A shrill scream shook the campsite, smells of blood and carnage hanging in the air. The Oryx hadn't even tried to hide himself. Facing a group of such weaklings, why would it have to? Such things were meaningless in the face of true power.
However, had the four deserters who had died earlier in the day been present, they would have realized that something seem to be wrong. The Oryx they had seen had a massive crimson halberd strapped to his back. But, this one had a massive great sword almost as thick as its burly body on its back.
Unless this Oryx had for some reason chosen to change weapons, it was all but confirmed at this point. There was more than just one Oryx bearing down on them.
Senior Lu felt his heart seize. He couldn't believe that his worst fears were already coming to fruition.
'It's just ten meters, just ten meters. It's the blink of an eye. I can make it!'
The distance that separated them and the cave mouth was practically negligible. Senior Lu didn't care if he had to trample over the corpses of his fellow freshmen, he just had to make it. As long as he did, he would be safe, he would live another day.
Without a care for the materials strewn around him, Senior Lu scrambled to his feet, not even looking back to the forest. He scratched and clawed to all fours before leaping up to his feet.
He bolted for the cave mouth with all the speed he could muster. For some reason, despite the fact his destination was right in from of him, despite the fact it should have only taken him two large leaps to make it, he felt as though it was a world away.
At that moment, his worst fears were realized… again.
The two seniors had already leapt to their feet.
"What the hell?! Already?!"
It was clear that they were caught completely off guard. They knew that the Oryx story Leonel had told was likely to be true, but shouldn't it still have taken some time to find this place?
At this point, they didn't care to confirm the appearance of the Oryx.
"Hurry up!"
"I'm on it already! You go do your damn job nagging bastard!"
The senior who spoke last stood with a ferocity, his feet stamping into the ground. The clearing of rock and gravel quaked for a moment, trembling beneath his Force.
"Senior! Please!" Senior Lu called out, panic clear on his face.
But at that moment, a strong wall of Force sent him flying backward. Horror painted his face as he watched a wall rise up from the ground. In an instant, a ten meter tall makeshift fortress surrounded the cave mouth.
Senior Lu scrambled to his feet, launching himself onto the wall and trying his best to climb it.
Once again, it was just ten meters, it was a distance that was harder to climb than run across, but he was still a Fourth Dimensional existence. Even if he couldn't jump that high in a Fifth Dimensional world, he could still climb it.
The makeshift walls were coarse and unkempt. There were more than enough dips and crevices for him to latch onto.
But, he had barely begun when a spike of earth suddenly jetted out for his chest.
Senior Lu twisted to avoid it, displaying his small bit of talent. But the result was still the flesh near his hip being ripped through. If he had been just a bit slower, his hip bone would have been shattered to oblivion.
Senior Lu fell back to the ground, being thrown away from the wall.
"Let me in! Let me in! I helped you all!"
The more Senior Lu screamed, the more careless he got with his words. Who cared about offending seniors if he couldn't even live to reap the benefits of it? Soon, he began cursing, even insulting their mothers, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
By that point, many of the freshmen had long since caught up with Senior Lu. Some had tried banging against the wall, but those not as strong as Lu found themselves skewered. It was hard to tell if more freshmen had died at the hands of the Oryx who had seemingly yet to make an appearance or their so-called seniors.
On the other side of the wall, the senior who put up the rock wall, Hallis, sneered, his hand pressed flush against the wall as he sensed what was happening.
"Seith, are you done yet?!"
"Don't hurry me bastard, just hold the wall! Oryx aren't that intelligent anyway, as long as they had prey on the other side, they won't bother with us anyway!"
"Why the hell is it taking so long?!"
"Do you know how hard it is to set up a controlled explosion?! I'm trying to destroy the entrance well enough that it can't be dug through easily, but not bad enough that it takes the whole tunnel with it! Plus I have to put it on a delay!"
"Whatever, whatever! Keep your nerd speak to yourself. Just hurry up! Can't believe those bastards left us with this job, dammit!"
Though Hallis said this, considering their abilities, they were the only two that could be left with such a task. Seith with his explosion ability and him with his control abilities.
Seith continuously drew Force Arts around the cave entrance. He had started on this a while ago, but he had never expected the Oryx to get here before he could even finish.
Unfortunately, in order to hide things from the freshmen, he had to be too subtle before, slowing him down considerably. But now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no need to take things slow any longer.
"Let us in! Let us in!"
In a desperate attempt, many no longer cared about the earthen spikes, rushing at the wall in an attempt to overwhelm it with numbers.
It was then, though, that an Oryx finally stalked its way out of the forest, its large figure pushing thick trees out of its way.
His massive great sword rested on his shoulder, the claws of his pawed feet digging into the coarse ground.
The Oryx was caked in blood. It splashed across his furred legs and clumped the hairs together. The result was a smell even more foul than usual.
The freshmen felt as though their souls had fled their bodies.