| The Elderwood Guardian |

Pov:Ráel

After we entered, the sight before us surprised most of us, for it was a beautiful meadow stretching far beyond our view

The fact that we were underground seemed like a dream to them, but I know what was waiting for us inside.

Tall trees and bushes of shrubs lined the meadow, the green grass seemed to be made of emerald Even I would like to sit here and relax, but knowing the beast within, my body cannot relax

Everyone seems to let their guard down except Arthur, Jasmine and Elijah who keep looking around for danger

"Something is wrong, everyone stay alert"

Warned Note to them as he picked up his sword and prepared to fight.

"Are you sure I can not hear, anything let alone see, anything except the trees and grass?" asked Kriol doubtfully, but he picked up his shield.

Suddenly the fog around us gradually began to grow denser, finally so dense that others could only see the outlines of the people around them, but I could see without any problem, I was not affected, and I saw the beast of veins slowly coming towards us to attack us.

I erected a barrier of fire around us and told them

"This mist is playing with your senses, it is an illusion"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too" Note said while asking Jasmine if she had a wind spell strong enough to dissipate the mist.

"I will do it ," I said, concentrating Wind mana on my hand as I said "Storm Blast"

When the fog had completely cleared, my companions could also see the monster.

More than twenty meters high, high above our heads, stood a colossal mana beast. With its humanoid shape, strangely reminiscent of a centaur, it towered over us like a massive building.

While it seemed to be composed entirely of densely packed and intertwined tendrils, the upper half of its body was that of an armored man holding a drill-like lance that became a menacing spike directly above our heads. His lower body resembled that of a horse, but his limbs were not made of legs, but of the myriad vines we had fought. Two green eyes looked down on us with irrepressible hostility.

Seeing the mana beast, most of them were shaken, and Barld began to attack like an idiot, being too slow to cut all the veins before he went completely crazy and was covered by the veins being eaten alive

"I think I read about a mana beast like that, it would have to be the S class elderwood guardian mana beast," Samantha replied shakily, sinking to her knees in complete resignation.

"-Is not that Kriol?" Reginald exclaimed, pointing a trembling finger at the lifeless torso and legs protruding from the body of the mana beast.

"We have to escape. " Jasmine snatched Arhur's hand and signaled him to run in the direction of the doors from which we had come.

"What about them, as their leader I cannot betray their trust," said Arthur

She kept silent and kept tugging at his hand to make him run

Should I fight or just get out of here, I thought to myself as I picked up my dragon slayer. deciding to fight.

Suddenly, the Elderwood guardian thrust his drill lance in our direction. i infused my sword with fire mana and said, "I have had enough of you, as I send a slash of fire that slices through his lance as the impact shakes the earth.

Reginald picked up his hammer and began to attack the veins while saying "impact barrage the moment he landed in the ground, the severed veins of the lance came back and began to eat him, while the sound of breaking bones could be heard

"I will take Samantha with me Lucifer please protect Jasmine and Lucas and Elijah cover us" Arthur said while directing his mana to his body and as he was about to run a fire spell hit him right in his abdomen

"Why do you think I would risk my life for all of you?" said Lucas as he attacked Jasmine and Arthur

I could have saved her but she has to be unconscious for this to develop

"You asshole," Elijah roared, pointing his staff at Lucas, but it was too late as he closed the door behind him.

The monster let out a scream of rage as it turned its deadly intent on us. Its green eyes turned a menacing red and the tendrils that formed its body turned gray and dissolved into a tsunami of tendrils that destroyed everything in its path toward us

"I will help you defeat it if you want," I said to Arthur

"Okay, then let us do it," he said as his rage from the betrayel of Lucas was slowly coming to a stop

I said nothing else and began to use gravity on the monster with full force as I put my sword away and created a giant ball of purple fire

"You do not like that do you?" i grin at the monster who can not move as i hear Arthur say behind me

"Phase Two Dragons Awakening" he whispers softly to himself

"Use your ice magic to freeze it and I will destroy it completely" I said as I activated my demon eyes as the world around me changed I began to will with all my concentration a bit of Aether and a massive amount of ambient mana to go inside my fire spell empowering it even more and gave it an aura of pure destruction as I let out all my demonic intent to kill the beast

"Okay," he said as he was stunned by my fire magic, but he did as he was told and released The spell " Absolute Zero"

A white fire appeared in his hand and he grinned towards the directon of the beast, releasing his bloodlust and freezing fire so that the beast froze completely

"My turn" I say pointing my finger in the direction of the beast as the fire completely engulfs and destroys the ice leaving a huge crater in the ground were the monster was everything else disappears and only the core was left behinde I take it with me as I race to Samantha's location and grab her gently and move towards Elijah as the cave begins to collapse he creates a metallic shield around us

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now inside the doom Elijah created

" I would appreciate it if you do not tell anyone what you saw today," I said to him in a cold voice

"Ohh yes of course I will not tell anyone, it's not like anyone will believe me" he said a little scared and unsettled by my power

I Stoped talking to him and said "lets get them healed and began to use the gem on Arthur's hand to heal him as i gently bandaged Jasmine and Elijah treated Samantha's wounds I took a gem from Arthur's glove and used it on Samantha as the wounds began to close and no more blood came out

"Who would have thought the masked man was just a boy" says Elijah after looking at Arthur's face

"So tell me four eyes" how did you acquire this kind of magic I ask him while tapping on the metallic doom around us

"It's a thing I have always been able to do since I was a kid" he answers me while lost in thoughts

i did not ask further but just lay down against the wall and rest a bit to regenerate the mana i lost during the fight

After who knows how long Arthur started to wake up and tried to move

" I would not do that if I were you, boy", I warned him, but he moved anyway when I heard a cry of pain from him

"oUu ou that hurts too" he said

"Of course it hurts you fool your body was badly burned by Lucas spell and you almost froze yourself to death with the spell you should be grateful to the one who gave you those gems with healing power" I said to him in a cold voice while pointing at his glove

He says nothing but looks around a little embarrassed and when he sees Jasmine he sighs in relief.

"She was in pain for a long time, Lucas spell hurt her more than you, so I used a gem for her, with a few hours rest she should be fine" I told him

"What was that man, those symbols on your body, your hair turning white, that cool power" Elijah asked seemingly excited.

"Of course I will tell you, but you also have to tell me how you were able to summon this metal shellter" asked Arthur

And Elijah began to explain that "he was from the kingdom of Darv and the elder who took him in would avoid talking about his parents, that he is very good with earth spells and that his core grows on its own and he thinks that what he can do right now is not the limit."

"My name is Arthur and I am a Quadra Elemental Augmenter with two deviances: Ice and Lightning,. "I am also a beast tamer. What you saw earlier was me releasing my beast will," he said to both of us

"Holy - Ouch!" Elijah stood back up and rubbed his head. When they both decided to look at my direction and wait for an explanation about me

"What"I asked them in a cold voice

"We want to know what you were doing there and who you are" "Arthur asked me kindly

"Hm, I carefully take off my hood and mask and let them see my face"

"Holy cow, the Misterius man is a kid our age too" Elijah exclaimed surprised at my appearance

"And I thought I was the good looking one" Arthur jokingly commented on my appearance

i did not reply but continued

"My name is Ráel and I am also a Quadra Elemental Agumenter with deviances in all four elements, I have a beast will, I possess immense strength and wings" I said showing them my black wings and lying about the beast will part

Also my sword is a little special, that's all," I said

Holy shit what is wrong with you two here I thought I was the crazy one but you two are on another level" Elijah now looked at us as monsters

"And what about your family?" asked Arthur

"I do not have any" I said to both of them and they both apologized for the question

"Do not worry I never had one I was raised by bandits" I told them in my usual cold voice

After that we continued to tell stories about our lives until Jasmine woke up, she shot straight to Arthur and hugged him tightly

"I am sorry I did not protect you" she said as she cept crying

"It's ok, it was my fault for getting you involved" Arthur said patting her back

When she calmed down she looked around and when she saw me she stood up and "asked, "Who are you?

"You know me as Lucifer, but you can call me Ráel now" I said to her in my usual cold voice as I put on my mask.

"Let us get out of here Guys my contracted beast is waiting outside " said Arthur and we all nodded.