Jack wasted no time. He didn't wait for the three great hyenas to recover. He deactivated the chains and went for his steamrune shotgun.
He pulled the trigger. And it barked once. BOOM!
Heavy buckshot tore into the skull of one beast. Its whimpers immediately stopped. Black blood bloomed on the spongy red moss.
He was about to finish another dazed beast when a different hyena pounced at him from the side. Brutal and unexpected.
But Jack moved away easily to evade. Not in a straight line. His steps seemed erratic. A chaotic dance. But they were efficient.
This was his personal adaptation for the Trentree's [Dancing Principles]. It looked like a drunken stagger to untrained eyes. But each lurch, each sidestep, each spin... it was actually calculated and precise.
He dodged, weaved, and built momentum. His steamrune shotgun sang its loud, one-note song once more. BOOM!
One of the dazed hyena dropped to the ground. Its huge head was a mangled maze. Dead. More dark blood spattered on the mossy earth.
BANG! BANG! The last dazed hyena fell down. Two accurate bullets pierced one of its eyes. Straight to its brain. Reina's shot.
She was a dark, blurry silhouette beside Jack. Her movements were fluid and graceful. It showed her interpretation of the [Dancing Principles], which was extremely different from Jack's.
Her elegant movements seemed to be a stark contrast to Jack's broken rhythm. Yet, together, they were perfectly synchronized.
Reina had joined the battle. Her dual hand-guns rarely spat fire. But each shot was deliberate. A great hyena found one of its eyes exploded. Another found its opened mouth blasted. She was terrifyingly accurate. She didn't miss... at all.
Jack moved like a heavily drunk man. Swaying, evading a beast's snapping maw. And then, several sets of chain suddenly came out again from his bracers. Whipping around the hyena's front leg. He yanked. The creature howled. Losing its balance.
Before it hit the ground, Reina appeared behind it. [Absolute Blink]. Both guns in her hands discharged bullets into its skull at point-blank range. BANG! BANG! The beast's momentum carried it forward. But it was already a lifeless husk before it touch the ground.
"Good shot, Love!" Jack praised. He didn't lingered. Already moving to a different target.
Reina had also disappeared. Already melting back into the void.
Not far from them, Leon Drake roared. His form shimmered for a couple of seconds. Transforming. His muscles bulged. And gleaming black draconic armor materialized. Encasing him in cool metallic protection.
He wasn't wielding any melee weapon though. Instead, he hefted his thick grimoire. The one that pulsed with violent pale-blue energy.
Lightning bolts were formed in the air above it. Then, the bolts were launched in extreme speed. Striking a charging hyena.
The beast spasmed. Its fur was crackling for a few moments. And then, it collapsed. Smoke was rising from its charred form.
Leon Drake was like a mixture of a steel wall and a devastating arcane cannon. A true... wizard knight. One with the physical defense of an armored knight and a magical offense of a mystical wizard.
The other guardians weren't as powerful and efficient as Jack, Reina, and Leon Drake. But they moved with enough practiced efficiency.
Five of them were melee Eldritch Knights. They formed a loose perimeter that blocked the beast's attack.
One of them summoned a pair of shimmering blades. Crackling with white electric force. Another one wielded a halberd that trembled with dark energy. Contrasting to the one next to him, whose sabre and shield glowed with the power of light.
The fourth one wielded twin battle axes with similar bright glow. And the last, the only female among the five, conjured a searing hot whip that often blazed into flame when it struck the target.
These five intercepted five of the hyena's charges. Eldritch metal met unnatural fangs. Magical energy met monstrous strength. The five guards could definitely hold their ground.
Their summoned weapons managed to carve through the huge beasts' muscles and bones. And deflecting attacks that would have shredded lesser transcendent men.
Two other guards were primal sorcerers. One of them were a shifter capable of transforming into a were-tiger. Right from the start, his form had morphed. Fur erupted. Claws extended. And his face was elongated into a snarling muzzle.
In just a few second, streaks of black and gold rippled over his powerful limbs. He launched himself into the fray. A blur of raw power. Tearing into the pack with savage fury.
The other primal sorcerer, a slender woman, used no such transformation. Instead, she used ice creation and manipulation. Frost crystallized in the air around her. A torrent of razor-sharp ice shards erupted. Stabbing a charging hyena.
It wasn't strong enough to completely stop the huge, bull-sized beasts. But it was still powerful enough to deter them.
Despite their academic demeanor, Professor Enderson and Dr. Crafton were not to be underestimated in combat. Both of them were highly experienced in Mystic Arts. They chanted fiercely. Their grimoire glowed with different colors.
Professor Enderson used an enhanced [Vine Entanglement] spell. Green vines erupted from the spongy red moss. Thick as pythons. Ensnaring two hyenas. Binding them tightly. Their struggles were futile.
Dr. Crafton had long opened his own grimoire. He muttered some incantations to activate [Lightning Strike]. An electric beam of pure force materialized. Slamming into one of the ensnared hyena. Electrocuting it to death instantly.
The guards and teaching staff members were indeed competent enough. The students, however, were a different story.
All of them were Mystic Art Apprentices. They could use grimoire magic and were eager to do so. They did not freeze, which was actually good. But most of them were quite inexperienced.
A broad-shouldered teenager hurled a fiery [Fire Arrow]. It struck a hyena in the flank. Singeing its fur, but barely deterred it.
Another one managed to conjure a sputtering [Lightning Spark]. His aim was not that accurate though. It crackled harmlessly on the ground near a hyena's paw.
Some were clear-headed enough and knew that they should focus on defense. They cast [Lesser Ward] on themselves. A faint, shimmering aura that could be used to deflect one attack. It wouldn't do much. But it was better than nothing.
Some teenage students fired the standard, basic [Magic Missiles]. They zipped through the air. As they couldn't miss, the all hit the hyenas' body. But they were too weak. The beasts barely flinched.
Other students threw [Acid Splash] that fizzled on fur. Or weak [Water Ball] that merely slicked the ground. They were trying. But their spells lacked potency and precision.
Out of the twenty students... Nick Glaiver, Harold Mason, Allena Keener, and Chloe Chase were the only ones who really helped. They used the same basic spells as their peers. But the results were much better. After all, they had experienced or witnessed transcendent battles before.
But their experiences weren't enough. They couldn't stop danger coming their way.
One larger and more cunning hyena veered sharply. Bypassing the were-tiger guard and the primal sorcerer's ice spike. It ignored the Eldritch Knights and lunged directly towards the cluster of students.
"Watch out!" Dr. Crafton screamed.
Jack saw it. The hyena was too fast. The students were too slow. He was currently engaged with a couple of beasts. But his eyes tracked the danger.
He didn't hesitate. With a brutal stomp, he kicked the hyena he was facing. Throwing it backward. He sidestepped the other beast's lunge and launched himself in full speed. Covering a large distance in an instant.
He wouldn't make it in time to intercept the pounce toward the students. And he couldn't shoot without risking hitting the students. But he made it close enough.
A pair of [Chains of Vengeance] burst out of his left bracer. Entangling the huge hyena's legs. Stopping the threat.
The predator was in mid-air. Its jaws opened. The student it targeted was frozen in fear. But the beast slowed mid-lunge. Its back legs were caught by the dark, blazing chains.
And Reina had also acted. Her [Absolute Blink] teleportation launched her even further than Jack's charge. She appeared directly in front of the hyena's path.
With a powerful rotating kick, she slammed into the beast's side. Mid-air. It threw the hyena off balance. Sending it tumbling sideways. It landed hard. Growling in rage. Disrupted. And still entangled by the chain.
As it scrambled to recover, Jack arrived. His shotgun roared. BOOM! A point blank shot tore through its head.
The beast let out a short shriek that stopped suddenly. Its head turned into a mangled mess of dark blood and jagged teeth.
"Stay vigilant!" Jack's voice cut through the noisy chaos. "Make sure each of you had at least a [Lesser Ward] protection."
Reina added. "If you aren't powerful enough to hurt them, stall them."
The battle raged. Rune repeatedly glowed a vibrant crimson. A constant, silent warning siren of the ongoing danger. Even as the hyenas began to dwindle.
Another near miss happened. A student got emboldened by the dwindling numbers of the predators. He tried to get a closer shot with his [Lightning Spark].
He overextended. Stepping too far from the protective circle of the Eldritch Knights. And he tripped himself. Fallen to the ground.
A smaller, gaunt hyena saw its chance. It lunged, faster than expected. A low snarl ripping from its throat.
"No!" Professor Enderson shouted. Attempting to conjure a spell to intervene.
Jack saw the new threat. He abandoned the hyena he was about to finish and threw his left arm out. His chain bracers flared. A pair of [Chains of Vengeance] burst out. Entangling the closer fallen student rather than the gaunt hyena.
Jack pulled the chains quickly. Dragging the student. Making him fly and crash to the ground several meters away. It seemed painful. But at least, he was still alive.
The gaunt hyena was about to chase. But, Professor Enderson's spell struck its body. A [Icicle Spear]. Piercing its back and nailing it to the ground. The creature hissed and shrieked. Unable to move.
Reina teleported next to its body. BANG! BANG! Her dual hand-guns fired precise shots. Both were aimed to the head. The hyena twitched twice... and lay unmoving. Dead.
The battle had soon reached its conclusion. Ten of the beasts were dead. Only two remained. And they weren't in good conditions. They were bloodied and scarred.
And they were intelligent enough to realize their assault was failing. They let out desperate, snarling whines. Their eyes darted around. No longer fixed on the expedition members. But searching for an escape route.
They bolted to one direction. Trying to escape.
"They're running!" Chloe shouted. A mix of relief and surprise was in her voice. "We are safe."