38 The Abysmal Enclave

The group stood still, peering at the foreboding forest ahead.

Tall, dense trees blocked out the sunlight, casting a ghostly aura over the shadowy undergrowth.

The air hung heavy with a silence that felt almost suffocating, broken only by the occasional rustle of unseen movement.

The forest floor, littered with decaying leaves, seemed to writhe with unsettling energy, while the twisted branches above created eerie, contorted shapes against the dim light.

"Why is everyone so quiet?"

Felix suddenly asked sounding slightly annoyed.

Although he asked the question he didn't move, clearly he was as scared as the rest of the group, but how couldn't he?

The stories surrounding the abysmal enclave whispered of unspeakable horrors, each tale sinking into their bones with icy dread.

Aiden remembered all those stories like they were yesterday, after all the maids and workers back at the Horatio mansion would personality tell him stories of this place, just for the fun of seeing his horrified expression.

"Pfft, I can't with this," Felix scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain before adding "I don't want people who will drag me down."

Felix's abrupt dismissal stung, the ominous air thickening with tension as the candidates narrowed their eyes.

"What are you implying Felix?" Aiden's voice sounded out, a tinge of annoyance slipping through the rising panic.

Felix's retort cut through the air like a blade. "Oh, please, like you could keep up," he spat, his words laced with arrogance.

Suddenly Mai spoke, "Felix, we need to stick together," she calmly urged, her unbothered expression a rarity in the situation.

Kevin's mature presence steadied the group, his gaze resolute as he surveyed their dwindling options.

"We don't have time for this. Let's focus on getting out of here," he declared.

The surroundings were filled with tension, but the tension amplified as the cruel voice of the loudspeaker horn shattered the eerie silence. "Hoho the group is falling apart already," the Captain spoke.

The group was briefly confused by the sudden sound but they quickly located a long pole by the gate which had a speaker on top of it.

"Currently, you are standing on a field of explosives, and in a matter of seconds, this whole field will be engulfed in flames. You've got ten seconds."

Time seemed to slow to a crawl and Aiden felt a chill run down his spine, he didn't hesitate any longer.

"Whoosh!"

He moved rushing toward the forest as the other candidates quickly followed behind him.

Before long the candidates had fled into the forest far away from the opening, and after they had run quite a distance.

"Boom, boom, boom," multiple explosions sounded out from behind them causing a huge ruckus.

Now that they were inside the forest they became more vigilant, "stay behind me," Felix whispered to Serena as they made sense of their surroundings.

The trees around them were big and tall, so tall that they made one feel small, but not only that, these trees blocked the sun by a large amount, making the world around them dim.

"Crunch!"

The participants were startled by the sound of their own footsteps, making them seem goofy all of a sudden.

"See this is not so bad," Ethan said with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the mood, but he didn't let his guard down, his longbow was already loaded as he placed a single arrow on it ready to shoot at any time.

Aiden on the other hand took out his blade while wearing his weapon case on his back like a backpack, his body tensing up at the slightest sound.

Some people like Felix, And Ethan discarded their weapon cases altogether, Ethan only had a single weapon so he didn't need the extra weight, while Felix's weapons were rather light.

"We should come up with a plan, we can't just go in blind," Serena said, attracting the attention of the group, who listened with interest.

"Wait," before she could continue a voice stopped her from saying any more.

"First I want to make this clear, I don't want weak people in my group," Felix said grimly, his arrogance bare for all to see.

"And who made this your group?" Aiden asked with an annoyed expression his question inciting a chuckle from Kevin.

"Are you-" Felix wanted to say something but he suddenly stopped, "shit," he muttered, and in that moment.

"Ahhhh!"

A loud yell filled their surroundings, looking to the side you could see that an animal had grabbed one of their own and dragged him up a tree, the animal was hard to see as its fur seemed to fuse with the trees around it.

"LUCIUS!"

Kevin screamed as his mind raced for solutions, he wanted to throw his spear at the attacker but Aiden quickly yelled.

"DON'T DO IT, YOU'LL LOSE YOUR WEAPON!"

Aiden's yell seemed to reach Kevin as he stopped in the nick of time.

Everyone looked up, as they watched Lucius get dragged up a tree by an unclear entity.

"Help, please help," Lucius yelled and screamed for help, his contorted expression a mix of fear and dread, as his body constantly shook struggling to get free.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly the silent sound of an arrow being fired could be heard, somebody had fired an arrow and it was Serena, unfortunately, her shot missed the target.

Seeing Serena shoot Ethan followed suit as well, "Whoosh, whoosh," they both fired into the distance, and in the next moment.

"Ehhh!"

A weird sound filled the air followed by the sound of leaves braking and a loud thud.

The candidates quickly ran towards the sound only to see something scary, "A sloth?" Aiden thought.

As he stared at the beast before him Aiden couldn't help but shudder, sloths were naturally creepy animals, but to see an infected sloth was just bad luck.

It was the size of an adult human and was as robust as a bear, its fur seemed to blend with its surroundings making it hard to follow even though it stood still.

A smile could be seen on this animal's face, although Aiden knew that that was how they looked due to the natural curve of their mouths it didn't help matters at all.

"My god!"

Kevin muttered as he stared at the impaled body that hung lazily on the sloth's limb.

Aiden couldn't find a soul anywhere near but he could smell it, Lucius was dead. He had died at some point during the chase.

In their first few minutes in the abysmal enclave, they had lost a person.

"Thud!"

The Sloth suddenly dropped its arm letting the body slide off its claws and hit the ground with a thud.

"D-do we run or do we fight," David asked his voice trembling in fear as he spoke, but he received no answers.

Everyone was focused on the Sloth and they watched as it did something strange, it raised its arm and waved at them while stepping backward at the same time, its motions almost like it was saying goodbye.

As it stepped back it became harder and harder to see, and before long it seamlessly blended into the shadows disappearing from site.

The group remained quiet, as they stared at that spot without making a move, minutes turned to two hours, but they didn't move.

Only after three hours was the group truly convinced that the infected beast was truly gone.

"That was even more terrifying than a demon," Ethan muttered, a thin layer of perspiration had already formed on his forehead.

Aiden on the other hand felt his legs grow weak, his heartbeat sped up and he felt a growing urge to run, but how could he?

To take his mind off things Aiden ran into his thoughts trying to analyze the demon's strength.

According to Landon, the fake demons he encountered in that strange place were not too strong with the normal demons being at threat level one or two and the strongest demon which is the tall lady being at level nine.

Right now Aiden's strength was at threat level fifteen, meaning he could fight certain powerful demons up to threat level fourteen and weak threat level fifteen demons.

But that infected Sloth made him feel more fear than the tall lady, Aiden didn't know if it was just its appearance or the fact that it was stronger, but he was sure of one thing.

"That demon could have killed us all if it wished to." Aiden thought.

"L-Let's regroup and assign roles," Serena suddenly said.

Her voice seemed a bit shaken, the events of just now had scared her a lot.

This time Felix didn't object as he had realized just how terrifying this place was.

He clenched his fists trying to stop his trembling arms and at that moment a certain realization dawned on him.

He was just a stronger ant among other ants, he might have been the strongest in the group but in the end, he was just another threat level fifteen Contractor.

"David you are the weakest," Serena suddenly said before darting in, "you'll serve as a porter, all you have to do is carry our goods and be quick on your feet, our actual fighters need to be as light as possible," she said.

"Kevin, Aiden, Mai, Evelyn, and Adrian you guys are in front so you'll be the first to confront the beasts and draw its attention," Serena added and without even taking a breath she continued.

"Adrian I also have a suggestion for you, those knuckle brasses are going to do you more harm than good, I suggest you discard them and take David's gauntlets instead, they serve the same purpose with more protection."

Saying this Serena turned towards Felix, "Felix you are our wild card, you can do whatever you want, but please aim for a vital attack that'll put the enemy to sleep immediately."

"Finally, Ethan and I are the ranged fighters shooting our enemies from a distance, how does that sound?"

Serena asked the rest of the candidates, who looked toward her in surprise, "your idea is feasible," Mai commented, and Kevin nodded in agreement as well.

Aiden on the other hand didn't have a problem with all this he was a little scared about being in front but when he saw how no one seemed to object he didn't show it.

Unbeknownst to Aiden he wasn't the only one who was scared, but most of the candidates didn't speak up as Mai seemed to agree.

Felix seemed to be okay with it as well, "you're so smart," he chuckled a bit earning a small smile from Serena.

"We have to find shelter for the night," Aiden suddenly said as he noticed their surroundings dim a bit, the day was going by, and before long night would arrive.

According to what they learned in the facility demons and monsters seemed to dislike each other, but while demons were stronger infected beasts had the advantage in numbers.

After a few scuffles here and there they seemed to reach a silent agreement, during daytime the infected beasts would roam, while the demons hid, but during nighttime, the opposite would be true.

Of course, this was just a theory and the real reason for this was unknown.

"That's easy for you to say," Felix scoffed before saying, "The only place we can hide at night is a concealed cave and even then most demons and infected beasts can smell us."

"What about the trees?" Adrian asked, and Serena nodded, "if it's high enough we can hide there for the night," she said.

With that the group came to an agreement, they would hide in the trees.

"Let's move, our current goal is to escape so we should move as far up south as we can during the day," Kevin said.

With this, the group didn't discuss it anymore and started hiking through the forest.

A few hours passed and the trip was uneventful, sometimes the group would hear distant roars and would make a detour trying to go around the sound in order to avoid powerful beasts.

With this strategy they progressed for quite some time, "let's call it a day and prepare for nightfall," Mai suddenly suggested.

But in the next moment, Aiden suddenly trembled and fell over on a knee.

"Crunch!"

The sound of leaves crunching could be heard as a splitting headache disorientated Aiden.

The headache lasted for a few seconds before clearing up, and Aiden suddenly felt his senses increase.

Aiden knew this feeling well, and his eyes widened in excitement, it was his perception, and it had increased by a large margin, even though he was facing the ground he could feel every living organism around him.

"If my perception is back does this mean I'm free from my weakened state?" Aiden thought as he hurriedly tried to circulate his soul energy but something was wrong, it still felt as stiff as before.

"It's still the same?" Aiden thought, his shoulders dropping a bit.

"Bro, are you ok?" A voice suddenly asked from the side, pulling Aiden back to reality.

His sudden fall had startled the candidates who were all on edge.

"I'm fine," Aiden reassured Ethan as he stood up while caressing his brows.

"Can't even carry his own weight," Felix scoffed, as he looked towards Aiden with disgust.

Kevin on the other hand had quickly arrived before Aiden and helped him get up.

"Are you sure you're ok Aiden?" He asked again and Aiden nodded.

He was a bit disappointed that he hadn't fully healed, but now that his perception had recovered Aiden was in such a good mood that he struggled to hide it.

"Since we weren't able to find a cave all we can do now is climb the trees, hopefully, this will allow us to pass the night peacefully, " Felix said as he surveyed the group.

"I don't know guys I don't think that this is gonna work," Ethan suddenly said out of nowhere.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Felix asked.

Felix's question prompted Ethan to nod, as he suggested, "We need animal waste, like poop or pee."

"What did you say?" Evelyn asked, her hazel eyes narrowing in disgust, clearly she didn't take Ethan's idea too well.

"Well it might sound disgusting but it's the only way to reduce the risk of being discovered at night, the smell of animal waste could fool the demons into thinking we're infected beasts," Ethan continued.

"Something is following us," Aiden who hadn't spoken since finally said something.

He wasn't sure about it but since he recovered his perception had been ringing like crazy.

His words immediately put everyone on guard, as they brandished their weapons, and as soon as they did this, "Roar," a roar filled their surroundings.

Slowly something walked out of the bushes, it seemed to be a creature between a Lion and a panther.

It was completely black and even its mane was an unwelcoming inky black, the beast looked majestic and the fact that it was the size of a full-grown cow didn't help matters at all.

"Everyone just like we planned," Kevin yelled snapping the group back to their senses, with heavy steps he lowered his stance and walked towards the beast with unwavering determination.

Aiden and Mai quickly came back to their senses and moved to the front of the group with Adrian nervously following from behind, it was unknown how he would use his fists to fight this lion-like beast.

The Lion watched this group cautiously as if trying to gauge their strength, its attention solely focused on the four people walking towards it.

Kevin with his spear and shield, Aiden and Mai with their blades, and Adrian with his gauntlets.

"Groowl!"

The beast growled pushing the tension even higher, and in the next moment, it moved launching itself straight at Kevin.

The Lion's speed caught Kevin off guard as he instinctively blocked with his arm, "clang," the Lion's claws hit Kevin's shield and the force alone made his knees buck.

"Slash, Slash," Aiden and Mai moved at the same time swinging their blades.

They aimed to kill the beast with one stroke but they failed as its skin was too hard, instead, they left deep gashes on the lion's skin.

"Roar," the Lion roared again, clearly feeling the pain from the wound the duo had created.

Quickly its attention was drawn to one of its attackers, and that was Aiden.

Instead of killing it, Aiden had successfully attracted the beast Agro, mission failed successfully.

With a leap the Lion was in front of Aiden who tried to move back to avoid the beast but his efforts were for naught.

The Lion opened its gaping maw revealing sharp teeth that could easily rip him apart.

Aiden paled but something happened, "clang," as the beast clamped its mouth shut a figure had already caught onto its mouth trying to hold it in place.

Aiden used this opportunity to retreate and he could finally see the figure who had saved him.

It was Adrian and he seemed completely different from before, his skin had changed color now resembling the grayish skin of some kind of demon, his eyes looked glazed, and as he held onto this Lion like some kind of modern-day Samson a mad chuckle left his mouth.

"Possession, this guy is using his Contract," everyone thought.

Honestly, a possession Contract was the most unstable Contract one could ever ask for, this was because one wasn't in control and the demon would do the fighting.

"Gowl!"

The beast growled and swung its claws at the human in front of it, "Ripppp," Adrian's armor tore and the beast's claws dug deeply into his flesh.

"Ga Ga Ga Ga," a burst of mad laughter escaped Adrian's lips as If he enjoyed the pain, the rest of the group didn't stay still either, now that Adrian had the beast pinned they moved.

"Swoosh, Swoosh," Ethan and Serena fired arrows at the beat's eyes, Serena missed but Ethan's arrow connected.

"Pirce," the arrow pierced deeply into the eyes of the best, and it let out a pained-filled growl.

Aiden, Mai, and Evelyn moved from the side madly slashing at the beast with all their strength inflicting terrible wounds on the Lion's main body.

By now the beast looked anything but majestic, as scars filled its entire body, "why is this beast so fucking though," Mai lamented in between breaths.

Meanwhile, Kevin wasn't playing around, instead, he seemed to be climbing a tree.

Midway through his climb he yelled with a vengeful expression, "Clear," and as he said this he jumped down from the tree.

Seeing this everyone gave way, everyone except Adrian that is.

Using his entire body weight, Kevin pushed his strength to the limit and delivered a mighty swing that could put great warriors to shame.

"Bang, Pirce," two consecutive sounds could be heard, the sound of Kevin landing and the sound of the Lion getting impaled.

"Roa," the Lion let out a weak roar in blind defiance but even though it was an infected beast it couldn't survive getting impaled, the spear had gone through its head.