Horizon Demon Hunter Academy (IC)

[Effort]

It looked like the other members of the party were catching on to the unnatural quiet. Yosuke sped up, he must have seen something up ahead, probably the jeep. Brant stayed near Isaac and began summoning energy to prepare for use in a spell, Liam had confirmed what he had detected and was ready to react to an ambush or trap. What with no wildlife in sight or ear shot it was possible that either whatever it was was scaring the animals away and was near by. But that didn't explain the lack of pines on the ground or bushes. Maybe something in the mud was consuming what ever met the ground, but what about the trees? Could whatever it was reach up and eat the birds? Brant stared at the mud, and after a moment shook his head. Too many variables, too many questions. He couldn't prepare for every possibility, just react and hope it's the right action to take. Brant hated these situations.

They were coming on the jeep, Yosuke was ahead and would get to it first. Brant hoped there wasn't a trap waiting to be sprung, but if that were the case Yosuke would spring it then they could help get him out of it, if he survived. Anyone with acute senses would be able to detect the traces of energy gathered around Brant.

 

[Ray C]

"If you see something, go check it out instead of giving me a heart attack." Saria's heart had leaped into her throat when Davin's voice spoke right next to her ear. She understood how it worked, at least vaguely; but she hadn't been expecting it, so she was caught by surprise when it happened. After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Saria ran after Davin. She had to duck the occasional drooping fern and dodge around giant mushroom stalks, but the ground was mostly clear of anything hampering to her size. She felt like a mouse working through a maze, and she didn't like it. When Davin reported his findings, she almost celebrated.

"Which way does it run?" she asked softly.

Her answer came in the form of a high-pitched screech. Something--likely a demon--had just been caught. The scream came to an abrupt end a few seconds later; it was dead and about to be devoured by a Behemoth. "He's feeding now; let's move fast!" In her excitement, Saria forgot to keep her voice down--she shouted it at Davin and took off sprinting toward where the sound had come from.

-----

"Only demons, huh. It's not like I expected to find humans living here, but... It's too quiet without birds." Isaac looked at the trees to their right, then shook his head. "The sooner we leave this place, the happier I'll be."

The road's curve straightened out, then the group came to the left-hand turnoff for the hiking trail. Yosuke sighted the jeep first, so he started running. Isaac followed him into the parking lot, looking around the open area curiously. The pavement was still intact; it was more cracked than a sheet of glass, but it was still completely recognizable as a parking lot. He'd been expecting to find it completely torn apart and overgrown--except that there wasn't any growth even in the dirt, so not having any sticking up from the cracks made sense. Again, the lack of plant life rubbed at Isaac's nerves.

Scarier than the lack of plants, though, was the obvious lack of tires on the jeep. The rims were there--slightly dented on the bottom--but the rest of each tire was gone. Isaac's steps slowed as he puzzled over what might have happened, only halfway into the lot

 

[Reanimator Buns]

Yosuke
​

Yosuke arrived at the jeep first. He was shocked to see it in its condition. "I've seen reanimated corpses, disembodied voices, even completely warped weapons. But this is something different." Yosuke edged closer to the jeep, prepared to fight, or flee. There was nothing inside. No seats, supplies, even the steering wheel was gone. It was the perfect frame of the jeep. Ambrosia tugged at his shirt, trying to get his attention. "What is it?" Of course due to their bond, he had the ability to understand her and communicate with her, despite not actually being able to speak like some demons. "Ants? What do ants have to do with this?" Again she tried to communicate with him. It took him a bit of deciphering, but he got the message eventually. Even so why it was relevant seemed a little hazy at first. "Hey, Isaac. Ambrosia just told me about army ants. She said that the colony devour their prey leaving behind only pristine white bone. Think something similar happened here? It seems a bit far fetched though, and if that's what these things can do to a jeep lets hope we don't find out what they can do to us."

 

[Diomedes]

The group continued to walk along the road, passing the demon-infested forest. The road slowly shifted from a curve to a straight line. A hiking trail revealed itself left of the group. Liam's eyes widened at what he saw. He took a small step back. The Jeep that the scientists had came in was at the trail. However, it had been striped of almost everything but the metal frame. Yosuke ran toward the jeep to get a better look. Issac followed him soon after. Liam slowly approached the jeep. Once again, he noticed the total lack of life around him. "Just what are we up against?" Liam said.

 

[Drakken]

Davin had been about to answer Saria's question when the demon in the distance shrieked. He frowned toward the sound and regarded the trail of marks on the branches. They went another way entirely. He was about to relay that to Saria when her voice blared in his ear at full volume. He just about jumped out of his skin, wincing away from the sound and the way it made his ear ring. He could only be glad about the fact that redirecting the sound meant that it didn't go echoing off towards where the behemoth supposedly was. The acoustics in this forest were strange and acted more like a wind tunnel in places in spite of the monstrous undergrowth. By the time he shook his head and turned towards his partner, she'd already bounded ahead towards the fading cries of the demon.

It didn't long to catch up to Saria. He would have preferred to scout ahead by air, but they were nearly there by then, so he settled onto one of the overhanging branches. He stuck close to the enormous leaves, each one of which could easily conceal him on their own. He briefly entertained the thought of someone using the giant leaves like a glider and settled his eyes on their quarry. He recognized the behemoth from its description. It looked like a cross between the Yeti of myth, if it had the wicked-looking claws of a sloth and a mouth full of huge, hooked fangs. Davin couldn't be sure from this distance, but its fangs looked to be almost as long as his forearms, and its claws were easily as long as his legs. Its thick white fur seemed incongruous with the environment it apparently chose for itself, and seemed better suited to a wintry area. It bent over the now twitching corpse of a demon rendered unidentifiable by virtue of the fact that the behemoth had ripped it apart and pulverized its head into a small crater in the ground. Dark blood coated its face, matting its fur, and dripped from its huge claws as it scooped the creature's meat into its gullet or tore off choice sections of muscle. Not matter how often he saw it, the feeding habits of the bestial demons always managed to make Davin's stomach turn and he considered it fortunate he hadn't eaten before coming. He couldn't quite tell how tall it was with it crouched down like that, but it dwarfed the corpse and seemed better suited for the size of the foliage around it.

"How do we want to do this?" Davin mumbled, barely even whispering, both so it wouldn't startle Saria too much and to make sure the target didn't catch onto them. "One of us could run distraction while the other springs at it from behind. We could go for it at the same time and stay on either side of it, harry it every time it turns to try and hit one of us. You've hunted more of these than me, so you make the call."

 

[Ray C]

Saria's glare could have frozen nitrogen. She hated the mere sight of such a vulgar monstrosity. "Try to take out one eye while you have the element of surprise. Then lure it past the tree you're in. I'll hamstring it when it comes around." Quick, simple, efficient. It wasn't how the squad had done it her first year, but she couldn't exactly copy the micro-thin wire mesh that was Bridgett's specialty.

-----

"I'd say that sounds the same as this, but I'd hate to see the ants that ate this jeep." Isaac stepped closer to the jeep, eying it suspiciously. "Let's say there are ants. The rain just stopped when a jeep drives up and parks. Maybe they parked on top of the ant's door so all the ants came out angry." It was a stupid idea, but Isaac felt like checking anyway. He put on hand on the jeeps frame and lifted. It took a moment to begin moving (even weightless it had a lot of mass), but soon the jeep raised into the air and let everyone see underneath.

Isaac released the jeep and forgot about it entirely. Something was laying on the ground where the jeep had been. It wasn't moving--yet--but it definitely wasn't an ant. It looked vaguely like a pig crossed with a beetle--fleshy and low to the ground.

And then its nose(?) twitched.

Isaac felt his ears ringing. The forest across the street began to rumble, quiet at first but soon growing louder. Many more forms appeared, both in the trees and crawling along the ground. He couldn't even begin to count the multitude that slid along the ground toward them. "Not. Good."

 

[Effort]

They are upon us! Beal alerted him with glee. What looked like silver-grey flames erupted around Brant, he cursed himself internally for showing a visual display, looked like he was going to have to practice some more when this was done. Brant tried to count how many of these things there were, but soon found it was no use. "It looks like we need to run." Drawing in a breath Brant focused his mind, concentrated, and fired. The earth between the group and the way to the mountain erupted, flinging some of those creatures aside and clearing a path. The asphalt was bent in a way that would hinder the progress of the 'ants' back into the path, and before they had a chance to try and crawl over it Brant started running through, hoping his party-mates had the good sense to follow.