Ren’s mushrooms couldn’t process the information they were receiving. These beasts didn’t follow their known logic, defying every pattern he had learned.
"There’s no information," murmured Ren while his mushrooms tried to analyze the creatures. "It’s as if... as if they came from somewhere completely different."
"Fall back!" shouted one of the professors while attacking one of the beasts, barely managing to inflict any damage despite his powerful beast.
The students retreated in panic as more creatures emerged. A being that seemed made of intertwined tubes pumping violet liquid advanced toward them, its movements following no natural rhythm.
"They’re more horrible than I expected," Klein murmured, his lion growling at enemies that defied its comprehension.
"What do we do, Ren?" Min asked, his water snake manifested but coiling nervously. "What kind of beasts are these?"
Taro also turned to him. "Are they like the deep worms and living tunnels? Or more like the bugs or assassins you told us about?"
The mushrooms in Ren’s hair pulsed erratically, trying to process what they were seeing, their usual patterns breaking down in the face of the unknown.
He watched one of the creatures that had an elongated body covered in overlapping plates of deep purple. It had no visible eyes, but dozens of antennae vibrated constantly.
"I..." Ren found himself speechless for the first time in a long while. His mushrooms couldn’t provide useful information; the beasts didn’t follow the normal patterns he had learned to recognize.
"I don’t know," Ren finally admitted, the sensation of ignorance hitting him like a physical weight. "I have no information about them."
Min and Taro exchanged surprised looks. Ren always knew something, always had some idea of how to proceed.
A roar resonated in the chamber as a larger beast emerged. Its body was a mass of dense tissue, with multiple appendages ending in branching structures.
"Defensive formation!" Professor Wei’s voice cut through the panic. "Senior students, form a perimeter! You’ve studied abyssal beasts!"
The teachers moved with the precision that only comes from real experience in the army during their military service. Their beasts attacked while they took strategic positions.
"Don’t let them advance!" shouted another professor while his elephant bull charged one of the creatures. "Test elements until you find their random weakness!"
Wei directed his manticore. "Bronze rank, seek elemental weakness! Silver rank, attack directly! Brute force works if you have enough power!"
The senior students who had advanced in their cultivation organized quickly. One launched a water attack that made one of the beasts writhe in pain. Another discovered his wind beast could disarm the protective plates of another.
"This is revealing," murmured Ren while watching the battle unfold with fascination and apprehension.
He observed, fascinated, as the teachers and experienced students worked together, testing different approaches until finding the effective way to eliminate each type of beast. It was for him a reminder that the world was larger and stranger than his mushrooms could show him at this level.
"It’s like starting over," he whispered, a small smile forming on his lips despite the danger. "There’s so much I don’t know..."
Ren observed with renewed interest. Perhaps he didn’t know these beasts, had no information about their patterns or weaknesses, but that only meant there was more to discover.
Of course he was afraid of the unknown... But he had always been brave because he had always liked the idea of being an explorer like the ’Wandering King’ from his book.
The initial feeling of vulnerability slowly transformed into something else: the same feeling of excitement and curiosity that had led him to leave home or explore the mines in the first place.
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