The shockwaves rapidly traveled toward the students and the five men from the other side, and the heat was doing the same. Floyd went quickly behind the fleeing students and deployed the sturdiest shield he could produce. A couple of moments later, the shockwave hit it with full force.
"FUCK!" Floyd shouted. That amount of energy was scarily high, and he was consuming mass amounts of mana just to shield them from it--and that wasn't even the blast's power.
"How the fuck can a single man be this powerful?" He shouted in anger.
"Focus, Floyd!" Amber reprimanded him. At the same time, the shockwaves reached the five men.
***
"TAKE COVER!" Zachary shouted. The five, including Death, ran toward nearby trees and took cover. The Crombo was blasted away several meters by the shockwaves and fell to the ground. As soon as it stood on its two feet again, the beast started running away with all its might; that thing could have killed him.
"What the fuck was that?!" Greg asked.
"I don't know!" Zachary replied. He then decided it was time to get Erik and complete this mission once and for all, especially now that the thaids were retreating, scared by the blast.
"Let's go get the awakener!" Zachary shouted.
"FINALLY!" Laser said.
Like that, the five men started running toward Erik's position.
***
Meanwhile, Anderson was panting on the ground; around him, the land was scorched, a vast crater had been produced, and trees were broken and scattered everywhere.
That was not only because of the blast but even because of the shockwaves. Even though these didn't kill anyone, they did cause severe damage to the surrounding area. Anderson knew he couldn't control the explosions, and judging by the destruction he caused, he understood that using this power was too dangerous.
He observed his surroundings and saw the devastation that his power brought. However, the young man knew he couldn't waste any more time, and after having caught his breath for ten seconds, he started running away from the blast site.
***
At the same time, Erik and the others finally started running again. They were safe thanks to the shield created by Floyd, who was now exhausted but otherwise fine.
"I will make that motherfucker pay!" Floyd said, visibly distraught because of Anderson's power. The blast was powerful; aside from that, even trees, rocks, and many other things flew toward them. Floyd had to stop many things simultaneously, and he quickly exhausted his mana; damn, he was even mentally tired.
"Once we get back to the city, you will have my full support," Benedict said.
"Glad you are a man of culture and can understand my struggle..." Floyd said.
"Stop complaining, Floyd!" Gwen shouted.
Amber shook her head in disappointment. "He stayed behind to save our asses; stop being a prick! We must focus on running away now, so keep running!" She then turned to look at Erik, knowing it was almost her turn.
"Erik, is it my turn?" Amber asked.
"Not yet! The blast had mostly erased the traces, but if we use the fog now, we will only help those guys find them..." Erik replied.
"So, what do we do?"
"We will keep marching for a couple of hundred meters, and then you will have to spread the gas!" He said this while running.
That was part of Erik's plan. Since he knew that Anderson's blast would only erase part of the tracks, he knew that the men were bound to find the ones who were still there, but if he had used the fog, he would have basically told the five where to find them.
Since it was inevitable that they would find the tracks, the best thing to do would be to use the fog from a certain point to cover them since the fog would naturally prevent the men from seeing them clearly by even stopping them from walking around them.
However, the corrosive fog needed to be in its optimal state. It needed to be strong enough to stop the men from entering it or at least make them waste mana. Erik wasn't so naive as to think they wouldn't circulate mana inside their bodies to offset the gas effects.
They would probably do this regardless, but at least it would force them to use more mana and hinder their ability to see.
Besides, if Amber had used the fog before the explosion, the shockwave would have dissipated it, making Amber waste mana.
The 29 students kept running toward the eastern door, west of their location, and once Erik felt it was enough, he told Amber to use her corrosive gasses.
"Do it now!" he shouted.
"Yes!" Then the young woman started channeling mana throughout her body, and once she was ready, she went to the back of the formation and started releasing the most corrosive gas she had ever produced.
This immediately started affecting her surroundings, causing leaves, trees, and even rocks to melt into liquid form. Soon, the entire forest was covered with a thick, acidic substance made from the vegetation, and trees started catching fire and falling to the ground, further covering the student's tracks.
However, the students had to pay attention not to fall behind Amber, or they would die a horrible death.
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