As the trio approached the forest they saw some spirits and ghosts lingering around, which were mainly harmless as they are unable to interact with people that understand their soul and use it to engulf their bodies, and so they were simply ignored.
At that moment Atlas unfortunately decided to curse the group with his voice once again, making Apricus think of the phrase "noise pollution".
"Uhm guys, where exactly are the bandits, "middle of the forest" does not prove to be that helpful."
Simply ignoring Atlas the group entered the forest, being surrounded by various shrubs, bushes, and trees, all of them being grey or white along with the wandering ghosts and spirits, an unsettling atmosphere was created. That was when Apricus suddenly spoke up.
"So, why did Genso send you two to tag along?"
Chloe, observing a strange ghost resembling an old lady, simply replied with a short response.
"Well we are the chief students so we're here to observe you."
Apricus simply nodded, he was unaware they were the chief students however anyone with half a brain could deduce the pair were sent to observe and keep in check of Apricus, he just needed to make sure.
As they walked through the jungle navigating their way past anything over their strength level using Atlas's eyes, and using Chloe's mind control on animals as bait, they managed to get past a lot of dangers that would otherwise kill them. Usually this would have been impossible as any creature a higher category then them could have immediately sensed the presence of these mere Beast Category's however the forest itself has a special property, it could completely erase the presence of anyone entering it which gave the trio an advantage as their enemies would be unaware of them but because of Atlas the group could track its enemies.
Using his eye ability Atlas saw a few meters far, through a few bushes and trees seeing a Unholy Creature that was around 9 ft tall, completely pale, and had dim silver runic engravings covering its entire body. It was completely bald and had a singular arm with a white satin cloth stitched directly to its shoulder covering the creature's missing left arm. It wore a shiny metal plated grey eyepatch covering its right eye with a completely white left eyeball, having no pupil in sight. Its mouth was stitched shut and its chest had semi large breasts, However, Atlas had no time to concentrate or even discern the details of the horrifying abomination.
The moment he laid eyes on it his body was riddled with fear as he immediately told his small group of the danger. "Guys, we have an issue, this one seems much more dangerous then the rest, we gotta make a large detour." As soon as the two heard that they immediately started walking towards their right, as Atlas continued his attention towards the creature, however just then Apricus spoke up.
"What category and rank is it, do we have any resemblance of hope against it in a fight?"
Of course Apricus was not thinking of taking the unholy on in a fight however if anything can go wrong it will go wrong, and so having a rough idea of the enemy's strength would prove to be helpful if things went south.
As the other two looked at him crazy, assuming he wanted to fight it Atlas finally responded.
"I think it's an Unholy Demon, I'm not sure of the rank but most likely anything higher than B. However I think it possesses extraordinary intelligence, if we want to fight it we have to be extremely careful."
A Unholy Demon of a high rank was not something that could be taken lightly by a bunch of Beasts, especially if it possessed high intelligence, however if a fight were to happen they had an extremely small chance of surviving.
So the group continued right, before changing their course back to the normal route when they were far enough from the Unholy Creature. Nothing unusual happened as Atlas continued to navigate the route ahead and Chloe continued using nearby creatures as bait, Apricus was barely needed as they never encountered much, and so they finally arrived at the bandit camp with the help of Atlas's ability, while the identity of the bandits, all three of them had figured out to be the mentors from the village testing the trio's strength.
However what laid upon their eyes were four dead bodies bathing in their own pool of blood, and of course the bodies belonged to the mentors pretending to be bandits. The camp with small tents, a campfire, and fence around the vicinity were all destroyed, as the nearby pond was completely gone. Terror filled the bodies of Apricus, Atlas, and Chloe, not only because of the scene in front of them, but also because out of these four bandits one was a Pseudo-Cursed, while the other 3 were demons, all of them high up in their ranks.
Meaning there was a possible threat lurking nearby with a strength that may possibly rival a very low rank Pseudo-Holy.
When Atlas spoke his voice was filled with terror and dread and he broke in a cold sweat. "My eyes, they saw the bandits and the camps, all of it was perfectly fine and alive. There's no way it could have gone unnoticed, I was observing them the entire time." As he said this while shaking he fell to his knees, with wide open eyes. "Even now all I see is a perfect build camp, while the bandits are alive."
As Apricus started to calm down ever so slightly he looked at his companions at his right, Chloe was simply standing there terrified, pale, and unmoving, while Atlas was on his knees, tears falling down his wide open eyes as his round glasses fell off his face, landing on the ground between his legs. Fortunately just then Apricus came to a realization, whatever was responsible for this, seemed to be using mind attacks, making the scene process way scarier in the victims minds, or using other methods to make it more terrifying and haunting. However due to Apricus's past experiences, he had built up a pretty strong mental fortitude, which let him calm down quicker, although he was still slightly scared and even unsure.
As these thoughts went through his mind he started, thinking up of solutions and causes for this current predicament.
'Could the cause of this be an Unholy Creature we already encountered, no, according to Atlas he still sees the bandits alive and well, and the camp fully built, meaning there has to be a mind messing ability or illusion ability at play, instead of something having to do with terror or fear specifically. That would also mean it could evade Atlas's eyes through such techniques. If that's the case then it must be a demon of at least the S rank, but there's the fact it's wary of approaching us means it has suspicions of there being traps around us, or at least senses the traps I've placed.'
The traps Apricus referred to was an extension of his flame abilities, allowing him to use explosions, which he placed as land mines in the ground underneath, surrounding the trio, the moment he saw the scene before his eyes, while Apricus continued measuring the foe's ability.
'Another reason it couldn't be a Demon, along with the trap sensing is there fact that it managed to kill a high ranked Psurdo-Cursed, so if I were to guess it could be around a category of Pseudo-Cursed with a rank of at least E or D, because it does still possess the stupidness of a Demon category, considering its wary of the trap I've set when I'm a mere Beast, two categories below him.'
A mere thirteen seconds had passed when
Apricus had finished analyzing the scene, however unfortunately his time to analyze any further had run out, as the creature finally made its move before any of them could see, sense, or even react, it had beheaded Atlas in a mere instant.
So Atlas had died by the mysterious Unholy Creatures hands.
However while Apricus was on the far left with Chloe in the middle and the headless body of Atlas on the right, this gave Apricus a semi safe position, so the moment the two witnessed Atlas's head fly off in shock and terror, Apricus's body turned bright red with his legs turning bright orange and being enhanced with much more soul, he instantly disappeared in a flash, turning into a red ball of fire and he flew above the forest, exiting out of the Wailing Forest's area, and leaving Chloe to fend for herself.
As he landed, he slided a few extra metres, being more closer to the village with the forest being further behind him, he straightened himself and took a glance back with his dark and slightly cold red eyes, and his hair, the same colour as the blood the lifeless bodies of the bandits bathed in, fell in front of his face, slightly obstructing his view, as he thought. 'I do wish you luck Chloe, however I have no absolute reason to risk my life to save your pitiful one.'
Then with that he continued walking towards Aria Village, with a calculating expression.
'Hm, what lie do I feed Genso and the others, after all I can't simply say one was killed while I left the other to fend for herself. Though in my defence my first instinct out of self preservation was to flee.'
Through the trauma Apricus had dealt with during his younger years, the singular and most mightiest instinct had developed within Apricus's heart, to the point his body, mind, and soul react immediately. Flee the moment his life is at risk.'
Although it is common and normal for humans or even creatures such as animals or Unholy Creatures to flee the moment their life may be at risk, Apricus's body does not linger, or hesitate, its an immediate and rapid reaction, similar to how the body automatically breathes or digests. However he was no fool, such flimsy reasoning could not defend his name so he continued thinking of better ways when suddenly a thought formed in his mind.
His body turning bright red once again, he went straight back into the forest, after a while of travelling, and making sure he was completely safe, he stopped and cut off his left arm using his right. Then he stabbed himself in the stomach, and made a deep horizontal gash along his left shoulder, stabbing himself a couple of more times across his torso. When injuring himself he made sure to cover his right hand using his soul, forming the soul around his hand into a sharp creature like look.
As he coughed blood, feeling dizzy he turned bright red once again flying out the forest, through the sky, and landing right in front of the library in the middle of a small group of people. Where he then fell unconscious due to extreme blood loss.
When he woke up, he found himself in a dark and slightly small room. He laid on the bed placed in the middle of the room with various strange looking equipment and tools on a tray beside him on the nightstand. The room itself had nothing else other than a lamp on the corner with a small window beside it, with a door on the opposite end of the window and lamp. Sitting up, Apricus looked to his right, out the window.
The moon was high above, illuminating the sky along with the countless stars, seemingly it was slightly past midnight, as Apricus continued looking outside admiring the view.
Unfortunately his admiration was suddenly disturbed as the door opened, and a muscular looking man, with long white hair in a pony tail walked in scanning the room with his fierce blue tiger like eyes, then speaking directly to Apricus. "I hope you've somewhat recovered, how are you feeling?"
As Apricus looked back, matching Genso's gaze he replied back. "Pretty well, I've recovered most of my stamina and health, even got my arm recovered, please give my thanks to the doctors and nurses."
Genso nodded as he continued. "Of course, we had a Pseudo-Cursed category healer available after all, however now is not the time for idle chatter, I'm aware you know of the grave urgency we are in due to the attack on the chiefs students, you being a suspect. So tell me what happened in that damned forest."
Apricus noticed Genso's expression turn dark, and angered for a slight moment before turning back to normal, however he simply ignored it and prepared to feed lies to the fierce man standing before him.