Darkness began to cover the forest as the sun sets under the sea of leaves.

The Rose's team stood silent after listening to the unexpected information. Alex saw their dubious faces but did not explain. That will make it only worse. As the clock started ticking, Alex grew impatient. The silence was broken by the annoying guy first.

"Haha, who are you trying to fool? My great wolf can smell a beast from a mile. You should..." said the archer.

Just as the archer was about to smear some more dirt on Alex, the ever quiet dark hooded wizard spoke in a cold voice.

"I think we should listen to him," said the wizard from the dark hood.

Miss Rose promptly became serious. On the other hand, the archer looked disconcerted.

"Declan, We don't know anything about this guy. Are you going to believe him over me?" asked the archer.

"We may not know him, but we should always stay vigilant in this Dark forest. Otherwise, we may die. And, I don't think he is lying," said Declan facing the woods.

"Declan, you.."

"That's enough, Mr. Balck. Since both Mr. Rolfe and Mr. Ryder have spoken, we should start defending against the beast group," said Rose while assessing Alex. Her emerald eyes gave an extra glance to the gun in his hand and the shabby rucksack.

The group quickly entered a tight formation. The two knights in heavy armor stood in front of the group with their Kite shields facing the woods. The wizard stood in the back with a grimoire in one hand and a staff in the other.

The archer stood behind the knights after arranging some magic traps at the edge of the woods.  Rose stood beside Alex while watching the rucksack from time to time.

"Alex, how many beasts are there?" asked Rose.

"About a ... "

Before Alex can reply, all of them heard a howling that suspiciously sounded like stifled laughter.

Alex immediately scanned the dark woods and saw the silhouettes of the Crazy hyenas flashing in between the trees.

"Varis, stay safe in the air, and notify me if they make strange movements," said Alex.

[Got it.]

Before the others can get a glimpse of the beasts, they heard a burst of weird laughter.

"Wu hu hu..."

"Jie jie jie..."

"Ha ha ha..."

"He he he..."

A burst of creepy laughter spread through the dark woods. All of them were creeped out. Alex was almost as creeped out as when he heard the evil clown laughter in the theatre.

'Are they trying to kill us with their laughter? It may work,' thought Alex.

A tall crazy hyena with blurry eyes and a slight drool sauntered from the woods but was trapped by the magic trap.

The beast was only fifty meters away, and the rest of the team saw the beast for the first time.

"It is Mad-eyed Hyena," said Rose while frowning. The rest of them were also apprehensive. Then other hyenas appeared in front of them.

"A pack of Mad-eyed hyena, how is this possible?" Tom, the knight, was first to raise his doubts.

The Mad-eyed hyenas were solitary beasts due to their unstable ability. Tom suddenly thought of a possibility.

"Be careful! There must be an Alpha among the group."

The group became jumpy. The archer almost fell of the wolf. The Mad-eyed hyenas acted first and began to spread as they tried to circle them in.

"Don't let them encircle us. Start Long-range attack!" said Tom.

Immediately a red glow appeared on the wizard's magic staff, and the grimoire opened. A red magic array floated in front of the black-robed wizard. A fireball the size of a football was launched on the hyenas, like a stone, launched from a catapult. Simon, the archer, also shot multiple magic arrows at the pack.

The battle began!

Alex stayed collected. He drew his bow and transferred his energy to the tip of the arrow. Due to his limited arrows and mana, Alex had to be 100% certain before shooting the Power arrow.

But his movements still were noticed by Rose and others. They were surprised at his mana proficiency at Rookie Level. They suppressed their shock and curiosity and continued the fight.

Soon, A hyena approached the knights from the side, and Alex took action. He released the arrow, and it left a blue blur before penetrating its eye.

Lucky Shot!

Alex quickly adapted to the group fight. The wizard bombarded the incoming hyenas with his fireball spells. But, there will be a few seconds delay between his attacks.

During these few seconds, Miss Rose and the archer attacked them with his magic arrows. While the knights attacked when the hyenas got too close to the group.

Alex, on the other hand, attacked when necessary. Either to kill a hyena sneaking near the group or to finish off an injured hyena.

[Alex, Two hyenas attacking from the rear. They just reached the hill.]

Alex turned back and saw the cruel red eyes approaching from both sides of the hill. Alex immediately shot the power arrow towards the both of them. One of them missed, but it gained the attention of the wizard, who blasted them.

After that, the team became more harmonious. Everyone did what needs to be done.

Seeing that encircling them was not working, the Alpha hiding in the woods became angry. He barked loudly, giving a different command. Simultaneously the pack changed the tactics.

The pack of twenty crazy hyenas started to charge towards the human group. There was an open land of 50 meters where the Hyenas can charge and gain enough momentum.

During the charge, the hyena's eyes changed from blurry to cruel-red-light while their bodies exuded berserk energy.

Seeing their momentum increase, Alex knew they were stimulated and became crazy. The two knights raised their shields to meet the incoming charge. But at this time, Miss Rose spoke.

"Ok. Let me take a shot," said miss rose, as she took out a golden rose out of nowhere.

The golden rose petals floated in the air and roamed towards the incoming pack. However, they did not touch the beasts but fell to the ground.

Just as Alex was confused, he saw a green branch quickly growing from the ground and wrapping the incoming Mad-eyed hyenas.

The seven hyenas in the front were caught by the branches. The charge lost its momentum and fell flat.

Seeing the opportunity, Simon, Declan, and Alex started their long-range attacks without anyone's command.

This time they had to work extra hard as the hyenas were in a berserk state. Alex had to shoot three arrows before the hyena was dead. Now less than ten hyenas were remaining.

As Alex was about to cheer, he heard a roar from the woods.

"It's an Alpha level beast," said Tom. Even before watching the beast, Alex felt a berserk aura suppressing him.

'Damn it!' cursed Alex. He hoped these guys are strong enough to kill it.