Chapter 8: Forest
In the end, the man just backed down and conceded.
"You know, now that I think about it, your reasoning seems to make a lot of sense. I see no point in complaining," said the man.
"I was only asking to clear up my confusion."
Leon just sneered at the man's quick change in attitude, but in the end he didn't take heart.
He'd seen too many people like this man in his past life.
They were opportunistic and always willing to sow discord and cause problems, but it was also these very same people that would quickly back off at the first sign of challenge.
At this point, Leon had already lost the ability to be disgusted at their sort of behaviour.
After dealing with the man, Leon then turned towards the rest of the crowd with an icy expression on his face.
"You've heard what I've said to this man," said Leon, pointing at him
"If you have any issues, please state them now because once we leave I simply won't have the patience to deal with any disagreements"
"Gulp!"
A few members gulped under Leon's piercing gaze, but in the end, no sound of disagreement could be heard.
"Since I hear no objections to my rules, I won't waste anyone's time any longer. Let's head out." said Leon.
Slowly Leon's figure entered into the thick canopy of trees, with the others following closely behind him.
….
Minutes later,
Leon could be seen walking through the mysterious ancient forest.
With a light sniff, one could easily smell the earthy, wooden scent home to any forest.
The trees stood at towering height so high one could easily have the illusion that they touched the clouds.
These massive ancient structures stood tall, lording over all creatures sentient that scuttled beneath them.
When this was added to the faint colourful hue and vitally produced by the increased concentrations of mana, it really was a sight to behold.
The others that came with Leon couldn't help but stop as they admired a magical sight that one could never even hope to see in the concrete jungles of modern society.
But even Leon, who had spent many years in <Haven> showed a slight sense of admiration in his eyes as he looked at the scene.
In his past life, humanity has slowly been declining as the entire haven was engulfed in the ravages of war.
Such scenes of beauty and nature had all been replaced with blood and fire.
Forests were burned to the ground, cities were ravaged, and countless landscapes ruined.
That was the reality of war.
It was as Leon was thinking about these tragic truths that he suddenly came to a halt.
Suddenly there was a slight disturbance near his feet as a large black spider the size of football leapt up to bite him in the face!
Leon didn't even flinch as he masterfully swept his spear, skewering straight through the spider right before it reached his face.
Leon knew this wouldn't be the last of them and, after quickly looking around, he could see traces of many more monsters slowly creeping up on them.
With his heightened perception, Leon managed to spot more spiders hiding in the trees around them and with a rough calculation, Leon guessed that there were at least 160 more spiders hiding in the bushes!
"Stay alert! There are monsters nearby!"
Despite Leon alerting them ahead of time, some members were still caught off guard by the sudden attack.
"Tch!"
Leon clicked his teeth when he saw the poor performance of his allies, but realistically, it couldn't be helped. They just had too little experience in the way of fighting.
It was just fortunate that Leon didn't plan on relying on them for anything more than distractions.
Leon paid little more attention to them as he charged the swarm of spiders, crushing the smaller ones below his feet.
"Screech!" "Screech!"
Terrifying cries could be heard as Leon sliced his way deeper and deeper into the swarm of spiders.
Leon's body swayed as he expertly dodged the spiders that kept on falling and jumping from all angles.
It had gotten to the point where more and more spiders had started swarming around Leon, but he didn't panic.
Twirling his spear, Leon slammed any spider nearby into paste!
'Not yet.' Thought Leon.
Leon still couldn't stop fighting.
He wasn't pleased with his performance.
His actions so far could be described as amazing by his previous standards, but for Leon, that wasn't enough
He had to be even more freakish if he wanted to catch up with those monster-like heroes.
No.
He couldn't afford to just catch up to them.
He had to go further than that. He had to surpass them!
Leon was already at a time disadvantage in being part of the last and largest group to enter <Haven>.
A slow and steady progression of strength simply wasn't an option if he ever wanted to reach his goals!
With these thoughts in mind, Leon brutally kicked a carcass of an approaching spider, sending it flying into the oncoming swarm.
"Bang!"
The spider was like a bowling ball, knocking down the surrounding crowd of spiders for an easy kill.
But even with Leon's countless kills, the scratches had started to build up all over his body.
The only place relatively free from scratches was his face.
The ferocity at which Leon fought was so berserk it could only be described as madness, but it was this very same madness that allowed him to survive for so long in the last legion.
It was also this madness that allowed him to have killed over 80 spiders when the battle was done.
.....
Taking a moment to gather his breath, Leon turned to look at the battlefield around him and could see that by some miracle, everyone had managed to survive the monster's attack.
Although some people were better off than others, in the end, everyone was still alive and breathing.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone