The silence of the forest was shattered in an instant as a massive boar-like creature burst from the thicket ahead, its tusks gleaming, its body covered in rough, stone-like skin. The air rippled around it, faint traces of mana trailing in its wake.
But before the creature could even reach them and before he could even summon a single soldier, a spike of pure ice tore through the beast's skull.
The force lifted it clean off the ground, freezing its body midair before it crashed lifelessly into the dirt.
Edward blinked, mouth slightly open. The icy pillar shimmered for a moment, then crumbled into mist.
"That was fast," he muttered under his breath.
"It was just a weak mana beast," Elarien replied, not even sparing the corpse a glance as she continued walking.
Edward hesitated, then followed.
"Mana beast?" he repeated the strange term.
