98 Traveling

"Is everyone here?" Ania quickly scanned the small crowd around her. "Good, we're not missing anyone. Make sure you say your goodbyes, we'll be leaving in a few minutes."

The class dispersed and returned to their families. Some said goodbye while others only repeated how excited they were to their families yet again, like Yeter.

Netra didn't go anywhere but Puula approached her instead. "Netra, take care out there. Don't do anything too foolish! Your safety is the highest priority for our clan."

"I know, Mom."

"I'm serious, Netra. You're the future of the clan and even the territory. Master Vloz places a lot of importance on you, so don't forget that."

"Mom, I won't. I'll be fine with my friends and with our teacher protecting us," replied Netra with an annoyed groan.

"Don't worry, Puula, I'll make sure nothing happens to her or the other students," Ania chimed in and neared Oli and Netra. "With us instructors there, you won't have to worry about them. They might get some scrapes or bruises from all the battles, but they'll be fine."

"Thank you, Ania."

"Think nothing of it, I still owe you for what you did for Oli. If you need anything or come up with a way that I can repay you, just say the word."

Puula finally smiled. "Okay, I'll try to think of something."

"Anyways, Oli, what are you planning to do on the trip?" asked Ania. "We've already announced the competition, so do you plan to try and win it?"

"I guess, competition always brings the most out of us, but it'll be hard," answered Oli. "The other novice class has over forty students, yet we only have sixteen… That's a huge advantage in this case and it'll be hard to keep up with the sheer volume of beasts they can fight."

"That's why the advanced class has you, Netra, and Karos, even Yeter can be counted in this. You four are the strongest novices, so that means you'll have to pick up the slack," joked Ania.

Oli sighed, "Yeah, I know…"

"I'm sure we can pull it off," added Netra. "With our battle arts, we should be able to make up the difference."

"True, you'll just have to work hard," laughed Ania. "It'll be hard work, but that's the point of the competition in the first place. We need to make sure you all try your very best and push yourselves. Without a little difficulty, you'd never progress."

"I guess you right," chuckled Oli. "Then don't expect me to make it easy for the normal class. I just hope there are enough beasts for all of us."

"Who knows." Ania shrugged. "If you're lucky, some of you might even advance to the adept plane thanks to gaining battle experience and honing your essence in battle."

"Hm… Then that will be my goal!"

"Calm down, Oli. It's not that simple. Besides, compared to your friends, you'll have to work extra hard since they're closer to the adept plain," laughed Ania.

*****

Fontu's chest ached as it slowly expanded with his heavy breathing. His broken ribs made breathing difficult and it was hard to use his right arm properly after his forearm was slashed.

The early perennial was to the side of the road with the two peak elder gorillas, one unconscious and one no longer breathing.

"Roar!"

Two Frost-mane Lions remained and they were tag-teaming Rathe, trying their best to take down the mid perennial. Being a low perennial and a mid perennial, they thought they would definitely win as the fight dragged on. But they soon felt that the opposite was true.

As the battle dragged on, they were wasting so much essence to only scratch Rathe's defenses. They still hadn't been able to actually hurt him.

"Cowardly beasts!" shouted Rathe, whose ferocity caused both himself and his enemies to tremble. "I don't have any time for this! Just die!"

Releasing his spiritual energy, lions frowned as Rathe charged them.

They could tell that this attack was different and strange. As Rathe bolted toward them, they did their best to dodge in place of blocking.

But only mid perennial managed to avoid the attack as Rathe targeted the low perennial and gave him no chance to escape.

"You're lucky I don't have time to torture you!"

Rathe's shout was the last thing that the lion ever heard. The lion dodged the first punch but was grabbed by Rathe's other hand. And with no means of escape, Rathe drilled his fist into the lion's neck.

"CRACK!"

Limp and lifeless, the lion fell to the ground as Rathe turned and dashed toward the other Frost-mane Lion. He didn't hesitate or give the other lion a single chance to attack the other gorillas, not without leaving itself completely vulnerable to the enraged Rathe.

That lion stared at it's fallen comrade with shock and fear in its eyes.

Even for a mid perennial, it should've been extremely difficult to kill the low perennial Frost-mane Lion in a single blow. It proved that they had underestimated Rathe and that the information they had gathered from the previous Frost-mane Lions was inaccurate.

"It's too late for you now, you scaredy-cat!" Rathe continued his charge, only releasing more spiritual energy.

"You're asking for it!" shouted the lion, releasing his strongest aura and meeting Rathe's charge.

"That's more like it! At least die honorably after sneak attacking like cowards!"

Suddenly, a pair of gauntlets appeared around Rathe's fists. Now, there were two intense layers of energy surrounding his fists, merging both his soul arts and his battle arts.

"Bone Breaker!" shouted Rathe as his fist made contact with a swiping claw.

The lion, who before planned to strike with the second claw since Rathe was wide open after the attack, groaned in pain. Rathe then striking a second time, the lion was now being propelled backward.

He tumbled across the rocky terrain, crashing into the mountainside and leaving an imprint in the rock.

Rathe didn't let up at all, only increasing the energy he was releasing and charging again.

Groaning in pain, the lion pulled itself out of the rubble and tried its best to retreat. But when he put his left paw onto the ground, the lion collapsed into the ground. Unbearable pain shot through his system as he realized how much damage Rather had actually done.

His bones were broken, they were pulverized. And his muscles were torn and swollen. From that moment on, even if the lion could somehow escape, he would forever be crippled.

"You--"

"Shut up and die!"

Not caring what his opponent had to say, Rathe reached the grounded lion. The furious gorilla brought both of his hands together and smashed them down over the lion's head.

The lion tried his best to defend, swiping his claw and using all of his essence to defend.

He reduced the physical damage quite a lot, but he couldn't match the momentum from both of Rathe's arms. The other arm crumbled under Rathe's attack, and the soul attack reached the lion's skull.

There was no hope for survival as the brain was thrashed by the spiritual attack.

Not satisfied after killing his enemies, Rathe dashed back to the others. A look of pain and sorrow filled his eyes.

Again, he had lost a peak elder gorilla due to a surprise attack and Fontu almost lost his life as well.

"Are you alright, Fontu?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine after some rest. But we need to hurry back, otherwise, everyone else will be in trouble."

"Right…" Rathe grumbled as he took a deep breath and released his essence and spirit.

Exhaustion finally set in as he slowly gathered the belongings of his fallen enemies. "We'll have to rest before we leave. You need time to start healing and I've used too much energy…"

Fontu chuckled, "That's what happens when you kill two mid perennials and two low perennials after getting ambushed. If you follow normal logic, we should've died."

"But we didn't, we're not that weak," grumbled Rathe. "But we still lost another one… RAAHHH!!! What's up with all these Frost-mane Lions?!"

"If we can't figure it out, then so be it. We'll just have to hurry back. They should be fine back home with Vloz."

"You forget… The school trip should be starting right about now…"

Upon realizing what Rathe meant, a look of terror and anger flashed over Fontu's face. "That… makes things a lot worse…"

"Yeah… and here we are, unable to hurry back because I'm too tired to do anything," stated Rathe angrily. "I'm still too weak… If only I were as strong as Dioro, that would change everything."

"In time, maybe. But for now, you'll just have to make do with your current strength." Shaking, Fontu stood up and launched an essence covered punch to the ground.

He easily made a small crater, but he repeated this two more times. Once it was big enough, Fontu placed the fallen gorilla inside and started covering it back up with the loose dirt.

"Hey, Rathe, got any idea who planned all of this?" asked Fontu.

"No clue…"