The roars continued in the depths if the dark forest. At first they sounded majestic, but now the roars grew weaker and more pained. The tragic cries sent an ominous feeling through the group.
When the silence returned, it didn't calm their beating hearts, only adding to the palpable tension. Every moment that passed was draining their patience, but the guards and teachers of the academy had faced many of such situations in the past, so they held up better than the students, who were extremely inexperienced.
Soon subtle sounds began to emerge from the treeline, not just in one area, but dense skittering appeared along the whole perimeter.
What was hidden in the darkness shocked those that were strong enough to see it. The teachers and Delia, as well as Isla and Sila, who had unknowingly absorbed the blessing of their ancestor, were able to see the enormity of the situation ahead.
Crawling along the treeline were countless beetles and bugs, with hard carapace shells and razor sharp pincers. The bugs were still covered in blood, obviously from the unlucky beast that was roaring earlier.
Regis didn't intend to wait any longer, his powerful voice echoed throughout the field, "It's a large group of beetle monsters, focus on using fire talismans."
The guards quickly sorted through their talismans, and switched their formation to adapt to the use of fire talismans.
Beetle and bug monsters belonged to the lowest level of magic beast, ranking even lower than horned rabbits in individual combat. What made them such a formidable opponent was their vast number and unrelenting attacks.
The bugs lived by a hive mentality, where the Queens orders were paramount, even overriding their own independent thoughts. Some of the empires researchers based this phenomenon on the fact that the individual will of a beetle monster was not inherently strong, so they were more easily controlled by the queen beetle.
However Queen beetles usually hid in the outer areas of the Rind forest, where the Queen could build a stronghold with very little opposition from local forces.
But, like any species, they also have fights between each other. Infighting is one aspect, where another queen is born in the hive and supported by some of the stronger beetle monsters, to stand against the original queen. Or an opposing group attacks for food or Territory.
Seeing the mindless and chaotic group through the trees, the three experienced fighters guessed that a territorial battle had gone on recently, which resulted in the death of one of the queens. Most likely the Queen that was in charge of the group in front of them. A group without a queen in charge is much easier to deal with, without the tactics they should have, but still brings the danger of a horde of fearless monsters. Unfortunately they didn't have any longer to prepare.
Regis's roar seemed to be the catalyst for the start of the battle, the beetle monsters rushed out of the trees, like a dark wave, wishing tk wash away everything that stood in front of them.
Fire talismans were thrown out without hesitation, while the student magicians behind started firing spells towards the oncoming horde. Even Eris didn't intend to sit back and watch.
A powerful magic circle appeared in the sky above her, intricate parts rotating in both clockwise and anti clockwise directions. The staff she held glowed brightly in the pitch black night, causing the horde of beetles to focus on the overbearing light.
Countless blades of light shot out from the magic circle, shooting straight into the centre of the massive horde.
Shrieks and squeals resounded from the oncoming beetles, but they made no difference to the wave that approached the guards.
Even under the bombardment of the magicians and talismans, causing the area in front of the academy guards to be a sea of fire, the beetles still pushed forward.
The first layer of academy guards had to bear the brunt of the beetle horde. Enduring the person sized beetles that crawled over their injured and dead. The chitters coming from the clacking of pincers eating away at their courage.
The guards at the front had their shields in front of them and their swords at the ready. The academy spent a lot to equip these gold rank warriors, so their shield and armour were enchanted with defensive formations, while their weapons had elemental runes imbued into them.
The guards swung into the horde of beetles, the enchantments on their armour and weapons activating, lighting up the combat active guardsmen.
The beetles that were slashed by the weapons were either burnt or frozen, sent flying or shocked by lightning.
The bright colours and effects were like a show, but the students in the middle couldn't appreciate it. They watched the guards continue to swing, and be relieved after a certain amount of time, rotating out to maintain their stamina, giving the guards time to rest.
Regis didn't stand with the guards, but chose to use his abhorrent strength to fight from the centre of the horde. Eris as a powerful magician naturally imbued his weapons and armour herself, so Regis was an incredibly domineering addition to the battlefield, and with Eris constantly bombarding the dense areas of beetles, Isla and Sila just watched this battle play out.
They hadn't been privy to a battle like this before, mostly because Rusvil didn't even have a place for enchanting weapons. The highest ranked magician was gold rank, and they wouldn't enchant a piece of equipment for others, that would be adding competition to themselves.
The two looked at each other, determined to find a way to get their own sets of enchanted equipment. Unless they were able to become strong enough to achieve a sword array, which could close the gap between a magicians powerful area attacks, then enchantments were their best bet.
The battle went on for most of the early morning, not subsiding until the morning sun began to light up the sky. By then the field they had taken up camp was full of burnt beetle corpses, smoking and charred earth. Not only beetle corpses, but also many guards had fallen in this battle. Even with such good preparations, it couldn't stop the endless onslaught.