Before they could head back, Lana needed to heal the injuries of the students. Rene had expended all her energy in the attack. Luckily, they were not very injured so it didn't take long. In between healings, she explained
"The trees told me the beast was heading for you guys so I came after it to try to help. Sergent Rudy took the rest of the students back to the shelter. I heard her report you guys as dead over her watch."
There were two students that she didn't know.
"I believe introductions are in order. I'm Lana," She held out her hand to the first boy. His watch said level 2.
"Dante, at your service," as he offered his hand. "That fight was insane but we were hurting it all of us working together"
She offered her hand to the next boy. He returned it, "Tobias. I'm a level 2 wind user. I promise I did the best I could…"
She nodded. "I know. Rest."
Within 30 minutes they were all as good as new. Blaine then took her in his arms and held her tight. He couldn't do what he wanted to do but this was the best he could do.
On their way back, the trees informed her Sergeant Rudy's class had made it back to the shelter. Before long, she could see the cave the rock beast had emerged from and she smirked. "You guys want payback?"
"Huh?' was the response from Dante.
Rene, "Sounds perfect."
Blaine had been doing a lot of damage and was one of the chief reasons it was so injured. If it wasn't for the rain and those trees grabbing him from behind, he would have defeated the beast.
Blaine took up the lead with Karlen right behind him, then Lana. Dante and Tobias followed then Rene and Chekof. Rene's bow was broken by the tree. It was only a level-1 but she was now without a weapon. Chekof handed her a spare dagger.
They watched as Lana donned level-1 then level-2 armor and brought out a climbing rose whip and Rene smiled.
Within minutes they entered the cave. She pulled out some light stones that she used in her tree.
In front of them were two smaller versions of the beast that attacked them. There was one as big as a one-story house and one as big as a shed. It looked like a mother and a baby and the daddy had gone out to collect dinner for the family. They looked like smaller versions of the big guy. These were both still sleeping.
Lana was going to make a suggestion when Blaine let loose chain lightning. While lightning didn't usually work against earth, his was a very powerful ability. The beasts were both awake but injured.
Lana grimaced. She twirled her whip. "Let's do this!" she ran forward slashing the vines as they came out of the buds on her back. They grew back but Lana was in front of her lashing her nose with the whip. She was able to score two hits when, from behind, one of the beast's vines around its feet suctioned Lana. Lana screamed. She hadn't observed the other long enough to see they had a root attack similar to hers but theirs had a suction cup at the end like their tentacles did.
In her anger at being caught in this way, 4-inch spikes which seemed to be elongated thorns came out of her stage two armor. This impaled the suction in the vine and black beast blood flowed down her back, coating her roses. She was dropped and Chekof punched the beast, shattering it.
She looked over to see how the three were faring. The baby looked to be slower on the reflex-side because it was still in the same spot. The buds were just opening. Lana watched as Karlen's sword flew through the air and a wind tunnel pushed it even harder. The baby was impaled just as a suction cup was approaching Tobias. The rock cracked and beast blood spilled on the floor.
Lana looked around. There were some corpses in the back corner. She decided to investigate and called the others over with her. A lot of the equipment on the corpses was destroyed but Lana found a bracelet for herself. Tobias took a dagger that had a slight glow to it. There were some speed boots on one that fit Dante quite nicely. Rene found a bow but no arrows. The string was also broken. The others found nothing but had higher budgets for gear anyway.
Chekof carved out one beast crystal while Karlen pulled out the other. Once they were ready, she looked back over the scene. "Nothing like a bit of revenge for your fallen classmates. Let's get back."
As they approached the shelter, Lana noticed all the soldiers were packed. Bags at their feet which made her wonder what was going on. The students were standing around. There seemed to be a bit of an uproar. The civilians that lived in the shelter were being evacuated. The soldiers were preparing to leave.
She and the other walked straight up to Sergeant Rudy who was so happy to see six more of her students she hugged each one with tears in her eyes. "We are evacuating the planet and it's being redesignated level-6. The dangers are too great here for people to live here. The civilians will be sent to another level-5 shelter."
Lana said goodbye to those she rescued and returned to her team after reporting her return to Nis. He raised an eyebrow at her appearance. She smiled at him and went to Kattie Bree's side.
As their turn for the portal was coming up, she leaned over to her, "do you know how to make baby beast formula?" she whispered, then they went through the portal with a startled look on Kattie's face.
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