Encirclement

The night is dark and the moon is up in the sky, shining ever so bright. Sounds of carriages being dragged by horses could be heard through out the forest. The kids inside those carriages are currently having the time of their life, sleeping peacefully. In one of those carriages, Finn is also currently sleeping peacefully.

Although he is currently sleeping, when someone is about to attack him, his body instinct and reflex will be jolted up, instantaneously. He has mastered this useful skill back on Earth.

All of a sudden, a loud shout from outside the carriages could be heard.

"Everyone, go take positions!"

Following the shout, footsteps stomping around and metals clanging with each other could be all over the place. All the kids sleeping are woken up by that loud sound. With their tired look, they talk to each other and wonder what is going on.

The kids then go outside to see what is currently happening. When they go outside, their mouth opens wide in awe. Hundreds to thousands of monkeys are encircling their carriage. The total number of monkeys are simply uncountable with a single look. The guards are guarding the perimeter of the carriage, holding out weapons and shields. It looks like they are preparing for battle at any time.

From the look of encirclement from the monkey. It appears that the carriages are surrounded with no way out. To go out, they need to first finish off all the monkeys or get the monkeys to leave. But the latter option doesn't seem possible since the monkeys are looking very fierce.

From the way that the monkeys are not moving at all. It seems that they are waiting for a command from their leader. Even though they want to attack, it seems that they are resisting their desire to do so.

The monkeys outnumbered the the guards by a huge margin. There are about three guards per carriage and there are 15 carriages in total. Hence there are only about 45 guards in total guarding the perimeter, not counting the four apprentices. Speaking of the four apprentices, they are nowhere to be seen.

Seeing all the kids awake, the head of the guards ordered them to also bring their weapons and join them in battle. The kids are terrified by that order. They didn't know that they too have to fight.

Although they are kids, they are noble kids with at least a yellow apprentice manual in their hands. They could definitely contribute some help in this massive fight against they monkeys. Even though these kids might not have any experience in battle and some or maybe a lot of them will fall in battle, this is a risk that they are willing to make.

Why do they require the kids to not go missing during the journey? It is to have more helping hand in this battle against the fierce looking monkeys.

Finn not bringing any weapon at all, he then decided to go to Dran's carriage to look for Dran. Little does he know, Dran is currently prepared with two blades on his hand and is also looking for him.

Going to Dran's carriage, he senses that Dran is also approaching him. He heard Dran's footsteps sounds heavier that usual. This sound is usually heard by Finn when sparring with Dran.

"Hey Dran, you prepared already? Do you know what is currently going on? I heard sounds of monkeys and felt their battle intent all over the place."

"Just to let you know Finn, these are Forest Vines Monkey. These type of monkeys are really aggressive. They usually attack their prey in swarms. I didn't think that they will appear here in this forrest. And tons of them at once! With these many beasts, their leader is probably an apprentice staged beast!"

"Apprentice stage beast? What's that?"

"Apprentice stage beasts are beasts that could activate their Aura and enter the realm of apprentice and warriors. Not all beast could activate their Aura you know."

"So that means that beasts are also divided into stages with colour such as humans?"

"Yeah they do. But the scary thing about apprentice stage beasts are that at the same realm, they are stronger and more powerful than humans do."

All of a sudden, a high pitched screech could be heard from up in the trees. It seems that it is a war cry to attack since all of them then jumped off from the trees and pounced forward following that cry.

The guards are at the foremost front to defend. Monkeys that have gone past them is up to the kids to defend. Their survival is all up to themselves.