Sanctus Forestus.
A priest of the past who spoke latin, named the holy ground of Natura or otherwise known as Goddess Nature this specific name.
But this name did not make any sense.
How could a forest be holy?
And if Natura was the Goddess Nature, shouldn't every existing forest be holy in her name?
Why should there be only one blessed land that garners the Goddess's favor?
That is why Natura herself changed the name, turning her sanctus into the 'Sabe Serotifio'. The great priest's name and the greatest honor she could bestow on a devout follower as pure as him.
'F-Fuck…'
Iye cursed, muffling her footsteps as much as she could by taking off her heels.
However the faint rustling that came from her bare feet made itself known throughout the entirety of the malformed silent forest.
Normally, Sanctus Forestus would not be difficult to traverse through, for the teachers anyway.
Students on the other hand who accidentally stepped their dirty feet on the holy ground of Natura would be faced with misery.
Iye looked back.
"...."
A translucent green wall appeared out of thin air, preventing her return back to Gardenia.
She could not escape.
This was what the students faced when traversing the forest.
Their only escape route would be cut off from the world itself, they would have to survive by killing the wild 'animals' that turned this holy ground as their home, most water in the rivers would send one into shock and eventually serving them to predators who await a feast.
And if that didn't kill the students desperately surviving? Then their immune systems would have to deal with a zombie parasite that uses the brain as soil for it to grow.
Now that Iye Idiyele had been stripped of any authority as a teacher, she was forced to face the same threats that the students would normally face when entering the holy forest of Natura.
For reference, the teachers gain access to a 'backdoor' when entering the forest, allowing them to avoid all danger and even getting tea and some snacks along with a massage.
'My penalty-based Insight isn't well suited for this'
She grumbled, annoyed at the crazy antics of Natura, her bare feet tangling with the overgrown roots.
'This is so not worth doin-'
"Ow!"
Thorns pricked her from below, stealing drops of blood from her feet, a glance was equally stolen at the thorns.
'Ah, they're poisonous, aren't they?'
Tsk
Her tongue twisted against her teeth, hands rummaging through her pockets till she found a spray bottle with cute doodles drawn on it.
She sprayed it against her feet, the sprayed liquid solidified quickly, turning into soft soles for wear.
Just because Iye was a teacher at Gardenia did not suddenly mean she was strong.
'It would be fine if it were just a few enemies, but in this abomination filled landfill?'
She would die, not even being capable of defeating 20 of those creepy disturbing creatures.
Her abilities were limited and niche to mobility after all, attacks would drain her too much with how her ability worked.
Tump!
Tump!
Loud steps rumbled off in the distance. Iye had already hid behind a giant weirdly shaped tree that looked to be attempting to resemble a horn.
20 blocks away from the 'Ohrn Tree', a giant cat that oddly resembled a Saber-Toothed tiger of the past appeared, steps surprisingly soft despite its huge size, its gray fur swayed against the wind that brushed past it.
Its fangs curled up to his giant rabbit like ears that flailed against its body.
'Let's not make this difficult and stay reeeeallllyyyy quiet'
Staring at the animal, seeing its bloodied mouth, playing with the corpse it held tightly in its mouth.
It didn't eat it, the big cat simply played with the now deceased student's corpse.
"..."
'That one was very talented I heard…'
Sabe Serotifio was also known for its low survival rates. It didn't matter if your ability was strong, if one of those apex predators found you, you're dead, they sense you? They play with you till you faint, think you got away from them? Nope they would even follow you home through their amazing nose that secret services would dress up as maids for, not even needing to keep track of you, though that would only happen if they register your scent as 'noteworthy'.
It was not a lie to say that insight here mattered like dirt. After all, why would power matter when you don't even have the stamina to wield that power?
The giant cat left, its figure leaving Iye's peripheral vision completely.
However Iye did not move an inch, her body tranquil with not even a single fear of tremor spreading through her.
'Chances are, that platys already found me and is waiting to confirm'
Platys was the name of one of the greatest predators that lurked within the Sabe.
But what was the characteristic that made it such a successful predator in the first place?
Its five senses.
It could hear better than most animals, being capable of even hearing a heart beat if close enough to the living prey, your heart is beating hard out of fear? It knows your fear.
It could smell bodily fluids of any living creature if it stayed in one spot long enough, so scared were you that beads of sweat formed? It smells your nervousness.
It could taste any kind of deadly poison instantly and tell how dangerous it is to its body. However, instead of avoiding such dangerous things, it eats the poison to get drunk like how alcohol is to humans or inject it by drowning its prey with waves of poisonous liquid, just to see it squirm and make it more delicious to eat later on.
Not only that, its eyesight is so good that it could zoom more than any mobile phone, and just like any mobile phone, it could control how much it wants to zoom.
And there is more where that's coming from.
Capable of sensing muscle contractions that make its long fur hairs stand on end and point to the direction of its prey that quaked in fear.
Then it pretends it doesn't know and lets its 'guard down' by sleeping next to a weapon like a giant wood stake to make the prey come out and try to kill it.
But when it does that, it sneers and opens its gaping mouth for the starving prey wanting to eat anything since the platys is one of the weakest animals on the turf of Sabe Serotifio.
If the hairs pointed at you like a compass, it knows where you are, it just pretends it doesn't notice you because of an inherent nature implanted by Natura to play with food before chewing and eating it.
A truly blessed animal, so blessed that it makes its short lifespan of 6 hours truly one incredible cruel joke that Natura played with life.
Iye glanced at the fading Cale.
'There is no time, he will disappear in a day at this rate'
In order for the resurrection granted by the merciful Natura to hold any meaning, the physical body had to be present no matter what.
Otherwise there is no point in reviving the individual with no body.
It was a just law of the world, created to loosen slightly the contradiction between resurrection and death.
This was also why resurrection could only be done once for individuals, and why a price had to be paid on top of that.
'Not only that, the price that needed to be paid has specific requirements that had to be fulfilled first or else Natura will decide on an appropriate price that can be paid herself'
The platys had seemed to have disappeared completely, allowing for careful movement to be made.
'Guess it's a pretty old one'
If it weren't old. Iye would not be calmly treading through the forest as if it were nothing and would instead run for her life.
'Then, by now. It must be ready for birth'
The body of the Platys was unique, it resembled more of a chimera than a saber-toothed tiger mixed with a dog.
Their appearance entirely depend on what is eaten because the moment the platys is born, its body is already the size of a polar bear and it also is pregnant the moment it leaves the womb of its dead mother, usually feasting on the corpse to calm the raging hunger of the baby inside of the stomach of a newborn Platys.
After that, it experiences exponential growth and becomes as wide and tall as small trees and monster trucks.
'It should be fine right now then, as long as I don't make a sound, I can pass their preferred habitat easily'
Her steps were soft and weightless despite carrying a person behind.
However, Iye did not lose focus and kept edging closer to her destination, ignoring the gore that occasionally appeared every now and then in the meantime.