Beast Evolution

A portal opened in front of them and they stepped inside and found themselves in a secluded area.

"Where is this?" Vaan asked Vincent.

"The capital is too busy, I didn't find a better place, so where should we go first?" Vincent asked.

"We should find some Royal knights and kill them," Ian said.

"Why should we cause trouble, that would make the mission more harder," Vincent said.

"Let's just go to a good restaurant and eat, then visit the Adventurer guild, I heard it's usually filled with strong people," Vaan said.

"So do we get to beat anyone in the Adventurer guild, maybe we can meet a strong Martial artist and battle to the death," Ian said.

"Talking to you is fruitless Ian, we should just do what Vaan suggested, I'm hungry," Vincent said.

"Why do we have to wait a day, we would have been on our way home by now," Ian said as they walked out of the alley.

"I don't know, maybe he sensed something wrong, or maybe something else," Vincent said.

"What is wrong that we cannot take care of, he doesn't even need to come with us, he should just tell us where the artifact is and we would retrieve it," Vaan said.

"Maybe it isn't here in the capital..." Vincent said.

"If it isn't here, we would have returned back home, but master said we should get the feel of the place so maybe he's waiting for something," Ian said.

"That would be the case, I wonder if he's waiting for someone," Vaan said.

"I don't think there anyone in the world that can battle him, he shouldn't join the battle, or else we wouldn't have any fun," Ian said.

"Why wouldn't he join, he is the one that would direct us to the artifact so he would be part of the battle, and that would make things much easier," Vincent said.

"Easier, why would you like it more easier, I want to face four Royal knight head on and kill all of them," Ian said.

"Here is a nice restaurant, we should go in," Vincent said and walked towards the restaurant.

...

Ray and Gabriel talked for a little while before the carriage became silent again.

The journey was smooth and Ray who was a little bored opened the window of the carriage and kept his face in the window and stare at the trees as they rode past them.

The smooth breeze blew on his face as they rode towards the capital, they haven't seen a single person or carriage or even a beast.

'I thought infected beasts were now attacking everything and we haven't seen a single life form since we left the Bullmar academy, makes me wonder if something is wrong'

"What's that" Leia said.

Ray and Gabriel turn to look at her, she was staring out of the other carriage window and it seem she saw something.

"Is something wrong?" Gabriel asked because he was seated in the middle, and while Ray and Leia could see ahead through the window he could not.

"It's a fog, the path ahead is covered by a fog," Leia said.

Ray could now see the fog through from his side of the window, the fog was strange it felt like it was moving and had a life of its own.

The carriage came to an immediate stop, making Ray's head which was still sticking out to hit the side of the window.

Ray looked as the senior knights in the carriage came down to inspect the fog, the three of them also follow suit and came down from their own carriage.

"The fog is strange," Leia said as she came close to the senior knights.

Ray couldn't sense any Mana from the fog so he reasoned that it was not an infected beast, but what could possibly be the cause of the fog.

"We are going through," Authur said.

"We are going on foot, move forward but slowly," Alfred said to both of the riders.

The senior knights were in front while the three of them were following behind.

The fog was just a regular fog nothing strange happened as they walked through, but they were no signs of life, the fog also followed the path where they were walking through.

The six of them along with the carriage carried on through the path. They walked for a little while until Alfred spoke.

"It seems like some bears are following us, I can't tell how many or what kind"

There were different kinds of bears, most bears attack in groups while few of them attack alone. Each bear has its own characteristic, while some are small in size others are very large.

"Are they following us or just walking by?" Authur asked.

"They are following us, they are not infected," Alfred said.

Ray was surprised at how Alfred was able to sense the beast inside the fog, the bears weren't infected or else the system would have notified him.

"It doesn't look like they are planning to attack given their movement," James said.

"Yes, they are not trying to circle around us, they are just following us, maybe they are waiting for us to leave the fog," Alfred said.

"Should we kill them or we should leave the fog first?" Alfred asked.

"We should leave first, we have students among us that we need to protect so we shouldn't make any rash movement," Authur said.

The three of them were looking at the knights in surprise, they haven't even seen the bears but they could already tell this much about them.

"You have your weapons with you right?" Alfred asked.

"Yes sir" they answered.

The three of them were given intermediate level swords because of the journey, which they kept on their waist.

"Draw your sword and get ready, two of the bears are coming close," Alfred said.

The three of them quickly drew out their swords and held them tightly, the senior knights kept walking without drawing out their swords.

Ray activated his night vision but he still couldn't see a thing in the fog. The horses were making neighing sounds because they were slightly afraid but they were still under control, finally, they exited the fog.

"Now I know why they didn't attack," Alfred said as they all looked at the bear in front of them.

[Dark Energy detected]

The system notified Ray but they could already see the infected beast from far away, it just stood there in the middle of the road.

The horses were not starting to go out of control as they refused to move forward, the reason was because of the infected beast which was some meters away.

"Black bear," Authur said as two bears came out of the forest.

Black bears were beasts that would often attack in groups because of their small size, high level black bears can grow up to eight feet tall.

Their main features were their razor sharp claws and massive teeth which despite being small can crush a human bone. Although the low level black bear was the same size as a dog it still has the strength of a regular bear.

The senior knights drew out their swords and faced the bears, they were only five of them and they were all in front of the senior knights so Ray and his group had nothing to worry about.

Authur held a long sword in his hands, and James was holding a spear with two sharp edges while Alfred held two swords.

The riders of the carriage were also knights because Ray saw them holding swords in their hands.

From one of the trees, a black bear jumped towards Authur, as the bear jumped towards Authur all the other bears moved into action.

One of the bears attacked Ray, with its claws it jumped and swung its claws in the air aiming at Ray's face.

Ray quickly used his sword to block the attack but was still pushed back by the strength of the bear.

The bears were more powerful than wolves and were more agile than boars, but they were still slower.

Ray held his sword and waited for the bear's next attack and when it came, Ray didn't try to block it, instead he moved sideways and slash the bear across its stomach killing it in the process.

[You've received 200 Exp for defeating black bear]

Ray quickly looked towards the others, they were more black bears now and the senior knights had no problem slaying them, Gabriel and Leia were also able to defeat the bear.

They were roughly twenty bears and more than ten on the ground, none of the bears seems to be coming close to him.

Ray rushed after two bears that were coming toward Leia from behind and slay them both.

After a minute all the bears had been defeated, the knights looked around and everyone was okay.

"Good job," Authur said to the three of them.

Ray looked ahead and the infected beast which he saw ahead was no longer there.