Chapter 106 Horde

"Let's take a break here for a while." Leo said as he gestured to a cluster of rocks up ahead.

"Finally... I'm almost completely drained of energy." Cain let out a sigh of exhaustion as he sat on one of the rocks.

"I'm sorry I'm such a burden. If I could move as fast as you guys then we would already be there..." Rene said with an apologetic tone as she sat on one of the rocks.

"You don't need to worry about it, we're moving much quicker than most. We also need to try and delay as much as possible so that we could get some reinforcements from the military. If we move any faster then we will be on our own against everyone in their base." Leo explained their situation in a way that made it seem as though he wouldn't move faster if he could.

"But what about the villagers? If we are too slow then they could all be in danger." Rene didn't seem to be convinced with Leo's explanation.

"Yes there is a possibility that they couild be in danger due to us being too slow, but it's also very likely that whatever the cult was planning on doing to them has already been done. We can't worry ourselves with what might be, we should just do our best and see what happens." Leo answered with a distant gaze as he stared up at the sky.

Rene pondered Leo's words and decided that he made a good point. Concerning yourself over the 'what if's' is never a good idea and will drive a person to insanity.

"I hope John is alright. We're heading to this mountain because it's our only lead on the cult, so we have no idea if he's even there." Leo said half to himself and half to the others.

Cain looked at the mountain that was their goal "Yeah... Me too. I know we started all this because we wanted to get John back but it's become something more."

Although he did his best not to show it, Cain was being affected the most by the cults actions. After seeing the destruction of two villages, all he could think about was his own family.

They lived in a village just like the ones the cult attacked and he couldn't help but worry for their current and future safety.

"After we find John, I want to go back home and check on my family. I'm sure Clay will want to do the same. You're all welcome to join us of course, I know my mother would love to meet you." Cain smiled at the thought of his mother.

He could just picture her scrambling in the kitchen trying to accommodate her guests with a feast. Cooking food for others was one of her favourite activities and as such she always encouraged Cain to bring guests over whenever he wanted.

"I'd like to meet your mother as well." Leo responded with a smile. Though mostly happy, the smile also held some sadness behind it. The truth was that Leo felt a bit jealous of his friends and their loving families.

"Your mother sounds lovely, Cain. I can't wait to meet her." Rene added with a huge smile.

Cain smiled at their words.

Standing up now, Leo used Pulse to check their surroundings before moving forward, but for the first time he actually saw something alarming.

Leo suddenly jumped onto the rock he had been sitting on and stared in the direction of the mountain with a worried expression. "Something is coming this way."

The other two stood up and looked in the same direction as Leo, but there were several hills between them and the mountain, so they couldn't see what he was talking about.

"I don't see anything..." Cain said. Leo closed his eyes and stayed quiet for several seconds. After focusing for almost a full minute without moving, he opened his eyes "I'm not sure what they are, but there's easily a hundred of them."

"A hundred!? Are they hostile? Do we have to fight them?" Cain held his hammers tight as he bombarded Leo with questions with a slight tone of panic.

'I can't tell what they are. When I used pulse I only got a glimpse of their body outline and it didn't make any sense, their bodies were very strangely shaped yet they were all very similar to each other.

[Leap]

Leo bent down and used Leap. His body flew into the air and stopped at around the height of a two story building. His goal was to try and spot the horde of creatures with his own eyes to get a better look.

His plan was a success and about 800 meters away he could see a large group of grotesque creatures charging towards his current position. Some were running along the ground, while others had wings and were flying.

[Absorb]

[Redirect]

He used these two skills to slow his fall and landed on the ground with a light thud. "We need to run. There's no way we can win if we have to fight those things, not with their numbers."

Without hesitation Rene climbed onto Cain's back and the group took off running to the side in an attempt to circle around the horde or at least have it run passed them completely.

After a few minutes of running Leo used Pulse again and what he saw allowed him to relax slightly. The creatures reached the cluster of rocks and seemed to have stopped there.

'So they were after us. Luckily they seem to be unable to follow us right now, but that begs the question to be asked. How did they find us the first time and why are they after us?'

Eventually the creatures were out of range of Pulse, having still been at the cluster of rocks the last time Leo had used it.

Leo slowed down and came to a stop with Cain just next to him. Cain had barely recovered his energy and it was obvious that he was tired.

"Let's rest here. I'll keep checking to see if those creatures are following us, but for now it seems we are safe." Leo said.

"What did they look like?" Rene asked. "There were a few different ones mixed in, but they all looked like monsters." Leo replied.

"It can't be. There have never been so many monsters in one place at the same time but to say they're working together would be even more ridiculous!" Cain blurted out with a tone of surprise.

He remembered how strong just one monster was when they fought it in the forest. He couldn't even imagine the power a group of 100 monsters would have.

It was something unheard of, even amongst the lowest level of monsters. The general rule regarding monsters was that the stronger they were, the less likely they were to work with other monsters.

The weakest level of monster would take about 50 decent fighters with good weapons to defeat. Luckily the military had a way to improve a person's strength with Life Energy, so that number was reduced depending on the soldiers strength.

The higher level monsters are regarded as creatures to be avoided. Barely any had ever been defeated throughout history, with the strongest level of monster having never even been injured before.

'If there's so many of them together, then they should be the weakest level of monster. Leo and I could both defeat one on our own thanks to our abilities, but with such a large group it would be impossible. At best we could take down about 10 before we were overwhelmed.' Cain thought to himself with a worried expression as he chewed his finger nails due to anxiety.

"I know what you're thinking but you don't have to worry. I know we can't survive a fight with a group that large. I plan on avoiding them as much as possible." Leo said.

"Yeah... That's probably a good idea. We wouldn't last more than five minutes against a group like that." Cain replied.

Rene wasn't able to comprehend the power of monsters accurately since she hadn't actually fought with one. She knew that it took a lot of humans to defeat one, but with abilities existing now, she thought it should be manageable.

'It sounds like they wouldn't stand a chance against a group, even if it was the weakest of monsters... Maybe it's impossible now, but once their abilities get stronger, I wonder how many they will be able to fight before it becomes to much for them.' Rene couldn't help but consider their current growth speed.

Just comparing them to their power levels a month ago would be a decent difference. She couldn't even imagine how powerful ability users could become after a year of training. Or 10 years, or even 50. It was a terrifying thought.

'It might be better if nobody ever gets to be that powerful, or else we'll just end up destroying ourselves.'