Kevin and his team worked hard under the midday sun. Hammering large metal spikes with their sledgehammers into the sleepers to keep in place, as those with magic went ahead and moved the earth so they could install the drainage system before flattening the ground and reinforcing it. Kevin wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked southward where his friend was. She was one of the mages digging up the ground so he and the others can install the drainage system for the railway.
*Ding, Ding, Ding*
"Lunch then." Kevin said to himself.
Walking back to the temporary camp he and the workers set up and he got in line with everyone else as he went to grab his lunch. After grabbing food he noticed his friend wasn't at camp. Sighing he got back in line and with one look the people serving the food figured out what the problem was.
"Here Kev." The man said handing him another tray of food. "You're a pretty nice guy looking out for every day like this. You sure you're not dating?"
"Ha! Us getting together is as likely as Eldon Vesh and Oliver Hunt coming back to life. Never happening." Kevin said with a laugh as he made his way out of camp.
Walking away from camp he made his way over to the dug up ground and found his friend Ashley still working. She was using earth magic to move the ground aside. She was quite the proficient earth mage. Though to her consternation she will only ever be an earth mage. While people are able to have an affinity with up to three types of magic not everyone is able to do so as easily as Judieth, Ruby and Yuki.
"Earth, Direction: Forward, D-"
"Yo! Lunch Ash!" Kevin called, interrupting Ashley's chanting causing her to jump a little
"Oh thanks." She said taking the food from Kevin's hand and sitting in the grass.
"Man you need to take care of yourself better." Kevin said as he sat beside her.
"Sigh, I know. I was just hoping that if I improved my Earth magic a bit more I might be able to tap into another affinity; you know?" She said with a bit of disappointment.
"I mean, I don't, but sure." Kevin said in response. "But there are plenty of mages who can only use one type of magic and they become masters of their craft. Instead of focusing on what you can't do why not focus on what you can do."
"You're probably right." She said, punctuating it with another sigh.
"Hey, want to hear something interesting about this area?" Kevin said trying to change the subject.
"What?" Ashley asked, realizing what her friend was doing.
"So did you ever wonder why there isn't any settlement in this area?"
"No, not really."
"So apparently they tried to build some in this area a few times, but every time they did it would eventually get destroyed and the ruins of these settlements would then disappear after a while. Spooky stuff huh?" Kevin said. "Some people say this place is cursed. Well that's what the guys told me anyway."
"They're messing with you. They know we're from the Lost Country and are trying to scare you." Ashley said rolling her eyes. "Don't believe everything people tell you."
"Boo! You're no fun."
They sat together chatting, losing track of time. They only realized lunch ended when everyone started showing up again smiling as they spotted the pair lost in their own little world. embarrassed they moved to get up and bring their empty trays back to camp. Just then one of the mages moved more of the earth but part of the ground collapsed revealing a large passage underground. As everyone crowded together to see what was inside multiple glowing Golden eyes could be seen from the darkness.
_______________________________
On the long twisting road with a deep forest to the left and an expansive plain to the right, a merchant caravan could be seen traveling. Departing from the trade city and making its way Northwest everyone prepared for a long trip. The sound of heavy foot steps from both man and animal could be heard as they march down the highway.
Hunters and Mercenaries alike were hired to protect the four carriages within the caravan. One Mercenary troupe of twelve and two Hunter parties of four, twenty guards in total. This is standard procedure when it comes to traveling as a group. The threat of monsters and bandits alike make it dangerous to travel without having any way to protect yourself.
Merchants hire Mercenary troupes for their teamwork and coordination to fight off bigger threats and Hunter's experience and ability to fight off any unexpected monsters. The countries militia tend to quell any monster or bandits on the major roads, but that doesn't mean they're free from any threats. It's just a little bit safer to travel on them.
Sitting on top of one of the carriages carrying merchandise sat a Raven haired girl with Golden brown eyes and light brown skin. Her long hair flowed behind her like water as the wind blew past her as she fixed her gaze into the distance. Her facial features show nothing of what she's thinking.
"... Hey." The girl called out. "It just occurred to me that I don't know the name of the city we just left from."
"Oh yeah... your right, what was it called?"
"It was Verland, How did you not know this? We were there for almost a whole month."
Behind her was Yuki, who was standing instead of sitting, also voiced that she didn't know the name of the city they were in either, with Judieth who was walking next to the carriage giving them the answer. Morella was sitting in the drivers seat next to the coachman listening in on the conversation with an amused expression.
"... Just never thought to find out, I guess." Ruby said, sounding indifferent. Though secretly, she was a tad embarrassed
"Same here." Yuki said, throwing her head back in laughter, showing off her dangerously sharp teeth.
"Yuki, don't sound so proud about being ignorant." Morella chided.
"Hey, you didn't know the name either, right?" Yuki said defensively, accusing the older woman of the same offense.
"Well- I- that's not the point." Morella said flustered.
The four girls continued to casually chat, ignoring the others around them. The rhythmic rattle of the carriage and the heavy sound of the Kroder Lizard's footsteps. The atmosphere was peaceful and light. Everyone, not just the girls, was relaxed.
___________________________________
"I wonder if something will happen, I'm getting bored." Yuki said after a few hours.
They've been on the road for days now, and the Demon was starting to grow tired. And the covering she wore around her head to hide her budding horns was starting to get annoying. The fact that cosmetic potions couldn't change the structure of one's body was turning out to be inconvenient.
"Hey there, young miss. Don't start saying things like that now. You might jinx us." A Dwarf warrior nearby said. "If anything interesting were to happen, we would be in trouble."
"You say that, but at least you had an opportunity to take out a stray monster or two." Yuki responded, rolling her eyes."
"Hey, if you would just climb on down here, you could dispatch any monster that appears."
"I'm good." Yuki was still worried about Ruby and wanted to stick near her as they traveled.
While Yuki and the Dwarf bickered back and forth, a large presence was abruptly felt coming from the right of them. Everyone who was haired to protect the Merchants and their merchandise felt it. It wasn't one large creature but multiple monsters in the distance.
"What's happening over there?" Ruby wondered out loud, alarmed.
"Feels like a monster stampede." An Elf woman said, holding her staff at the ready.
"I-is it coming this way? One of the clients asked timidly.
"The bulk of it is too far away to sense us. The only reason we can feel them is because of the sheer number of them. Some might come this way, but for now, we don't have to worry about facing hundreds of monsters at once." Said a man with a scare across his neck. Ruby looked at him. If she remembers correctly, this man was the leader of the Mercenary troupe.
"Then I suggest we keep moving, We should report this as soon as possible. There aren't any towns or villages in that direction so we're the only ones who know about this." Said a woman. She was the leader of the other Hunter party.
With that, the caravan started moving again with renewed haste and vigor. The presence of the large amount of Mana made the group nervous. A sudden swarm of monsters like this was very rare and extremely dangerous. The only silver lining was the fact that this happened in the middle of nowhere.
"Happy now, young lady, you got something interesting to happen." The Dwarf from before said sarcastically.
"Uh, well, at least we got a story to tell. Ha ha ha...." She said, laughing nervously.
The pace of the caravan was swift as it continued to make its trek north. The Kroder lizards two feet thumped against the ground as they pulled the carts and carriages or carried someone on its back. The source of everyone's anxiety never dwindling, always present.
"... Why aren't they attacking each other?" Ruby wondered. "... Shouldn't they be attacking each other indiscriminately?"
"I'm not sure. They could all be the same species, which would make them less likely to attack each other. But I somehow find that unlikely. Monster stampedes are made up of multiple different monsters." Judith answered. "Now, if they were actually stampeding instead of just sitting in one place, it would make sense as to why they aren't attacking each other. Monsters are more likely to ignore each other in favor of attacking people after all. But without any settlements nearby, the only targets should be each other... hm."
After a bit, Judieth's answer turned into her voicing her own thoughts and speculations out loud, and just like she said, monsters without a target would turn on each other. Stampedes would normally charge towards the closest settlement with a mixture of different monsters to devour the people there. If there were any more settlements nearby, they'll make that their next target. Big or small, city or village, it didn't matter. Monster stampedes attacked anything in its way.
Once there were no more targets for the monsters, they would turn on each other or scatter. Monsters as a whole were violent by nature, which is what makes them so dangerous. They attacked everything indiscriminately unless they were of the same sub species. The only time the same type of monster fought each other was over territory.
What made monsters what they are is the Mana Crystals embedded inside them. Their aggressiveness came from their nature to absorb the Energy released from other living creatures upon death, and they get more from attacking the people of the world of Zelviea: Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Beast-Men, Demons. People also absorbed Mana from living things they kill but to a far lesser degree. One would need to kill a lot to notice any significant difference. People absorb more of that energy from monsters anyway, so it isn't worth killing others for so little.
Ruby also had the same instincts, but it's much weaker and stunted thanks to the environment she grew up in.
"This is really strange. If they were fighting, we would be able to tell just from their combined Mana, but they just seem to be sitting there. The group hasn't even moved." Judieth said, continuing to think aloud.
*sniff, sniff* "... Something's coming." Ruby said after sniffing the air. "Everyone, get ready, were about to have some company!"
After she said that, everyone went on high alert. Concentrating on the monster swarm direction, they could just barely make out a separate group of monsters, making their way towards them. The reason they didn't notice the approach was that because of the large presence of the monster swarm further away, it masked the much smaller presence of the smaller group.
Jumping down from their perched, Ruby and Yuki also got ready to fight. 'Damn, this is annoying as hell.' Ruby thought as she put on her gauntlets. She was also wearing boots at the moment to blend in, but wondered if she should take them off for both comfort and movement. Her instincts were telling her this was a dangerous situation, so she was starting to get worried. For the first time since being free, she felt anxious going into a situation.
"Alright, you lot, get into formation!" The mercenary leader yelled. "You party of Hunters cover our flanks will ya!"
Ruby's Party was very unbalanced. Most of them (all of them except Ruby really) were Magic users. And one of them wasn't even able to use magic for long either. So, with the enemy coming from the west and only barely south, Ruby and her party position themselves on the left flank. The furthermost part away from the enemy that they could get. Not that it matered much since they were coming at them practically straight on.
As everyone got ready to engage the smaller group of monsters coming at them, the air grew more and more tense. Everything around them was quiet. Unnaturally so. No birds chirping, no bugs buzzing, no sound of animals in the brush; not even the wind was present anymore, almost like it was scared off. The only sound was the rhythmic breathing of everyone getting ready to fight.
Then they saw it. In front of the large monster group was a bunch of people dressed in worker cloths running for their lives in their direction.
"SCREEEEE!!!" With that loud screech, that battle commenced.