“Yuki! Nana! What happened!?” Ai ran over as fast as she could. She could tell something was wrong. All four of them looked like a wreck.

“We had to run from a rank five horned snake. It was not easy.” Fatty replied. He was helping Maiko walk as she had twisted her ankle. He would have carried her, but he had a large wound on his back.

- - -

After Nana took Yuki, Fatty turned and quickly followed after them. They met up with Maiko only to find the rank five demonic beasts had started chasing after them. It seemed determined to kill them all. 

“What should we do?” Fatty asked. He had somehow gotten Maiko on his back and was now running next to Nana. 

“We need to go someplace where we can lose the snake.” Yuki could only think of this. She was still weak as she had some of the snake’s poison in her system. She was currently using her spiritual qi and demonic qi to keep it from spreading and harming her body. But it was taking everything she had.

“What about we lead it to the pack of armored buffalo? They might be ranked two, but they are high in number and have defense greater than the ranked five horned snake.” Fatty suggested. It would mean turning around a bit, but it was worth it if it meant escaping.

“We have no other plans, so lead the way. At this rate, it will just wear us down until we run out of spiritual qi.” Yuki saw no other option. She was useless at this time, so they could not put up any fight. And it was not like they had the cave to use to their advantage anymore.

Fatty nodded, and he began leading the way. They ran through the forest with the rank five horned snake knocking over tree after tree leaving a path of destruction behind it. Right now, it saw the four of them as its mortal enemy. Although it could not sense the eggs on the four humans, it felt that these humans still had something to do with its missing eggs.

They ran for almost ten minutes when they came upon a field where a rank three horned snake lay dead on the ground. A bunch of armored buffalo was feasting on its remains when the group burst through the tree line. This quickly caught the attention of the armored buffalo, which was a herd of about thirty to forty altogether. 

It did not take long for the entire herd to begin charging at them. But their charge came to a stop when the rank five horned snake burst through the tree line after them. Most of the armored buffalo quickly changed there to the new threat while a few stayed locked onto Yuki and her group.

It was right as an armored buffalo passed by her that Yuki suddenly took an egg out of her space and tossed it at the armored buffalo causing the egg to smash and cover the armored buffalo in its goop. Yuki had not wanted to give up any of the eggs, but in order to save themselves, she decided to use one as bait. The armored buffalo that had the egg juice all over it quickly became the new target of the ranked five horned snake. It charged madly at the armored buffalo, who did not sit still, and used its defenses to block the first attack, which sent it flying.

The other armored buffalo jumped in to try to protect its herd member, which caused a large scale battle to ensue. The real meaning of the law of the jungle was now taking place. Fatty and Nana took this chance to keep charging forward, zigzagging their way through the herd. They had almost escaped when Fatty suddenly steped in a hole in the ground and tripped, sending him and Maiko flying. Maiko landed in a way that had her ankle turn sideways, instantly cracking the bone, while Fatty tried to stabilize himself, only to be bashed by an armored buffalo and sent flying. He landed hard on a sharp rock that sliced a deep wound into his back. 

“Fatty!” Yuki and Nana both yelled out. Nana was about to turn around when she heard Fatty yell out to them.

“Just keep going! I will get Maiko and meet up with you!” Fatty gritted his teeth through the pain and pushed himself up before starting to run again. He stopped Maiko into a princess carry and chased after Nana and Yuki, who were almost at the tree line.

- - -

“We almost died, but we made it out.” Fatty finished the explanation. “But right now, we need to get Yuki back to the sect and get an antidote. She already lost a finger due to the poison….”  

“You lost a finger!?” Ai cried out. She did not think they would run into something like a rank five demonic beast like that. Their luck was horrible! 

“Nana, Yuki, we will escort you. Ami take Junior Sister Maiko. AI, you help me with Junior Brother Toma.” Rin made it a habit to know everyone’s name in the sect. At least their given names.

“I feel honered that Senior Sister Rin knows my name.” Fatty smiled, but that smile grew stiff when Maiko glared at him. He could only purse his lips and close his mouth. 

Rin looked at her junior brother and sister and the way thy acted and rubbed her chin. She felt something must have happened between these two. The flowers of spring were blooming all around them.