Hello everyone! How've you been? I've been pretty sick recently, so that kinda sucked. Anyways, I don't have much to say, so I hope you enjoy.

"And I thought tonight was going to be easy." Ash thought to himself as he quickly popped up to his feet and sprinted over towards the other three.

The man slid on his knees as he stopped next to Lynn. Her hair cascaded around her face, making her look terribly disheveled, but rather charming at the same time. He shook the thoughts form his head quickly though as he rocked her roughly. The woman stirred slightly and appeared to mumble something as she turned over. "Grimm," was the only word Ash said before he moved over to Ike.

Lynn eye's instantly shot open at the mention of the deadly creatures. She reached her arm over, grabbing her crossbow, before throwing herself out of her sleeping bag and onto her feet. Her eyes felt slightly heavy and her sight was still blurry, but she could see Ike as he woke up and grabbed his weapon and Ash as he began to wake Nadia as well.

Her body felt heavy, but it was a feeling that she was familiar with. This wasn't the first time a Grimm attack had forced her to wake and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Her grogginess stayed with her for only a second, before the howl of a Beowolf split through the air and pierced her ears. They were close, dangerously close.

As Nadia's eyes opened to being woken by Ash, she was instantly pushed to the side, her body and sleeping bag rolling a few feet to the right. A Beowolf's form split through the densely-packed forest and pounced directly upon the spot that she was only a second before. The beast was large, but barely armored. It was a young beast, most likely trying to prove itself with its first kill. If the terror of almost being torn to ribbons didn't wake her up, the muzzle flash and crack of Ash's gun unloading into the beast's stomach certainly did.

The girl only heard the sound of Ash's magazine sliding forward and the whistle of his axe splitting the air and, soon after, another Beowolf's head. She slid out of her bag and dashed towards her shield that now lay only feet away from her. "Dive!" Ash ordered her. She didn't question him as she leapt through the air. A Beowolf pounced down on where she was, only slashing into her foot. Her aura deflected the attack, and the beast was rewarded with several bullets, bolts, and arrows as a reward for its haste as her team members slew the beast.

Nadia rolled as she hit the ground, sliding her shield into its proper place on her arm as she did so, and popped back onto her feet, ready to defend from another attack. However, the world was silent. The words around her brushed and twigs cracked as some unseen enemy moved around them. The four teammates slowly backed towards each other, preparing for a defense. The initial attacks had been the young of the group, all edger and all cannon fodder. Now, the four of them were being surrounded. They could only wait until their enemy struck at them from the dark.

The sounds of growling filled the air. Ike knew the beasts were around them, but striking blindly into the night would be idiotic. Instead, he notched an arrow and drew the string back on his bow, the familiar weight to it was almost comforting.

A Beowolf launched out of the woods. This one wasn't a youngling. It had a spine of spikes and bone armor covering its head, torso, arms, and legs. Ike fired at the beast as it flew through the air. The arrow struck its mark, digging it's the beast's eye. Ike rolled to the side as the Beowolf came crashing down. Ash quickly spun and unloaded into the Beowolf's unarmored stomach, killing the beast.

Ike quickly collapsed his bow and saw another Beowolf begin to stir in the woods. As the final plate locked into place, all hell broke loose.

The Beowolf leapt out from the woods towards Ike. The teen slammed down the eject button on his blade, launching it from its sheath. The hilt of the blade connected to the jaw of the beast, snapping its mouth shut. The teen then sidestepped the falling Beowolf and grabbed his weapon form the air, flourishing it as he did so.

Ike quickly spun and sliced through the air, cutting down the next Grimm that charged at him. The first Beowolf regained its composure and slashed at the teen. Ike raised his cane's shaft, blocking the attack. He then flicked his wrist, spinning the beast's arm as if he was trying to disarm an opponent. The Beowolf's arm was send flying backwards, giving Blue an opening to move forward and thrust his blade through the Grimm's heart, killing it.

Nadia let another Grimm smash against her shield. As the now concussed beast pressed against her, she pushed back, throwing it away from her. The girl then tossed her shield, aim at the beast's neck. The rotating blades cut cleanly through the Beowolf's neck, decapitating the beast.

As Nadia pulled her shield back towards her, another Beowolf charged at her. The teen teleported forward, dodging the lunge of the beast and its razor-sharp teeth. As Nadia reappeared into existence, she caught her shield and raised it above her head, letting it smash down onto the head of the Creature of Grimm.

"Nadia, duck!" Lynn commanded. The girl did as she was told and fell into a crouched position. A gust of wind flew over her head, strong enough to send her hair flying in a sporadic movement. The girl spun and saw the gust slam into a Beowolf, knocking it off balance and staggering.

Ash then leapt into action. The man fired a few rounds into the exposed Beowolf before leaping over Nadia. He spun his weapon in his hand, the magazine of the gun sliding upwards and locking into place as an axe head. As his gun finished its transformation into an axe, the man brought his weapon down on the beast. He cut cleanly through the Creature of Grimm, splitting it diagonally from neck to hip.

The two pieces of what was a Beowolf slid apart from one another and smacked into the ground with a thud. Everything was quiet for a moment as the dead Grimm dissolved into the air. The four knew the end was close, but they still had one more round of beasts to cut through before the fight was over.

An ear shattering howl erupted from somewhere in the woods, signaling what was about to happen next. The Alpha of the pack was ready to attack.

The giant beast hurdled out of the woods, charging directly at Lynn. The woman switched her weapon into its fan form and stood ready to attack. The Beowolf was massive, standing at least twice her size. Bone armor covered almost every part of the beast's body, except for its joints so it could easily run and move. As the beast was nearly on top of her, Lynn sidestepped. The Beowolf charged past her at a breakneck speed but not past enough. As the Grimm passed, Lynn swiped her fan downward, slicing cleanly into the back of the Grimm's knee and cutting it down from continuing its run.

The Grimm staggered from the gash that it had received and tripped, skidding to a stop. The other members of Lynn's team sprang into action. Ike wasted no time in charging towards the beast. As it staggered back to its feet, the beast received a strong kick from Ike to the face, fracturing the bone mask and causing chips to fall away.

As the Grimm tumbled backwards, Nadia and Ash launched their attack. Ash planted his feet on Nadia's shield and was sent flying upwards, keeping a hold on the girl's shield as he did so. The girl then teleported directly behind the Beowolf as it stood back up, the wire connecting her to her shield running directly over its shoulder.

As Ash reached the peak of his jump, Nadia pulled on the wire, sending both head shield and the man flying towards her. The shield would reach first, but the girl teleported once again, this time a few feet to the right of the Alpha. The shield charged direction too, now on a collision course with the beast's arm and chest.

The Beowolf dodged just in time to avoid being hit by the bladed shield, but didn't account for the Hunter still careening towards it. Ash spun as he flew through the air, axe in hand. The man flipped one more time, before raising his axe above his head and bringing it down on the Beowolf's unprotected face as he slammed into it.

The axe burrowed deep into the skull of the Creature of Grimm. The beast's body toppled over as soon as Ash impacted it. The force from the hit sent it skidding, with Ash still attached by his axe, into a large oak tree. The Beowolf slammed head first into the mighty oak, but didn't make a sound upon impact. It was already dead.

The man ripped his axe from the head of the beast and hoisted it onto his shoulder. In front of his, he could see the menacing red eyes of more Beowolves. He readied himself for another fight, but none of the Creatures of Grimm did. Another howl was erupted from the woods around him and the Grimm began to slowly sink back into the forest, blending back into the night. With no leader left, they would retreat, regroup, and plan for their next attack.

"Tonight certainly got more interesting than I was planning." Lynn said as she brushed some dirt and dust off her blue dress.

Ash opened up his scroll and checked the time. It was 5:30 in the morning, a few hours before any of them planned to wake up. "We might as well get ready to start moving. No point in sleeping any more tonight." The man said as he walked over to his sleeping bag, letting out a yawn as he did so.

"No breakfast today?" Lynn asked as she followed behind him. Ash could hear a slight amount of annoyance in her voice, which irritated him slightly.

"If we move fast today, we'll make it to Gager before nightfall." The man replied and he stuffed items into his back. "We can eat on the way there."

Lynn simply shook her head and followed Ash's lead. Both the Hunter and the Huntress knew that today would be a painfully long trip. Despite the lack of sleep the group had gotten, moral was low. They still weren't entirely sure where to head and the mood the Ike seemed to be in didn't help either. At best, the walk would be strangled in awkward silence. She hated to think what the worst-case scenario would be.

"Any chance we could take a break sometime soon?" Ike asked bitterly as the group walked on. They had been walking for hours now, but the village was still a few hours away.

Ash looked down at the map he held in his hands, trying to calculate how far away from Gager they were and how long it would take to get there. "We'll already be cutting it close to making it there without stopping. I don't think a break is going to help at all."

Ike mumbled something under his breath that Ash didn't catch, but the man gritted his teeth in anger anyways. Lynn noticed the man's jaw tighten and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, calming him slightly. "I'll talk to him when we get to the village, okay?" She whispered to him. Ash simply nodded and continued to walk.

Meanwhile Nadia was lost in her thoughts, blissfully unaware of her time bomb of a team being close to exploding. Her mind was racked with thoughts of what Ash had said last night. She had spoken truthfully when she said that she'd never expected the outside world to be this rough. She felt like a child again. Like she was lost on the streets of the city all over, except this time nobody was there to take her hand and help her. Nobody was there to save her. She was all alone.

Deces opened his scroll and quickly sent a call to Vered. "Yes?" The man replied on the other end. His voice was harsh and unforgiving.

"They're headed to Gager now." Deces replied, not wanting to waste any time.

"Do they have the contract yet?" Vered asked on the other end.

From his perch in the tree, Deces could see his four-prey walking passed on an old, worn path. "Not yet, I'll hand it to them once we get to Gager. It'll be easier to escape without too much of a conflict once we get there."

"Without too much conflict?" Vered asked. "Are you afraid they'll hurt you or something!?" He yelled. "Why are you afraid to cause a conflict?"

"I just thought you'd want to make sure they weren't harmed before they got to the target. He certainly won't be easy to kill."

"Do you honestly think I care if they kill the target or not? If they don't, we will. Just make sure they get the files, I could care less if they show up with one less member or limb."

"Of course, I'll get it to them."

"Good." Vered replied, before he ended the call. Deces looked down at the scroll to see that the call hand ended and pocketed his device. He then looked down at the file that he held in his hand. On the front, it read, "Target 0721, Dangerous."

Deces slipped the file into his robes and jumped off the branch he was perched on.

I'm excited for where this is going. There isn't much to say about where the story is going, so I guess I'll just end the chapter here. I'll see you all in the next chapter!