The students were totally excited as they saw the scenery on the other side of the portal, for the best part of the population it was the first time they stepped through a portal which made it kind of hard to miss the excitement.
The scene in front of them was mostly different from what they had just come out from, the air here was a little bit hotter, there were two suns up in the sky a reasonable distance away from each other.
They weren't in a contest of outshining each other as they were already doing a pretty good job of heating up the surrounding environment well above regular human temperature.
Each group of twenty along with the teacher in charge had come through the portal, they had already been given general instructions and the three groups headed off in different directions after coming through the portal.
The students had already been briefed on the list of general things they needed to know, after a few minutes of walking Zayn came to a stop.
He turned to face the students assigned to his group.
"Each of you will be divided into groups of four, you are going to have to work as a team. This quest is not all about individual talent but also about team work and your intellectual ability to deal with difficult situations."
"For each beast killed by a member of your team, the team is awarded ten points. The watch on your wrists records the final blow on every beast. The team with the most points after an hour wins this quest"
"Now for the grouping" Zayn stated and began to divide the students into smaller groups of four. When he was done, he had to wait for confirmation from the other two teachers before he could go ahead with the quest.
All the students were to start at the same time. Arya looked at her team of four, her disappointment made her speechless.
Her team consisted of Derek, the student she had had to save just a few nights ago. He possessed guts but no skill to match his bravery, more like stupidity, she thought. She couldn't see any reason why someone would charge into a group of boys when they weren't even able to take one of them in a one-on-one fight.
Derek paused a little, staring at Arya. He knew there was something about her features and the way she walked though he knew he hadn't really seen her face before, but there was something really familiar about her.
It didn't take him too long to figure it out, she was the one that had dealt with the bullies, he thought about walking up to show his appreciation but her expression was not exactly welcoming.
The other, Mia, Arya continued her scrutiny, looked scared of her own allies, she might have as well hidden behind a rock if there was one lying nearby. She might have a thing or two up her sleeve but with that attitude, she was not getting anywhere.
The last was Chuck, he didn't look so impressive, Arya was left to wonder what he would be able to do if given the chance.
Derek on the other hand could only wonder why he had ended up on the same team with Chuck, his goofy grin had a weird way of ticking him off.
With a signal limited to only the three teachers, they announced the start of the quest and all the groups split off in different directions.
Derek's group started off walking, but Chuck soon stopped. Derek heard his footsteps stop but he wasn't remotely interested in the reason he had stopped, so he continued walking.
"Aren't we supposed to come up with a plan or something, we definitely are not going to just march in there and start taking out beasts" Chuck said out loud
The rest of them paused after hearing what Chuck had to say, they couldn't really disagree that there was some sense in it.
"Just try to keep up and don't get in my way" Arya commented coldly and kept on walking.
'I don't think this is going to work out so well' Chuck muttered and shook his head. Since they apparently had to work together as a team, they soon resumed walking to catch up to Arya before she got out of sight.
Arya had noticed by now that there was another group trailing hers, she doubted that anyone else in her group had yet to figure it out. She suddenly increased her pace, subconsciously the rest of the team did so too in order to keep up with her.
After a few minutes she could still notice them just a little distance behind them, she knew at once that they were up to no good but that was the least of her worries because she could soon see the first beast they would encounter closing in on them from her front.
Gripping her baton tightly, she rushed at the beast and swung her baton inwards, Mia almost had her heart in her mouth when she saw Arya rushing at a beast.
The beast brought down a fully developed claw, aiming to crush Arya in one swipe but she was quick, she rolled out of the way and brought her baton down, crushing the entire hand.
The beast roared in pain and tried to attack again, this time with its other hand, performing the same move, Arya dodged again and crushed the other hand.
The beast both hands were now mangled, throwing it into a state of temporary confusion. Using the distraction of the beast as an opportunity, Arya sprinted in and swung her baton with full force at its head, separating its head from its body.
A beep sound could clearly be heard by everyone on the team, indicating the confirmation of their first kill.
Arya looked quite scary with beast blood dripping from her baton, Derek felt he might've been shaking in his boots if she was the one they were to go up against.
The group was not given any time to rest as they soon heard a growl from up ahead. Derek could almost hear Mia's bone rattle from where he stood.
Arya as usual with a calm countenance on her face walked straight forward but it was of no need as the beast was already approaching the group.
The loud roar from the previous beast must have attracted those nearby and the few that had heard it were now closing in.
In less than a minute, the beast was already in sight. Standing on its legs, the beast stood eight feet tall almost as large as a bear.
Its mouth showed off a row of dirtied jagged teeth with spittle dropping from all corners of its mouth.
The beast was an unsightly combination of black, red and green. When it got within range it stretched to grab for Arya. This beast was clearly faster and stronger than the previous, though it was not entirely out of its league, but there was a noticeable difference.
Arya was faster, the beast grabbed nothing but air, it reached out again but Arya ducked out of the way and threw her baton at its face. The baton didn't do much damage except to anger the beast.
Arya ran straight at the beast, seeing Arya's careless approach it swung its leg, aiming to kick her unconscious but she slid between the beast's legs and grabbed her baton.
Just then another beast appeared, it had made no sound and no one had seen it materialize. It swung its large arm at Arya.
She was frozen in place; she had just picked up her baton and the time frame was too short to dodge. She closed her eyes and hoped the impact wouldn't kill her.
Crack…
She wondered if everyone else heard the sound of their skulls breaking before life left them.