After thinking it over, Ages curled his lips into a faint, evil smile and said,
"This year's Ferocious Beast Training Camp might break the record for the lowest test result. Heh heh."
With that, Ages pushed off with both feet and leaped toward a tree trunk ahead...
Little did they know that, shortly after Ages and the boy left the four Human Mimics behind...
Rumble...
A series of heavy footfalls shook the ground.
A dozen or so Human Mimics came charging over, their bodies giving off a savage, bloody aura.
When the Human Mimics saw the four headless corpses, their eyes all turned blood-red. They beat their chests, stamped their feet, and roared at the sky!
Roar...!!!!
Their savage, frenzied roars echoed through the primeval forest, lingering for a long time. The birds in the forest were so frightened by the roars that they all flew into the sky like startled birds...
Before long, a Human Mimic who seemed to be the leader walked up to the corpses and sniffed them, then began sniffing the surrounding area.
When the Human Mimic picked up the scent in the direction Ages had left, his eyes suddenly filled with a bloodthirsty gleam. Giving off a violent aura, he roared at the sky and headed in the direction Ages had gone.
The other Human Mimics also roared at the sky and followed their leader...
Time went back ten minutes.
Several miles away from Ages...
A bloody battle was underway. More than ten Human Mimics were fighting fiercely against some fifty freshmen.
The fifty-odd freshmen had split into groups of about ten, each group fighting two or three Human Mimics.
"Go! You two, attack the Human Mimic from both sides! The rest of you, ambush him from behind! I'll hold him off from the front!" a freshman captain rapidly ordered as he pulled out a shield and charged at the Human Mimic.
"Roar!!"
The surrounded Human Mimic roared, showing no fear of their numbers. A flash of bloodthirsty madness passed through his eyes, and he charged at a boy with an injured leg.
"Quick! Stop him!" The freshman captain immediately noticed the Human Mimic's intention and shouted his orders.
Hearing him, the other freshmen reacted quickly, drawing their swords and attacking the Human Mimic with handguns.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
Several bullets struck the Human Mimic's legs with perfect accuracy.
But they did not stop the Human Mimic. He merely roared in pain. Instead, the shots drove him into a frenzy, and he charged even faster at the boy with the injured arm.
"Keep shooting!" The freshman captain looked anxious. As he ran toward the boy with the injured leg, he continued shouting orders.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several more bullets flew out and struck the Human Mimic's legs, successfully stopping him this time.
But by then, the Human Mimic was already close to the boy with the injured leg, and the freshman captain had also reached the boy.
The freshman captain raised his shield, placing the boy with the injured leg in front of him, and tried to stop the Human Mimic.
The Human Mimic roared at the freshman captain, shattered the shield with one hand and sent him flying. With the other, he swept back the pursuing freshmen, then thrust a thick, powerful hand with sharp nails into the body of the boy with the injured leg.
Roar!!
The Human Mimic roared again, then violently spread both hands apart!
With a ripping sound...
The boy with the injured leg was torn in half alive.
As the Human Mimic tore the boy apart, the freshmen he had swept back caught up and drew their swords, thrusting them at him.
The freshmen immediately ran their swords through the Human Mimic, who crashed to the ground...
Panting, the freshmen looked at the Human Mimic, whose eyes still held a trace of madness and excitement from tearing a person apart even in death. Deep fear welled up in their hearts.
The Human Mimics' willingness to trade their lives for another's filled everyone present with fear and made them want to retreat.
When that Human Mimic tore apart the boy with the injured leg and was then stabbed to death, the other Human Mimics saw what had happened. Their hearts filled with rage, and their fighting power rose another level.
The Human Mimics beat their chests and stamped their feet, roaring at the remaining freshmen before attacking them even more frenziedly.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second...
Ten minutes later...
The battle had grown even fiercer. Human Mimics fell from time to time, while freshmen were also torn apart or bitten to death...
For a time, the scene was filled with bloodshed and savagery...
"Huff... huff... This won't work. If this goes on, we'll all be wiped out sooner or later. Let's find a chance to break through." The freshman captain took a moment to look at the twenty freshmen who remained, then at the Human Mimics, who grew more frenzied with every one of their number that died.
"Prepare to break through! Retreat!" the freshman captain shouted.
Just then!
A series of savage, frenzied roars came from the distance!
Hearing the roars, everyone's faces filled with despair.
The freshman captain also looked despairing. "We're done for! Could the Human Mimics' reinforcements have arrived?!"
But as the roars rang out, the Human Mimics attacking the freshmen all stopped.
Then, under everyone's puzzled gazes, they roared and ran off into the distance...
The freshmen were left standing there in a daze, looking as though they had just escaped death.
"What's going on?? Why did the Human Mimics run away?" a freshman asked, utterly bewildered.
"That sound might have been a call for help from the Human Mimics' companions. Come on! Let's go take a look. Maybe it's our companions surrounding and attacking the Human Mimics. If so, we have to hurry over and support them. We can't let the Human Mimics' reinforcements get there first."