Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 61: A Long Night

"What's happening?!" Emily cried out, though Koko could hardly hear her as the air was completely filled with a deafening wail. It was almost like thousands of ghosts were all screaming out at the same time, though thankfully it seemed to be lessening before the ground began to shake underneath them. And while she thought that it was an earthquake at first, Koko was surprised when small pockets of black smoke began to pour out of the ground all around them. Though the amount of smoke increased dramatically as nearly a hundred mounds started rising in the dirt around them.

"Get into formation!" Koko yelled as multiple limbs of what looked like black wood started appearing out of the mounds. "And tell me what those things are because I'm not seeing any name plates!"

"That's because they don't have name plates at all!" Mary replied. "We need to get out of here! We can't fight them!"

"Wallace, do you have a torch?!" Koko had to yell so that she could be heard above the wailing.

"Yeah!" He replied as he withdrew it out of his pack.

"Then lead the way with the map and let's run to the regroup point! There's no way that we'll be able to make it back to the forest with how far we've gotten!"

"L-lead?!" Wallace asked with a look of horror crossing his face.

"Who do you think is going to be holding them back in the meantime?!" Koko asked furiously, looking between the students and the nearly emerged monsters frantically. "Now hurry up and go unless you want to get surrounded!"

Not needing any more encouragement, Wallace lit the torch and started running down the path while carrying Mary on his back seeing as her short legs would only slow them down otherwise. While they ran in front, Koko followed behind them, squinting through the darkness to see the creatures as they finally finished rising from the forest floor. And when they revealed themselves, Koko instantly knew where all of the forest's foliage had gone what seemed like shrubs that could run started chasing them with bright-red eyes glowing from behind the black leaves that completely covered them.

"Are those ents?!" Koko asked as she spotted parts of their wooden bodies, making her think of the spirits that normally helped to preserve forests.

"Ents are friendly towards people as long as they're not chopping down trees! Those things are not ents!" Mary replied as she bounced up and down from Wallace's shoulders. "And whatever they are, they're gaining on us!"

"Just keep running and I'll slow them down!" Koko yelled before turning around, though she wasn't feeling confident at all seeing as, if the others couldn't tell the level of these things, than it ment that she was hopelessly outmatched in terms of level. However, if there was one thing that she'd learned in this world since her arrival, it was that levels didn't determine stats, which ment that she just might have a chance...

"Eat this!" Koko yelled, using a Serpent's Sting against the ent that seemed to be faster than the others. And while she had half expected for her attack to do nothing and the ents to completely overwhelm her with their numbers after her failed attempt, Koko was shocked to see that her fist had passed completely through the creature, sending wood splinters flying in all directions as it detonated in front of her. Though while her victory over the single ent did wonders to improve her confidence, she had to start running again as the defeated ent had already been replaced by five more.

"I have good news and bad news!" Koko yelled as soon as she caught back up with the other students. "The good news is that all of the ents don't seem to be any stronger than weak monsters, but the bad news is that there is so many of them that it doesn't matter and we'll be completely overrun if they catch up with us!"