Rellon Forest

It was a few days ago where a shadow stood on top of the cliff overlooking the battlefield. He led an army of demons and escaped out of the labyrinth city, what waited for them after was an army of mortals. Human, Dwarf and Elf armies waited in preparation for when the door to the city would open and launched and attack at those who escaped.

He would also be in the battle fighting against the humans along side of the demons if not for the message that was sent from his lord. Before he left the city he was sent a message through a magic mirror.

"Rode." his lord spoke.

"Yes, my lord."

His lord was a supreme being to him, a being made of pure divine energy. He was granted a bit of that power and was granted the abilities he has now. Before he was a normal Titan wolf, but his lord granted him knowledge and power.

"I've felt something a bit unsettling, I need you to pull from the search and leave the city."

"Yes my lord, just tell me where I need to go and I will."

"Human city, Soluna." His lord said.

"I would head there myself but as you can see I am still busy."

He looked through the mirror at the image of his lord. underneath his lord was a gigantic orb, black with red cracked that permeated heat through the air, spilling from the cracks was what seemed was molten lava. His lord was inserting his power into the orb.

"What will I be looking for my lord?"

"I feel his energy."

He knew who his lord spoke of, He himself even had an encounter with the boy but that was 17 years ago. When the gate to the city was finally opened he escaped from the battlefield with his personal subordinates to head away for their mission.

Rode was what they called a High Demon, one of the only 7 High demons under his lords command. Rode himself was ranked the weakest but his strength lied in his command over his subordinates.

To say they were subordinates was actually inaccurate. Though they often referred to the biggest of the Titan wolves as Rode, all of the wolves were actually one entity. Upon receiving the divine power from his lord the consciousness of the wolf pack were connected to each other becoming one.

It would normally take weeks to get to Soluna but it would only take them a few days with their speed.

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Today was finally the test from the chief. It was a fairly simple test to check the stability of each group and how they execute the exercises.

When it was time for Tai's group to perform they gathered together in front of the Chief Officer.

The first exercise was very simple they just needed to perform a shield and strike pattern in a rhythm while timing it with each other so they would do it in congruence with one another.

"Alright you pass the performance part of the exercise." Officer Redi had a glaring look on his face as he looked at the group for some reason.

"Next is Practice, Line up once more."

They lined up one more time, Tai stood next to Marvin in the front shielding as usual.

"This test is another simple one, Don't fall down or you fail, If one of the beasts get past you, you also fail."

"Beast?" the group asked.

Redi's body began to glow, he raised his sword as electricity surrounded his body. The electricity began to take form of fanged beasts in the air.

"Shields Up!"

With a swing of his blade the beast soared towards them bursting as it hit the shield. The impact was immense, it felt like the beast would burst through the shield with every impact, but everyone was holding strong. Redi smirked and created more beasts from his electricity that looked more fierce than the beasts he first threw out.

"Brace!"

The beast soared through the air faster than the first, the electricity reverberated through their shields but it did not disappear like the first ones had done. This one was like a real beast trying to explode past the shield and even attempting to go over. Tai's reflex from his practice activated at that point and he whipped his spear above to strike the beast before it could get past him.

They had to undergo this for 30 minutes and not let a single one get past them. The didn't get tired thanks to the conditioning training their stamina could last through the whole way, but the pain that they felt in their bodies was a different story. Everyone was struggling through it but they held on till the end.

"Last one."

Everyone's eye's glistened, this was finally the end and they would pass. They all wanted to rest their bodies right after.

Tai prepared his stance, Shield in front and spear ready to strike. The beast struck in the blink of an eye but Tai was ready. He was calm, and once again heat started to spread through his body, as he looked forward the beast seemed to be moving in slow motion for some reason.

His eyes were wide open looking at the beast he readied his spear and prepared to strike the beast. The beast was directly in front of him, He didn't wait for it to hit this time. Tai bashed it with his shield which was very effective knocking the beast back a bit, but it dashed forward after spinning it's body around. He brought the spear forward ready to impale it with the tip of the blade, but suddenly in that moment he was no longer looking at the beast but at the clouds in the sky.

"Huh?"

Tai looked behind him seeing Marvin smirking, His anger flushed up.

"You, You knocked me down." Tai got up ready to hit Marvin with his fist.

"I didn't do a thing, It's your fault for being so clumsy." Marvin let out a little chuckle

"You!" Tai sprinted forward to hit Marvin.

Marvin's eye's narrowed as he readied himself to counter the hit, but there was no need. Chief Redi was there and stopped Tai's fist before they hit their destination.

"Fail."

"What! That's not fair he tripped me!"

"I know, That's why he fails too."

"What!" Marvin yelled.

"I didn't touch him and most importantly I didn't let a single one past...ugh." Marvin's voice lowered as he felt a tremendous pressure on his body. Marvin fell to one knee trying to deal with it.

"Do I look like a fool to you Marvin?"

"...No sir."

"Since you interfered with another you will take responsibility by also failing yourself understand."

"Yes...Sir."

"All who failed will follow me."

Besides Tai and Marvin there were another 3 who failed along with them from other groups. They followed Chief Officer Redi along with some of the sergeants who were carrying bags out of the training facility and past the city gates. They walked for a few hours before reaching a forest.

"I was going to give you guys a normal punishment for failing but, I'm in a bad mood now thanks to some of you."

He pointed to the forest that was in front of them.

"This is the Rellon forest, every few months adventurers are sent out to lower some of the monster population inside so that they don't overwhelm the surrounding villages, but for the next two weeks it's your jobs."

"You mean we have to come back here everyday to kill some monsters?"

"Come back?" Officer Redi questioned.

"You guys will be living in this forest so there is no need to comeback, don't worry, monsters aren't too smart just do what you've been taught and you should be able to handle whatever's in this forest."

The sergeants emptied there bags and emptied the contents on the ground.

"Besides your spear also take one of these short swords as a back up..." He paused for a moment.

"Just to let you guys know, I know everything that resides in this forest, so I will tell you this, If any of you don't make it back here after the two weeks are done, those who came back will meet the same fate. I'll be waiting right here...good luck."

and so the group made their way into the forest.