It was daybreak, Barry had swapped with Kat this time to continue giving instructions to Abe on where they needed to go. Everyone besides Puck and Luna would take turns swapping with each other.

  He handed Kat the mage staff that he collected from the black mage he defeated during his episode with Abe last night with saving a Unicorn. Kat told him thanks, but before she even got a chance to ask where he got it, Barry shut her down because he didn’t want to talk about it. Abe wanted to tell her that Barry was licked by a Unicorn but kept it a secret to save him embarrassment.

  Barry got into the carriage to get some rest, which he would essentially go back to receiving more training from Thalia in his dreamworld. Every opportunity that he was given to sleep, Barry gladly welcomed it because it meant more self-improvement on himself with Thalia working him to his very core.

  As Barry slept, everyone else was awake and did their own thing while inside the carriage for sometime until Abe suggested that they all get some fresh air and take in the view where they were parked.

  The carriage stopped on a high hill with a breathtaking view that scoured over the land ahead of their journey. Patches of lively trees, vibrant colored flowers and green bushes plopped around, and other smaller hills were seen from where they were. Everyone admired the scene that was shown to them, a true treasure to remember.

  “Puck think everyone should have a picnic here, this is a good place to eat.” Puck commented, taking in the view.

  “That’s not a bad idea, Puck.” Anna agreed, thinking about having a morning meal before heading back out on the road again. “What do you think, Luna?”

  Luna liked the idea and nodded, but then thought about Barry. “What about Barry? Don’t you think he’d probably want to join in with us?”

  “Nah, leave the grouch alone.” Anna objected. “I’ll make him something to eat later. He probably wouldn’t even care to see this beautiful view.”

  She had a point, almost everyone agreed with what she said and decided to take the time to eat outside. Barry was left alone to sleep in while everyone else did their own thing till Anna was finished meal prepping for everyone.

  Buford challenged Abe to a couple rounds of poker, quickly realizing after the first few matches that Abe was no newbie when it came to cards. Buford would try his hardest to get a win, but Abe did not go easy on him.

  Ron, Kat, and surprisingly, Luna and Puck, did some personal training during their free time to prepare for the challenges to come in the near future.

  Kat was determined to try and prove herself to the group with the Class that she had obtained, being able to use black magic that was similar to what the witches were capable of, albeit weaker because it was Grade E. Her ghost companion that she now named, “Dusk”, was also being trained along with her. She thought about what Barry said and wanted to know exactly what Dusk’s limitations and abilities were.

  She also appreciated the staff that Barry had given her, it reduced her casting cost of her black magic by 10%, while also increasing its damage by 10%.

  ‘I can’t be twiddling my thumbs while everyone else is doing their part when it comes to the challenges that we face. And above all, I can’t let Barry down after providing so much support. Dusk and I are going to train every chance we can to earn our place.’ Kat told herself, not wanting to be left behind in everyone’s shadow.

  As for Ron, he was confident in his illusion and trickery magic; especially since they were all ranked pretty high at Grade B. He knew that he lacked firepower compared to everyone else, Ron wanted to do more for the team besides deceiving their opponents. He knew that picking up a new form of magic was not as easy as it sounded. The reason why his illusion magic was high already before becoming involved in “Lost Adventure”, was because he found it the coolest compared to other forms of magic.

  ‘Deceiving my opponents will only help the group so much. I need to be more versatile because there will come a time when my illusions will become useless…’ Ron tried racking his brain to think of a way to be more useful, but couldn’t think of any quick ways to get stronger.

  It was then that he was able to faintly remember something that was vague during his childhood. He reminisced on a time when his parents scolded him for playing messing around with illusion magic that he quickly learned, conjuring silly things like toys. He vaguely remembered his parents being mad all the time whenever he goofed around with his illusions, he couldn’t help but feel irritated just thinking about it.

  Ron then recalled seeing his parents weaving together a web of blue magic in front of him. To his understanding, Ron believed his parents were trying to teach him something at the time, but he wasn’t paying much attention because he found what they were doing was boring. Yet still, thinking back, he felt that maybe what they were trying to teach him had to have been something important.

  ‘What were they trying to show me? Uuugh, if only I paid more attention to them. Illusion magic is cool and all, but now that I’m looking for ways to offer more assistance to the group. I’m regretting ignoring what my parents were trying to show me.’ Ron tried thinking more about what sort of magic his parents were demonstrating, but couldn’t remember, and so he set the thought aside for now and focused on thinking of other ways he could use his illusions.

  Luna was with Puck, doing their own form of training, which involved Luna trying to react to avoiding Puck’s attempts at tagging her. She still hadn’t acquired her Class, which required her to be level 10 in order to obtain one, and her current level was 6.

  Puck didn’t want to train his fiery capabilities because of the likelihood of starting a forest fire, and also he wanted to assist Luna is her own personal training because she asked for it. Luna had the same motivation that the rest had in mind, they wanted to do their part in the group rather than letting people like Barry and Anna do most of the work for them.

  Luna had some available points to spend for her stats that she had been saving for when she unlocked her Class and was eager to obtain it as soon as possible, just like how Kat was before.

  The Kobold did his best to go a bit easy on her in terms of moving faster than she could react to his attempts of tagging her. But even still, Luna struggled to avoid him and eventually got to a point where she had to take a break for a bit.

  “Man, you’re not even trying, Puck, and you’re still managing to catch me most of the time. I really need to get strong like everyone else.” Luna told him, sounding defeated.

  Puck could see the look of disappointment on Luna’s face and patted her on the back to cheer her up. “No worries, Puck thought he was weak before until Barry showed Puck how strong Puck was. Don’t give up, Luna. Puck believes in you.”

  “Thanks Puck.” Luna appreciated his support. She remembered the time back in Haglethorn when her and Puck were cornered by the Chakarie and their Moldbreaker beasts. How terrified she was, yet Puck told her to run while he stayed behind to distract them the best he could. She never wanted to a burden to the group.

  “Foods ready!” Anna called out, setting everything up for everyone.

  The whole group, except Barry, who was still taking his nap, came together to sit and eat while admiring the view of the land ahead of them. They chatted about different topics ranging from things about Earth that Kat, Anna, Luna and Barry came from; compared to how the world of Scion was.

  Buford was still interested in the holiday known as Halloween from Earth and asked Kat more about it. “Barry told me quite a bit about what people do on Halloween, like dress up like us and knock on people’s houses for candy. Oh! And he also told me that people role play performances on something called movies. That’s really cool of you guys to do this kind of stuff.”

  Kat let out a light laugh, as well did everyone else from Earth. “Yeah, there are tons of movies about you guys. My favorite one is about a vampire that owns a hotel where a bunch of monsters come for vacation. Humans don’t know a thing about this hotel, until one day a human shows up and introduces them to a new way of living life.”

  The plot of the movie sounded so fascinating that Buford would ask her for more details about it at a later time. Anna shared her personal favorite, which was about a skeleton that managed the holiday of Halloween, but then decided to take over another holiday that was called Christmas. She had to explain what Christmas was to Buford, who then mentioned that they actually celebrated something similar, which was known as “Palluca”.

  Luna scanned the landscape below and spotted something that caught her eye. It was kind of hard to spot if you weren’t looking well enough because of the trees that were blocking it. “Hey.” She said, “Does that look like a town to you all?” Pointing at where she was looking.

  Everyone glanced at the town that Luna was referring to, with Anna being the first to acknowledge it. “Yeah, that is a town. Good eye, Mouse.” She rubbed her little sister’s head. “Would any of you want to check it out? Resupply, see if they have anything worthwhile to get?” Anna suggested.

  Ron liked the idea; however, he wasn’t sure about one thing. “I don’t see why not but…what would Barry think? Wouldn’t he be kind of mad at the fact that we’re sidetracking by doing some sightseeing?”

  Anna waved a hand, as if brushing away the thought of Barry getting irritated if he found out. “Pfff, so what if he does. We’re not just going there to admire the town, we’re also browsing for anything useful. I would think he’d appreciate our efforts for that reason at least. Besides, he’s not the boss of us. We’re able to make our own decisions.”

  She had a point, as long as they weren’t just wasting time acting as tourists in town, it would be okay for them to check out the town. So with that being said, the whole group agreed to go visit the town in the distance and boarded the carriage.

  Abe travelled down the hill on a path towards the town, it would take them about an hour to come near it. Since Abe, his animals, and his carriage were all spectres, he figured it would be best for him to remain out of sight near the town so as to not scare or alert the people in town. Not everyone in the world took kindly to supernatural beings.

  Once Abe chose a place to park his carriage outside of the town behind some trees, everyone but Barry exited the carriage to walk the rest of the way. Luckily, Barry was still sleeping in the carriage so they didn’t have to deal with him at the moment. Abe reminded them all where he would be until they were finished looking around the town to get back on the road again.

  Buford didn’t have to disguise himself since he was able to remain in his human form, unlike Puck who was a Kobold and covered himself with a cloak to hide his appearance. They didn’t want to risk any misunderstandings.

  They all split off into separate groups of 3, those groups being: Kat, Puck, Luna and Anna, Ron, and Buford.

  The team entered through one of the gates and started their exploration of the place. Both groups kept on the lookout for vendors or merchants that sold things like potions, weapons, and other kinds of gear. Kat’s group would find a lot of bakeries that tempted them into buying a couple treats for themselves. While Anna’s group didn’t find much of anything in terms of blacksmiths, but they did find a shop that sold potions with healing properties and other general goods like rations, tools, and such.

  Anna had done an inventory inspection for the team since they had left the Nightwalker’s base. There was still a decent amount of potions that Sherry had made for the group since the last time she had done so for the team back in Haglethorn, so buying more potions didn’t seem like it was necessary when their gold could be used elsewhere.

  As Luna was browsing around, she noticed a crowd of people huddled together, something must have been going on. “Hey, what’s going on over there?” She asked the group, their curiosity then drove them to see what the buzz was about.

  When they got closer to check it out, they were able to conclude what it was that had everyone’s attention. “Ah yeah! I got a fresh new sword, aaaand some armor! Check it out!” Someone dressed like an adventurer said, looking happy as he showed off his gear with a smudge look at his own party of people… “Spent all my savings on getting these two Uncommon items, but it’ll all be worth it.”

  Kat and Luna figured that the people around the machine had to have been more people like them that were brought into this world as contestants for Lost Adventure. Meaning, that there were probably more of them in the town as well, possibly making a pit stop like them before moving on towards the water castle.

  In front of the stranger was a vending machine that was a touch screen and had a sign that referred to itself as, “The Goodie Machine”. The machine appeared to dispense toy capsules that contained whatever item was chosen based on the selection of things on the touch screen. Music played from the machine that everyone thought was kind of catchy.

  The trio were amazed, they were not expecting something like this to appear in the world. More people went up to the machine to look for something to buy themselves that was within their budget range. Kat notified Anna’s group of their find so that they could see for themselves, and waited for the crowd to die down so that they could have their turn to browse what was available to buy.

  When it came to their turn, just as Kat thought from observing, there were lists of gear like armor, weapons, special trinkets, etc, to choose from. However, the highest type of rarity that they could see was Rare, it being the 3rd highest. There was also an option to sell items, which would be paid based on the rarity and condition of the item that the seller was giving up. And once the buyer's choices were selected, their payment would be processed via the system after submitting, notifying them after with a message of how much money was deducted from them.

  “Hmm…” Kat was unsure what she wanted to buy, whether it was an item that could increase her magical capabilities or something that could provide her some additional protection. ‘Wait, what if instead of buying something for my self since I can’t decide, I instead buy…’

  She then decided upon buying an Uncommon shield, which dispensed the item inside a tiny capsule that rolled out of the machine for her to grab. Once she opened it, the shield enlarged into a medium round sized shield made of gray-metal with spikes protruding from it like barbs. It had costed her nearly half of her money to buy it.

  “Getting a shield doesn’t sound like a bad choice to get.” Luna commented. “I would have thought you’d might have gotten something for your magic.”

  “It was on my mind and I couldn’t decide. But then I had an idea as to what to do with this. I only hope it works out as good as it does in my head.” Kat explained, she didn’t want to regret the decision she made down the line.

  Puck wasn’t able to use the vendor because he didn’t have access to money like the others. Most of Luna’s money was given based on the rewards of the quests she had completed. Which were quests that included a vast majority of people, all she did was hide and survive during those types of quests and was able to receive the rewards.

  Luna browsed the selection of equipment until she stumbled upon something that seemed simple to use for herself, at least until she unlocked her Class. She submitted her choice, confident that this item would be a good fit for herself.

  The machine spat out another capsule, to which she happily snagged and cracked open. In her hands was an Uncommon red-wood slingshot with a rubber grip and leather pouch that had an etched rune symbol. She tried it out, dry firing it for a bit before picking up a rock and going down an alley way where she saw a garbage can.

  Kat and Puck watched as she loaded her sling with the rock, drawing it back while taking aim. The pouch then radiated a light blue glow, imbuing the rock with magical energy, before Luna released her hold. The rock zoomed through the air, leaving a streak of light blue in its wake, puncturing a whole into the aluminum trash can and knocking it over. “Cool! It works!” Luna cheered in excitement.

  “Wow! Luna’s slingshot looks awesome!” Puck complimented, inspecting her new weapon.

  “Yeah it does.” Kat agreed. “I saw the rock glow blue with magic, how does that work?” She asked, curious if the slingshot did it all on its own.

  “Well, the slingshot uses a bit of my mana in order to make whatever I put into the pouch stronger. It doesn’t do as much damage as a sword or a bow without charging it with my mana, but I’m more familiar with slingshots since I would mess around with them during my life back on Earth.” Luna reminisced on the days that she’d always ding objects everywhere she went with her personal slingshot, causing a racket, just to be chased off by her folks.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Let me guess, you shot a couple of things you shouldn’t have back then. Huh?” Kat guessed, and got her answer the moment she saw Luna form a cheeky smile. “I thought so, the more I get to know you, the more I agree with your sister of being a troublemaker.”

  Luna gave a light laugh, rubbing the back of her head. “I can’t help it, I liked being free to do what I want. I’m sure I bothered quite a bit of people, but I never meant any harm. It’s just that, I don’t like being cooped up indoors doing nothing. It was always so boring being alone by myself, Anna was always out working for the both of us. I never really had any friends…”

  “You not alone anymore, Luna.” Puck reassured his friend. “You have friends now to keep you company!”

  Kat nodded. “That’s right. Although we’ve only met since the start of this mess, we’ll be with each other till the end as not only a team, but also as friends. So if you ever need to talk to someone, we’re all here for you.” She encouraged with a warm smile.

  “Yeah! We here for you.” Puck supported with his happy attitude.

  Luna appreciated the reassurance that the two were giving her, seeing that they were right in the fact that she was with a group that was willing to accept her. So she decided to tell them something that was bothering her. “Thanks you guys…truth is…I don’t want to be left behind. What I mean is, I want to be of use to the group.”

  Her words resonated inside Kat, who could relate to what she was trying to convey. “Because you haven’t unlocked your Class, I assume?” She asked, then saw Luna nod.

  Kat had thought that was the case and continued. “You know, I had that feeling before I received mine. I had told Barry about my concerns of pulling my own weight because I wasn’t as strong as everyone else. And when I told him, he helped me out.” Luna was surprised to hear Kat tell her that. “It’s crazy, I know, given his intimidating presence like he doesn’t want to be bothered with small stuff. But…he still gave me a helping hand. So Luna, I’ll help you get stronger, just as Barry did for me.” She promised, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  Feeling motivated by Kat’s words of encouragement, Luna smiled back. “I appreciate both of you for wanting to help. I’ll do my best to pay you all back, that’s a promise!”

  Puck cheered with energy, he was thrilled to see his friends wanting to help one another. “Yeah! Puck help make everyone strong too, super, duper strong!”

  And just as everyone was in a good mood, the sound of a bell rung throughout the town. The three looked towards the direction of where the noise was coming from and saw that it was from a large tower with a huge bell up top that had someone ringing it.

  A voice spoke from the pole speakers nearby them. “MONGRUULS! I REPEAT! MONGRUULS ARE HEADING HERE NOW! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!” The man from the bell tower warned with urgency, repeatedly sounding the bell off.

  “Mongruuls?” Puck wondered, curious what they were.

  Kat and Luna didn’t know what they were either, but they figured that they had to be bad news for them and the people of the town if someone was raising the alarms.

  And as if on queue, Kat and Luna received a system notification relating to another quest, which was the following:

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  Event-Quest

  Title: Attack Of The Hyenas!

  Description: Mongruuls, playful humanoid hyenas with a silly laugh, have decided to express their sense of humor across the entire town. You won’t find another creature with as much fun as these party animals!

  Objective: Defend the town from these rowdy Mongruuls until they are all defeated or are chased away.

  Time Limit: —

  Reward: 10,000 Exp; 5,000 Gold

  Penalty: Should more than half the people of the town be killed. The rewards will not be given, regardless if all the Mongruuls are defeated.

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  After reading the quest that was shown to them, Luna saw it as an opportunity for growth. “Kat, this is perfect!” She was ecstatic. “This can be my chance to get my Class, don’t you think!?”

  Kat had the same idea and agreed. “Yeah! We’re unlocking your Class by the end of this quest. Just remember to be careful, we can’t be lenient. So let’s hide first and see what these Mongruuls are exactly first.” She suggested.

  Luna and Puck sided with her decision and made haste to find a place to hide for themselves, as some of the other people that were residents of the town took shelter inside their buildings.

  They would take cover within an abandoned market behind a couple of counters with some routes that they could take if they needed to escape. And just as they felt that they hid themselves pretty well, they heard the cries of people in the area. Luna’s heart was racing already from the distress of people in the town.

  Fighting was heard all around the town, echoing all around. The three were anxious to see what sort of enemies were terrorizing the town, they could only assume that these Mongruuls were monstrous in nature. Whatever they were, they hoped that Anna, Ron, and Buford were doing alright on their end.

  Their curiosity would be sated soon when suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps approaching their way. “After that ugly looking hyena!” Someone called out.

  Appearing within view was a battered up hyena humanoid that was equipped with half armor, two battleaxes, and a couple of bruises and cuts that seeped blood. It whimpered dramatically, like it was panting from exhaustion on the verge of dying.

  ‘Is that the type of monster that the quest is referring to as, “Mongruuls”? Humanoid hyenas? They look very creepy the way they appear.’ Kat thought.

  Chasing after the injured hyenafolk were a group of 3 other armed contestants. One of which was the same guy that they saw that bought his new sword and armor, he taunted the beastman. “Haha, look at him trying to escape. It’s hilarious.”

  Kat’s group continued to watch the hyena run until it tripped over its leg and onto its back, dropping its weapons and facing its pursuers with a look of dread. “These guys are complete pushovers, this quest will be a piece of cake to finish.” The swordsman claimed with such confidence.

  Something didn’t seem right with Kat, the quests that were given to them weren’t supposed to be easy. Considering all that they have faced so far, the difficult would be as hard as what the moderators and gods believed would be possible for the contestants to overcome. So hearing someone claim that this quest would be a piece of cake didn’t sound like it would be true.

  “Psst, Kat.” Puck whispered to Kat from his hiding spot inside a barrel of apples. “Do we fight weird animal person?” The Kobold asked for confirmation, Luna awaited for Kat’s call as well.

  She observed the other contestants and then looked back at the Mongruul, who backed away in terror. ‘I don’t think this will be easy, something is definitely off…’

  The swordsman approached the hyena with his sword, brandishing it with a twirl and winding it up for a downward slash. “Oh yeah, you’re finished, you nasty fiend!”

  And just as the contestant was about to plunge his weapon into the creature, Kat believed that she saw the hyena form a devilish grin before unleashing a spine-chilling howl. This action caused the swordsman and his team to pause for a moment, wondering why it was howling.

  A few seconds after the hyena howled, multiple arrows and spears rained down upon the swordsman and his friends. A majority of the projectiles landed directly on them, wounding them all and causing the group to cry in pain. The swordsman and the archer in the back were now like porcupines in horrible shape.

  The berserker of the group suffered grievous wounds themselves, but was still enduring through the sheer pain. “W-What just…happened?” He was shocked. More Mongruuls hopped down from the buildings above to finish off their prey.

  Kat was both glad that she didn’t choose to engage yet because of her intuition, but also felt fear from the possibility of her own ambush backfiring. But now that she was aware that it was a trap, Kat was confident of giving the go against these monsters. “Ready guys, we have to help them…” She whispered, everyone mentally prepared themselves. “Now!”

  Bursting out from the barrel was Puck, jumping onto the scene to ignite his foes with his golden, scorching hot flames. Both the hyenas and contestants were not expecting to see a small cloaked figure join in and roast the hyenas from behind. “Puck burn weird doggy looking creatures to ash!” The Kobold roared, the hyenas genuinely panicked upon catching fire.

  The other hyenas above on the buildings laid down cover fire for their pack, trying to land a direct hit on Puck, who moved ducked and rolled behind some cover.

  Luna spotted the enemies above and took shots at them, picking up rocks for ammo. She charged each rock with some of her mana before releasing, striking the hyenas clean in the dome. Her attacks did noticeable damage, but not enough to effectively take them out just yet. Still, she continued to provide support.

  The berserker was trying to get his team back together with their bearings, seeing as how his friends were heavily injured and appeared in a daze. And just when one hyena was about to land a strike on the berserker, their swinging arm was ensnared by a purple chain before being blasted and knocked away by a beam of purple magic. It was Kat who was channeling her powers.

  The berserker was stunned, not realizing that he was going to get clobbered from behind. “Thanks, that was a close one- look out!” He warned Kat.

  Behind Kat was a sneaky hyena that attempted to ambush her with their axe. She lunged forward while glancing back, hoping that her friendly ghost would take care of whatever was trying to threaten her. Everyone else was then shocked to see what had happened next.

  Intercepting between her and the hyena, was the spiked shield that she had recently purchased. It floated, blocking the attack and puncturing the hyena’s arm with its spikes. “Good job, Dusk!” Kat was glad that her friendly ghost was able to follow her order, bringing her idea to fruition like she had hoped. The hyena recoiled back from the pain, releasing a high-pitched cry.

  It tried again to take a swing at Kat but was again blocked by Dusk, who was possessing the shield. This was a strange phenomenon for everyone around, they could not believe what they were seeing. Regardless, the appearance of Kat’s group was a blessing for the berserker, otherwise things could have gotten a lot worse.

  The berserker popped open his only health potion and fed it to the swordsman, before pulling the arrows and spears off his body, making him yelp in pain. His friend would slowly begin to feel the effects of the potion working, as he commented about the hyenas. “Those bastards…why didn’t I see them coming…”

  “It don’t matter, we have to get out of here while those other people distract these creatures!” The berserker advised before turning his attention to another pack of hyena’s to defend his friends. “Help him out as well.” He told the swordsman, referring to the archer. “We’re escaping!”

  The swordsman did just that and got to moving, while Kat’s team kept applying pressure on their foes. Puck was going to town on these weird doggy looking creatures, his fire was scaring the Mongruuls so much that once their fur was ignited, they scurried away out of the area. “Ha! Fear Puck! Puck all mighty fire burn everyone!”

  Luna remained behind the counters for cover and concealment, keeping her enemies guessing where and when she would pop her head out to take aim and rattle their head with her empowered rocks.

  Kat finished off her aggressor with a final blast of black magic before choosing to help the berserker and his team out with fending off the pack of Mongruuls that were crowding around them all. She summoned a chain from the ground and tripped one of the monsters, making them fall over another, causing a domino effect.

  The berserker looked at what she had done and then back at his friends that were injured but ready to take off sprinting. It didn’t sit right with him that he had to abandon Kat and her team to handle with the rest of the monsters, but he scared for not only his friend's safety but his own. “I-I’m…I’m sorry!” He told her, before skedaddling away from the scene with his team.

  There was no hate in Kat’s heart upon witnessing the other group flee from the scene, she felt that it was understandable considering how they just were ambushed. ‘I probably would have run away to in their position as well…’

  Dusk was staving back two Mongruuls from getting anywhere near Kat, swiftly zooming the shield from one place to the next to intercept their movements. Luna pelted them with her slingshot, managing to hit both in the eye, which made them screech in agony. “Perfect aim, Luna!” Kat praised, before blasting them back a couple of times.

  While this was going on, Puck was soloing the rest of the Mongruuls that had tripped. It definitely seemed as though this hyena creatures were terrified of fire because they were fleeing from terror at a being much smaller than them that was a mobile flamethrower.

  It was then that they were startled by the noise of what could have been a battle horn being sounded off on top of one of the buildings. Their ears vibrated from the noise as they looked up to see that was the case, one of the Mongruuls was blowing through a large horn.

  Luna wasted no time to take a shot at the creepy hyena and struck them in the nose, making them whine, dropping the horn on the ground below. “What do you think that thing was trying to do?” She asked the group.

  Suddenly, the sound of the smashing was heard nearby, and it was getting closer by the second. Kat advised that they flee from the area as well because her gut was telling her that nothing good was coming for them. So they ran down one of the alley ways to get out of there.

  But even then, the group began hearing a similar noise from the direction they were going. ‘What's going on? Are buildings being torn down from something? Could it be that the hyena was calling for something?’

  And just as the group exited out of the alley and entering a square area with shops, they couldn’t believe it when they saw a random person soaring in the air. They screamed in total fear with their arms flailing about before crashing down on the pavement with a loud splat and thud.

  The sight of the now dead person was something that traumatized Luna, having seen something similar before, back when Haglethorn was being invaded by the Chakarie. Luna’s body began shaking, scared of what was coming towards them. There were other people in gear that were in the area as well, who were just as shocked as well.

  They backed away from the alley to make some distance, feeling the ground now rumbling from the approached of something massive. A couple more bodies were sent flying over the buildings that died upon impact. The one responsible for their deaths would then be revealed.

  Jumping on top of the buildings was a huge hulking humanoid hyena that was almost 15 feet tall, wielding a spiked ball and chain in its hands, it had battle scars around their body showing its stories of battle. They cackled with hysterical laughter that instilled everyone with terror, this devilish being eyed everyone below like dinner for their next meal.

  As scared as Kat was at the sight of this fiend, she knew that her fears would only cause her mind to be clouded and needed to remain composed. More Mongruuls arrived onto the scene as this boss monster’s minions. This would be a challenge for her group to overcome, including the random people that were with them at the time.

  Puck was itching to show his enemies the gift of fire and ran up to them, believing that he would scare them all away, since these creatures would always run away from his attacks. “Puck shoo them away! We no scared of weird doggy monsters!”

  “Puck, no! Wait!” Kat called out, trying to grasp a hand on him, but couldn’t catch the little Kobold.

  The average sized Mongruuls charged forward at the little guy, thinking of him as an easy kill. But Puck unleashed a hell upon them with his flames, and received the effect that he wanted. Which was making them all back away, not wanting to catch fire themselves. “See! Weird doggy scared of Puck!”

  The giant Mongruul that was watching above was dissatisfied of his minions running away and stomped on the roof before letting out a bellowing howl. The beast's eyes glowed bright red, as a malicious blood-red aura unleashed from the hulking monster.

  And to everyone's surprise, the Mongruuls below began emitting the same kind of dark energy with glowing red eyes. Their laughter returned, more sinister, as well did their courage. These creatures were no longer afraid of the firepower that Puck had, and ran through the flames in an attempt to kill everyone in the area.

  “H-Huh? Doggies no longer afraid of Puck? Oh no!” Puck then retreated back to everyone else, with the pack of Mongruuls on his tail.

  Fighting began once again, with everyone doing their best to fend off the empowered Mongruuls. Kat stayed close with his group, playing a supportive role with her binding chains and Dusk’s usage of his shield that floated around to protect her and the others.

  The giant Mongruul leaped off the building while whirling its spike ball around before running it amok at a patch of adventurers. The ground in front of them tore up from the impact of the ball, all but one person managed to react in time to dodge the attack as they watched the spiked ball crush one person into a wall. The ball retracted ball to its wielder, leaving a pulverized warrior embedded into a building wall. Hysterical laughter echoed from the monstrous hyena, frightening the people trying to stay alive.

  Luna’s attention was scattered about, she tried flinging stones at her enemies but was surprised to see that her puny attacks were no longer having any effect on these creatures who were empowered. And the more she watched, the more she noticed that these Mongruuls were more resistant to pain because of how careless they were. Their feral instincts and insanity had taken over them, the air was filled with constant laughter that was daunting to everyone.

  She witnessed a Mongruul take multiple stabs in the chest, just so they could sink their teeth into one of the people, tackling them to the ground, continuing to ravage them. Luna was paralyzed in fear at everything that was going on.

  And without even realizing it, a Mongruul had broken through the ranks of the defenders and made a beeline towards Luna. Kat saw this, and tried making an attempt to halt them, but was unable to concentrate because of the pressure that was being applied to her. “Luna! Run!” Kat called out.

  Puck was also under pressure by these monsters, his flames were inflicting harm on his foes for sure, but their sense of fear was gone which made them relentless in taking down the Kobold.

  Luna could not move her legs despite seeing the monster move ever so closer to her by the second. ‘Its…its happening again…I’m too scared to move…I’m still just as weak as before…’ Her intrusive thoughts emerged, clouding her mind.

  But suddenly, like a grace from the heavens, she heard the scream of someone she loved dearly. “STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER!”

  Multiple daggers zipped through the air, puncturing the flesh of the Mongruul before Luna’s faithful sister, Anna, teleported behind the beast so that she could plunge her daggers into the creature's neck. The body of the creature crashed into the ground, with Anna’s foot pressed firmly on the back of the dead Mongruul.

  “Luna!” Anna shouted at her little sister, breaking her out of her frozen state. “Get out of here! Go back to Abe and stay in the carriage! Wake Barry up and tell him to get the hell over here!” She ordered, not wanting her sister to get into the conflict that was going on.

  Luna was clearly shaking, yet she didn’t want to run away to leave her sister and the others to fight. “Anna, I-”

  “GO!” Anna yelled again, as she kept two other Mongruuls occupied.

  Fear helped influence Luna to turn heels, running in the opposite direction. She made haste with tears in her eyes, crying as she made her way back to where Abe was parked. Throughout the whole run, Luna dreaded about amounting to anything but a weak-minded person.