"I wouldn't exactly call this a grove," Mia says.
"Yep." Max looks at the trees in front of him.
The three of them are currently standing at the end of a dirt path that led them out of the city walls and through a small meadow. It took some time for them to walk through the city to get here. The sun is now blazing down from directly above them, making Max regret wearing the robe.
What Max had thought was a grove does not match the dense woods in front of them. It's more like a rainforest without the undergrowth. It basically surrounds the entire north-eastern corner of the city. Max can hear faint growlings from within the deep belly of the forest.
"Now the silver coin is starting to make a little more sense," Beth says.
"Well, let's get started," Max begins walking towards the edge of the forest with his grip on the handle of his sword.
"Mia, you go ahead, I will watch the rear," Beth tells Mia, who nods and follows behind Max.
As soon as Max enters the woods, the flaming sunlight extinguishes. The dense leaves provide a thick shade, keeping the inside of the forest nice and cool.
"I wonder what the monsters look like." Beth's voice comes from behind Max as they walk deeper and deeper into the forest.
"I remember reading about them in the library. The majority of the monsters coming from the Crack are very similar to the animals we have here, just a lot more dangerous and hostile. I think they are called cracked beasts." Mia recalls from her memory while pushing branches out of the way.
Max had heard something like that. They were taught of the monsters in the academy, but not much was said about the beasts since they basically pose no threat and are just handled like normal rabid animals. The real danger comes from the other ones.
"And this forest is supposed to be infested with them?" Beth asks.
"According to the contract."
They are now some distance away from the edge of the forest. While it's not all peace and quiet, it sure doesn't sound like there are hostile beasts roaming around.
"Maybe the other exterminator the receptionist was talking about had already gotten to them first."
As soon as Max says that, he hears a growling noise coming from close above him. Instinctively, he jumps back and takes his combat stance while pulling out his sword.
"Whoa!" Max's sudden reaction startles Mia.
Mia freezes in her steps. Beth catches up to what is happening and takes her stance as well.
Max looks up at the origin of the sound. On the branch above him is an irregularly large squirrel the size of a cat, baring its teeth and snarling at him.
"That's a pretty big squirrel," Max relaxes and chuckles.
"Max, you probably shouldn't underestimate it," Mia says cautiously. She still looks a little shaken up from the scare.
"What's it going to do? Bite me?" Max unsheathes his sword and turns around to Mia, flashing her a smile.
Seeing Max turning away from it, the squirrel hunches up and prepares to leap toward him.
"Watch ou-" Mia yells out to Max, trying to warn him of the attack when Beth puts her hand on her shoulder.
Mia looks over to Beth, who is giving her an assuring look.
The squirrel jumps off the branch with its unnaturally sharp claws extending in front of it at the seemingly unexpecting Max. Before it could get within a yard from him, he turns around swiftly and at the blink of an eye, grabs the leaping squirrel out of the air at its throat. It squeals and swings its arms wildly in an attempt to break free.
"Are these monsters or are they just native wildlife?" Max brings the squirrel around toward Mia.
"Eeek! Get that away from me!" Mia jumps back.
Upon closer inspection, the monster looks almost exactly like a normal big squirrel, except that it has huge claws and fangs. It is frantically trying to scratch Max, but the claws don't leave a mark on his leather wrist guards.
"Seeing that the squirrel is so bent on killing you despite the size difference, it's probably a monster," Beth says while walking up to take a closer look. She is a lot calmer and more collected than Mia.
"Then I guess we should just kill it." Max takes his sword back out.
"Hold on!" Mia yells.
"What? Do you feel bad for this little guy?" Max says teasingly.
"Of course not. It's terrifying. Just, let me look away first." Mia shields her eyes with her hand and turns away.
"Okay, then." Max lifts his sword up and gives Beth a look. She nods back, unwavering like always.
"SHREEEEEE!" Before Max swings his sword, the squirrel screams at the top of its lungs.
The echoing scream is so loud it hurts Max's ears. He swipes his hand that is holding the sword through the air and blood spills out of the squirrel's throat. Max tosses its lifeless body onto the ground.
"What was that about?" Mia turns back while rubbing her ears.
Out of nowhere, a shuffling noise comes from above them, even higher up than where the squirrel appeared from. The branches begin shaking and leaves start falling off.
"That's not good," Beth says as she looks up into the leaves.
There are tens of the same little beady eyes staring down on them. The branches above them are crowded with the cracked squirrels. The scream probably attracted them all.
"Prepare yourself, Beth. I will protect Mia, you just go nuts." Max says to Beth as she takes out her cutlass from her belt.
"Get behind me." Max's voice is now serious.
Mia understands and walks behind Max. He can feel her hand shaking as she tugs on his clothes.
The branches make crackle sounds as the dozens of squirrels prepare to launch themselves.
"Here they come!" Max shouts.
Like raindrops, the monstrous squirrels fall from the sky toward Max and Beth, each one has the intent to kill. Overlapping squeals echo around the forest. Max returns their hostility with his sword. When the first one gets close enough, Max swings his sword in an arc and cuts it in half. Blood splatters down onto his face and the remains of the squirrel fly into the trees on the side. Max continues his arc swings with such precision that not a single squirrel manages to get past his sword, it's as if he is playing a game.
Max looks over to Beth, who is doing the same thing. She looks like she is painting the sky with her sword and the crimson blood is her pigment.
As suddenly as it had begun, the rain of cracked squirrels stopped. The branches above them are now empty and quiet.
"Is that all?" Max calls out to Beth.
"I think so." She replies.
Max rests his hand that is holding the sword. He looks around to see squirrel carcasses covering the ground. Then he looks at Beth, whose entire upper body is drenched in squirrel blood.
"Is… it over?" Mia quietly asks from behind Max.
"Yeah," Max says in a comforting voice as he sheathes his sword.
"You look like you took a dip in a bath of blood." Beth chuckles.
"You are the one to talk."
Max shakes his hands and blood drips down from them. He turns around to look at Mia. She was more or less shielded from the barrage of blood and is still relatively clean.
"This is supposed to be safe for beginners?" Mia asks.
He doesn't understand, either, so he just shrugs. There was no way someone with no combat experience could survive that.
"AHHH!" A high-pitched scream of a girl comes from deeper within the forest.
It startles the three of them, and they all look toward the origin of the sound.
"Is that another squirrel's call?" Beth places her hand back on her sword, getting ready for another fight.
"I don't think so, that sounded like a person," Mia says.
"Should we check it out?" Max asks them.
"Yeah, someone might be in danger," Beth replies.
Max nods in confirmation and begins walking toward the source of the scream, leaving the field of dead squirrels behind them.
The trees are so dense that they can only see a couple of yards in front of them, but the scream didn't sound like it was too far away.
Leaves and branches crunch under their feet as they run through the woods. There is no sign of the monstrous squirrels anymore.
Soon, they jump across a small stream and arrive at a dense thicket. Without stopping in his footsteps, Max takes out his sword and swings at the bush, slicing a hole in it. He walks through the hole into an open area, and the origin of the scream comes into view.
On the small patch of grass in the middle of the grove, there is a glowing blue crack the size of Max floating in mid-air. It pulsates and emits a crackling noise. Squirrels, the same type of mutated beast they had encountered earlier, spill out of the crack and occupy the area. There's an army of them. On the edge of the grass patch lies a hooded person wearing an unseasonably thick robe, whom the scream probably came from. The growling squirrels have surrounded the person on the ground, preparing to attack.
In the heat of the moment, Max decides to help out.
"Oi!" He calls out.
The squirrels are agitated by his voice and shift their attention to him. The hooded person also catches his call and turns her head around. Max was going to ask if she needed help, but the sight of her face freezes him.
Her crystalline amber eyes immediately burn themselves into Max's brain. Her complexion is fairer than anything Max has ever seen. Her overall apparel gives off the aura of royalty. Although Max hates to admit it, she is a little more captivating than Beth.
The girl, seeing Max and Beth, whose faces and bodies are covered in blood and holding weapons coming out of the bush, screams again and faints.
"We probably should have let Mia do the talking," Max says as Mia just catches up to them from behind, desperately trying to catch her breath.
The squirrels have at least lost their interest in the girl and are now heading toward Max. They don't seem to be intimidated at all by the smell of their kind's blood on Max and Beth. In fact, more and more are jumping out of the crack and joining the group. There are over a hundred of them now.
"Mia, stay back. We will handle this." Max says.
"Okay."
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