SSS Frost Sovereign: Rewinding The Apocalypse!-Chapter 69: Finding a path!

It was then he remembered more. This part of the gate. The Root Maze Ruins.

Before they could venture further, more bark guards surfaced from the forest behind them.

They emerged from the woods they had just escaped as though they were only just arriving, but their movements had changed.

They rushed the humans with a newfound, aggression, their wooden limbs snapping and creaking as they sprinted toward the rear of the group.

Several incarnations halted.

They didn’t show panic; instead, they faced the charging guards with a measured, grim confidence.

"We’ll handle them. You all should go on ahead," the raid party leader said.

He had about seven incarnations in his party who stopped alongside him, readying themselves.

Albert halted for a moment. Consulting the papers before him, he looked the raid party over.

"Ansa," he muttered, looking at the raid party that had just stopped.

"They might not be enough. I can tell those new spawns will be trouble. Leone!"

A sharp-featured incarnation with a piercing gaze and a lean, athletic build glanced back.

"Assist Ansa and help us hold them back," Albert ordered.

Leone glanced at his Erwald, the size of a cat with a hard, brownish skin like a dried coconut shell and small, obsidian eyes.

Leone’s look seemed to be asking, What do you think?

The Erwald let out a low, vibrating churr; it clearly understood the evaluation, and the fact that they were being asked to stay back irked it.

But seeing the situation, it hunkered down on his shoulder. And so, they stayed back to face the advancing guards.

Albert signaled two of his own men to assist as well before turning.

He made it a point to post his own men wherever he stationed raid parties to ensure coordination.

"Advance, everyone!" he ordered, and the column moved.

"How many raid groups have we posted?" Albert asked.

"Three now, sir," his subordinate answered.

Albert faced forward as they hurried on. ’We don’t know what’s ahead of us. I feel like we’ll need our numbers, definitely.’

The view before them was daunting.

Massive roots from the towering trees twisted and looped over one another, creating a wooden maze that swallowed the light.

However, before they could properly enter fully, a series of loud, guttural growls suddenly echoed through the timber.

The sound sent an immediate wave of tension through the group.

Muscles locked, and breaths were held as the snarling grew closer, coming from multiple directions at once.

They emerged from the foliage: wolf-like beasts with hides textured like rough bark.

Thick, dark moss grew along their spines and shoulders, and their eyes glowed a dim, predatory amber through shaggy plant-fur.

A pack of over twenty had surrounded them. Icard studied them for a brief moment.

’Moss Hounds, and they’re quite the trouble in packs.’ he thought upon recognition.

On command, a few of Albert’s men and several other incarnations struck first and a fierce battle erupted.

Though the hounds had the numbers, the incarnations were physically superior and more experienced this time.

In no time, they began clearing the pack.

One hulking incarnation finishing last, caught a hound mid-leap, smashing his fist into its bark-ribs with a sickening crack before finishing it with a heavy stomp that shattered its form into splinters.

A heavy silence returned.

"These spawns may return. I can tell they come in packs," Gremit said.

’He’s right. We’ll definitely meet more of them,’ Icard thought. ’But they aren’t the D-grade threats I’m expecting yet’

They made to advance, but the massive, overlapping roots presented a significant obstacle. There was no clear path.

"There’s no time to think about this," Katar said, still tucked into Alia’s shirt.

"The useless ones should just blast their way through; let the ones who actually matter follow in their wake."

Gremit ignored the jab.

"We should send people to scout and find a sure route. These roots overlap too much. Climbing up and down constantly will be too arduous. We need a manageable route."

Albert nodded and signaled his men. They disappeared into the shadows, crawling up the massive roots.

"We should split up and follow each of them," a crystalline-skinned Erwald suggested.

"That’s not part of our plan, Delman," Gremit said without looking back.

Icard studied the area, trying to recall the route from his last turn, but his memories were vague.

And as though they weren’t allowed a moment of rest, suddenly, the roots themselves began to shift again.

Humanoid shapes began to take form, peeling themselves away from the outer walls of the massive roots.

Bark guards were emerging from here as well!

Staying stationary was never an option; it only allowed the spawns to converge on them easily.

To the stronger incarnations, however, these were just prey. Those nearby engaged immediately.

Attacks and energy blasts flew, wood scattering in every direction.

Some struggled against the sheer numbers, but others would clash in, dealing the final deathblows and absorbing the essence.

The elites, expecting stronger foes, avoided the fray as much as possible to conserve their energy.

But the strength of these spawns wasn’t to be underestimated. One guard swung a heavy timber-arm, nearly crushing an incarnation against a root wall.

Luna moved to help, but Albert held her back.

"You shouldn’t use your strength now. I’m sure they’re all capable of handling this."

The bark guard that had cornered that incarnation was then blasted from behind and destroyed.

The same state as most of the bark guards.

Soon enough, that wave dwindled, just a few of them still landing their killing blows on the bark guards.

And soon enough, the threat was fully neutralised.

"We have to move" Albert muttered. "Where are they?"

Just then, one of Albert’s scouts, suddenly appeared atop a root to the left.

However, something was wrong with his gait. It was strange, unsteady and weak.

"This way," he wheezed, before losing his footing and falling to the ground.

"Hudson!" Luna yelled.

The crowd rippled with unease as Albert’s crew rushed to him and held him up.

There were no visible wounds, but green, vein-like lines were spreading rapidly across his skin.

"Poison?" Luna muttered.

Icard recognized it instantly.

’Venom Spitters! E-rank, but on the higher end.’

His eyes narrowed, feeling a bit tensed. ’They’re like traps. We’ll have to be really careful to spot them before we get close.’

"Could have been a trap," Icard whispered to Alia and the others. "We should be really careful from now on."

"He’s alive but down," Luna said. "What do we do?"

Albert looked at the path Hudson had come from.

"He said it’s this way so we move. Just be careful. He likely never saw what hit him."

And so, with Albert leading the way, they moved cautiously through the root-path.

After a minute, they reached a rightward turn.

And there, camouflaged perfectly against the root wall, was a venom spitter, like a flat mat posted on the wall.

Even Icard didn’t notice it until it moved. Without a sound, it folded into a sac-like form and contracted into a bulb form.

And soundlessly, again, it shot a spine of concentrated venom next.

An unlucky incarnation was hit instantly. He yelled, flailing his hands as the crowd scrambled back.

"What the hell is this?!"

The spawn prepared to shoot again, but a fiery side-kick from Redd met the bulbous growth, incinerating it in a single forceful strike and scattering it’s parts about.

The green substance seeped into the victim’s skin.

He staggered, groaning through clenched teeth as his body began to seize.

He fell to his knees, then to the ground, his limbs twitching in a violent, toxic reaction.

His party rushed to his side, but he had already lost consciousness, his eyes wide and vacant.

Albert realized they really couldn’t detect these things easily. He gritted his teeth.

"Move on. Eyes on the walls and ground. Don’t let any movement escape you!"

The group followed, the eeriness of the labyrinth sinking in.

They walked for some time even more cautiously before they finally hit it.

A dead end, a solid wall of massive, ancient wood.

"Of course, a dead end," Katar muttered. "We should just get over it,"

Gremit and Albert weighed the options.

Gremit had wanted an easy route to keep their numbers together and prevent some from getting lost or exhausted unnecessarily.

But Albert countered quietly,

"We’re leading capable incarnations. We go straight over the roots as many times as we must. Those who can’t keep up should just fall back and hold the lines here"

Realizing that searching for a path was only slowing them down, Gremit nodded.

And so, Albert was about to order the climb but it was then that it finally came, with wood creaks in each step.

Icard glanced up and recognized the jagged, armored silhouette that had just emerged immediately.

The presence was unmistakable.

[Spawn Detected]

[Threat Level: D]

[Spawn Name: Thorn Knight]