As soon as Ann saw the claw, she knew she needed to take action. She leapt back and grabbed Martha along with her, both of them then readied their bow aiming at the door, prepared for whatever was going to come through.

  The door had only opened wide enough for the beast to fit its hand through but slowly the beast was becoming more visible. When the door had opened wide enough, a large figure leapt through knocking Dan aside, the figure carried on moving and swiped its claws at Jack.

  Jack lifted his Great sword in time to block the attack but was sent back a few feet in the process.

  Ann was now able to see the large figure in full view. The beast had a long wolf-like snout with 6 red eyes. It was crouching on its back two leg's, while its hand had deadly claws. Foam was coming out of the beast's mouth as if it had been infected with something.

  The beast was known as a Kangaclaw, it was an advanced tier beast that was usually the same size as a human but this one was unusually large, almost twice the size and it looked like it had gone mad.

  "Watch out!" Ann shouted, "It's in the early stages of being infected."

  The others knew this was bad, a beast that had been infected by the shadow was a lot more powerful than a regular one. It would almost increase in power by a whole tier, making it at the King class level.

  Ann then shot multiple arrows out once at the beast, aiming for its eyes hoping to take out its eyes sight.

  "We have to defeat it fast, we still have a chance while it's in its early stages."

  The Kangaclaw turned its head causing the arrows to stick into its shoulder. It then readied its two back legs as if it was charging them ready to pounce at any moment. Then *boom at lightning speed the Kangaclaw exploded with power and was heading straight for Martha and Ann.

  Ann was panicked, she hadn't expected to meet a beast of this level down here, she herself was only a D class adventurer, something of this level she would be able to take on with a team but not with a bunch of students she thought.

  But just then a giant sword came swinging at the Kangaclaw, knocking the Kangaclaw back and into the air. It looked like a baseball player who had hit a fastball away.

  "You think you're strong huh!" Jack shouted at the beast who was now in the distance.

  "How?" Ann thought.

  After knocking the beast back, the two twins Bader and Sloth immediately started attacking the beasts legs. The Kangaclaw tried it's best to claw at them but the twins were agile and flexible avoiding each strike.

  Dan who had been knocked over earlier had also joined in attacking the beasts and even Martha was now no longer by Ann's side and was firing arrows.

  Ann stood there in amassment at the students. They had all acted without her command and not only that, they were each incredibly strong especially the student known as Jack. The beast had come at her at full force, the power someone must have to be able to hit the beast back must be huge, Ann thought.

  For the students to be able to act this strongly and to not be afraid they must have experienced something far worse. Ann was right, even though the students were afraid of the beast in front of them, it was nothing compared to Morfran the Dark guild leader they had faced.

  Each one of them felt hopeless when they met with him but at least against this thing, it felt like they had a chance.

  Ann no longer stood there in admiration and followed Martha strategy of firing her arrows while contently moving. The Kangaclaws attention was now on them. The twins continued to move between the beast's legs while attacking when they saw the chance and Dan was currently fending of the Kangaclaws strikes.

  It was indeed a powerful beast and if they were to face it alone, they stood no chance. The attacks from the twins could only leave flesh wounds and the only ones that we're able to do damage were the arrows coming from Ann. It was why the Kangaclaw focused its attention on them.

  Meanwhile in the cave somewhere Ray and the others continued to search the mines to see if they could find any clues. While they were walking through, Ray had received a message from Badger.

  "Our group have encountered an advanced beast; it looks like it's been infected by the shadow.>

  Ray suddenly stood still and replied back.

  "Let me know if you need more power?"

  But there was no response from the other team for they were now all engaged in combat.

  "Hey what's wrong Ray?" Monk asked as he noticed Ray had stopped.

  "Sorry I thought I noticed something but it was nothing."

  Ray wasn't too worried about the safety of the others though. If it was only an advanced beast then that man should be able to deal with them. A man who Ray believed to be as strong as himself.

  The Kangaclaw was getting agitated, it now ignored the two twins who were attacking its legs and once more began to charge up its legs for another attack on the two girls.

  "Dan get out of the way!" Jack shouted.

  Dan Immediately rolled out of the beast's way and when he looked at where the voice came from, he noticed that Jack was in the air with his Greatsword held behind his back.

  Using every bit of strength, Jack slammed the sword down right on the Kangaclaw's neck. The sword managed to pierce the skin of the Kangaclaw but there was some resistance.

  "I need more power!"

  The veins on Jack's arms started to bulge as blood was being pumped to his muscles, his hair on his body started to stand tall. Jack was getting more powerful by the second.

  The sword continued to be driven into the beast's neck but it still wasn't enough.

  "ARGHHHH!" With a large scream, Jack's muscles seemed to be growing even more and even his teeth had grown in size.

  Finally, the Kangaclaw's body collapsed onto the ground and its body went limp. Black blood was pouring out everywhere and Jack's body had returned to what it once was.

  ***

  Special thanks to Divine_Orji for the gifts it really helps :)