-------------------Hervalle Empire, Gloomrot Marsh------------
The next day Avior and his party set out much more determined than before. Within a few hours, they came across a juvenile capybara and left it alone because why would they hurt a capybara? After another hour of marching through the muck, they came across a Giant Mud Toad with half an Aqua Skirter sticking out of its mouth. Setting up the group fell back into position with Avior staying as a relief force in case of emergencies.
The Giant Mud Toad towered over them at the height of two men its red eyes standing out from the body which was a dull brown, hence its name the monster was completely covered in mud. It leapt directly at the group hoping to crush them with its massive weight. Luckily they all did the smart thing and dodged out of the way stabbing and casting ineffectively at the toad's thick mud covered hide. The toad lept once more which the group dodged successfully once again. Giving up on its favorite tactic the Giant Mud Toad opened its mouth and launched its tounge at the vulnerable Piran. Focused on dodging over attacking Piran managed to dash mostly out of the way of the fast attack, only receiving a glancing blow which of course still hurt alot.
Christina didn't hesitate heading over to Piran to ensure nothing was life-threatening. Seeing the toad's red eyes locking onto another target Virgoh quickly sent his mana to create a Veil of Darkness around the toad's eyes. Forming quickly, the veil obscured the toad's vision completely. Despite being blind the toad sent its tongue out only for it to land into the muck annoying the now-blind toad. Letting out a roar in anger the students didn't miss the chance as James sent his firebolt while Victoria sent her more powerful fire lance into the toad's open mouth. Both attacks struck the large target with the fire lance managing to end the beast as the well-aimed and slightly lucky shot pierced through the roof of the toad's mouth and into its brain, ending the fight prematurely.
In high spirits, the party couldn't help but glance at Avior expecting some kind of reprimand only to find him fully focused on his new artifact of the day a smooth yellow stone the size of a human head. After their moment of celebration, they realized with grim looks they had to carry their prize back to the camp or forfeit their large prize in monster parts. Avior spoke up saying if they didn't want to carry the whole thing they could take its eyes, tongue, legs, the most valuable parts of most toad monsters. Content with that compromise the group let Avior and Virgoh harvest the creature before leaving with the aforementioned parts in bloody bags slung over their shoulders.
A few hours after making their way back they saw a dazzling light in the air. A Light Beacon, a spell cast through a cylindrical artifact launching it high into the air to convey a message. In this case the message was very clearly HELP! The party began making their way toward the light as quickly as they could while still making sure they didn't step into the jaws of a lurking monster as they rushed to their classmate's aid. The Light Beacon continued to spark for a few more minutes before dissipating and being replaced by another in the same location immediately after. It seemed like students calling for help were facing an ever-present danger.
A few minutes later while the second Light Beacon was beginning to fade Avior and his party broke out of the tall grasses to see an oddly peaceful scene. The tall marsh grasses opened to reveal a pond similar to the one they'd found the Aqua Skirters in, only significantly larger, deeper, and containing a Muck Eater in the center of the pond. There the massive monster known as a Muck Eater had risen. Its wet viscous form extending a dozen tentacles into the air to hold up a clear circular artifact the size of a carriage with a group of familiar Eagle class students crammed inside. The circular artifact was preventing the Muck Eater from consuming the outmatched students.
Avior could tell from the way it seemed to be constantly slipping out of the tentacle's grasp as the monster worked to hold it still that the artifact had some kind of enchantment to make it frictionless as well in addition to its ability to create a protective shell. This was no run-of-the-mill artifact, there was no doubt it was a powerful family's trump card! Seeing the familiar red-faced Windsor Ridley, Christina's rich classmate from Eagle class, stuck between expressions of terror and shame Avior had no doubt the artifact belonged in his affluent family's vaults.
Other than Avior, Christina was the first to recover from the unexpected scene. Sending water mana to form a jagged dagger, Christina prepared to launch an assault on the Muck Eater when a familiar young-faced professor stepped out from the nearby grasses and pulled her to the ground.
"All of you get down." He hushed at the party as he held a squirming Christina to the marshy ground. "If you alert it the chances to get the students out unharmed would become slim!"
Victoria and Virgoh reacted the fastest both drawing weapons before lowering themselves to the wet ground to lie prone. James and Jessica were next with Piran visibly hesitating to lower himself to the messy marshbed before finally doing so after receiving a pointed look from Jessica. Avior entered a crouch content to play along with the professor and hear his reasoning.
Christina slowly getting out from under the professor was managing to control her anger. Barely. In a very pissed but hushed tone, she voiced her confusion. "Why did you stop me? We need to rescue them before they're eaten alive by that thing!"
The young professor cast her a sideways glance with most of his focus being on the Muck Eater and the students. "I measured its mana signature to be at the fourth level! To defeat a monster at such a rank without prior planning is suicide unless you severely outclass it. The Ridley's artifact will hold for another half hour at least. That's time we can use to prepare to take the monster down and free them without unnecessary risk Student Christina." He spoke emphasizing Christina's status as a student and his as a professor something he was no doubt used to having to do often due to his young appearance.
The whispered explanation made Christina realize her mistake. The blood in her face originating from anger quickly changed to a deeper red out of embarrassment.
"A Muck Eater at the fourth level?" The incredulous voice came from Virgoh. "But Muck Eaters are limited to the third level and even then only rarely do they ever grow stronger than the second. How could one get so strong undetected?"
The young professor still focused on the students in peril brushed Virgoh's question aside. "How should I know? I'm a defensive specialist not a monster encyclopedia for element's sake."
Hearing their normally composed professor swear and appear so frazzled the students couldn't help but feel nervous at their chances against such a monster.
In the next half hour, the students and the Young Professor devised a plan of attack. Unfortunately, no more students or professors arrived during that time. It seemed like they were all too far away to get here in time it would be up to just them. Seeing the clear barrier encasing the students beginning to fade they knew the time for waiting was over. Already in position, the Young Professor began the plan by using the hard earth he'd been slowly pulling up to rest under the wet marsh topsoil for the last thirty minutes. The compact earth began to slowly form into four long earthen poles stretching over the pond surrounding the Muck Eater on four sides.
Seeing the professor had begun the students began using their mana to dig channels from the pond connecting it to a drainage system they'd been busy with while the Professor was readying his compact earth. The pond's water level began to drop finally drawing the Muck Eater's attention away from the trapped students. Its hollow sockets locked onto Christina who was closest to the pond trying to use her mana to hasten the water leaving the pond. Seeing an easy snack it let go of the artifact with the students and moved towards Christina only to run into one of the Young Professor's earth poles and impaling itself. Unphazed by the spire the Muck Eater sent some of its long tentacles out toward Christina.
Christina moved to dodge, but the tentacles were too fast. Instead of missing it completely, she ended up moving into a grabbing tentacle leading to it accidentally punching her away instead. Her barrier shattered absorbing most of the light blow, but she was still sent careening into the surrounding grasses.
Annoyed it had lost its prey the Muck Eater went to move off the earth pole only to realize it couldn't. The pole had connected to the other four poles and continued to grow more poles off from itself creating a cage-like structure around the Muck Eater's midsection. The Muck Eater moved to channel some of the pond to erode away the earthen structure, but it found the pond no longer had any water. It had been completely drained. Taking advantage of its lack of mobility the students began raining firebolts and lances against it from all directions. The fire attacks visibly dried the Muck Eater's moist skin although all the attacks were snuffed out before much damage could be done.
The Muck Eater began throwing rocks around it at the students. Whipping its tentacle arms it was able to throw even small stones with enough force to kill a soldier. The students, expecting the Muck Eater to try some form of ranged response even with its lack of available water were ready. Focused on dodging and staying far away they proved too challenging for the Ooze to strike. Then the Muck Eater spotted the artifact filled with students slowly rolling away towards the tall grasses and became enraged. Tearing out some of the moisture from its own body it formed sharp blades on the edges of its normally soft tentacles limbs. Whipping them downward the water blades began ripping apart the earthworks trapping it at a fast pace. Realizing their plan was working too slowly the young professor began reforming the earthworks trying to make them change to a flush horizontal shape that would split the Muck Eater in half.
The Muck Eater sped its actions up further burning more of its moisture to fuel its magical actions. It finally broke out of its earthen prison right as the young professor finished his work leading to only a small part of the Muck Eater and some tentacles being cut away from its main body which had now begun its pursuit of the students rolling away in the artifact. The students who had been surrounding it at a distance to avoid projectiles and its tentacles began rushing after it hoping to stop it before it reached Ridley's group again. Now unrestricted albeit smaller in size the Muck Eater flung its tentacles wildly around its body preventing anyone from drawing near while also tearing up the wet mud and revealing the reserves of water beneath. Water which the Muck Eater gleefully drew on to replenish its size.
Seeing their work beginning to reverse Avior tossed his yellow artifact with the appearance of a stone at the Muck Eater. The Muck Eater sensing mana inside the object while in a state of taking in any mana it could to replenish its size didn't hesitate to grab the artifact and place it within its ooze-like body. Immediately, the mana within the slime began to be drawn into the artifact. At first the Muck Eater, focused on Ridley's group it had just caught up to, didn't notice. Grabbing the protective artifact filled with students and unceremoniously slamming the slippery ball deep into the wet marshbed in a rage it was pleasantly surprised to find the slippery ball stayed put when halfway deep in mud. Content the problem of running food was solved it turned to focus its attention back on its attackers to find the young professor's new earthwork project. Above the Muck Eater were dozens of blades in a circle. Similar to a divider one might use on a cake, each blade was attached to each other in the center creating a circle of blades.
The Muck Eater, realizing the danger caused by such a massive construction reached for the mana it had been stockpiling in its body to form protective measures only to find the mana was spiraling tightly around the yellow stone it had picked up earlier and was unable to be moved. Panicked the Muck Eater ejected the yellow stone from its body only to watch as its mana followed the stone out leaving it completely defenseless as the young professor dropped his creation on the Muck Eater dividing it into many smaller parts and severing its outlying tentacles. Seeing the slime in a critical state Ridley released his artifact and the students within used their magic to help their classmates and the Young Professor finish the job. The separated Muck Eater stood no chance now that they no longer had a large body, tentacles, or mana and were quickly burned to nothingness by the vengeful students. They'd won. A monster with mana at the fourth level had been defeated!
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Avior and his classmates greeted Ridley and the other Eagle students who didn't hold back showing thanks. Wrapping their hugs around their saviors they thanked them profusely for saving their lives. None more so than Windsor Ridley who was almost crying from his sudden happiness.
Everyone was overjoyed and then the hero of the hour appeared. Stepping out from behind his amazing earthwork which had sliced the Muck Eater apart at its weakest moment the Young Professor was beaming with joy as he saw all the unharmed students who rushed towards him to make sure he was okay.
As the young students reached him, just before the young professor could revel in his victory, his head exploded and in its place, a violet-gloved fist appeared. The body attached to the fist was a massive hooded figure wearing violet robes.
From under the hood of the massive violet figure came a powerful and deep voice void of emotion. "All those who impede the Senator's vision will not be tolerated. You have destroyed one of his projects. As a result, you shall be removed." The mysterious figure half again as tall as a normal man was currently unmoving and bore no visible weapons. But the shaking students taking in the sight of their headless professor didn't take any solace in those facts.
His fear spurred on by the sight of blood still spurting out of their professor's open neck Windsor Ridley reactivated his artifact densely packing all the students into the same slick membrane from before. Now they were even more tightly packed with Avior's party added to the mix.
The violet figure lept into motion slamming their hand into the artifact membrane. For a second the membrane held vibrating before it shattered like glass, the students inside falling onto the marsh with wet thunks. The massive attacker who'd returned to being still after breaking the artifact suddenly retreated. In their place, a narrow twisting earth spike speared out of the ground.
"Sure enough they were hiding in Gloomrot." A lanky figure stepped out from the surrounding grasses. Dressed in black not much was revealed visually but their high pitch voice indicated them as young and feminine.
Before the students could react to the newcomer six massive figures dressed in full plate armor armed with battleaxes stepped out of the grasses around them, heavy bodies oddly failing to sink into the marshy ground. Seeing more physiques similar to their teacher's killer Vaughn cast a shadow spear at the nearest one, only to see the strike harmlessly glance off the plated figure's armor. Before the rest could follow Vaughn's lead and launch a last-ditch assault they recognized Hervalle Red Eagles emblazoned on the newcomer's armor. Sure enough, all six figures stepped in front and faced the violet figure setting up a protective formation around the students.
"Your intelligence is impeccable as always Miss Mouse." A seventh figure with a normal stature came out of the same area where the six giants had. He was not wearing a hood and his face revealed an older man with an easy expression and taut brown mustache. He was wearing a traditional red Hervalle Mage robe."Brave students of Hervalle! Do not worry any longer for we the Iron Guard have arrived. I am known as Speaker Ilsim. On my honor, I assure you my men and I will keep you safe from here on."
A gasp came out of a few of the students. "The Iron Guard and one of their Speakers?" Ridley spoke his thoughts aloud before the others could get a chance before falling quiet.
"The very same young man." Speaker Ilsim gave a warm smile to the student, but his eyes quickly flicked to the still motionless violet-robed attacker his smile turning to a stern frown. "Lurking agent of Tyrant come and face your punishment."
Jerking her head the violet figure replied to the Speaker with a still emotionless voice. "Tyrant is dead. We are the Constituency."
"We?" A weak voice squeaked out from Piran. As if to prove the point two more figures in violet stepped out from the tall grasses. They were similar in size to the first one being half again as tall as a normal man and twice as wide. They were slightly shorter than the first member of the "Constituency" to appear, who seemed to be their leader.
A thick fog of mana filled the air as Speaker Ilsim wasted no more time talking. He sent golden lines onto the six Iron Guard's armor. The golden lines stuck to the armor flickering across it while providing a warm glow. The six charged silently at the three figures in violet who were all facing neither the charging Iron Guard nor their Speaker, but the lanky figure in black. The confusion of the students to such an action was cleared up rapidly over the course of the next few moments.
The charging Iron Guard covered in streaking golden lines swung their massive battleaxes down on the three self-proclaimed members of the Constituency. All six strikes met gloved hands. Each of the violet figures had turned to face the six at the last second, catching a battleaxe with each hand. Not stopping the six Iron Guards released their weapons continuing to charge forward with gauntleted fists at the ready. The lead violet figure met their attackers with a fist in either gut, the golden lines running across their Guard's armor flickering out as they received the blow and fell to their knees wheezing softly.
The other two violet men traded blows with both attackers but given they were fighting two-on-one and the Iron Guard had a spell protecting them the violet figures appeared on the losing end. Their violet robes quickly turned red wherever they received a strike while their strikes against the Iron Guard resulted in heavy dents at best. As for the Violet Leader, they left their companions behind moving directly at Speaker Ilsim who was sending beams of light into his opponent's faces. Weaving their face to predictively dodge the light rays the Violet Leader dashed forward throwing themselves towards Speaker Illsim who now had a field of darting dots of light streaking in front of him. The mass of lights broke on the Violet Leader's robes doing little to stop the giant from reaching the Speaker. But the Speaker wasn't their target.
Planting their outermost foot into the marshy ground the Violet Leader suddenly cut toward the lanky black figure who'd been standing to the side since appearing. "Too late." A smirking voice came from the black figure. Then the marsh erupted.
Thin spires of hardened earth rose from the soft ground faster than any human could move. Their skinny shapes twisted to look like corkscrews. Numbering over a dozen the spires punched through the Violet Leader and their two men. The two men's massive figures were impaled on all sides. Their robes did little to stop the wicked spires that immobilized the two men as the life slowly left their eyes while blood rapidly filled their organs. As for the Violet Leader, they managed to dodge one strike while two of the earth spires were broken apart on their robes before the enchantment shattered. Still, three spires found their way into her flesh, digging into her left shoulder, right leg, and stomach. Their body flexed trying to break out of the spires, but the earth's twisted shape and inner structure meant they had no hope of moving their body after it had dug in.
The emotionless voice disappeared as the Violet Leader threw back their hood revealing a heavily scarred face belonging to an enraged woman staring wildly at the black figure. "Nox bastard. Traitors to your own kind. You will never have a place in the world the Senator will build!"
Unphased the lanky black figure let out a chuckle, "You know nothing of whose vision will mold the world anew. Like a fly on the wall, your only destiny is to be swatted." A final spire rose before the Violet Leader could respond spearing her from under the chin before emerging from her skull atop her head.
Spinning on her feet the lanky girl walked by Speaker Ilsim, "You guys should really leave Tyrant and all their spinoff groups to us. If I hadn't been here repaying a favor it would have been a far less pleasant outcome." Before Ilsim mustered a response she walked past him and vanished back into the grass fields of the Gloomrot Marsh.
Deciding to ignore the remark Speaker Ilsim turned to the Hervalle students who had done absolutely nothing during the fight other than attack their allies. "Future heroes of Hervalle! Are any of you hurt?" He spoke with a warm smile returning to his face.
Christina looked around at her classmates still in shocked silence comprehending what they'd just witnessed over the course of the last minute. A triumphant rescue mission against a monster had become a nightmare with their professor's sudden death before they'd been saved by the Iron Guard and a mysterious young woman swooping in out of nowhere. The whole time they'd been unable to do a single thing other than get in the way. Christina mustered up her courage to respond to their saviors.
"We are all right Sir Ilsim. Thank you for saving us we are in your debt. Is there anything we can do to help?"
At her words, a few of the other students waking up from their stupor and realizing the man calling them future heroes had in fact just saved them all, managed to get out words of thanks and head bows.
Speaker Ilsim seemed a little embarrassed at the praise. "Ah please don't say that! You are all future leaders of Hervalle and I am just a simple Mage in a Mage Warrior Order. I was doing my expected duty nothing else." He gestured to the six armored soldiers who were all on their feet ignoring their dented and bloodied armor to stand at attention turning his voice serious. "As for our Iron Guard just say a good word or two about them when you get the chance to repay them. Since we are a silent Order with an odd disposition they've gained a bit of a mean reputation among Hervalle's armies. However, as you can see they all have hearts of gold, so please just tell others that whenever you hear them being brought up." Speaker Ilsim then scratched the back of his head shyly as if embarrassed to ask such a thing.
Christina responded resolutely, "Of course! Whoever's spreading these dirty lies about the Iron Guard will forever be my enemy." The other students nodded in kind, content to leave the talking to Christina.
"Well now that's settled let's collect your professor and escort you all back to your campsite. It seems like your monster hunt is probably at an end." The smiling Speaker said before having two of the Iron Guard collect what remained of the young professor's corpse.
As they began walking back to camp Virgoh gained enough confidence to ask a question. "Sir Ilsim? Who was that Mage in black?"
Speaker Ilsim stopped walking, turned to Virgoh, and with the most serious expression they'd seen from him all day said, "I suggest you never mention her to anyone and forget ever seeing her. You are the future heroes and leaders of Hervalle, which makes it all the more painful if I must kill you."
The silence that permeated the group seemed impenetrable after that. The students were startled the Mage who saved them was someone so secretive and seemingly important. Which made it all the more staggering when Avior, who couldn't contain his curiosity anymore asked a question a few minutes later.
"Speaker Illsim I have not heard about the Iron Guard before could you please tell me about your Order?"
Visibly brightening up Illsim answered Avior's question with gusto.
"It's understandable you haven't heard of us we are a relatively new Order which only first saw combat during the war. We are made up mostly of Mage Warriors like these six who take a vow of silence upon being inducted into the Order while Speakers like myself are Mages selected to communicate for them. Speakers can be any level of Mage as loyalty is valued far more highly during the selection process than other similar Mage Warrior Orders. I myself am only a Mage of the Second."
Christina's voice broke in, "Only a Mage of the Second? But I'm a Mage of the Third and even I wasn't able to lift a finger against those guys! How were you able to fight them when we couldn't even move?"
Not showing even the slightest hint of annoyance at the interruption Speaker Ilsim answered her question warmly, "Well you see in battle the level of a Mage is only one factor. Experience as well as ability are also key factors. I've fought on over a dozen battlefields if I froze up when facing three rogue Mages I wouldn't have made it to this point." Seeing the dejected looks from the students who realized that's exactly what they'd done Ilsim moved in for some damage control, "Not to say I didn't freeze up at first. Of course, everyone does! But I had good mentors who taught me what I could focus on so even when I was terrified out of my mind I could still remember to make a barrier and avoid tripping over my own feet." Letting out a chuckle Ilsim continued speaking about his past experiences on the battlefield and treating the students to an endless stream of tales about the Iron Guard's vallantry on the battlefield.
Avior became lost in his own thoughts wondering what led to the Iron Guard being formed this time and Tyrant having a group break off behind this Senator and naming themselves the Constituency. Maybe he would have to pay Prim and his secret organization a visit to find out after all it seemed like Mouse at least was in the thick of it.
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"Like a fly on the wall, your only destiny is to be swatted. Really? That was the best line you could come up with?"
Mouse slugged the laughing Owl in the arm as they continued watching Avior's group while hidden once again in the grasses.
"Shutup Owl! Okay so maybe I fumbled it a little bit there at the end, but at least I got the line in about molding the world anew. That has to count for something right?"
A chuckling Owl could only shake his head as he couldn't help but look forward to telling Prim about this once she finally got back in contact with them. It had already been quite a while since she'd left on her mission to Numina. He hoped nothing serious had delayed her check-in.