"For starters, we are going to play Temple Run. You are expected to escape from all my summons or you lose a limb. You have to use all your power to escape or you lose a limb. Get ready" Gamora said as she stood up and stretched. She beckoned them to follow her to vast land before them. There were ruined houses, broken trees, sharp and pointy rocks, large boulders and the like. Anything that made up ancient ruins. The land stretched as far as the eye could see which got the children wondering why no one inhabited this place and even where it was on the map. They were mesmerized by the strangeness and beauty of the ruins which they hadn't noticed before. "You can see right? The beauty and mythical strangeness of the ruins, right? I will tell you it's name and purpose later but right now, get ready. You will need everything in your arsenal because the beasts range from Arion class to peak of Fexa class." Gamora said. "B…but…." "No buts. In the forest if, you are attacked by dext beasts, they wouldn't ask of your level and give you a beast of your level to fight. There's no room for negotiation." Gamora told them the harsh truth. Gamora told them it was better if they started running. She opened her right hand. A silver artim came out of her palm. It flew up high into the sky and exploded into countless silver particles. The particles swirled and formed a mini tornado. Beast cries could be heard from the tornado. As quickly as it formed, it vanished and in its place was a pack containing about a hundred beasts. They had lion bodies and eagle wings. They ranged in sizes;some were 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 45cm and some were 6 feet tall with a wingspan of 50cm. They roared ferociously at the kids who were running in the distance. They knew what to do the moment they summoned by Gamora. The biggest among which was 7 feet tall with a wingspan of 55cm roared into the sky. It was obviously the peak Fexa class beast and the current leader of the pack. The low level beasts tend to listen to high level beasts who were stronger than them. Some took off into the sky while some sprinted across the ground. The leader roared into the sky and took off into the sky after its pack and their prey.
Vorden and Lith heard the ferocious roars of the summoned beasts and boosted their speed. Even with their speed which was considered fast, the beasts caught up to them pretty quick. It was not surprising as the kids were just Low level gudas with one skill in their god arts. The other fact was they were inexperienced and newly awakened so it was very much expected. As the first battalion of the beasts got close, Lith used his skill and threw his artims at the beasts. He followed his father's advice and activated the skill in his mind but it still got blocked. The beasts on the ground halted their tracks and raised their wings in front of them. Azure wind patterns formed on their grey wings. A strong gust of wind burst out of their wings and engulfed the flames from Lith's skill. The explosions still rang out but they failed to hit the beasts.
"Wind-Lord Cats! Crap!" Vorden recognized the beasts the moment they used their skill. He had read about them from the dext beast books in their father's study. " Lith we must split up! They are very intelligent beasts and your fire can't hurt them if you don't find their weak points! I will shadow walk us into one of the buildings then we'll split up there!" Vorden shouted at Lith. Lith nodded and threw an artim at the Wind-Lord Cat that was targeting his butt. An artim appeared in front of Vorden. He quickly held Lith's hand and jumped into the artim. A large mouth closed the moment the duo vanished from the spot. It was a pretty close call. Seriously, was their mother trying to kill them or what! The beasts didn't give up their chases because they could still feel the presence of the two kids and they could see the artim. It was still daytime so the Shadow art wasn't very effective as they directly under the sun. But a Pro-guda couldn't be taken lightly as they were on a whole different level and the fact that Vorden was an Ultra was enough to prove his ability to last so long in the sun even if he was disadvantaged. A normal guda would have felt the strain by now because of the ineffectiveness of the god art but that wasn't the same for Vorden. He could be deemed as a monster. He was even carrying another person. The artim containing the duo maneuvered its way through the ruins. It disappeared in any form of shadow close by and appeared in another far away from the beasts. The artim formed a thin line between two shadows the moment it entered one and appeared in the other one. To others, it may seem like teleportation but it practically shadow stepping. Because of Vorden's level he couldn't step directly but the artim made for that. Soon the evaded the beast pack and appeared in a run down two story building. They had to reach the endpoint their mother had set for them within the next hour. Thanks to their father's training, they didn't need much rest as they had plenty of stamina. They stayed in the building for the next five minutes to replenish a bit of their energy.
...
Up in the sky, Gamora looked at the timer. She had set an hour for them to reach the endpoint and it seemed they were doing pretty well. She was slightly shocked at their fast growth. It seemed Davies was actually doing his homework well. She thought they would've broken down by now, especially Lith but the kept their cool and focused on escaping. They were like experienced mercenaries but they were none of that. This was their first time facing off against dext beasts and they even on a higher level than them. Just the aura of the beasts should have had some impact on them to make them give up but they just became motivated and were using everything to escape. "I believe they are hiding to catch their breath. They still have thirty minutes. Let's meet them at the endpoint." Gamora said. She was sitting on the leader of the Wind-Lord Cats and observing the escapade. The ruins was being ruined more as the beasts attacked the remaining buildings wind slashes and wind blades. Those in the air conjured mini tornadoes and twisters to suck everything on the ground leaving their kind. The synergy of the beasts was amazing. They worked together to expose their prey even if they couldn't satisfy their hunger. They attacked with more ferocity the more time passed. They were clearly annoyed especially at the kid who could use the shadows to his will. The one with flames wouldn't be a problem but the shadow guy was clearly their nemesis.
....
After the five minute break, Vorden and Lith exited the building. They had already made their plans. Lith conjured an artim and threw it towards a two story building to their left. He then bolted for the right, just behind the building they were in. When had crossed about a kilometer, he activated the skill.
BOOM!
A loud explosion with surging flames blew apart the building and attracted the Wind-Lord Cats who were near the area. Vorden seeing this moved close to the burning building and used his Transfiguration skill. His grey hair turned white and a beautiful image formed behind him. Unlike other god arts, the Transfiguration art and some other god arts didn't make use of artims in using skills. The image was of a woman in a white huangfu with snow white hair. She had six wings which flapped elegantly behind her. "Scream Of Chorine" Vorden muttered softly the moment he saw the beasts. The image behind him opened its mouth slightly. What came out was a contrast to name of the skill. Instead of a scream, a soft humming sound flowed out of the angelic image's mouth. It sounded like a lullaby which stunned all the beasts in a 10m radius. The beasts couldn't understand what was going on. They couldn't move but they could still use their skills. The bizarre thing was, their skills vanished the moment the used it. None of the skills could escape from the coverage area of the sweet hum. The hum was like an incantation. It started from a low tone and rose up. As they incantation rose, the beasts started to feel the pressure. It was like a sharp blade that cut through them like tofu. Even if they were of a higher level than the kid, the skill was too powerful. Gamora had her mouth open wide. "Crap. That's the power of the Transfiguration art?! Even a Low level guda could be as powerful as a peak Upper level guda. The difference is like heaven and earth."
Vorden was shocked at the scene in front of him that for a moment, he forgot that he was expected to escape from the beasts. The skill was so powerful but he felt that he couldn't use it again or he would have a mental strain. But it was still amazing. So this was the power of the Transfiguration art. A simple hum like that could butcher beasts perfectly. So how powerful was his other skill going to be if he awakened it. The sad part was that it may take a long time as he was expected to hide the god art from others. The reason, he didn't know but he will still listen to his parents. A loud, angry roar broke him from his reverie. His attack had angered the leader of the Wind-Lord Cats. He had basically wiped out all the beasts on the ground and almost a quarter of those in the air. He didn't wait for anymore warning as he sprinted away, following the path Lith took.
....
Lith was nearing the endpoint but he stopped to wait for Vorden. He could see the huge ball of light in the distance but a sudden hum made him turn to look at where he came from. He then spotted the beautiful angelic image of the goddess Chorine. He didn't know how it appeared but he was certain it had something to do with Vorden. He had the Transfiguration art which was related to the goddess Chorine. But next bit of display shocked him. From his position, he couldn't see what was happening from the ground but he could see a number of Wind-Lord Cats fall from the heights they were flying from like they had the ability to fly. He was still in shock when Vorden appeared beside him. "Hey you! Snap out of it!" " What the fuck was that! What kind of skill was that!" Lith broke into a chaos of questions. "Hey I don't even know. I'm as shocked as you but we must first reach the endpoint before we can't think of other things. We still have 10 minutes to reach there." Vorden told Lith. They sprinted across the ground dodging buildings, boulders and frenzied attacks from the remaining beasts in the air. Vorden and Lith occasionally used their skills to evade or block the attacks of the beasts. Eventually, with much difficulty, the reached the endpoint with a second to spare. The beasts that were following him vanished in a cloud of dust the moment they reached the endpoint.
"You did well. Congratulations. We shall rest for an hour and continue with the next task, Catch." a sweet voice said. The kids turned around and found themselves face to face with the leader of the Wind-Lord Cats. They could see the anger in its dark golden eyes. They were so close that the beasts would need just a bite to take their heads off their bodies. But it was restraining itself. After a moment of the eye contact challenge, the beast lowered its head and Gamora slid down in front of the boys.