Evan was the first to attack with his clouds from a distance, sending the hardened fists to attack a giant shadow wolf that stopped in front of them. It hardly did anything and the wolf continued charging at the wagon. Next was Blyke who sent a charging beam of lightning straight for the wolf’s mouth which had been opened to display its terrifying red teeth. Smoke came from its mouth as Rill then sliced at the beast with water as the wagon dashed by it. Of course, it wouldn’t die. There was far too much malice here and soon the dark substance sunk into the wolf and healed its wounds.

            Next came two giants from each side and Maya was the first to intercept the one on the right. Her power allowed her freedom like no other and it was for this reason why she was called the greatest Aerite since the first ones. And with her magnificent winds, she slashed and slashed at the giant’s foot until it fell to the ground, right on its face.

            Teya, on the other hand needed some help on her side. Though she tried her best, her flames would not go any further than a few meters away from her. “Damnit!” she yelled and seeing her dismay, Lelita took it upon herself to channel a beam of golden light to target the creature in its eye. It groaned in pain as it covered its right eye that had been shot and then in a rage it continued to charge at the wagon. But not before Evan conjured a cloud to wrap around its foot and hold it in place for a mere second or two so that the wagon could to get away.

            They were also numerous other smaller human like beasts striking at the wagon from the sides as the group dashed through the malice filled area. And it was Silva who had been slicing away at these small creatures as they went on at incredible speeds.

            And all the while, Marcus was shooting shards to the front, clearing the way for the wagon to proceed.

            “My, oh my. How strong you all are?” Skull jones yelled as he continued to laugh. Whether that was from excitement or fear, Evan still couldn’t tell. But that wasn’t too much of a concern for him. So he returned his attention back to beasts that sought to hold them in place and to counter, the boy conjured more clouds to keep them away.

            But despite all that, he couldn’t help noticing that Teya could not shoot her flames. Not only that but it always formed a shape of a ring around her or in that one case when Blyke tried to hit on her, her flames would form multiple rings which would come together to create a dome to shield the girl. Her power was most likely defensive in nature and for that reason, it would not be much use in long distances. But Evan thought about another use for it and he asked the girl:

            “Teya, do you think you could make a ring of fire around the wagon?”

            Teya looked at him and said. “Well, probably.” She then said with a sad tone. “At the very at least, my power should reach that far.”

            “Then do it.” Evan replied as he shot a fist towards a small creature that had slung itself on to the side of the wagon.

            Then Teya did as she was told and a ring of fire surrounded the wagon as it went on. With that around it, Evan and Silva had not more need to strike down those beasts that emerged from below and tried to grab on to the cart. The blade like flame would deal with them.

            “Keep it going.” Evan ordered and then looked to the sky above where a great black bird was diving towards them.

            Lelita shot another beam towards its wing but that didn’t stop it and the creature continued still. Then it was Maya who blew a great wind towards the monster who flapped its wings as it came to a halt. With such strong wings, it would be hard to come any closer. And then Lelita continued to shoot more beams of light until the creature crashed into the ground below.

            Then, a huge clawed creature dug its way out from the ground and appeared right before the cart. Rill, in response, swung a watered tentacle around the mole-like creature’s leg and pulled it to the side, flinging the creature out of the carts way. Evan noticed that when the blue haired boy did so, his other hand had sunk into his side to compensate for the length of the tentacle. But when the elongated arm returned to him, his other arm soon grew out.

            They could see light now. Almost they were there, and yet they were so many beasts waiting in their path. They kept on fighting and eventually they emerged out of malice and rode forward until they were at a safe distance away. Then they stopped near a cluster of trees somewhere in the middle of the barren landscape that they were now in.

            They were all exhausted by now and panting heavily. Each one of them was lying down in the cart (though in Evan’s case, he lied comfortably in a cloud.) and sought to catch their breaths. Though Blyke was quick to recover as he gulped down some water and immediately took out a few sandwiches that had been prepared for him.

            “Well that was fun.” He said as he munched into the bread.

            “Shut up.” Teya said as she continued gasping.

            “Oh common, it wasn’t that bad. Right Evan?” Evan too had recovered somewhat and now he was drinking some water while he sat up on his cloud.

            “Shut up.” Evan replied the same.

            Soon, the others too caught their breaths and began to eat while Skull fed the horse. Whatever it ate, Evan didn’t know and neither did he care enough to find out.

~

            Marcus got out of the cart and walked through the small cluster of trees to the other side. There he could see the majestic red kingdom of the overlord. It had walls surrounding it that must have been at least fifty meters high and on those walls were demons posted on watch. They were also those demons that flew around in surveillance, as well as the two enormous blue ones that stood in front of the gates.

            If someone were to try and break into there, it would be quite a pain. And that person probably wouldn’t return alive. But luckily, the group shouldn’t have the need to invade the kingdom. Since they were here as representatives of the humans, attacking them could mean war. And even a demon lord wouldn’t want that.