CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER: 74, SCREECHING ABOMINATION

For a few seconds, the scene fell into stunned silence.

Joe was stunned after witnessing the plain in front of her suddenly sweeping away like dust. Arnold rushed towards her effortlessly climbing the tree and examined her to make sure she was alright.

"Thank god, you are okay! I don’t want to imagine what could’ve happened to you..." He said, and then remembered the woman he saw, heavily injured.

He picked her up and went down to where he saw the woman. She was now unconscious and blood stained her clothes with the green capsule beside her. Her hand tightly clutched it as if her life depended on it.

Joe got close and began to measure her injuries. "Her eyes have dark circles, indicating she hasn’t had rest for a long time. She has several claw marks, some fresh and some already dried, and seems to be around three days old.

"Her clothes are mostly tattered from different angles which mean she’s been fighting monsters for a very long time. But none of her injuries are deathly or life threatening. She lost consciousness solely because she was tired..."

Arnold sighed. It was a good thing the woman is out of danger for now. By the attack they witnessed, it was clear the woman is of a high status and also a very strong individual. It would only benefit them if they take her to safety.

"What should we do next, Arnold?" A female voice of one of their teammates, who was also a healer asked.

Arnold looked at his teammates and shook his head before instructing, "First you heal her injuries. And everyone, quickly take everything we need, we need to leave and report the situation to the Guild Master."

"Arnold. The monster is most likely dead. So why don’t we continue doing our commissions and finish them before leaving?" A male voice objected.

Arnold looked at the sly looking man with a grin on his face and shook his head. Sighing heavily he explained, "Yes, the monster should be dead." Then his gaze sharpened as he continued,

"But even then, we cannot take any more chances and risk our lives. I could barely match the monster while I am the strongest among them.

"What if there are more monsters hiding nearby and come here given the even that just occurred here. Even two monsters would guarantee our doom, not talking about more. Not only that, the person who saved us is currently unconscious and we won’t be any more lucky that this."

The man shrank back and excused, "Y-Yeah. You’re right."

He looked at the woman who was being healed by the healer and send everyone to pack up.

Before he could ask about anything else, a loud, horrifying and grotesque screech reached everyone’s ears. Cold sweat formed on their back as they all looked back where the sound came from.

Far away... among the pile of many large trees, a terrifying screech continuously erupted.

"What are you doing!? Quickly take only the important things and run away! The monster isn’t dead!" Arnold shouted, waking everyone up from their daze. They quickly hurried to pack and began to head towards the outside of the forest.

Arnold picked the unconscious woman who still tightly clutched the capsule and began to follow behind them. A few moments later, he stopped seeing his teammates sanding still looking towards the path leading outside.

He was furious and shouted, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING!? Are you dead or what!? Move your legs and run quickly!!"

But nobody moved. Then he saw Joe raise her hand and pointing ahead saying, her voice mixed with fear and dread, "L-Look A-aahead. Arnold."

Confused, he looked ahead, a bit more carefully, searching for anything he was missing. And then he saw ’it’...or should he say ’them’. His face turned deathly pale showing a terrified expression.

In front of them, blocking the path to outside, were three similarly grotesque monsters he had fought just some moments ago.

He then looked around them, which made him more terrified. ’We are surrounded!’ he thought.

There, three at each side, a total of nine monsters surrounded them, sealing any way to escape while their back wasn’t an option as he felt a deathly foul aura spreading from the place.

The monsters had many variations. One had long hands while the other had long legs, but crawled on the ground to move. One had its ears stretching to the ground and one had its nose in similar condition.

Then, the foul aura from behind reached them. Arnold turned around to see the previous long necked monster now casually picking the trees above it in the air with its long hands that were too many to count.

Its six legs now stretched to six feet that came from its side rib. The previous pale and dead skin is now completely black. Its head mutated or not but now...it somehow showed emotion, albeit it was unclear and much more disturbing than before.

Everyone who witnessed this was trembling with fear as the thought of death haunted all of them right there. Joe fell to her knees beside Arnold, who just placed the woman on and took out his great-sword.

"Everyone! I’ll create an opening, so escape as fast as you can with this woman!" He announced.

Joe looked at him with trembling hands and muttered "A-Arnold...You cannot do this!"

"I know what I can do! So leave!" He said and rushed forward.

Suddenly, everyone felt chills in their backs. Not from fear of the monsters but something...else.

Suddenly the monsters halted in their steps and the mutated one looked around.

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, dark and ominous tentacles rose and wrapped themselves around the nine monsters tightly. The monsters tried to resist, but failed in front of the overwhelming power.

In front of everyone’s eyes, the tentacles ruthlessly reached for the creature’s eyes and dug through them. The monsters wailed violently but to no avail.

Dark blood came out as the monsters slowly stopped moving, their brains completely crushed. Then without a care, the tentacles released the corpses of the monsters and threw them like they were nothing.

Everyone was stunned into silence. Their fear vanished from their hearts, which is now filled with awe, confusion and gratitude.

Then, came a loud,desperate and harrowing screech from their back....

To be Continued....