Running over to the sounds of chaos and shrilly horror, the boys come to lay their eyes upon a scene the likes of which none of them were prepared to see.

The guardsman, who been assigned to the party for extra protection on the basis of them being children, was found having his chin, chest, and right thigh, stabbed through by blade-like protrusions coming from some sort of arachnoid.

This arachnoid, who looked to be fairly intent on killing everything within range of its blade-like protrusions, turned towards the screaming Sister Flora; clearly irritated by the shrill.

But what were all the boys in the immediate area doing? Well Tarvyst, was clearly shaken by the sudden appearance of the creature, and the other three boys were also just as shaken. However, both Maxim and Rancort stepped in to snap Tarvyst out of it and get him up to his feet (as he was on the ground at the moment of contact).

Filius, watching the boys closely, could see that this party was not prepared for something that could fell a grown man in mere seconds. “Dammit! I wish I could speak Common!”

However, as Filius thought about possibly contingencies, the three boys got into a defensive arc around Sister Flora who was quaking in her boots (per-say). Filius could see that Maxim had taken charge of the situation, and had ordered Rancort to “aggro” the creature while he ordered Tarvyst to prepare a spell.

The three boys were in seamless cohesion, which, to Filius, meant that they had seen a few battles in their tenure. And due to the cohesion, they prepared to strike the vicious-looking, blade-wielding, arachnoid.

★ ★ ★

When the tension in air erupted into battle, Rancort was the first to move.

His motion was swift and without pause as he came in from the creature’s right and swung at one of its hairy legs. However, the creature was a bit faster than him and had came to block the attack from his sword.

But just as the arachnoid blocked this attack, another came in from its left without warning. A sudden flash of purple-light zapped through the air with a crack and a boom, afterwhich there was sudden shriek of pain from the creature.

What could be seen is that there was a smouldered hole, about a half meter wide, in the creature’s abdomen. This hole pussed with greenish-black coagulent that dripped onto the ground.

Even though this was a clear hit, the arachnoid was even more furious about its pain. And as such, proceeded to swing wildly at Rancort who was the closest.

This, of course, was too much for Rancort to handle and was forced to back up. But, the creature’s speed and agility was something that was unprecedented. As a result, Rancort was struck through the skull by a flailing blade; cutting straight through the forehead and bridge.

At that moment, Rancort was dead.

Though with Rancort dead, this caused a spark to ignite inside of Filius. This spark, grew into a black flame and this black flame grew into a black inferno. Filius was pissed.

This anger that festered in Filius came forth through the extension of his teeth and hair; his eyes became red slits.

His mind, of course, went blank as his anger superseded his conscious thought (of which was questioning why he was getting angry over the death of some kid like Rancort).

He took up arms, having unsheathed his blade, and stepped out of the cover he was hiding behind. And, with one swift motion, he was before the creature.

He stuck out a free hand, and drained some sort of life force from both corpses; mummifying them in the process.

And having taken this energy, he proceeded to call forth a bolt of black-red fire that zigzagged through the air. Indeed it found its target and that was to be the creature’s head. But this blackish-red firebolt did so much damage to the creature, that it blew a meter-wide hole where the left side of its eyes should have been.

Once the creature ceased to function, Filius turned towards the remaining members of this party who, of course, were absolutely terrified by the power Filius displayed.

And as he stepped forward a few paces, Maxim readied his sword while Tarvyst prepared another spell.

“Don’t come any closer Fil!” Maxim called out, causing Filius to stop mid-stride. “I...We.. Don’t know what you are, or what you did, but that sure as Hell isn’t coming anywhere near us!”

Filius, in this state, stared at the remaining members with contempt before continuing to walk towards them; the vegitation experience decay.

“I SAID STOP DAM--” There was sudden pull of gravity, as Maxim was thrown to the side; his back colided with tree-trunk. There was a distinct snap with the collision.

“SHIT! MAXIM!” Tarvyst looked over towards the unconscious Maxim, but it was too late for the mage to react as Filius had already drove a blade through the young boy’s chest. This was to be Tarvyst's death.

Sister Flora shrieked as she saw both Tarvyst and Maxim go down without a hitch.

Filius, who looked at her eye-to-eye, grabbed her shoulder, smiled, and then proceeded to open his mouth wide; the bottom jaw splitting in half-revealing rows of serrated teeth. A moment later, Filius was gnawing at the face of the Sister who was (futilely) calling for help, muffled by the sounds of gnawing flesh and bone as well as blood-clogged gargles.

The sounds of horror, of which there was only one, would fade into the twilight.