Blood Queen Reborn

When traveling deeper and further away from Del, Erin’s group all had to be careful as to not go completely out of the 200 meter range. Due to the fact that the scanner wouldn’t work if they left the 200 meter range, they were using the device to check if they were at the edge of it.

They didn’t encounter any other teams as they traveled along the edge, which was likely because they hadn’t gotten close to it just yet, or because they didn’t want to accidentally leave the radius.

"Hey, check that out," Fex said, gesturing to an area up ahead.

They headed there, and found a charred clearing that surrounded a hill. The main attraction of the spot was that in the direct center and peak of the hill was a brilliantly white tree with branches that jagged outwards. There were no leaves, and when they got closer, the hairs on their body rose.

"OW!" Layla twisted her head to Vorden, "You shocked me!"

Due to the static energy in the air, Vorden accidentally shocked her when he brushed against Layla.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, "I got shocked too."

Layla only gave him a dirty glance in response.

Even though they were only at the edge of the clearing, they didn’t want to get closer to the tree, as even the static was affecting them. It made them wonder what would happen if they were right up to the tree.

Thankfully, Erin’s inspect skill had a far better range than the scanner itself.

[Inspect]

[Lightning tree]

[Whenever lightning strikes this tree, it stores the energy within. If destroyed, the tree will expel said energy forcefully]

[Stored energy: 5,614 kWh]

"That tree is storing quite the excess of energy. A lightning strike would’ve caused it to gain trillions of watts. For reference, your everyday light bulb uses only 10 watts of energy," the system explained, "Or, if you want to change the numbers a bit, a singular lightning strike would charge up to 1,400 Kilowatt-Hours, which is the same energy the average home uses over a month and a half."

{Quinn} In other words, it’s dangerous.

"Correct," the system said.

The amount of electricity Erin could take on was something that she didn’t want to test out, and she doubted the others could survive it either. It was likely a long and painful death to endure.

"Let’s just scan the tree and get out of here," Erin said.

The others agreed. The longer they stuck around, the more static electricity built up.

Initially, Layla was intending to go up the hill by herself, but Erin was adamant about joining her. Not wanting to argue, the two got closer and closer to the tree, and the hairs on their head were visibly rising upwards. There was just that much static.

Layla was about to scan the tree when a mud spear had crashed into her hand, causing her to drop the scanner.

"Ack—!" Layla yelped, and turned towards whoever threw it.

It had come from a smug looking boy on the opposite side of where they came from down the hill. He was levitating a sphere of mud in the air, and behind him were a few of his team members backing him up.

"Hey! What was that for? You’re going to lose 50 points for that!" Layla called out.

"Oh really? I don’t see the teacher anywhere!" The boy said, then threw another spear at her.

Layla easily sidestepped it, and at the same time, the boy’s team member was about to scan the tree.

Erin, however, threw a rock at that team member as hard as she could, which was to say, the kid stumbled back, holding his bloodied nose.

"You bitch!"

Layla was able to pick up the scanner in time, and raised it up to the tree, audibly beeping. That had told the other team they lost out on 5 points.

"Grr!" The smug looking boy growled, then formed a large spear, "If we can’t scan this damn plant, then we’ll destroy it!"

He threw it hard, and images of Erin’s sword flying through the air back on Caladi flashed in her mind. The projectile was about to crash into the tree, and not wanting Layla to get hurt again, she tackled her down the hill out of their view. By covering the two in a thick layer of shadow, she was able to shield her friend from what was about to happen next.

The mud spear crashed into the tree, and immediately, visible arcs of lightning sparked out of it.

"Uh oh," the smug boy said.

"That doesn’t look good," Fex commented.

Sensing that the tree was going to explode, Vorden immediately began forming a dense earth dome around them. Quinn realized what he was doing, and joined him, further reinforcing the walls. It was 30 inches thick on all sides, which was hopefully enough to protect them.

The boys from the other team ran off into the jungle just in time as the power of the tree exploded all at once. Deafening thundering sounds resonated throughout the jungle, the sound traveling far and wide. It was so loud that it had even reached Del, who was 200 meters away, and the students around him wondered why there was thunder on a clear sunny day.

"That better not be a powerful beast," Del shivered.

He wasn’t the only one to have heard it, as inside of a far away cave, it echoed across the walls, and deep within to the ears of a slumbering beast. Its eyes cracked open, bloodshot and red, and shuffled its massive body upwards as it slowly awoken. The beast headed out of the cave, wanting to destroy whoever or whatever had disturbed its sleep.

Back at the hill, the lightning tree had expelled all of its energy, now losing its luminous glow, and Erin’s team slowly uncovered itself now that it had quieted.

[-97 MC]

[MC 3/100]

’Crap, that used up most of my MC,’ Erin thought.

Taking the shadow off of herself, Erin looked down to Layla.

"Are you okay?"

Layla silently nodded, and the two got up to their feet.

"Crap, what about the others!? Are they okay?" Layla exclaimed.

They quickly surveyed the area for any charred bodies, only to find an earthen dome slowly fall back in the ground.

"Whew! That was a close one," Fex said, wiping away sweat.

"All of that over 5 points," Quinn bitterly mumbled.

Vorden, however, was a little preoccupied with something he had seen. Despite the bright lights, he knew what he saw. Something unmistakably dark, and visibly distinct.

When turning to see Vorden’s reaction, Quinn had a building realization that he had seen Erin use her ability, but didn’t want to bring it up, just in case he thought it was something else.

"You said that your ability wasn’t working right now, was it?" Vorden slowly said as he walked up to her, "Then what was that shadow about?"

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