Erik ran in haste. He had to find the clones before sothing else found them first, but they were not that close.
The group had moved with haste, despite Amber being in a sorrowful state, and went a lot farther compared to where Erik was.
[Let's just hope they aren't too far. We need to regroup if we want to survive this.]
Erik nodded,
The young man was referring to the snake in the ruins. The thing that escaped even the biological supercomputer's sense and his Instability brain crystal power.
Hopefully, that was a rare exception, a unique individual. He didn't think sothing like that would appear again, or it would be a nightmare.
Erik followed the signs left behind by his group's passage, and it didn't take much for him to find them, given his speed.
Amber, Mira, Emily, and June were resting, waiting for Erik with five Chimaeric Demons in human form. The rest of his clones had shapeshifted into insects and small creatures, blending in with the vegetation to eventually ambush anything that got too foolish and tried to attack them.
"Is everyone alright?" Erik scanned the group. His eyes lingered on Amber, who was still suffering from mana exhaustion.
Her face had regained so of its natural color, though signs of exhaustion still lingered.
"We're fine," Amber said, her voice stronger than before. She sat propped against a tree trunk as the clone who carried her stood beside her.
Emily nodded while checking her rifle, and Mira looked around, her bow in hand. That was the weapon she was more comfortable with, and since coming to Mur, she even slept with it.
"The clones got us out fast enough."
"Good to hear."
The conversation was then overshadowed by the not-so-distant sounds of combat. They reached them even if they were already a couple of kiloters from the battle.
Screeches, roars, and the wet sounds of tearing flesh. A loud crash suggested another large predator had joined the fray.
In truth, the whole situation was rather problematic for many reasons, despite being one where Thaids ripped themselves to shreds.
It was true, whatever happened there that day, the queen's forces were bound to receive a huge blow, and so would the local thaid population.
The problem was that they could still hear the battle sounds, which ant that either more thaids were joining the fray and that the battle was growing larger, or that it was moving.
In both cases, it was dangerous, and Erik had no intention of staying close to it.
"Master," one of the Chimaeric Demons in human form stepped forward, "What are we going to do? The fight is drawing more thaids."
Erik listened to the sounds. It looked like its intensity increased drastically in the span of a few seconds.
The feeding frenzy had escalated as he wanted; it was just that it went much farther than he intended.
"We need to hide," Erik said. "There are too many thaids gathering back there. Even the Three-headed Void Ravagers would think twice before engaging that many thaids at once, and this should make you understand what I think about personal involvent."
Erik knew that if the Three-headed Void Ravagers—the sa species that had decimated his army—would hesitate to join a battle with such powerful thaids, even though they were fewer than his wyvern-transford clones, then he certainly had no intention of getting involved.
The situation was far too dangerous to even consider staying in the area to gain experience points. Any thaid could spot him, and once one engaged him in combat, others would surely follow. No, the wisest course of action was to get as far away as possible from the feeding frenzy.
"The new shelter," another clone said. "We could head to the site where you said you wanted to make one and do it now. With your powers, it wouldn't take much, and it would be safer than staying here. Thaids wouldn't think humans are hidden within it."
The group murmured in agreent. June nodded with particular emphasis.
"Alright." Erik turned to address all his clones, including those hiding around.
The feeding frenzy kept drawing more thaids to the area, making their journey to the hill increasingly dangerous.
The hill wasn't close either, and they would need to head there expecting thaids heading toward the battle.
A single encounter could spell disaster, not just from the imdiate threat but from the chain reaction it might trigger—other thaids would be drawn to any sounds of conflict, and blood would attract more, this ti closer to his soon-to-be shelter.
"I need you to find a safe path," he said to the clones. "We can't just roam blindly, or we will risk getting ourselves into a fight. There are too many thaids. Stay within range of my Instability brain crystal power so we can keep in touch and avoid the monsters. If you spot any thaids approaching, tell right away."
"What if they spot us instead?"
"Avoid combat at all costs," Erik said. "Blood will draw them straight to us. We can't risk a single kill alerting the others, not even if they are the ones dying."
The clones knew that, but they were too diligent to not ask Erik that question.
They all nodded, at least those who could. The others had serious expressions, but they knew they could trust Erik, or at least the biological supercomputer's plans.
They began moving, following the path that would lead them to the hill where Amber's group had camped before reaching the cave.
The hill they were heading to offered decent visibility of the surrounding forest and allowed them to see what was happening near the cave entrance.
The forest grew denser as they went upward. The trees hid them from the flying thaids rushing toward the site of the battle in a frenzy, but could do nothing for the land thaids heading there for the sa reason.
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