A while before Fex and Quinn had arrived at the shelter. All the students from the other classes had been told to return to the shelter as well. This was an order issued by Fay. Frequently, both Fay and Leo were being called out to help the other groups, it was clear that this wasn't a Green portal planet. Or at least not one that the first year students could handle.
After Leo had gone after Del's class and took longer than usual to return, Fay had decided to make the executive decision to call back all of the students to the shelter. The mission was an important one, and she knew her superiors wouldn't accept this as an excuse, especially after just one day.
Instead, to minimize the risk, the plan was to go as one large group while both Fay and Leo would guide them. Rather than split them up via their homeroom classes.
They would cover less ground this way, and the expedition would be a lot slower, but it also would be safer this way.
Some of the students, when returning, were annoyed. Sure they had run into trouble now and again, but in the end, no students had died. Only the weak ones had been injured. They felt like it was better to get rid of the baggage they were carrying. Why not just allow the vulnerable students to return while the stronger ones continued to hunt.
All the other classes had now returned apart from Del's and Fay was starting to worry.
"Where are you Leo, if it's something you can't even handle then we really need to get off this place as soon as possible."
"Hey, I see someone moving." A student shouted.
A person had stepped through the jungle like trees and were now standing on the open dark soil of the shelter.
The first person to arrive was Leo, and behind him, all of the students started to follow. As the other group saw Del's group, sounds of gasps and words of concern were heard.
"What happened to them?"
"Do you think they ran into an advanced beast or something?"
"Yeah right, if they did it would be a lot worse then this. You have to remember Del's class is one of the weakest class out of them all." What the student said wasn't wrong. Del's class was considered the weakest.
With Erin gone and the only strong one left being Vorden, it was hard for them to place the class above any of the others. Vorden's ability would only allow him to copy the strongest of another class. In the student's eyes that only made them even, and they still had plenty of other strong students in their classes apart from one person.
Of course, they thought like this because they didn't know how Vorden's ability really worked.
Soon, the students regretted saying those words as the others started to realize something. At first, they thought that Del's class had just been more injured than theirs. If they had encountered intermediate beasts and it took Leo a long time to get there, then it would make sense. But a little while after, they noticed that no more students were coming out from the jungle.
The current size of the class that appeared, was a little less than half.
"Where is everyone, what happened?" the students said concerned. Not for the other missing students but they were more worried that if something got to them, then they could be next.
The students from Del's class were taken in for further healing as well as to make an official report, while Fay and Leo were to discuss what was to happen next.
"What happened to them?" Fay asked.
"It looks like they went off trail due to an advanced tier beast," Leo explained. The look of horror appeared on Fay's face as her fears were confirmed.
"Don't worry, I already dealt with it before even meeting up with the class. As for the remaining students, according to the teacher Del, they were all eaten, and there was no chance the students survived."
The two of them looked over at where Del was, he was currently barging his way through the injured students and going to the front of the queue.
"Out of the way, don't you guys know how to respect your superiors and elders. It was only because of me you guys managed to live in the first place, and this is how you treat me."
Although Leo couldn't really see Del's actions, hearing his words made him feel sick.
"That man doesn't deserve to be a teacher," Leo said as he clenched his fist.
'This should be fun.' Fay thought. She mainly knew Leo due to his feats during the war, but hadn't seen him in combat much. After hearing how easily he dealt with the Dalki, she knew the rumours had to be true.
Any chance to watch someone so significant in combat was a good opportunity for her to learn. Especially since she also primarily used a sword as her weapon.
As Leo took another step forward, he suddenly stopped. Before anyone else, he could hear the sound of the leaves ruffling from behind.
"Looks like we finally made it," Andy said as he appeared out of the jungle. The group of travellers had arrived, but they weren't alone.
For they had also brought back Vorden, Cia, Layla, Peter and Logan. Inside the tunnels, Logan had managed to regroup quickly with the travellers once his scanner was working.
As an excuse for why Logan had done his actions, he simply said that he was too afraid after seeing the students dead and thought that a beast was inside with them. Although Andre didn't quite buy it, he decided to let it slide.
The students were the military's problem, not his.
"Looks like some more of Del's class has arrived, maybe they aren't dead after all and were just split up."
Fay, and Leo hadn't quite told the students what had happened to Del's class. The students who had survived were still busy being interviewed and were away from the other students, so they still had yet to hear from the other students what happened.
After the travellers and students had walked out from the trees and vines, what followed next started to cause alarm in the camp. For the large lion like beast came out as well.
"Beast! Beast!" Students shouted as they recognized the beast was a powerful looking one, perhaps at the advanced level.
"Calm down!" One of the commanders who was looking after the students shouted. "That beast will do us no harm. It belongs to the Bree family."
After hearing that name, the students quickly began to calm down. By hearing the name, they felt safe, as the Bree's where one of the big fours and their powers were known quite wide. The ability to control beasts.
Seeing the stripes on both Fay and Leo's side, Andre knew straight away who were the highest commanding officers in this shelter, he approached the two of them and saluted at them out of respect. Fay did the same back, but Leo had chosen not to do anything.
"Leo, I know you can't see, but this is someone from the Bree family, and they just saluted you," Fay whispered.
"Oh, I know, but one must earn respect. I do not know who this man is. I see no reason to show respect to someone just because they carry a certain name." Leo replied loudly, knowing that he could be heard.
"I agree wholeheartedly", Andre replied. "Which is why I chose to keep my name a secret from most, unfortunately, my ability is a dead giveaway. Anyway, I believe these students are yours." Andre said as he opened up his palm telling the students to go over to the other side.
Cia, had the biggest smile on her face as she ran forward, towards the shelter and the other students. While the others decided to remain hoping to hear the conversation between these two powerhouses.
"Thank you", Leo replied. "Would you mind telling me where you found them. Perhaps I will be able to search for others near the same area. You have done enough, so there is no need for you to go out of your way." Leo said.
Andre and Andy both looked at each other. They had suspected bringing back the students, that something like this would happen. In the end, they had already made their decision when coming here.
"Actually, there is something we must inform you about..." Andy said as he stepped forward and handed over a scanner to Fay.
They revealed information that they had kept secret from the military. The fact that they had discovered an underground town. Not only that, but it seemed like it was made from Dalki structure.
They made excuses while explaining. Stating that they knew the place was abandoned and had been taken over by beasts, which is why they decided not to inform or trouble the military with this information just yet. But both Fay and Leo knew they must have been a deeper reason for doing something like this.
"Leo, both Quinn, and Fex. They're still down there." Vorden said.
Logan then handed over the altered scanner he had created to Fay as well. Displaying the information he had found. "Most of the students who were taken by the plants seemed to have passed away. There is still a chance that there are others, but I'm sure both Quinn and Fex are still alive." Logan explained.
Standing by Leo's side, slowly fay was boiling up at what she had just heard from the travellers.
"You...you.. I can't believe you were hiding this from us. Do you know if you had given this information to us beforehand, the students would have never been sent to a planet like this in the first place? Because of you, students died."
Before she even knew it, her fist was already flying towards Andy's face, at the same time, she felt a slash going towards her arm. Images of her arm being sliced off were seen.
Quickly pulling it back, she looked at her hand and could see it was still intact.
"A vision?" She said.
"Don't be too rash", Leo said, but at the same time, he too had his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Vorden and the others were prepared for a clash between the travellers and the sergeants. They were ready to help out Leo wherever they could. Other than helping them find an exit, the travellers hadn't really done much to help them.
In the end, Quinn was the one who had killed the beast. Also, they still remembered how much in debt they were to Leo, for saving them from the Dalki.
Every one of the students from the sideline, including the other soldiers, silently watched from the sideline. They were too afraid to get involved. If they did, it could cause trouble due to the relations the one of the big four had with the military.