"Help! Somebody, help!" the voice shouted again, this time fainter than before. It seemed as if the person screaming for help was running in the opposite direction.

"I'm using the flash step, if we continue at this rate, he'll die," said Gray before speeding off.

The technique he had just used was called the flash step. It was a basic knight technique that increased the user's speed and agility for a short period of time.

"Why are we doing this again?" sighed Arya, a bored look on his face.

"You know that Gray likes helping people," smiled Armin in reply.

'Yuck, what's up with that smile? He really does look like a girl,' squirmed Arya inwardly as he stared at his brother's feminine features.

'Don't tell me you have a crush on your brother? Oh, forbidden love,' teased Esla.

'Where did you get this from? I don't remember teaching you such perverted things,' complained Arya back.

"You should cut your hair," said Arya finally, moving ahead of Armin.

"Why? I thought it looked good," replied Armin, touching his long hair.

"Mom will probably kill us, it's getting late,"

The sun's rays were now hidden behind the tall trees that stood within the magical forest, making it even darker than it was supposed to be.

"Luminous Astria," chanted Armin, creating a small orb of light that floated steadily in front of him.

"You should've used an intensity rune, it's kind of dim," commented Arya, after studying the template that Armin had used to cast the spell.

"I can't memorize runes like you can. And even if I could, I don't understand calculations enough to manipulate spells on the fly," said Armin with a defeated look on his face.

"Shh, what's that sound?" whispered Arya, looking out into the vast forest in front of him.

The screaming had stopped a few minutes ago, however now the sounds of trees falling echoed throughout the forest instead.

"Don't use fire spells, it'll start a forest fire," he added, before running off towards the source of the sound.

Once Arya reached the source, he found Gray standing in front of a yellow-haired boy, wielding the old-rusted short sword he had gotten from old man Jenkins.

In front of him stood a massive cat-like beast, with black scales covering the length of its body, all the way to its long tail.

It had pale white eyes, that seemed to give off a faint light, and stood at 2 meters tall, dwarfing everyone there.

"Arya, get back! Call Armin, we need some massive firepower to defeat this thing!" shouted Gray, right before the beast lunged at him.

Raising his left index finger, a blue translucent force field appeared around him, encompassing the yellow-haired boy behind him as well.

The beast clobbered at the force field, stabbing at it with the sharp tip of its tail.

"What is that?" asked Armin once he arrived at the scene of the fight.

"I can't hold on much longer!" shouted Gray, cracks appearing on the surface of his force field.

"Pyro Ast-"

"I said no fire spells," warned Arya before Armin could finish his spell.

Unfortunately, all their screaming had attracted the beast's attention, prompting it to charge towards them.

"Terra Astria," chanted Armin quickly, prompting a complex template to appear in front of him, its rings plummeting into the ground a split second after they appeared.

"Nice, you used an intensity rune," smiled Arya awkwardly as the ground beneath him turned to quicksand, slowing the beast down.

"Aqua Astria," chanted Armin right after, before a wave of water washed over the quicksand trapping the beast in mud.

Taking advantage of the opening, Gray rushed in with his sword using the sword flash, aiming to behead the beast. However, his blade merely deflected off its scales as if it were made of steel.

"Guys," Gray's sword had been bent due to the impact. Whatever that thing's scales were made off, it was enough to bend metal.

"I knew we shouldn't have come here," complained Arya as the beast's eyes began glowing.

"I-I-It's a magical beast," stuttered the yellow-haired boy who had been crying up till now.

"Oh, now he talks," scowled Arya.

A series of consecutive rings that extended horizontally appeared in front of the beast's eyes, shooting a beam of fire at the wet mud below it, hardening it in the process.

"Layered templates? But how?" murmured Arya in awe. As far as he was concerned, humans could only use one template at a time.

"Not the time to be fawning over magic, Arya," shouted Gray, before picking the blonde-haired boy with one hand, while picking Arya in the other, dashing off using the flash step.

As a knight, his strength was already similar to that of a grown man three times his size.

"Armin, we need something to slow it down," ordered Gray as the beast shook the residue of its paws.

"Terra As-"

"Use a fire spell!" shouted Arya as he swung from Gray's arm.

"I thought you sai-"

"Just do it!"

"Pyro Astria," shouted Armin, before a pillar of fire shot towards the beast.

However as if it were able to read the spell beforehand, it cast a fire pillar of its own.

What was odd about the pillar was that it twisted and bent in the air, before breaking into three parts.

The first part canceled off Armin's spell. The second part snaked towards Gray, and the third towards Armin.

"It combined a base spell with a fire spell," murmured Arya to himself, using his mana blessed eyes to observe the layers of rings that activated the spell.

*Boom*

The fire just barely missed Gray, causing him to tumble over and drop the two boys he was carrying. Armin wasn't so lucky however, the fire had burnt his left side, searing his skin.

"Ahhh!!," cried Armin violently as he rolled on the ground in pain.

"Can you cast magic!" shouted Arya, holding the yellow-haired boy by the collar.

Arya hadn't realized it before, but the boy was dressed in rather expensive-looking clothing, if not for the mud on his face and the tears on his shirt, Arya would've mistaken him for a noble.

"I-I can," stuttered the boy.

It was quite an odd scene, to see a three-year-old boy demand something from someone who looked to be at least nine.

"Cast a minor healing spell, then cast the highest tier you know after that," ordered Arya, already running towards Armin.

"Shouldn't I cast the highest tier fir-"

"He'll go into shock if he's healed too fast. Just do what I say!" shouted Arya as he turned Armin over.

The beast watched the group with a certain curiosity in its eyes, as if it were questioning its actions. However, it quickly dismissed that notion before slowly approaching them.

"I'll hold it off," announced Gray, before rushing off to the beast.

"Sanatio Virtu," chanted the yellow-haired boy, the green light that radiated from the series of concentric rings engulfing Armin's body.