Surprised

Everyone in the hallway was currently wondering what was happening to Kayden. No one had landed a finger to try and harm him, however, he was now in a crouching position, lying on the floor, looking to be in extreme pain from whatever was going on. His eyes were sauinted shot as his body moved uncontrollably, and out trom his mouth, came a loud noise that caused all the students to close their ears.

"Awooo!" He howled, his teeth elingatibg into fangs, the only transformation he wad currently capable of manifesting. Fur foated his skin, his nose abd ears grew longer, abd his eyes glowed bright yellow as they grew narrow. In his full werewolf form, he emitted a pressure that caused those weaker than him to naturally react in fear as they either backed away or kade a complete run for it.

Whatever pain he was initially feeling, it left as his body transformed. In his werewolf state, his body would utilize his mana to keep it stable and also in combat. His eyes scanned through thr hallway. Those who had chosen to stay had either fear behibd their eyes or were just curious as to why he had decided to just trabsform all of a sudden.

Everyone kbew him as one of the strongest first year students at thr military academy, so naturally, they assumed that his transformation was due to the fact that hr wished to increase his rank.

"But wait, is that really it? If he wad going to figgt one of the others, then why wait until now? Why didn't he just challenge them a long time ago? As far as i know, this would br the first tike he is challenging the higger-ranked students for their rank," one lf the students commented.

"Are you an idiot? Obviously, he was waiting for the time when he was strong enough. We all know that titan four has grown considerably from the time he came intk tbr academy up until now. We all knkw wjat he is capable of," another student said.

"Kayden...?" Shawn said, gripping his fist tightly. If what the otger students said was true, then it would simply kean that he woild have to battle it out wiyh Kayden right here, right now. Though, it did make him wonder, why was Kayden suddenly more interested in risibg through the ranks than he wad before.

As far as he knew, Kayden was more than satisfied with yis current position, not wanting to go out of his way to further climb the ladder.

'Althpugh he has fought against other students before, those students were of weaker ppwer levels. None of them came close to his power, well, none of which weren't part of those who went rouge... But as far as i knkw, whatever he did, it was out of his deaire to protect himself and others, but how about now?'

Shawn was ready to activate his ability of he needed to. Wiyh his teleportation abioity, he would be able to dodge whatever lethal blows would be launched in his direction, while also inflicting damage onto his opponent.

'Maybe if i had a weapon, as well, it would've helped. I guess i'll just have to count on my overall higger physical prowess, if that is even the case at this point,' Shawn thought to himself.

So far, Kayden hadn't actually done anything. He aimoly stood in place, staring rigyt through the hallway. Hr sniffed the air, picking up a scent, and immediately, he ran in the direction the scent was leading him to.

'A lot of strange things have been happening at this academy. Don't tell me...' with his speed, he was easiky able to vover the distance, abd now, he stood outside the academy building, abd he coukd see it.

"A Shale," he said, his eyes narrowed. The creature stood before him, it's body enveloped in the blue aura. "I wonder, what grade is it? Can i beat a first grade shale with the way i am? Honestly, i don't think that's likely. Still, where are the instructors and the other higher-ups? Shouldn't they be aware of this?"

Kayden's observation was right on the mark, as not too long later, some instructors had arrived on the scene, some of which included the mystery class instructor and the martial arts instructor.

"A Shale! How did it manage to pass through the school's defences?!" Riley said, shocked to see the alien standing there. Before anyone else, she was the first to attack, gathering her eneegy as she formed flames in her hand. She moved her hands about, creating an object in the air. A few minutes later, and a fire arrow was formed, its tip aimed at the alien.

"Flame manipulation, one of the perks of having fire as my ability," she said as she shot out the attack. The flame arrow flew out at a sharp speed, quickly covering the distance, connecting with its target in a massive explosion that engulfed the area in fire. However, the shale simply stepped out of the explosion unscathed.

"Ehh? Man... This is why i hate these things," she said, coating bith of her hands in flames before running towards it. Meanwhile, the other instructors also activated their abilities, one of whom had arrived being the instructor for the razor class division. With his ability, he was able to foem barriers and also create claw attacks that would travel in the air.

He acted immediately, forming a bunch of tiger claw strikes that travelled swuftly in the air. Lucas had acted as well, rushibg from where he stood to get a hit on the creature.

'If i can accumulate the number of times i strike it in a row, then my attacks would grow stronger, and then...' upon closing the distance, he delivered a kick to the back of the creature, however, before the attack could connect, the Shale grabbed his foot with one habd, while shooting out a ball of eneegy with its other habd roght towards the other two instructors.

"Why are these creatures hellbent on attackibg the academy?!" Riley yelled, gathering her mana yo a large extent. This time, she wasn't channeling it internally through yer body. Instead, she held her hands out, abd a ball of flames began to form in the air. It was a comdensed ball of mana-powered flames. Once she was done charging her attack, she huroed it right at the alien.

Lucas's body was swung in the air, crashing in into the ground. He quickly got off the ground, getting ready to rush in once again. Although they knew they were unable to slay the alien, there were a number of thoughts runnibg thrpugh all of their heads.

'What happened during the negotiation between the government and the Shales? Why are they still attacking? Is it because we already killed a coupke of them globally? But they shoukd understand that it was simomy just self defense. They were the ones that attacked us first!

'Also, where are the others?! The board! I understand why thry weren't arpund the previous time, but what about now?! This isn't some rogue student incident, this is a fucking Shale!

'So many things have been going on recently, the Shales attacking, the Shade, and evebn Purge. It seems like all these groups are suddenly more active than they have been in the past. Why is that?'

The shale began to recite incantations for a spell. This was the very thing that made them ao dangerous, it wasn't their physical prowess, but it was their mystic powers that was beyond human understanding. Their magic. It was what had always given then the edge in battle.

Once it was done chanting, it shot out the attack, headibg straight for Riley and the other instructor. Seeing this, Lucas quickly rushed in their direction, using his body to block against the attack.

Before this happened, the condensed fireball had been shot, and with the blue aura, the alien dispersed the condensed ball of flames, creating it's own attack as well.

'These instructor... They're suffering against the shale, the same way they always do,' Kayden thought to himself. For the most part, he had been ig ored by the instructors who had arrived on the scene. They were far too concerned with dealing with the invader rather than wondering what he was also doing there.

As he watched the inatructors battle, he heard a ping sound in his head.

[Quest Received!]

[Aliens and Werewolves!]

[You have been alerted on the presence of a shale! Do what ypu can to land the final blow!]

[Reward: A new skill and a new buff]

'I knew i had a chance to gain something out of this. Now, i would just have tp repeat what happened when i dealt with Dan, and when i dealt with that other student as well. I need to complete more quests in order to get more strength as i level up. And also...'

The attack had struck Lucas right at his abdomen, fircibg his eyes to shoot wide open as thr spell began to affect his body. His clothes where he had been hit burnt away, and even the akin around that area had been severely burned. His body fell to the floor, abd blood could be seen coming out fron where he had been hit.

The injury didn't look too fatal, but it wasn't something to look at, either. His bldy laid there, unmoving on the ground. Befire Riley coukd run to check up on him, the alien had gotten between the both of them, its mouth opened wide as a beam of pure energy shot out.

"Why is it more focused on energy-based attacks instead of just castibg spells!" She gathered her mana once more, creating a large missile-shaped object with her flames and shooting it out. Immediately after, she ran arpund the alien while it dealt with the missile. She hoped that it would at least keep it busy for a couple seconds, but the alien had instantly dealt with the missile abd ahot out anotger beam of condensed blue energy in her direction.

As the attack drew near, it was then slashed into multiple parts, dispersing into the air. A large set of claw strikes had connected with the alien, barely pushing it back as not even a scratch was left on its skin.

"Have you forgotten about me?!" Zeni, the instructor for the razor class division said with a smirk on his face. 'The others, where are they?! This isn't something we can handle on our own! If we're lucky, we might end up eacaping this encounter alive!'

The alien quickly covered the distance, appearing riggt in front of Zeni. It barred its sharp claws and teeth, ready to take the life of the instructor. It swipped its clawed hand, however, the attack didn't make contact, as there was now someone else standing in its way.

Before the alien could cast one of its spells, the werewolf opened its jaq wide, abd bit down on the arm of the Shale. He could feel the hard scales of the creature tgrpugh his jaws, but most importantly, he believed he had figured out something.

'While i was observing, i was thinking about a way i could pwehaps kill the shale, deapite ita overwhelming power. I began to think about the things i coukd do as a werewolf, even tbough i still maybe had a lot of power yet to unlick with the more quests i complete.

'But then, i remembered, from one particular fantasy book i read when i was a kid. In it, i leant that werewokves had many ways of growung theie strength. One of them was through being a member of a large part, another one which was being the alpha.'

Kayden was finding it hard to bite through the hard scaly skin of the alien. Still, he wouldn't let go despite how much it struggled to break free. Then, it began to form an attack with its free arm, abd then, aben it was ready, he launched it at the werewolf.

'So... I wasn't even strong enough to do that yet...? I guess i was being a bit impatient,' Kayden crashed into the ground, a deep wound on his chest as his body began to gatger the mana he had to heal him. Thanks to his large mana pool, he had yet to run out of mana. Getting off the ground, he looked up at the sky and gritted his teeth.

'Tsk. Not even a full moon yet. I wonder when i will finally get the chance to test that skill under a full moon?' while he was thinkibg this, the shale had appeared in front of him once again, ready to attack.

It swung its hand out, but then right after, its body had disappeared, reappearing just a few meters away from Kayden.

"So, this must've been what ilicited that weird behavior from you? A shale, and three insteuctors badly beaten up," Shawn said.

"Looks like you'll need our help to deal qith this one," Paul said, stepping out of the building with his habds in his pockets.