Night came, and they made it into the forest. They were forced to stop because monsters ranging from Awakened to Evolved roamed the forest. This group could handle an Evolved monster easily, but with the intelligence of an Evolved monster, they could have some tricks under their sleeves that would cause an inconvenience, so rather than take that risk, it was better to stay put.

The tents were set up, and a fire was made. Aren, along with everyone, sat around, eating, talking, and more.

Aren sat alone with Flo on his head, a steak on a small plastic plate in front of him. He was about to dig in before Kira walked to his side and sat down. She placed her head on his shoulder.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Pretty good, just imagining what waits for us in this city," Aren said.

"I see." She replied calmly, but then her hand moved like a snake attacking its prey as she snatched Flo from his head in an instant. Aren and Flo were shocked.

Kira's eyes lit up. "So cuteeee," she said excitedly. This was the first time she had gotten to hold Flo. Flo stared at her with fear for a few seconds, but then her gaze softened.

"Hmph," Flo pouted and turned her head, but she did not look away like when Zero held her.

"Tickle tickle tickle." Kira tickled her stomach while saying it in a baby voice.

"Hahaha, stop, hahahaha." Flo burst out laughing, throwing her legs in all directions.

"Seems like you are having fun, can I join?"

When Flo heard that voice, she snapped out of her laughter and looked up, seeing Zero standing and looking down at her. The light from the flames made it worse, highlighting Zero's frame while her face was dark and only her eyes shone.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" Flo screamed and immediately flew into the air and rushed back into Aren's arms, hiding herself.

"Zero, stop scaring Flo," Aren said.

"Hmph, she is running for nothing. It's not like I want to dissect her or anything," Zero said, "and if I did, I'm pretty sure I could put her back together."

"Kyaaaaaa!" Flo screamed again and dug deeper into Aren's arms.

"Flo."

"Fine, I'll not do anything to her," Zero stated.

"Where are the others?" Aren asked.

"Raze is with Aiden, they are talking about sword fighting," Zero said.

"Yeah, definitely something they can bond over, and Athena?"

"I'm here." Athena responded. He looked to his side and saw her sitting next to him, just a small distance away, her breathing so shallow that he was not even able to tell she was there.

"Am I losing touch, or does she just know how to delete her presence, damn," Aren thought.

"Hey Athena," Aren greeted her with a smile. Flo stuck out her head, looked at Athena, then flew into her arms, leaving Kira heartbroken and Zero pissed.

Athena looked at Flo curled in her lap. She was scared to even touch her, as if she would break Flo if she did. Aren found that amusing.

Finally, after a few minutes, she managed to pet Flo.

They spent the rest of the night making small talk, and then soon it was time for everyone to head to bed to be up early. A few people had to watch the camp, and as Aren expected, the two dudes decided that they would watch, choosing themselves.

Aoi allowed them to do it. After all, they volunteered. Aren, on the other hand, knew what they wanted to do.

As the camp went silent and everyone slept, Aren got up and left his tent. He was in the same tent as Aiden and Raze, so he had to move very silently. After all, everyone in this camp was a very powerful figure, and even the slightest sound would wake them up.

He walked outside and immediately spread out his shadow sense. Immediately, he picked up the two of them talking in the distance.

"Flo, let's go," he said. Flo appeared on his head, and he headed into the forest.

He allowed his footsteps to be loud as he headed toward them, and when he was certain that he was in their line of sight, he stopped and acted like he was taking a piss.

When the two noticed that the person they wanted to kill had come outside to pee, it felt heaven sent.

"I'm going to kill him," the second said.

"Wait dude, we have to be cautious here," the first one said.

"Fuck that, and fuck you. This is the situation that you have placed us in, so let's go now," the second growled, looking the first right in the eye. Without a choice, the first moved.

The second made it so that whenever they stepped on the ground, it became like some sort of soft jelly texture, so they made no sound.

They moved fast, reaching Aren in only a short moment. The first lunged with a metal spear.

"Die now, kid," he growled as he threw the spear, only for it to pass right through Aren and stab into the tree that was close to him.

"What?" the two asked in shock. He was right there, they were sure of it.

"Trying to kill a kid, pathetic," Aren said. They turned and saw him standing behind them, arms folded.

"You really think you can assassinate me and go scot-free?" he asked.

"Just die already, I don't want to lose everything," the second bellowed in anger as he rushed forward. "Please die already." He roared and slammed his hand into the ground, and the ground immediately turned into jelly, wavy and shaky, as spikes shot out, each one moving like jelly to wrap around Aren.

Aren kicked the floor and retreated backward, dodging easily until he was out of range of the jelly ground.

Normally, him fighting these two figures that were above level fifty would have been a very large issue, but they were flustered and also trying to keep quiet, and Aren did not care.

"That's three attempts to kill me now. My turn." As he said that, red eyes shone all around them, numbering easily into the hundreds.

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