At a wide, grassy plain laid out in front of a massive stone wall—a strong wind drowned out the sounds of tough a battle nearing its end. Amidst frosty steel meeting with thick, scaly leather, the sound of a high-pitched whir from the use of tremendous mana rang out.

“Hah...” Drops of red rolled down a stern-looking man's forehead as he was currently engaged with a massive mana beast. The beast was a size larger than the rock drake Urie and company encountered.

Aside from the sharp protrusions decorating its tough hide, four powerful limbs made the ground shudder; and the sight of the two large, distinct horns on its head drew cold sweat from the soldiers surrounding it.

“Take it down!” The stern-looking man commanded, and a mixed offense of arrows and magic rained on the beast from their encircling formation. When it was all over, the beast's hide was littered with wounds both old and fresh. It collapsed soon after and took its last few breaths with seemingly relieved grunts.

The stern-looking man unstrapped what remained of his torn red cloak and made a heavy thud as it landed on the ground. The red cloak was apparel used not to shield from the wind and rain but from jaws coming to latch onto him from behind. Seeing as how less than half of the cloth remained, the mouth that had caught him off guard was bigger than the usual.

His golden eyes shifted from his fallen quarry to a distance about half a kilometer away. There was an ongoing conflict with another massive mana beast of a similar appearance. He stood in place as he felt no need to provide assistance—the beast was taken down within a few moments.

Gideon Loeth stared at the person who had the primary role in bringing down the beast—a proud-looking man with black hair, a short stature, and chestnut-amber eyes. A heavy Warhammer with a handle as tall as he rested on his shoulder.

“Ya, Gideon, looks like you've had a hard time!” the short-statured man chortled before whistling with awe at the Elder Bihorn that Gideon had handled.

They had initially been dealing with one Elder Bihorn but another had suddenly rushed out from Arinndra's Forest—abducting the ashen-haired commander by his cape. The short-statured man planned to deal with first one quickly and help, but by the time they had finished, Gideon had already dealt with it almost by himself.

“Hah... It was on its death throes,” Gideon replied. “How have you fared on your end?”

“Took awhile but we brought it down,” the man scoffed. “I hate to admit it, but your boys did half of the work. How about giving one of em' to me, eh?” Pointing to two young men bearing heavy semblance to Gideon, the short-statured man displayed a mischievous grin. Without their help, they couldn't have taken down the Elder Bihorn in the amount of time they did.

“Ya, what's wrong? You look grim,” he spoke without much thought. Had Gideon taken his words seriously?

Gideon shook his head, indicating he was addressing a different matter, “Undine is unsettled. I'm trying to talk to her but she's keeping silent.”

“That reminds me—Gnomus was making a ruckus as well, though I was too busy with the Elder Bihorn to pay attention.”

“Something's going on.”

Undine had always been with Gideon. She appeared the day he awakened his mana seed and ever since, had taught him how to handle his potentially harmful aptitude for mana and improve his use of magic. Undine's advice was invaluable.

Gideon heeded her every word as they were spoken with genuine care towards his well-being, as well as that of those around him. That was why he couldn't refuse any request she had of him. One of which included a request to pick up a little girl from the outskirts of Arinndra's Forest.

At the moment, Gideon felt ill at ease at the silence of the greater water spirit. Was she away?

A sudden vicious trembling of the ground took him out of his musing, “Is there another mana beast!?” he quickly assumed a battle stance.

The short-statured man beside Gideon had the same reaction. Everyone turned their heads in the direction of Arinndra's Forest. The ground continued to quake but there was still no sign of anything approaching.

“Y-Ya, what was that!?” the short-statured man stuttered. “Are these the footsteps of some kind of beast?”

“No. It doesn't seem to be...” Gideon had a hunch that this was no mere shaking from a large creature, and he was right. The earthquake was felt by all who had their feet rooted on the ground.

From the magic creatures of Arinndra's Forest to the two children taking shelter within a mysterious room; this shaking was the prologue to an event that would come to pass in a few years' time.