Ino frowned and her voice dropped. "I don't like that look on your face. Whenever you have that look, it means that something bad is about to happen…"

I swallowed.

Of course. Something really bad was indeed about to happen.

The general knowledge about this territory was that it became dangerous during the night because all the corpses of the creatures scattered around were known to be magically revived, after which they would wreak havoc in the territory. That was why it was critical to find a safe spot before nightfall.

However, I knew something others didn't: that these creatures lying around were not actually dead, but in fact, sleeping. The reason they were all sleeping right now was not because they preferred to be awake during the night, but rather, they simply hated the sun.

With the dark clouds currently covering the sun, that meant…

"Yes, something bad is about to happen. We need to run now!"

As soon as I spoke, both Ino and Dion quickly exchanged glances, and barely a second later, they both erupted into a sprint.

I had also begun running as fast as I could, with Celeste picking up pace beside me.

"What exactly is going to happen?" Dion asked over his shoulder while jumping over the limb of a corpse.

A few seconds passed, and then I replied. "These creatures do not wake up during the night. They wake up, when the sun is gone."

At that reply, it seemed that everyone understood the danger we were in as their faces visibly paled and they pushed their pace even harder.

Ino gritted her teeth and began cursing under her breath.

Just then, a blinding flash of lightning split the sky, followed almost immediately by a shattering crack of thunder that seemed to shake the very ground beneath our feet.

Not long after, the drops of rain already falling, began to fall even faster and heavier, turning into a sudden, drenching downpour that instantly muddied the ground and plastered our clothes to our skin.

Another flash of lightning, and the visibility dropped to almost nothing, making the jagged, rocky hill we were desperately aiming for vanish entirely in the curtain of rain.

At this point, it became even harder for us to maintain our footing in the churning mud, which slicked the ground like grease.

Dion quickly grabbed Ino by the hand, helping her go around the massive body of a gorilla. "Faster, Ino!" he shouted.

I jumped over the limb, but then, a flash of lightning and thunder struck simultaneously, and Celeste kicked the limb of the creature, pitching forward and stumbling hard onto the muddy floor.

Gritting my teeth, I immediately stopped and reached out, grabbing her hand to help her rise.

She had barely regained her footing when suddenly, the creature's massive eyes snapped wide open. The gorilla corpse shook violently, throwing off the rain and mud, and causing us to stumble back in a panic.

At that moment, the raven flying above us instantly turned into Aika with her katana, and she plunged onto the gorilla's chest, burying the sword deep into the re-animating flesh.

"Burn!"

At her command, flames erupted from the point of impact, but the creature immediately bellowed and raised its hand to smash its chest where Aika knelt with one knee.

She immediately leapt away, tumbling onto the ground and dodging the massive fist that slammed down on the spot where she had been.

She didn't wait to stand fully. Scrambling back, she shouted over the storm, "Don't stop! Run!"

By the time we had started to move, the creature had already turned around, smashing one massive hand onto the ground to steady itself. Then it stood tall and pounded its chest with both hands, roaring and ignoring the flames that had nearly burned open its entire chest.

In the next instant, it smashed both hands, which had now caught on fire, onto the muddy ground and exploded into a terrifying, four-limbed charge directly toward us.

'Curses!'

I immediately snapped my gaze to the side where I could also hear another creature approaching us at the same time. I could hear the trees breaking and snapping as something heavy shoved its way toward us.

At this point, it was a death sentence: we would either be killed by the one at our back or the one coming from the side.

Risking a desperate glance back, my eyes widened in panic as I saw the gorilla behind us, whose entire body was now a pillar of bone and black flames, suddenly leap to pound on us.

'Crap!'

However, right at that moment, the creature coming from the side finally arrived. It slammed out of the treeline and crashed into the fiery gorilla, sending both of them tumbling violently to the side while the force of the collision sent Aika, Celeste, and me tumbling forward through the mud.

[EX…

A notification popped up to my side, but I ignored it because the second gorilla, the one that had come from the side, suddenly stood up. Ignoring the flames that had caught its flank, it leapt at us with a terrifying roar.

But before it could descend, a voice behind us suddenly yelled. "Push!"

Suddenly, an invisible force slammed into the creature, sending it crashing violently into a couple of trees.

"Let's go!" Dion shouted, wrenching his spear from the muddy ground.

The three of us immediately scrambled to our feet and began running after him.

As we ran through the muddy graveyard and dead trees, the forest had grown even more noisy with the cacophony of monsters awakening. To the side, wolves were howling and snarling, and we could even hear sounds behind us like the violent impact of beasts fighting amongst themselves.

Then after a few tense seconds, a flash of lightning illuminated the forest, and Celeste pointed toward a few meters from us. "There!"

It was the cave. We had finally reached it!

Without slowing, we hurried toward the entrance which was a small, dark, jagged gap at the face of the hill, and dove headlong into it.

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