Chapter 189: Beast Riot 2

Words : 1023 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

Chapter 189: Beast Riot 2 Amid the chaos, Ethan kept moving. He had felt the shift long before the first beast appeared, not in sound or sight but in pressure—the kind that settled under your skin and made your breath slow without asking. The wind had stopped just moments before. The ground had gone still, not quiet but waiting. A cold hum ran through his boots, too faint to describe but impossible to ignore. So when the first beast lunged out of the underbrush, he didn’t flinch. He was already in motion. One step forward. Blade in hand. A single clean arc that passed through flesh before the creature could even lock eyes with him. Its weight hit the ground behind him as he kept moving forward without looking back. He didn’t need to look. It was just the first of many. The sounds around him no longer came from any one direction. The forest had become a maze of crashing footsteps, distant metal-on-bone clashes, and the occasional sharp cry that cut through the thick air like a wire pulled too tight. And in the middle of all that, flashes of movement caught his eye. A glint of red across the treeline. He recognized the curve of the armor immediately. Sera. She moved like a line drawn straight through the battlefield—no hesitation, no wasted motion. Her spear didn’t jab or swing. It pierced—controlled bursts of movement, sharp and final. Two beasts lunged from opposite sides and fell in sequence. She didn’t even stop to check them. Nearby, a flurry of silver flashed through the clearing. Two figures spun around each other like reflections of the same thought. Evelyn and Everly found each other as they tried to avoid some of the dangerous beasts. They were fast—faster than most eyes could follow—but not wild. There was rhythm to how they moved, one ducking while the other attacked, one pulling a student to cover while the other shielded the path forward. The space around them cleared not because the beasts were weak, but because the twins moved like they had never once been afraid of the dark. A little farther out, Ethan spotted Mei’s signature form; she was grounded, focused. She wasn’t dancing through the trees or slicing her way through beasts. She was anchoring the chaos. Students were retreating along the paths she cleared, her blade always up, her steps never rushed. A beast leapt from a tree root—Mei didn’t turn to face it, she just adjusted her angle slightly and let the creature land on her waiting strike. She didn’t even break stride as it fell. Ethan didn’t call out. He didn’t need to. The moment they all saw each other, something shifted. Their bodies turned toward the same goal. No one said a word. They didn’t need to. The plan wasn’t to fight every beast. The goal now was to cut paths. To pull in students who had been stranded or overwhelmed. To find whatever parts of the zone still held high ground and hold them until extraction could get through. If extraction even came. The forest was no longer terrain. It was a battlefield. And more than that, it was a trap that had already been sprung. They regrouped near a collapsed streambed, a spot where panicked beasts had already torn out half the trees. Four students were huddled behind a rock formation, two of them too exhausted to stand. One was unconscious. The fourth had his blade drawn, but it shook in his grip. Sera reached them first and knelt beside the unconscious girl, checking her pulse before adjusting her posture. "She’s alive." Ethan crouched next to the others. "We need to get them moving. Now." Evelyn scanned the treeline, eyes sharp. "Two more behind us. Hiding in the roots. We need to deal with them before they attack the ones who are injured." Everly nodded and darted off. A moment later, two more students—one limping, one holding a cracked shield—were pulled into the group. Scenes like this were common all around them, as no one was prepared for this; therefore, for it to happen, it would be something that would be on the news soon, as there had not been a beast riot here for decades. Mei didn’t say anything. She just handed out field-grade healing patches from her side pouch and began applying pressure to a boy’s shoulder wound. Another distant crash echoed from the west. Ethan stood. They were too exposed here. "We move east. That hill we passed earlier has a cliff face. Beasts won’t come from that side." Sera was already lifting the unconscious girl. "I’ll carry her." Evelyn helped the limping student to his feet. "I’ve got him." Mei took the rear. Everly led. And Ethan kept the center, moving with calm steps that neither slowed nor rushed. Everything about this part was clear. Move forward. Shield the weak. Cut down what stood in the way. As they crossed through the thinned trees and started up the incline, more flashes of battle lit the darkening sky around them—small arcs of light from elemental abilities, scattered bursts of power from desperate students trying to hold out. But nothing stayed long. Everything passed. And the screaming never stopped. At the top of the rise, the cliff wall offered what they were looking for: a corner with a cover. A ledge that could be defended. A place where they could finally catch their breath. Everly was the first to speak. "We’re gonna have to hold here for a while." Sera adjusted her grip on the girl she carried and nodded. "That’s fine. They’re all too tired to run again anyway." Ethan looked out over the treetops below. The zone had broken. There was no pattern to it now. Some places were on fire. Some were silent. Others still churned with the movement of beasts that weren’t supposed to be here. He had no way to know what was coming next. But he knew they’d hold. They didn’t need a command. They didn’t need a mission briefing. They had each other. And that was enough for now.

Chapter 189: Beast Riot 2

Comments (0)