"-Now?" Asks Sebastian, hefting his scrap-steel spear.

(Bys is stopping the group near the edge of the debris field, looking concernedly at something - something in the foliage by the side of the road.)

"Now," Hailey says.

Maya orbits the eyes toward the Concerning Something.

Some of the greenery on that side of the road seems... Too big? Like, they'd keep it trimmed back further usually, right?

Sebastian takes a running lunge, launching his spear into the car field. It spins unstably in the air, glances off a Tahoe's windshield (cracking it), before embedding itself in the door of a nearby Civic with a loud crunch. 

All the nearby slimes pause, wobbling, and start oozing or lunging towards these noises a moment later.

Maya attempts to observe the mysterious shrubbery closely enough to trigger whatever infobox the System provided about the gasoline slime previously. What are you, bizarre greenery?

Meanwhile, Hailey waits for the slimes to get grouped up enough for her plan, and signals Sebastian to throw again if they start to stall out or slow down.

Hidden Enemy detected!

Ambush Lv 2

A sneaky shrubbery that pretends to be an ordinary bush, before stinging the unwary with tendrils that rapidly drain HP. And blood.

The slimes are sort of converging, but not all that quickly. There's maybe a couple dozen, now, and they're within two or three cars of each other, bapping into each other and turning around to disperse again when that happens.

Also, the Ambush is attacking now! green vines wave around and advance towards Bys; She bats at one with a gloved hand and then chops it with the fire axe, grimacing. They seem barely long enough to reach. (The kiddies are screaming and backing down the path. This is starting to attract the slimes.)

She aims swiftly and smoothly and puts a double-tap into the gasoline slime.

It spurts out fluid and vapor everywhere, sending the stench of gas on the air and coating several cars.

Then the hot bullets manage to ignite it from the inside. The gasoline slime bursts into flames and leaps wildly to and fro, making an unholy screeching noise. The flames flash out in a brief flare of an explosion as all the vapor cooks off, and then keep burning as lots of debris is ignited.

The cars are on fire. A bunch of slimes are on fire and the rest are fleeing the flames in panic. The fire is loud and hot, smoke is everywhere, the kids are screaming louder, and Bys is still chopping at the bush's tendrils. It seems to give up and try running away after the third one is cut.

She goes after it, though, grimacing in anger. It's not exactly fast, wobbling along on its roots like that.

She swiftly and carefully puts a round through the four slimes that look most like they're heading toward the group, aiming to disable and discourage them. This way lies painful death, slimes. Go somewhere else. Then she hits the decocker lever, ejects the mag, stows it in her bag, and loads a fresh one.

She turns and starts heading toward the bush. "Sebastian, I think the bush is our current main threat. Let's box it in toward Bys and kill it. I'll keep watch for more threats."

Maya goes back to orbiting the eyes, checking everywhere for more possible threats.

Neo safely holsters the pistol and snaps out the baton again, dancing around to the other side of the bush from Bettrys, ready to thwack it as needed to keep it at a distance and herd it where it can be chopped down to size.

They manage to chop down the bush easily enough!

There are more gunshots coming from military-base-wards, echoing oddly. Including some big heavy booms, occasionally. And some kind of... Roaring scream from further away.

As soon as active combat is over, the System interrupts again.

Various Enemies Defeated! Slime x18, Gasoline Slime x1, Ambush x1

1230 Experience granted.

You have levelled up!

The level up comes with a rush and a brief shuddering high as her body and mind become more again. It's less dramatic than the first one, but it still feels very nice. Sebastian looks like he got a level too; Bys does not seem to have hit that threshold.

(The teacher and other rescuees are trying to gather and calm the kids again. There seems to be an argument, as one of the boys has chosen a Class and wants to fight.)

Sable steps up to the boy who's chosen a class with a warm smile. "Hey there. What class did you pick?"

"I'm a Ninja! I can fight!"

She crouches down a bit to get on his height level and nods firmly, still smiling. "Impressive class. Ninja can fight, for sure, but ninja are better suited to other places then the front lines. I have a special job that a ninja like you would be perfect for, but it's not on the front lines. Do you wanna hear it?"

He frowns suspiciously at the adult telling him what to do. "I know that. Ninja are sneaky too."

"Yep! In the end, it's your choice what to do. Being a ninja, you could totally sneak away from your class and get into all the fights you want. It might not go well, but you could. We'd have a hard time stopping you. But there's something that you'd be best at. The fights wouldn't come as often, but they'd be all the more important when they did."

"Well, I need a shuriken or something first, but yeah. Ninja are the shadows beneath the light. One blade in the right place can turn a battle."

He thinks he sounds very cool, saying this.

"Exactly right," she says with a nod, then leans in and whispers, a conspiratorial grin on her face. "And — don't tell your classmates this — but I think the world's getting more dangerous, in some ways, with what's happened. So I think probably some kind of attack may eventually find your classmates. And I personally would sleep a lot easier if I knew that whenever that was, a trained ninja was going to surprise those jerks. Imagine some goblin, thinking it was going to get to attack your helpless classmates, and then imagine the look on its face when it suddenly gets stabbed in the back, and falls over to reveal you standing there, smirking like the dramatic hero you are."

"So you think I should stand guard." He frowns, then nods seriously. (The teacher watches on fretfully.) "Maybe Shinobi Eye would be a good power then. And Shadow Hide. You cannot hit what you cannot see."

"That's exactly what I think. I think you should be a trap, hidden among the other students. The attackers think you're just another normal student, but then when they're looking away you vanish, strike them from the shadows, and keep your classmates safe. I want them to think your class is an easy win, and then I want you to be there to prove them wrong every time."

She gives him a serious look. "It's an important job, and it would make my job — troubleshooting everything I can as the world changes around us — much easier, because then I'd know this group of students was safe. Will you do that for me?"

"...Okay but I need a weapon so I have something to ambush with. To keep everyone safe with."

She hums and nods. "Reasonable," she says, while pulling her less-favorite of her two knives out, still closed. "This knife is a loan. I will want it back when we find something better-suited for you, and if I find out you've been careless with it — treating it like a toy, brandishing it at other kids, showing it off — I will come back and take it, because you need to be responsible with this. I have the next best thing to eyes in the back of my head, literally, so I will know."

She holds the closed flip-knife out toward him. "Are we clear?"