RB Chapter 148 The Beast In The Grove

"I managed to actually sleep very well!? Wow!" Elena exclaimed while stretching her body. She had just woken up. Her night watch had lasted for a duration of 3 hours, after which Eric had replaced her.

All of them had woken up and were in the middle of packing up their things...including the tents, which could fit inside their back packs.

It was about 20 minutes before the time became 7:00am. The sun hadn't yet risen and the morning was a bit chilly. It was due to the fog, which was floating over the land.

The fog was so dense and heavy that it hadn't reached the top of the hill, but underneath, it was a different story.

The valley containing the grove had been covered with fog so thick that it had vanished from view. The fog appeared to look like a river, and the top of the hill, an island.

"It seems like today, the sun is going to shine very brightly." Leah said while staring into the river of fog.

"Why do you say so?" Chloe who had been crouching down and tiding up her things asked curiously.

"Don't you know? Its a saying from our culture...its from long ago, but if there is fog in the morning, that means that the day is going to be scorching...with absolutely no rain." She explained.

"I have heard about it." Elena supported.

"Really...?" Chloe was doubtful. She even looked up into the skies.

Due to a drop in temperature, tiny water droplets were moistening their skin and soaking their clothes.

After packing up everything, even getting rid of any traces on the hill, they injected themselves with liquid ATP shots. They didn't have time for breakfast, besides, they had only carried enough packed food for last night's dinner.

"Too bad, I can't get to taste yesterday's food today!" Eric clicked his tongue. He could still remember the flavors in the previous night's meal.

No one commented, but gulping sounds and the smacking of lips made him chuckle. It seems he wasn't alone in having that thought.

After everything, they vanished down the hill, into the fog.

This time, they adopted a different movement formation, a square. Eric was front right with Leah to his left. To his back, there was Elena, with Chloe directly behind Leah.

It was in such a way that the two of them, being spectrum warriors, they would be able to protect the two girls if any life threatening danger arose.

They travelled fast, but they also made sure to produce as little sound as possible. They also didn't neglect to have some of their attention down onto their feet, so that they wouldn't knock into anything. The fog was just that heavy!

Eric's eyes had once again taken on a violet shade. He was monitoring the surroundings.

After a few minutes composed of cautious movement, a tree appeared in their sights. Its width was about a meter, and the crown couldn't be seen as the fog was too thick. They could only see about three meters in front of themselves.

Their vigilance became heightened. The tree meant that they were about to enter the grove.

A droplet of dew became bigger as the fog swept by a leaf. It grew until the leaf couldn't handle its weight, so it tilted downwards, causing the droplet to roll off. It merged with the others along its path, becoming larger before dropping off the leaf and taking the journey to the ground.

Piak!

Something wet and cold fell onto the back of Leah's neck almost causing her to yelp, but she held herself back with sheer willpower. A shiver had nonetheless travelled down her spine.

The ground was wet, muddy and covered in all sorts of rotting matter...not to mention the gloominess. The smell was heavy on their noses causing them to have warped expressions, but they couldn't block off their sense of smell as it was useful in this situation. There was also no wind to drive it away.

'This grove is too quiet.' Thought Eric, as he tried to avoid any of the dried leaves or sticks which would make noise once stepped on. All the muscles in his body were high strung, ready to work hard should any abnormal situation crop up, like an attack.

He had the mindset that the beast was already aware of their arrival, so he had already prepared for battle. This was not based upon anything, simply negative thoughts, but it was better than optimism.

-----

A beast covered in black fur was resting in a branch. It was roughly the size of a grown human. The black fur was covered in glistening dew drops, it must have been here for sometime.

Its ears and nose were twitching at intervals of less than a second. Even resting, it was still in a high state of vigilance.

'A new batch of evolution ingredients is here.' It thought, its nose twitching faintly. It was located almost over two kilometers away, but it had managed to pick up the scents of people, through the drifting fog, not to mention the rot!

Its eyes though didn't open. It wasn't impatient. The prey were still at the edge. Getting worked up might scare them away. It was both patient and cautious.

The ants had only missed it because its stealth capabilities far surpassed their detection.

"Humans have just started a banquet...a banquet that allows me to evolve." It was excited at that prospect causing its closed eyes to open a bit and steam from its nose to push away some of the surrounding fog. The pupils were white with a black vertical line in the middle.

This war was the key to its evolution into a higher state!

'But why are there only two smells?...it doesn't matter. All I just have to do is devour.'

The previous two teams had had three members and five members respectively.

'With these two, I would have devoured 10.' With every thought, it was getting excited, its blood flowing just that bit faster, and its heart pumping just that bit faster too.

The reason it only smelled two was because spectrum level lifeforms could control their bodies not to release any particles. That was what Eric and Chloe were doing.