As the scourge came in waves growing in number by the minute, the adventurers could hardly fight back any longer. These were deranged creatures of unfathomable strength.

"It's no use. Be it magic or weapons they still rise back up!"

"We should run." 

"Continue!" Monique screamed at her companions. 

"No, no, we have to go. We do not stand a chance. This is suicide!"

No one listened to her as everyone started a mass evacuation towards the town's exit. 

Monique furiously called them useless and cowards all to no effect. Others might still bemoan the harsh insults coming from her but when life is at stake, what is a little scolding? 

The scourge crawled back, their roars rang in her ears. Monique was easily frightened and she felt sick down to her stomach. In the end, she was left with no choice but to desperately chant any wind spell she could recall in order to give herself ample time to escape. 

On another side of the dilapidated town. Three adventurers were caught off guard and are now trapped by ten scourges, just then from the shrubbery behind came a rustling sound.

"I don't suppose there are any cleared paths around. Every time you make a turn you'll get stabbed by twigs and thorns." Came the dissatisfied mutterings as he fought his way out of the thicket. "Oh, drats! My glasses… where are my glasses..."

A brown-haired youth came out fumbling on all fours. The party in front were momentarily stunned. Isn't he one of the children who came in with them earlier? 

His stomach was on the ground, it took him a good half a minute before finding the said eyeglasses. Viktor, realizing something odd in front of him raised his head, inadvertently putting the scourges in his direct line of vision.

"Ah…" Was all he said. He crawled out quickly before addressing the three men huddled on the side. "Gentlemen, it seems that you are in a pickle."

As you can see. The three wanted to reply but they were too frightened to make a sound.

"Watch out!" The adventurers' already tensed hearts squeezed even tighter when the scourges started to attack altogether. 

But then the unbelievable happened in front of their eyes. With a flutter of his robe, Viktor pulled out a leather bound book and chanted one of the obscured texts written within. 

As the spell rang in the air, ten scourges were caught by an invisible pressure, it froze them mid-air, a stifling pressure erupted followed by a materialization of a winged creature.

"Oh dear…" The adventurers gasped.

The oldest of them stared as he trembled with excitement, "That cannot be what I think it is…"

"Oh, yes—" 

"But he is a child!" 

Hovering in the air against the sun, a man in a purple robe and black wings turned his emotionless eyes to Viktor.

"You called?" 

"A summoned spirit! The T-Thanatos." The oldest who happened to be a mage finally recognized the creature. "Boy, you are an Evoker? At such a young age?"

"I am." Viktor replied.

He doesn't look older than fifteen, in their kingdom, most novices who just started taking quests are just about the same age as him. Their youngest and most talented adventurer is already twenty-two years old with a basic job class, but for this teen to be in an advanced job class? Impossible. Yet here he is. Even if the Aurum Kingdom tend to give special preference to their noble subjects when it comes to professional jobs, ranks and hierarchy, isn't this a little too exaggerated?

They really wanted to believe that they were only mistaken but the youth's skill says otherwise. 

One cannot entirely blame these men, they have seen many aristocrats who puff themselves like peacocks but in the end, no different from frail little quails when it comes to actual combat.

There are very rare appraisal artifacts that measure a person's strength and reveal the skills they gained. These items had been used by chosen institutions since ancient times to judge a person's capability but because it was extremely rare, you will find too few people who had themselves appraised, making fraudsters and braggarts proliferate. 

Honing one's skills and ascending had always been the aim of everybody. Amongst these people, there are individuals with special cases who were bestowed with rare abilities. Some are hailed geniuses honored and idolized, others who had surpassed their natural given gifts used their influence and strength to help their kingdoms progress and as time passed, their powers grew greater that they chose to leave the mortal plane. 

Each professional rank will ascend if an individual's strength has broken through a threshold by combining extensive knowledge and mastery of their skills. But crossing it is no easy feat indeed. An ample experience is to be gained. In this kingdom where fighting with monsters is considered a dangerous, crude and barbaric job, there are but a few people who can truly be called masters. 

Magic is highly valued because it can strengthen one's position in society but monster fighting is viewed as dirty and crass, a reason why there are nobles who would rather fake their real abilities or employ other methods to advance. To wield magic is manifestation of one's social position that is why most nobles are in the mage, cleric and knight professions.

The Thanatos paid them no mind and flew to execute the order. From his palms, a black haze formed almost the same as the one they saw in the pantheon. However, they knew soon enough that this black haze is completely different. It flew towards the scourges and entered all the holes on their faces, in a short second their bodies convulsed violently before withering at a speed visible to the naked eye and finally exploding into dust.

Nearby, several domes of electromagnetic storm rose stirring the winds, Viktor turned his head and nodded to the party. He left soon after. 

Numerous bodies were flung around by a cyclone, hit by bolts after bolts of lightning, charred to ashes. 

Seeing a silhouette running from one place to another effortlessly releasing spells, Viktor was relieved. 

On a nearby slope, a party of five rookie adventurers are being chased fiercely by a single scourge. The Junior Mage raised his wooden staff and chanted Fireballs. Fist size glowing flames were shot, the scourge ignored it. With a blank expression added by the dry grayish complexion, his relentless pursuit made the youths scream in horror. 

"No, we must make it out of Aster alive."

"I regret it now! We shouldn't have come!" 

"All of you turn right." Someone shouted.

When their legs are about to give in, their fates about to be sealed, a barrage of fiery embers shot out from above in time as the five of them turned. The magic attack fell on the scourge pounding its sturdy body until it was reduced to ashes.  

"Firestorm. 6th Tier fire spell."

"Heavens, we are saved."

"Who…?"

On the left side are several other adventurers and nobles running, fumbling to reach the top of the slope. Behind them are fifteen or so scourges crouched on all fours leaping and growling like a pack of mad dogs.

Everyone has almost exhausted every kind of skill to retaliate but all were useless against these things.

"Not good, we are all going to be buried in this wretched place!"

"We shouldn't have listened to the city lord's words. He led us all into a trap."

Hearing a loud crackle, their attention was riveted to the front. It was two archers with bows as weapons standing on the wall of an abandoned manor. The arrows glowing a faint blue, pulling it back it left a beautiful trail of frost, the first arrow hit the centre of the horde while the other on the front erecting a huge ice wall. It was a powerful shot, even the archers themselves were surprised. On their second aim, they once again equipped the mysterious vial and released it. This time, the scourges are permanently trapped inside the humongous block of ice.

"This is a mage's ice spell, Frost Palace."

The archers looked at their bows in disbelief, it was as if their own weapons had turned into something unrecognizable. Did it just shoot an ice spell? 

A while ago when the mayhem broke out, someone dropped several vials of this liquid frost and shouted the instructions, without a second thought they picked it all up and now seeing the result first hand had left them mouth agape. An ordinary looking concoction is capable of releasing such a powerful spell? What kind of treasure is this?           

Not far from them, while the fellow adventurers were overcome with anxiety, a bundled body was flung, landing on their feet with a thud.

"Dear friends, need not fret," Solis said walking up the slope and kicking a scourge that managed to run away from Frost Palace. "If you bring this fellow back to Nebel and ask the city lord for a reward, I'm sure he would be very willing to pay you. He is, after all, his nephew."

Dumbfounded, they all looked down and saw a trussed up Sil. His face swollen with bruises beyond recognition, his arms and legs are tightly secured by a vine, tied like a pig ready to be roasted on a spit. 

Oh great, that damn city lord's blood kin!

"Be sure to ask for proper compensation for your injuries and sufferings. In gold." Solis reminded everyone kindly before flitting away.

Who was that again? Everyone stared blankly at an empty space.

"Unhand…  me… miserable cowards!" Sil screamed garbled curses. "You… ill.. pay!"

Then at this moment, from the direction of the pantheon, a loud roar resounded. 

Sil stopped screaming and curled into a frightened ball, shaking. "N-N-No…"

An ear-splitting cry from an ancient beast enough to make the very air tremble, followed by a huge explosion. A golden flame towering hundreds of meters high rose, piercing the clouds to the void sky; it glowed magnificently before vanishing, leaving people in awe.

"Did you see that?"

"What on earth…?"

The crowd was astir. 

Royce in the middle of a search momentarily stopped. "Ah Solis, I hope he only burns the miasma. Not the entrance to the treasury. It would be bad if we all went home without any prize."

On Emilia's side, though a little tired, a faint glow of pink can be seen on her cheeks contrary to the mutilated corpses lying on the ground. If one has to look closer, the scourge is leaking out back liquid with a trace of purple. A hand to hand fight against these puppets is very impractical if the aim is to subdue, but if it is for a spar, they do make a great companion. Too bad, today is not a good day to compare notes.

Dusting herself, Emilia took off after burning the bodies.

The scene of the adventurers fighting against the horde is already at the point where several scourges were trimmed down. Sterne with her short sword on hand ran inside an abandoned mansion's maze-like paths of broken walls and stone pillars intending to get out. She was just jumping over the roof a while ago to see the situation when she accidentally stepped on a rotten piece of wood and fell at the very bottom. 

Who would have guessed that as she neared the exit she would run into four scourges?

The narrow path restricted any wide movements. 

Slowly, she took a step back with as little sound as possible and made a mad dash to the maze. 

The scourges' quickly followed her almost crouching on all fours to gain speed. 

As the first one inched closer she jumped to kick its chest hard, using its body as leverage she vaulted herself up and flipped over the opposite side of the wall, in a much wider area. 

A roar came from her left making her dodge away from it. Sterne flicked the ice blue blade while at the same time avoiding the hits from the claws. As soon as she narrowly escaped one, the next would follow. The frenzied creatures attacked fiercely, barely giving her a moment to breathe. 

Behind her, a snarling scourge closed in. Sterne felt the danger and ducked a second before its fingers pierced her back. As the sharp claws dug and scraped the stone walls, the smashed debris and dust flew all over the place impeding her vision. She felt a force lifting her body and threw her over. 

The pain came hard, almost sapping her breath. They came again and with extreme difficulty, she pushed herself up and raised her sword. Sterne held on to her weapon, shook the dizziness off as she fended off the next strikes. 

Minutes passed, hoarfrost formed at the hands of the scourges. Sterne panted and smiled. Every slash of the blade emits a bone-deep chill, but she knew these unfeeling creatures won't care about it so she added a little trick to it, Frostbite. It will only be a matter of time before it takes effect, turning all of them into ice sculptures. 

As their movements slowed, she rushed under a hanging beam luring them to come closer and waited until they were close before hitting the already broken part of the rafters. The roof came crushing the four scourges into ice slags. 

When it was finally over only did she allow herself the genuine liberty of groaning in pain. Her face twisted into agony as she patted her bruised back. Sterne leaned on the wall for support as she took a rush of deep bursting breaths. 

"I can see you are taking your sweet time." Royce commented leaning over the gaping hole of the roof. 

Sterne wiped the blood off her mouth and looked up.

"I was wondering where you went. I searched the whole village for two hours and there was not a sight of you, sister. I don't suppose you intended to abandon me and hog all the fun, don't you?"

Sterne shot him a humorless smile. "Would you like to take my place then?"

He shook his head and continue to babble.

"I was told you have excellent footwork, your friends say so but how could you be so clumsy and fall down there?"

That... was something she was very embarrassed about. 

"It was an accident."

"If those things have taken a bite at you, would you also consider that as an accident?"

Her face turned awkwardly red. "How am I supposed to know that the roof is rotten?"

Royce snorted, "Of course it's rotten you just didn't consider it. This place had been abandoned for years, surely you did not expect any of the structures would hold."

This boy… 

Sterne found herself so overcome by a violent urge to land a fist on his delicate face but she endured. 

"Worry not sister, this does not affect my admiration towards you." 

Her eyebrows pinched in anger. You don't have to condole me! 

"Since sister is clumsy enough to fall into a pit, would you like to employ my help?"

Sterne still endured. She wondered how come a person owning such pristine and angelic visage could also own a mouth where something evil comes out?

"Unn, n-no need. I believe I am perfectly capable of taking myself out."

"Sister does not have to feel shy. If you need me to get you out just ask." Royce jumped down and casually threw his arm on her.

She flinched. 

"Does it hurt so badly?" He asked softly. "I'm very sorry I came in late. I will be very gentle." 

Sterne nodded. "Thank you."

He smiled cheekily. "In return, my good sister. You have to cook something really good for me later. Of course, it has to be mine alone. I do not want others eating it, I do not want something you usually eat as well, I do not…"

Sterne felt like the pain on her back and stomach were no longer as miserable as another grave concern came up: How can she make this child shut up? 

She had aged a hundred years by just listening to his rant. 

When they finally meet with the rest, her mind and soul are both completely depleted. The grassy plains are now filled with adventurers and nobles alike who survived the attack, though they nearly lost their lives today at least most of them have gained plenty of experience. Many are still in a daze, some are wondering where those 6th Tier magic came from but everyone is glad that the struggle is over finally.

Emilia and Viktor saw the two little runts unscathed and breathed in a sigh of relief. Because of the urgent situation a while ago, they needed to split up. Royce pursued the one who ambushed Gram in his attempt to escape, while Emilia went to fight on her own. Sterne and Viktor decided to discreetly support the parties that are in dire situations. Thankfully aside from heavy injuries, there are no casualties. 

 "I wonder how Dorn and the rest are doing now?" Sterne wondered.

As she was about to place her butt down the grassy patch, a tremor from several hoofbeats put everybody on high alert. 

On the path from the entrance, men in white liveries and tall sturdy horses came, carrying flags with the crest of the royal family. Under the intense sunlight, the white and gold trimmings blinded their eyes. Sterne nearly fell down if Royce hadn't nudged her up.

"Heavens, it's the Crown Prince!"

The what...?