Attack on tents?

Maximus pointed out before they could agree. His trained eyesight had already taken notice of a boar not too far away from them, it was still sniffing around to determine the traces. The first to react was Seraphina, she displayed an extremely enthusiastic expression as if she couldn't wait to fight… or eat?

Adam was a little apprehensive but Elsa and Isabelle were calm, the latter even looked confident, not as much as Adrian who had already gripped his knife and readied himself, but still better than the rest of the group.

He gripped his own pocket knife and advanced together with Adrian, the three women formed a defensive line in front of their two tents and Adam began safeguarding the supplies in case the boar had a partner.

Maximus wasn't sure what Adrian relied on, and he still couldn't determine which one of them was the supernatural being. Nevertheless, he was ready to use his Reality Manipulation. He knew he needed to be smart about it because it seemed the animals were intentionally released to attack the participants, no way the army would make such a rookie mistake. It was likely that the army was monitoring the situation closely.

*GROWL*

The boar had already detected their presence and was charging towards them. Adrian took a strange stance, barehanded, as he stepped forward, seemingly confident to face it alone. The calmness and patience he exuded somehow made Maximus feel like it wasn't his first time doing so.

It wasn't his instinct, if any sane and rational but uninformed person watched professional footballers, cooks or fighters, they could instantly form a judgment about their proficiency being high. It was the same here.

'Looks like I won't be needed.'

He stepped away from him and assumed a defensive posture, invoking his ability, not using it, but just sensing the things he could 'apply' and 'extract' from in his range. It was an application of his ability he had thought of, using it as a 'radar'. But he could only use it in unusual situations like this, as he could sense that his 'fuel' was decreasing gradually.

'Tada! There was indeed one.'

Maximus located the boar nine meters away but in opposite direction from the current boar, which Adrian was suppo—

*BAM*

He quickly turned, just in time to see Adrian slamming down the boar. Taking out the knife in his clothes, he accurately slashed it across the throat area, — which Maximus was pretty sure was an accurate spot where its nerves might be given Adrian's proficiency — swiftly killing the boar before it could even whimper.

Snapping out of it, he quickly used his 'ability radar' but noticed that the boar had already left, likely scared witless.

Storing the knife in his pocket, Maximus approached Adrian to give him a hand in moving the boar but he alone held it up on his shoulder and gave him a polite smile before walking towards the camp.

'Of course, he could fucking slam down a boar during ongoing battle. Why would he not be able to hold it now that it's dead?'

Shaking his head, Maximus joined the group as they set up everything and roasted the boar, enjoying eating its delicious meat. The one who ate the most was Adrian, which he didn't find surprising, but a close second was Seraphina, who gorged down on food like a beast, not caring about her image at all.

The rest of the time was spent in games and other miscellaneous activities. Maximus didn't bring up the topic of history as it would be suspicious right after what happened earlier. As it was approaching night time and the campfire was put out, Adrian stood up and said,

"Alright guys, it's obviously not safe here. I suggest we take shifts to watch the camp. We'll do it in groups of two to be safe. From 11 to 8, Isabelle and I can take 2 to 5, the most dangerous time while the rest of you can take the other two spots. How about Maximus and Seraphina taking 12 to 3? Adam and Elsa can take 5 to 8. Works?"

Elsa and Seraphina's expressions turned a little down which Maximus and Adrian noticed. Adam was clueless about it while Isabelle had already gone to sleep after listening to the first half and let her boyfriend handle the rest. Without letting the two protest he continued,

"Trust me it's good to have a male around. You saw how Maximus came forward to face the boar right? Even Adam took up the rear alone. I know for a fact that you both aren't trained in contact, are you?"

Both of their expressions turned shifty but eventually didn't answer. With a sigh, Adrian addressed their willfulness for a while and headed to his tent after sneakily flashing a wink to Maximus.

It was a four person tent and they were given two of them, some of the supplies were then carried into the tents to avoid being robbed. Isabelle, Adrian and Elsa went in a tent while Adam entered the other one. It was dead in the night, with Seraphina and Maximus each leaning onto the opposite tents. Contrary to the awkward silence he had thought would permeate between them, he found the silence quite serene. Silently, he looked to the side where Adrian had slain the boar, without opening his mouth, he willed for the 'soul' to come about. And it did.

He sneakily glanced at Seraphina but she didn't seem to have 'seen' the soul at all. 'Does that mean only I can see them? Or anyone else who has a soul related superpower can see them?' He guessed for a while before mentally reciting the scripture and realized the 'fuel' or 'energy' which was provided was way too less than he had thought.

'Do animals provide less energy? Or does the soul weaken with time, eventually providing less energy?'

He thought along the line and came up with several conjectures when suddenly, Seraphina stood up and said,

"There seems to be some students coming our way."

Maximus stood up, intending to confront the students but Seraphina interjected again,

"Wait, they are… surrounding us? Go wake up everyone quick."

Maximus quickly did as instructed, waking up everyone. They all exited their tent, Adam and Elsa still sleepy but the couple were already on high alert.

"They don't have guns, I think we can overcome this. Can any of you fight barehanded? I don't want to jeopardize your safety but I can fight much better with multiple knives. "

Adrian said he put two knives, each in one pant pocket. Maximus assumed it was Isabella's given how often they must've worked together.

After a second of thought, Maximus too, gave his knife to Adrian, as he had a spoon in his pocket. It was one of the personal supplies. He had bought a set of culinary items to not make the spoon stand out and since it wasn't anything harmful, the army hadn't taken anything other than the knives in it.

Tilting her head slightly, Seraphina squinted her eyes into the distance and said,

"One of them is approaching us."