The men in the cabin sat on the edge of their chairs. Atama was standing with cold sweat around his neck.
"I repeat…" He did. Senso was getting closer when another alarm made Jiyara jump in his seat. His eyes widened as he leaned to the screen. He saw a red dot on the radar.
"Oh fuck… we have company." He tried to narrow down the monster. And when he did, he was left stunned– no, he froze due to the shock. "No, no, no." He shook his head.
"Jiyara…" Atama looked at the screen. He sucked his words back into his mouth. He was staring at a monster on the magic screen. "T-That?" he asked, pointing at the humanoid creature with pointed ears, stretched eyes, two greenhorns over its head, and green scales covering its face.
The monster was standing on two legs, like a human, but its face was that of a dragon. It was wearing a plate armor made from the scales of its reptile prey.
"Oh, god, no, no. Why did it have to come forward?!" He banged the table.
Atama gulped. "I need to leave," he said. He lifted his wand and called Senso. "Senso-sensei, stop right there. We have trouble, it is a code red monster, I repeat, code red monster. Halt!"
Senseo clicked his tongue. "I will take it down."
"Have you ever won a fight against a green half-dragon?"
Senso's feet scraped the dead leaves and snow on the ground. "No…"
"Then you can not take it down!" Atama said. "Wait there. I am coming."
"Sensei…" Jiyara grabbed Atama's hand. "This is no joke. You have not fought this monster either."
"I am the headmaster. If anyone should take the risk, it should be me."
"Wait for a second," he said. He turned to a drawer. "Take this card," he handed Atama a card, "and I will be aware of your position."
Atama glanced at Jiyara's adventurer's card.
Jiyara jumped forward and grabbed his wand as Atama teleported out of the cabin. "You fucking teens get out of the fog! Do not try and fight it, do not fight the approaching monster. Step back, step back!"
They glanced above their heads. Fog mixed with the dark sky. "We should retreat," Kamiya muttered.
"We can not see a monster in the fog. If we encounter something on our way back, we will be doomed. Most monsters have superhuman perception ability."
The woods rustled. A strange cold air entered the atmosphere. They thought it was February cold but then realized it was December cold, not the cold they would experience in February.
A cold wave sent chills down their spines, the same cold wave you would feel if you entered your local supermarket's fresh zone. That kind of wave– as if it is directed at you.
A smell they had never smelled before entering the atmosphere. It was not a disgusting smell, but it was not a fragrance either.
But it made Hitori sniff the air like sniffing ganja. He snapped out of the daze. "Kamiya!" he called, reached for his nose, and pinched it. "Do not inhale the air!" he shouted.
Kamiya snapped from the pleasure and pinched his nose, and covered his mouth. "What is this?" he muffled.
"Some kind of gas we should not inhale. In fact, we should leave."
"The monsters with superhuman perception abilities?"
"Oh, we have a monster with poison gas ability. Which one do you prefer?"
"Perception over poison, always." They jolted towards the fog and bolted through the fog.
Jiyara banged his wand on the table. "Fucking teens!" he grunted. Then lifted his wand again. "Atama-sensei, come in!"
"Yes," Atama replied, joining with Senso outside the fog.
"The teens! They have lost it!"
"What is it?"
"T-They are running into the fog instead of running out of the fog. I swear if they run any deeper than this, they will encounter the monster responsible for the creation of the half-dragon."
Atama pulled his wand down. He looked at Senso. "They are going into the green dragon's lair."
"Why are they running straight? They should have turned and— they are not that dumb."
"Maybe the half-dragon is playing tricks on them." Atama took off.
The cold wave seemed to follow them for a few seconds, the duo ran a hundred meters and the wave vanished, but the fog did not, it got thicker than before.
Jiyara watched as Hitori and Kamiya reached Mahoutkoro's building after running for another three hundred meters in two minutes.
"Do they even realize how deep shit they are in?" He grabbed his wand once again. "Turn around!" he shouted, "turn around and run in the opposite direction. You are going deeper into the forest."
Unfortunately, they could not hear Jiyara's voice anymore. Jiyara tried again but he could not reach them. In frustration, he threw his wand on the table.
Hitori looked to his right, he saw dark woods that disappeared after a few meters, the fog was getting dense and it could not let light pass through it to see the clouds in the sky.
Suddenly, Hitori felt a jab in his shoulders. As if something had grabbed him from behind. He feared the unknown. Hitori started throwing his fist in the air, then he fired ice and fire in the air.
He heard a voice. "Calm down! It is me!" It was Kamiya.
Hitori paused, panting for air, and turned around. "Oh god… what are you doing?" he asked.
Kamiya looked past Hitori. "Look in front of you," he said.
Hitori turned his eyes away from Kamiya and took a look in front of him. He was not sure whether his eyes were playing with him or Kamiya was fooling him.
In front of Hitori was the City River. The dark water that flowed through the river was unforgettable. Although the ice had started melting away, the river was frozen in the middle,
The monster probably water from the corners. Hitori had crossed the river before. He recalled where he had encountered the river before. They were past the Ministry building.
"H-How?" he asked, staring at Kamiya, "we were supposed to get out of the fog, why are we here?"
"We did turn around before running, did not we?"
"We did not know the direction we were facing. I think… we turned west instead of turning south if we were facing north. That led us into the dense part of the forest."
"How do we get out?" Kamiya took a glance around, then settled on Hitori.
Hitori dropped his head and thought about a few possibilities. "Teachers will come." He drew his wand. "Let us give them a signal."
He shot a red flare in the sky. It went and went till it disappeared before reaching its peak. Kamiya and Hitori stared blankly as the fog swallowed the red flare.
"L-let us try again," he said. And they both got to work.
Kamiya shot red flares, Hitori shot red flares, and their flares reached the fog before being swallowed by it.
Something peeked at them from the water, something that had been hungry since winter, and now the flares woke the monster. They could not attract help, but they sure had attracted the monsters in the premise.
Jiyara was rubbing his head when he heard an alarm once again. He jumped in his chair and looked at the radar, he found another red dot right beside the blue dots.
"Fuck." He leaned over his table and navigated the monster's exact location. It had ice over it and water around it, it was in the river.
"River… a strong monster…" he gasped, "there is something known as timing you fucking monsters."
He did not need to check on the monster. If it was strong and was in the waters, there was only one emperor of the river.
From the river, a pair of dark blue eyes glinted in the dark water. Then from the side crept a thin pointed twig, that on further extending revealed its thickness.
It had some sort of dark spots on it, like that of an octopus's tentacles. It crept its tentacle closer to the two boys, towards Hitori to be precise.
While they were busy shooting flares in the fog, the tentacle raised to Hitori's knee-length, and when it got close to him, the end of its tentacle opened into the deadly mouth of a Demogorgon.
Kamiya shot another flare, in the flash of red light Kamiya saw the saliva dripping from its tentacle mouth, numerous teeth opening like a venus trap.
His eyes widened and he froze for a second, the next second the tentacle forced itself on Hitori's head.
Kamiya pointed his wand at Hitori's head. His screams were muffled and disappeared as the tentacle spread on Hitori's head.
He raised his wand and stabbed the tentacle on his head, he was about to cast a fireball, then he realized he had his head under the tentacle.
Hitori pulled his wand, he wanted to stab again but he did not want to break his wand. He pinched and pulled the tentacle, it only stretched its tentacles over to Hitori's nose.
Kamiya looked at the river's edge from where the tentacle was coming. He moved his wand to the thick end of the tentacle and he cast a curse, "Bakufu!"
The curse's dark beam was not visible under the clouds. The fog scattered its way to the sides (it already had due to Hitori's struggle.) and fell on the tentacle.
The tentacle was blasted into numerous pieces of flesh and blood. The monster screeched as the other end of its tentacle wiggled into the river.
As if a balloon had burst, the monster's tentacle was reduced to pieces around the thick end the same way.
But the detached end of the tentacle on Hitori's head tightened its grip.
A block of wood was balancing a table, and when Kamiya blasted the block into pieces, the table collapsed on the floor, same as the tentacle crushed Hitori's head and clanged onto it.
Hitori's scream was audible once again, he grabbed the lower end of the tentacle and set his hands on fire. The tentacle tightened again.
Kamiya gulped. "Got to use it." He raised his wand. "Petrify!"
The tentacle turned into a stone along with Hitori's hair, the fire was still on over the top of the tentacle.
Kamiya aimed at the tentacle and fired a spike of ice, it stabbed the tentacle and broke it into hundreds of pieces.
Due to the level of risk, Hitori was left petrified even after the danger was no more. Kamiya rushed to him. "Kami no Megumi," he said, "Iyashi."
A blue glow of light started to heal Hitori's face which had tens of teeth marks over it. The tentacle had made his face a mess of blood, sweat, and saliva.
The danger was not inevitable. Jiyara's eyes widened when the red spot from the other end got close and the monster in the river rose.
Jiyara called. "Sensei! Kraken's offspring! We have a Kraken's offspring in the river! Hurry up to the spot, we have an incoming green half-dragon at the same time. Please!"
They heard him. Senso and Atama exchanged glances. "Where are they?"
"Near the partition."
"Jesus! How did they go that far?"
"You would never know the answer if you do not hurry."
They teleported once again and continued running, the fog got dense. They were saving their mana for the final fight so teleportation was now out of question.
Once they encounter the two monsters, running away would not be an option. They would have to fight to the death if they want to live to tell the tale.
Senso felt a strange cold wave against his spine, it disappeared and came back. Suddenly, he stopped. He smelled something in the air, something he could not describe. Not a scent, but pleasant like a flower, not disgusting like a monster's smell either.
He widened his eyes. "Atama-sensei!" he turned. Atama was standing still with his eyes wide and mouth shut. "Cover your nose! It is the dragon's poisonous cold wave!"
Atama snapped, he raised his wand and made the gas go away. Senso swung his katana to clear the view. "Guide us!" he called.
Jiyara reached for his wand. "Straight ahead, do not turn anywhere, keep running."
"Sir!" Senso called, "come on!" he shouted.
Atama nodded and followed Senso.
The cabin's door banged open. "Sir!"
"God! Stay calm!" Jiyara shouted.
"N-no, the mages have arrived from their conquest, and they are making chaos. P-please, help me."
"Ah… we need someone here."
"Sir is alone there dealing with a bunch of teens and I am not much of a help, you need to come!"
Jiyara took a glance at the screen and sighed. "Come on." He teleported from the cabin.
Atama reached for the pocket where Jiyara's card was lying. He felt the cold card against his fingers, he pulled it from the pocket.
Senso had the lead and Atama was following him. Suddenly a strange grin spread over his face.
Atama slowed his pace. He came to a stop, took a glance at the card, then at Senso. He chuckled. And dropped the card, and it fell on the layer of snow.
He glanced around him. He was free, no one would be able to track him this way. The gas had triggered it, it was the gas's fault that Atama took a random path to run free.
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