Inside a dark forest infamous for it's powerful and deadly Monsters of various Variants was a Group of Mercenaries each with brave and vigilant gray eyes filled with experience, as for why they were in such a forest was due to a request made of them the local villagers often heard the sounds of screams and explosions near them due to this their job was to search this area for anything unusual.

These Mercenaries were called The Steelclouds famous for their unusual magic and swordsmanship skills they come from a distant land that was famous for their many rare races and unique climax yet they all shared two things in common and that was hair as wavy and white as the clouds in the sky with eyes as deadly and piercing as that of steel, with brown colored skin, their group was well known to all across the world as a traveling Mercenary group who would complete any job handed to them without a single failure many Kingdoms or Empires would try to permanently hire them as a private army yet they couldn't be found as soon as the job was done and the reward was collected they would disappear just like a cloud living up to their name.

The ones inside this forest though were a distant branch belonging to the Steelcloud Mercenary group since they were much weaker than the Main branch they were given more common jobs like clearing out Red-Eyed Beast caves or taking care of bandits even working for poor villages such as these none the less compared to B ranked Adventurers they weren't a bit inferior.

The leader of this Squad was a Woman with long wavy White hair and Steel Grey eyes like her comrades called Misty she was currently giving orders to her subordinates and informing them of some of the dangerous beasts that live in this forest and how to avoid them as to how she knew all this was due to information she heard from countless adventurers and mages alike which is why she was able to gain the position of leadership due to her high intelligent and planning skills their current goal was to locate the cause of these sounds and eliminate or capture it without casualties if possible, killing another beast she let out a sigh they have been searching for a few days now and haven't heard a thing into....

“Boom!”

Suddenly a loud explosion came from the right of them, instantly a large tree came towards her it was an inch away from her face if she didn't dodge in time for anyone else with slower reaction speed they would have been turned into mud.

“Sis! Are you all right?”

An honest looking White haired youth with gray eyes who looked to be 15 or 16 with an expression of concern shouted towards her direction.

As she blushed the dust off her sliver and sky blue armor she turned towards the Young youth about to answer him into..

“RraaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHH!”

In the distance was a group of green colored monsters who resembled Lions yet had the bodies of horses with Snake like arms coming out of their backs the most noticeable characteristic were their glowing red eyes it wasn't anything out of the ordinary expect the The one surrounded by the other Red-Eyed Beasts engaging in a fierce battle with the other five it's whole body was pitch black with purple markings across it's body with two long fierce teeth in the front that resembled the color of Quartz it was twice the size of a full grown Barbarian male (Males 6-7 ft) (Females 5-6 ft)

As the party studied the Raven colored Beast they had fear written across their faces if an outsider were to hear what was currently going on they would be shocked at how loud the Steelcloud hearts were beating.

“It...it can't be a Red-Eyed Beast of the Ninth Stage it's one step away from becoming a Lord.”

When the others heard the term Lord their hearts started to shake in legend Red-Eyed Beasts who reached The Tenth Stage after eating enough creatures to evolve were said to be able to take A form that Resembled The Barbarian or Elven races of The world though the difference were they would keep something that they loved deeply from their Original form for example a horn or even fangs with that they would gain an intelligence that equals elves or even surpass them let alone mention the power growth they gained from the transformation.

The beast in front of them though hadn't noticed them yet so they still had a chance to escape, misty sent a few hand signatures to her party letting them know to follow her lead and to try to not make any noise, as the beasts were clawing and biting each other they were easily overpowered by The Black Colored beast who veins were constantly turning purple over and over as it bite into more and more of the creatures in front of it, into only one was left.

“RraaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHH!”

As misty noticed the roar this beast was about to make she quickly covered her ears with her hands trying as best as possible to let the rest of her party figure out to cover them as well, 10 including her brother were able to cover their ears in time while the other five with them were not as lucky being affected by the beast Roar due to a huge power difference between the beast and the five party members they were killed without being able to resist.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Seeing this her little brother was shocked to the core seeing one of his close friends dying along with the other four filled him with both rage and fear the only thing he could think was to kill as he charged towards the Black Colored Beast with his spear in hand.

“Idiot! Cloud get back here.”

The Lion like creature didn't bother to dodge and only continued to eat sending one of it's snake shaped arms towards the Spear wielding boy to it's surprise the boy with agile movements was able to dodge and counter with a stab attack the Lion like creature only stood still pointing it's snake like arm towards the boy gathering more and more energy in the center of it's arm in response the boy named Cloud was running faster and faster trying to pierce the skull of the Snake like monster, unfortunately he was too slow as the beast released an energy filled ball attack with dark energy surrounding it.

Instantly the beast shot it towards the boy as he came near with a boom it connected with dust surrounding everything in sight the beast thought he would see flesh and bones shattered around everywhere for him to eat expect the result was surprising, the attack was blocked by a girl covered in silver armor with blue markings across it revealing a cross she had long wavy hair with silver eyes that was shaped like two steel blades, in her hands were weapons that resembled rapiers.

“Cloud you idiot! what gave you the idea that you would stand a chance against a ninth staged red-eyed beast, you're too native.”

She gave the boy a glare that showed her disappointment in him before they took this quest she had faith in her little brother to keep his claim even if she was injured yet he would risk himself and the rest of the party life by attacking this ninth staged red-eye beast who she had no faith in defeating even with the help of her group.

The beast started running towards the two in an instant at a fast speed about to bite down with it's giant crystal like fangs giving the two no time to react at all, with the last bit of strength she had left from taking that mighty blow she tried to at least save her brothers life by stepping in front of the beast using her own body as a shield, suddenly.

“Glish!”

'As she awaited the bite of The Beast nothing happened slowly turning around what stood in front of her made her lose all strength in her legs.

“What....impossible.”

A slender man wearing a long blue robe flowing in the wind with a blue and golden pattern hood covering his face and hair revealing only his skinny lips that gave the feeling of a teenager or young man in his early twenties had his hands stabbed into the beast holding it's beating heart in his hands covered in purple blood.

The blue robbed man said softly a few words.

“Are you okay?”

As the Sliver haired girl woke out of the shock from seeing a ninth stage Red-Eyed Beast be killed in only one blow by this man she quickly said all the things on her mind.

“While I thank you for saving us my curiosity can't help but ask who're you? And why did you help us you would gain nothing from battling such a beast.”

What surprised her even more were the words that came out of his mouth next.

“Sigh I wasn't going to involve myself in this matter for any reward I only did it because I couldn't stand watching a beautiful maiden lose her life in a place such as this, as for my name hmm well just call me Michaela.”

She was stunned to think their were still people such as this who would save someone for such a small reason during her life she was only used to people who would try to exploit her for their own gain or attempt to manipulate her to carry out their plans which is why she always kept almost everyone expect her mother and brother at a distance preferring to never become emotionally attached to others, never in her life would she expect to meet such a person who wanted neither money nor a reward in return for their help this restored her faith in others even if only a little bit.

“If you keep walking left and turn to your right you should find an exit to safety.”

Before she was able to say anything in response the man only disappeared back to where he came from.

“So his name is Michaela...”

As she was caught up in her thoughts a sliver haired figure could be seen trying to crawl away.

“Cloud!”

As the Sliver haired boy tried to get away he was caught by his ponytail.

“Y..yes sis?”

She only looked at him with a cold glare.

“I still haven't forgotten it's your fault we ended up in this situation, once we get back home you'll be punished with extreme training.”

The silver haired boy could only cry inwardly at the torture he was going to be facing.

(Authors note: I have been gone for a while huh? Well honestly I have no excuses other than being too lazy to upload this chapter things should get back to normal within a week or two, for now all I can somewhat promise is at least one chapter a week.)