The silhouettes that emerged didn't stay still for longer than a couple of seconds before they instantly sprung into action. The guards all surrounded Morgana and Maddy, protecting them from the newly emerged opponents. The people that were dressed in all black noticed these guards, but seeing the way they were dressed, they just tried to bypass them to get to Morgana. 2 of the people dressed in black went ahead of the others since they would get a bonus if they landed the fatal blow. Just as the two people passed the guards, their heads were suddenly sent flying through the air. They didn't even get the chance to react, as the tall guard with a beard wiped off some of the blood from his sword.
The rest of the people dressed in black instantly stopped in their tracks and skidded for a meter or two before stopping. It seemed like they would have to take their opponents seriously, lest they wanted to lose their heads just like their comrades. These people dressed in black was actually an elite force known as shadow warriors, as for who they worked for, who knew?
Even though they stopped in their tracks, they were more than confident enough to take care of people like this, but they had to go all out if they didn't want to end up with the short end of the stick. Since they were going to act seriously, the 8 remaining shadow warriors all engulfed themselves in darkness mana, enshrouding them in mystery. Normally they would start to radiate with power if they used a move like this, but the scary part was that they didn't emit any aura at all. The shadow warriors almost looked like they were darkness incarnate, roaming the earth.
After they engulfed themselves in darkness mana, they all disappeared from where they stood, leaving just a wisp of darkness lingering behind. Before Morgana and the rest could react, the shadow warriors were already upon them. This time, Thufrat stomped on the ground, sending a wall made out of earth straight in front of the attackers. With just the right timing, one of the shadows hit the earth wall with a loud bang, before the wall crumbled down again as he burst through it.
The rest of the shadows still went straight for them and arrived in no less than a second. Thufrat stood in the very front of their little defensive line, and when he was about to use his earth magic again, the limp body that was just about to hit the ground suddenly shot out. The shadow had acted like he was knocked out cold, but just when he was about to hit the ground, he used one of his hands to find leverage, catching Thufrat off guard.
The shadow warrior's dagger went straight after Thufrat's throat, not hesitating one bit. Thufrat may have been caught off guard, but in a life and death situation like this, he managed to squeeze out every bit of his body's potential to save his life. He activated one of his skills he had gotten when he further awakened his bloodline, and his skin changed drastically. Small brown scales appeared all over his body, interlocking with one another to provide the most excellent of defense they could. The brown scales shone with a peculiar luster, and they were imbued with the majestic strength of a dragon, which naturally suppressed his surroundings.
He shifted his body as much as he could, which was enough for the dagger to change its course by a tiny bit. The dagger, imbued with tremendous amounts of power slashed across the side of Thufrat's throat, instead of piercing through it, which was the shadow's original intention. The dagger drew a thin line of blood, but nothing oozed out of the small wound. Thufrat had managed to escape danger this time, but his opponent had still drawn blood.
The dignity of a dragon was nothing to scoff at, and even though it was only a minor and insignificant wound, Thufrat's temper flared. His pupils started to narrow into slits, and the colour of his eyes changed to amber, radiating light. Before the shadow warrior could process what had happened, Thufrat's arm shot out of nowhere and firmly grasped the man's neck. Even though he had numerous means to deal with such a situation, no such means would ever get to see the light of day.
"Crunch"
An eerie sound broke the intense atmosphere of before, and a soft thud followed shortly. The limp body of a man dressed in all black slowly revealed itself as the darkness that engulfed him dissipated. The other shadow warriors barely spared the man a glance before their assault was resumed in full force once again.
On the other side of the battlefield, Ark was standing face to face with the Scarlet Lion. Even though the lion was oppressive and savage, it still held an ounce of wariness and respect for the wolf in front of it. The wolf carried the aura of a ruler, and no normal magical beast could ever have something like that. Even though the lion was wary for a little while, its patience didn't last long at all, its savage nature couldn't be repressed forever after all.
Along with its thirst for battle and slaughter, the temperature of the surroundings rose accordingly. It suddenly flared up intensely as the lion bared its fangs and pounced on Ark. Atop the fangs of the Scarlet Lion, a burning flame danced. Even though the attack seemed simple, the attack was everything but weak, and the devastating aura it carried brought great turbulence to the surroundings.
Ark was about to move his body when he noticed the lion sneering at him. Alarmed by the fact, Ark accumulated all the water mana he could in such a short time, and promptly conjured up a small barrier of water.
"BOOM"
This proved to be the right move as a column of fire had shot out of the mouth of the lion, and slammed straight into the barrier made out of water. This, in turn, created a blast that sent both Ark and the lion skidding across the ground backward. Stabilizing himself as quickly as he could, Ark sent out another elemental attack. This time, he had conjured up a swift blade out of wind mana, that he had sent straight for the lion. The lion also stabilized its body, only to find a blade out of wind hurtling towards it at great speeds.
The lion swiped out with its claw full of fire magic to counter the wind blade, only to learn a harsh truth. The lion's expression quickly darkened when the attacks made contact, and a small explosion of fire instantly engulfed the lion. The lion had never met with such a situation before and had no idea that wind only fed the power of fire, and could, therefore, be able to both counter and support fire magicians.
Even though the Scarlet Lion was a creature of fire affinity, it still wouldn't come out unscathed out of such an attack. The force of the explosion still remained after all, and the lion wasn't completely immune to fire. As he was complimenting his own wits in secret, Ark's expression soured as the Scarlet lion emerged out of the flames of the explosion, with barely a blemish to be seen...