Chapter 3

Aside from Sun popping up, the walk through the forest was surprisingly uneventful. Even with the presence of the Corgi, Blake was enjoying herself in the beautiful weather. Zwei behaved himself remarkably well despite how much he ran around and bothered everyone while he was in the dorm- maybe the walk was giving him something to focus on.

As the path started winding deeper into the woods, Blake came upon a bench, where she stopped to take a quick rest. Zwei jumped up onto the bench next to her and looked at her expectantly, wagging his tail.

Blake rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh, all right." She reached out and scratched behind the dog's ears, despite the skin of her hand crawling slightly. He leaned his head into her hand and closed his eyes a little as she scratched, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Shaking his head, he put his front paws on her lap and darted his face toward hers.

Blake jumped back reflexively and put her hand up to stop the impending licking. "Hey! No. None of that." She scolded.

Zwei cocked his head slightly and let out a small, inquisitive whimper. Blake stood up and adjusted the leash in her hand. "Well, come on. Let's start heading back."

Zwei barked in answer and jumped off the bench. As they set off back in the direction they'd come, there was the unmistakable sound of a branch snapping behind them.

Blake and Zwei immediately stopped in their tracks, darting their heads around to look in the direction the noise had come from. Blake suddenly remembered- there was only one forest next to campus. How could she have been so stupid?

The Emerald forest.

A low rumble filled the air as red eyes began to glow in the darkness between the trees. Had to be Beowulves. Blake's hand slowly inched up to her shoulder, curling her hands around the hilt of Gambol Shroud, which she was now very glad to have brought along. Next to her, Zwei knelt low to the ground and growled. All the while, more eyes popped up between the leaves, the rumbling growing stronger and stronger.

"Strawberry, please!"

The man running the ice cream stand smiled and scooped some into a bowl. As he handed it to her, Yang passed him some Lien and ordered a sundae. Weiss took her vanilla cup and went to hold a table for them.

"So, Ruby, which do you think was the coolest weapon you saw today?" Yang asked as they sat down.

Ruby rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "That axe was huge… but I'd have to go with the spear that guy watching anime on his scroll was holding. The elongated point was a really neat idea, and loading the shaft with Dust cartridges was awesome."

Yang nodded. "I just want to know what anime that was, considering he was laughing so hard."

Weiss chipped in. "I got a closer look. Some blonde woman swordfighting with this big armored dude holding his head in his hand. They were yelling at each other or something."

Ruby looked confused. "Why would that be so funny?"

Yang shrugged. "No idea." As the huntresses-in-training went back to their ice cream, Weiss pulled out her scroll. "I'm going to text Blake. Haven't heard from her about the walk."

Yang waved her hand dismissively. "She's probably fine."

Blake was not fine. The Beowulves charged her repeatedly, swinging their razor sharp claws. She had to focus so much on dodging that there were barely any openings to attack. As she jumped back, one Beowulf leapt toward her. She jumped to the side, leaving an afterimage that vanished in a flash of purple light as the Beowulf struck it. Bringing the blade of Gambol Shroud up in a deadly arc, she took off the monster's head in one clean sweep. But more were still coming out of the forest.

Zwei was proving himself to be a destructive force on his own. He leaped through the air and between the trees, bashing his skull into one Beowulf after another. Most hits would only stun the creatures, but occasionally he would find a killing blow. The Grimm weren't paying as much attention to him as they were to Blake, since he wasn't human, so he had much more freedom to attack.

Eventually, the Grimm stopped coming from the forest- that must have been the whole pack. Zwei had cleared out enough of the Grimm that Blake could go on the offensive. She jumped into the midst of them, moving about with dizzying speed as she slashed with the blade and the scabbard of Gambol Shroud, each strike cutting down another Grimm.

Within moments all of the Beowulves had been killed. Blake leaned down and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. As she did, a baleful howl split the silence. Blake looked up to see another pair of red eyes glowing with hate, glaring at her as one more creature lumbered out of the forest.