The sound of a stampede coming towards them was heard by everyone, and soon they could feel it in the ground as well. Due to the open area they were in, it didn't take long until they spotted what was coming towards them.

In the shadow plague area, just over the hill. Strange looking giant pig-like creatures could be seen running towards them. Although they weren't all pink in colour, as purple markings could be seen throughout thier body showing they were infected by the shadow plague.

Thier backs were covered in razor-sharp quills sticking out like a hedgehog. When they reached the peak of the hills, they all started to do something strange.

"What are they doing?" Flynn asked.

"Oh no," Martha replied. "Quick get ready, they'll be here any second."

The others got ready as Martha said, but the students were confused. The hill was about a hundred and fifty meters away, and their speed wasn't that great. But when they got to the top of the hill, they suddenly started to tuck thier heads inward to there bottom, forming a wheel type shape. This reviled thier razor-sharp quills on the outside not showing a bit of thier pink underbelly.

Then, as they tipped over the hill, there speed increased significantly, like a razor sharped tire, fifty or so beasts were now coming there way.

"You guys deal with the creatures Bliss and I will clear the land!" Lenny shouted.

"Wait, you're not going to help?!" Wendy said a bit frightened at the beast coming there way, she thought that maybe they would encounter a group of creatures, but not this many on thier first outing.

"If we defeat these and then clear the land again, only more will come. It's best if we clear the land as soon as possible and get out of here." Lenny replied.

Bliss and Lenny quickly ran behind the group and started to both draw magic circles over the land in certain areas. Once this step was done, they could place the special solution that had been created and cast a spell to spread the solution as far as possible. Still, even for geniuses like them, It would take some time, to draw out the circle.

"Oh, make sure those hogs don't get past you," Bliss said. "If they do and ruin the circle, we'll have to start all over again."

Harry drew both of his swords out, Kyle readied his chain and weight, while Martha brought out her more than impressive king tier bow.

"Don't worry, there only basic tier beasts," Harry explained to the kids, who looked shell shocked and still hadn't moved. "Although the shadow will make them seem stronger, their power is at that of about an intermediate tier level."

Although Harry's words were meant to calm them down, it just made them more frightened. Fifty intermediate tiers were going after them, and they were only a small group. Most kingdoms would have to send a small army to face such a thing.

Drawing her bow, there was no arrow inside. Martha had been practising ever since ray had shown the destructive power he was able to achieve with it, and she had been able to perfect her wind magic to the point where she could shoot several arrows.

As she let go of the string, nothing but a sharp sound could be heard, but when the students looked in the direction where she had fired, the spiked hogs, started to instantly fall to thier side. She was killing all of them with a single shot.

"I guess that's the power of a king tier weapon, huh," Kyle said. "Well, I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way." Kyle immediately started to charge forward with swinging his massive weight over his head, but something strange started to happen.

After being hit by Martha's arrows, the spiked hogs started to strike back. While continuing to spin like a wheel, they were able to fire out large spikes from its body.

Moving his body quickly, bending it in strange ways, Kyle was able to avoid the spikes, but he looked off-balance nearly the whole time.

"Oh my." Scarlett said with a chuckle "That one's flexible."

"Follow me!" Harry said to the students as he ran forward. They did as they were told and stayed close behind him. Using his two swords, Harry was easily able to knock each of the spikes away.

"Fire your arrows, we can't let them go past." Harry ordered.

And by now Wendy had finally snapped out of it and did as she was told. Seeing Harry's skill, she knew he would be able to protect them. The two students, Kyle and Harry, were now deep in the fight with the Spiked hogs, but there were too many of them, and some chose to ignore the group and carried on going forward.

Even Martha could only soot her arrows so fast.

"I told you to protect the magic circles, weren't you listening!" Bliss said in anger, as she could see most of the group had gone charging in, rather than forming a defensive line.

"Give them a break," Lenny replied. "It's difficult with a low amount of people, and especially with two students to look after.

"Don't you guys worry about a thing," Scarlett said, as she stepped just in front of the two large magic circles being drawn. "I'll stop them."

The others were surprised at her words, they thought she had simply come along for fun, was she a great warrior? How would she be able to stop the remaining Spiked hogs. The only thing Bliss could think of that would work was....

"Magic," Scarlett said as she clicked her fingers, and two small flames appeared.

Then throwing her arms out, the small droplets of flames went in the air, and as they dropped to the floor, they exploded. The small little droplet of fire had turned into big balls of flames, killing a group of the spiked hogs in an instant.

For the ones that managed to avoid the attack, she quickly hurled fireballs at them. It was clear, Scarlett wasn't just any ordinary mage, she was a powerful one.

After a few moments, the battle had come to its end, and all of the spiked hogs were defeated. The magic circles were done, but they hadn't activated them yet. While it was quite, they thought it would be best to collect the crystals from the beasts.

"Wow," Kyle said, running over to Scarlett. "So you're not only beautiful but strong as well. No wonder Ray is also good with fire magic."

"Huh?" Scarlett said with a confused look on her face. "What did you say?"

"You know, fire magic, just like you, he can throw balls of fire, he must have gotten that from you right?" Kyle repleid.

"But, I don't understand. Ray can't use any magic. We went to test him when he was younger at Roland, and they stated he can't use any magic." When Slyvia had told her the story of Roland, she had explained the events, rather than the details. She didn't actually know that Ray had attended as a student. The only reason he could get in was that he could be disguised as a mage in the first place.

But right now, Scarlett couldn't believe it and was looking at Kyle like a crazy person.

"He's right," Martha said as she pulled out a crystal from one of the Hog's body. "Not just fire magic, Ice, Lightning, transformation magic maybe even more."

This had clearly come as a shock to her, and it was taking a while for her to take it all in, and the only one that knew why she was so confused, was Bliss.

As they continued to extract the crystals, Martha started to think back a little. The last time they had travelled this far out from the kingdom was when they were in search of the strange beast. A beast said to be killing and eating all of the beasts in the area. This was the other reason why they needed to travel to the shadow plague area. Because all of the beasts had simply vanished that were located near the kingdom.

But, that journey had bad memories for her, for that was when Monk had been taken away. A few months later he had come back, claiming he had joined the Dark guild.

"What happened to you that day Monk?"

****

If you want artwork and updates, please remember you can follow on Instagram and Facebook: jksmanga