Chapter 461: CHPT 461: Red Waterfalls....
Lights flashed and popped inside of the cave like fireworks, stunning and blinding any eye more developed than that of man. Claude wondered in the back of his mind how the Moorseel among the shadows could withstand the bright flashes. Then he saw them. Bit by bit with each dodged blast of dripping greyish lightning or bright orange-green liquid. They had pure black eyes, no life or activity in them. Evolved out of use based on the designs and totems he saw flashes of in smaller nooks and crannies.
He didn't have the time to consider just how long they'd been in the caves. Whatever it was, it ended here.
"Uagh!"
CRCK!
Claude stumbled back into one of the cave walls as a Moorseel tackled him. Their grip strength was incredible. But they didn't have fangs.
CRSHH!
Claude bit down on the Moorseel's collarbone and shook while ripping open lines of red in it's back. The wild-man screamed and arched it's back in an attempt to evade the mauling. He took the opportunity to smash his knee into its chest. The added hardness of scales covering his skin made the impact all the more devastating.
Heat collected up ahead. Due to Ursula dropping the temperature drastically inside the cave he could now feel the lightning blasts before they reached him. He grabbed the slashed and bitten wild-man in front of him, using him as a meat-shield to absorb the blast.
ZSSSHZzz!
"NOAAAAOO!!!!"
The wild-man cooked in his grip in seconds, skin scalding and dripping down onto the cave floor. Claude was happy he hadn't opened his eyes since the fight started.
Another blast of lightning came, giving Claude barely enough time to roll out of the way as it cracked the stone floor.
"Upper left deck! Above us!" Isaac yelled out to them.
"No more than one!" Evelyn added.
Claude shrouded his claws in his Aura and began scaling the wall like a wolfish gecko. All the while he mentally called to his tamed family to head for the exit with the others.. His Natural Vision wasn't so detailed due to the lack of nature, but his nose led him. Once he was close enough, he leapt up onto the stone platform jutting out over the area.
WOO!
The Moorseel swung a stone club. Claude ducked and grabbed it's leg, swinging it off the ledge and down into the open area. Ursula got the message he sent as he threw the wild-man.
"RUN!" Claude yelled to the others as the Moorseel landed near the pile of bodies surrounding Ursula. She roared and unleashed a Glacial Smash that almost consumed the whole room.
The blood dripping from severed limbs and crushed ribcages froze into jagged spikes and turned the room into a spiked icy prison. Anything that was alive previously shouldn't have been anymore.
Claude dropped down to Ursula. The two barely had any time to recover as another Moorseel came limping out of a smaller pathway, bleeding and charging up a blast. Claude moved in front of Ursula just in time to watch the wild-mans blood be ripped from every pore of it's skin until it was a fluidless husk with steaming fingers.
Claude turned around to find Maris standing alone in the exit doorway. She couldn't see. But it didn't look like she cared.
"Maris what are you doing here!?" Claude felt his panick rise.
"Waiting for you two."
"Ok well LETs Go!" Ursula managed before they all took off.
There was something especially terrifying about running for an exit you weren't sure you'd make it to. At any moment they could be trapped inside forever. Nobody knew what happened then. Nobody survived to tell the tale.
"[How about we think happy thoughts, hm? I think that would be splendid.]" Arne commented on his thoughts as they all stomped through the flaming weapons lighting their trail.
Once they were outside, the sun almost felt like too much. He could see his teammates in glimpses through the forest below, they kept questioning whether or not to turn back. The upperclassmen told them otherwise. The Tangent exit wasn't too far. They'd make it. At the exit he could already see other students leaving the Tangent. Just outside of the forest beyond.
"This is too much travel..." Claude thought.
Maris casually dropped down by the sloping drop of the cliff and began moving her limbs. Flowing and tracing invisible lines. It almost looked like Wood-Weaving. The blood and water covering the inside of the cave slowly crept out and dripped down the side of the cave like a red waterfall.
"Ursula freeze it." Maris directed as she wiped off her shoes. "Me and Conroy were running from an Undead Giant a few weeks ago in a similar situation. It works."
Ursula slapped her hands on the blood at the edge of the cave and began freezing the rushing river of blood.
Claude approached the improvised slide and looked at Maris. Before he could say anything, Ursula picked up Maris and threw her over his shoulder. Without a moment's hesitation she gave them both a boost and threw him down the iced path.
"WOAH!" Claude yelled as he tumbled down the ice at blinding speeds. He rolled and flipped to stop himself from crushing Maris until he could get to his feet and carry her correctly.
"Put me down, Claude. I have functioning legs." Maris said as if they weren't rocketing down the face of a small mountain.
Right before he dropped down low enough, he could see the last batch of students exiting the Tangent.
"SHIT!" Claude growled as he looked back at Ursula. She was far behind. Her weight was slowly speeding her up..... but slowly was the entire problem.
"Do you trust me?" He spoke through their link.
Ursula held up a clawed thumbs up while trying to maintain her balance on the ice slide.
"Maris..."
"What?"
"Close your eyes and I'll find a way to get you into a Tangent full of Goblins. Just us and them." Claude said.
"...Deal."
Without a moments hesitation Claude activated his (Partial Embrace). His scaled legs lost their human shape as his quads exploded and his heels raised onto pawed feet. Lupine power surged like a fire.
He took off in leaps and bounds, sliding faster on the ice with each land until he mounted onto the bottom rock and jumped for the exit, pulling himself closer with his Malevolence Tether.
The exit loomed below. He threw Maris only for his pack waiting at the exit to catch her.
"[This plan is incredibly rash!]" Arne panicked as Claude began to fall.
Claude didn't respond, spinning around to locate Ursula. She jumped. But she wasn't as high or close to the exit as him. For a second, he panicked... then he remembered he was in a forest. As he fell, he began wood-weaving.
Behind the Berserker, a column of vines rose. Before he could fall into the Tangent exit, he closed his hand into a fist and pulled it close to him.
He could only hope the wood behind Ursula copied his movements.
"Come on!"
FWSHHH!!
VWOOMP!
***
Claude came bursting through the Tangent like an asteroid. He hit the grass hard, rolling through students and knocking them to the floor all the way. Dust and dirt rose in his wake until he slowed. His pack surrounded him, barking and snarling at the exit.
He burst to his feet, still holding his glowing fist to his chest. He could feel the pull of Nature.
"Come on....."
He watched the Tangent. Everyone else watched him.
"Come on..." He growled. He'd go back in if he had to. To hell with the training this was real life.
"Plea--"
VWOOMP!
Ursula came crashing through the Tangent, a thick braid of wood and vines wrapped around her midsection and pushing her forwards.
SHNK!
The Tangent closed, snapping the vines that pushed her to let her fall finally. She crashed into Claude hard enough to wake the dead.
When the dust settled the small group of Main Entrants in training surrounded them. Claude panicked and wrapped himself around Ursula to hide the possible signs of a transformation.
Awkward silence filled the air.
"Ow..... you're squishing me." Ursula mumbled from on top of him.
Claude sighed and let her go.
"How romantic. You survived." Prof. Raizen commented before separating everyone hovering. Sometimes Claude forgot how cutthroat he could be. It was probably him that one-shot the Boss and started the Rush.
Frosty and Loba were on them in a flash, purring and howling in a panic as the others checked on them.
"Listen guys-- I learned my lesson in our first Tangent. I didn't want to leave but the Dinosaur picked me up. I think I need a medic to be honest.... don't those things eat poop?" Warren said as he looked down at them.
Diamondback licked his face and he gagged.
"Oh, yea they do.."
Claude found Isaac looking down at him.
"Next time I'll do more. If Ursula can work in the dark I think the rest of us can too. Even if the others say something different."
"Don't sweat it." Claude replied, "Next time Maris will just turn them all into lifeless husks."
"So, you saw that too?" Isaac asked, it seemed like he smiled for the first time as he helped them up.
The others were already heading back to the University. Some of them had heaps of new gear. Others were holding bandaged limbs.
They had nothing. And neither did the rest of their team waiting beside them.
Ivy stared at them with wild eyes while Evelyn just shook her head.
"You guys are insane."
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_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ YO! Fun lil segment ender. LMK what you think. I got part of this idea from the movie Alpha and Omega. IYKYK. Thanks for the powerstones Sonuis, Shazcam, shadowwolf1928, OMinous_Reader, TheLUcidParagon, Bop_, Nate_Winslow, Drachen_k1nd, Black_Rabbit4378, ALex99, zombie_Lovehart, demosura, Bored_Soule, MAESTRO, and everyone else!
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