After crushing the annoying human, the horse on stage circled the arena while neighing all the while, then it started looking around.
Cyril and the rest were all standing warily in front of their seats.
"The zoo should have a contingency plan in case of something like this, right?"
They didn't have to wait for long when a bearded mage in a classical robe appeared on stage.
When the horse noticed him, it sent out another lightning bolt, but it was easily blocked with a barrier.
Next the beast wanted to ram the man, but an unknown force suddenly grabbed its body.
An exceedingly strong pressure was forcing the beast to lower its head.
It tried to struggle however it could, but nothing worked, and eventually it fell on the ground, its eyes slowly closing.
This escape attempt was rather short-lived, but no one in the group was relaxed. They even started to slowly move closer to the exit once the crowd blocking the way had disappeared.
If this horse managed to slip out of the zoo's control, then what about other, more powerful creatures?
Suddenly the wall towards backstage was broken, and a massive, hulking figure walked through with a tyrannical air around it.
A few beads of sweat rolled down the mage's face as he started casting a spell while screaming, "Where is everyone!? I need help here!"
Soon the spell was finished, and a similar force from before grabbed hold of the tiger.
The beast only flinched before roaring with all its might.
This couldn't be compared to the one from the beginning of the show.
If then it was similar to a reluctant, obligatory action, only good for a spectacle, then now it was the real deal. A declaration of might.
The sound was so loud that the barrier around the arena was directly broken after a moment. Few remaining regular people directly fell to the floor, clutching their ears.
That included Cyril, because of his enhanced hearing he got more damage than others in his group.
The mage who was right in front of the beast, however, was in a much worse spot. Taking this head-on, he tried conjuring up a shield, but it was too late.
He shakily stood there with blood leaking down from his ears.
After finishing his roar, the tiger, with a ferocious expression, hit the mage with his paw. It was a sight akin to a man swatting a fly.
The mage was powerless to resist and was reduced to a messy pool leaking down from the stage.
Myra quickly supported Cyril, trying to leave the place. "Quickly, go!" She screamed to the rest.
This was not an opponent they were equipped to fight.
Most people gladly followed her words and left the place.
But Cedric sent Anna away and went to help other people nearby.
When Cyril recovered enough, he shook off Myra's arm and turned around to face the stage.
"You can't be thinking of fighting it!?" Myra exclaimed in surprise.
Can you take care of the ears?"Of course."
Cyril felt that his hearing was no longer as sharp as it was before. Now he was prepared.
Before he managed to reply to Myra, there was a change on stage.
Without wasting any time, the tiger jumped upon the seats around the stage. Thankfully that place happened to be already abandoned by people.
But now the beast was closer than ever to Cyril and the rest. It seemed even bigger up close.
The tiger didn't even look at the frozen people around. It destroyed the wall outside with one swoop and exited the building.
It was not only extremely strong but fast as well. Before Cyril even decided what to do, it had already escaped.
But it wasn't the only magic creature they saw today.
After a pause, numerous other animals started leaving the backstage through the hole left behind by the tiger.
A giant monkey, an ice bunny, an abyss crocodile, an aqueous snake, and a cloud of black smoke—one by one, creatures escaped outside as fast as they could; even the horse quickly woke up and escaped.
When the last beast left, the remaining people around all breathed a sigh of relief, almost falling to the ground from tension.
Cyril ran up towards the hole in the wall and took a look outside.
There was chaos there. Screaming and people running everywhere.
The magic creatures of the whole zoo all went out of control.
"Should we... do something?" Hesitantly, said Rose when she came over.
They were all students of a semi-militaristic academy, and they had the strength to protect some people.
"You don't have to; there is nothing wrong with staying away from this. But I will go. See you guys!" Cedric quickly said and jumped down from the hole, running into the chaos.
"What an idiot," said Edmund.
Suddenly the rest of the people all turned to face him.
"What?" he cautiously asked.
"Nothing." said Cyril and walked towards Anna while grabbing Tigris in his arms.
"Look after him." He said and held out the confused kitten.
With a solemn look Anna accepted this duty and nodded.
"I'll be going too" finally said Cyril and jumped down the hole.
Something inside him compelled him to see these creatures in their 'natural' form.
"I am with you!" Myra joined in.
"Damn it... I guess I'll go too." Rose gritted her teeth and followed.
There were only Anna and Edmund from the group now.
Edmund shot her an awkward smile, not moving from the place.
"Coward," quietly said Anna, and moved to help the people still in the building, all while holding Tigris.
The kitten was still processing what happened.
Edmund's expression twisted a little, but he didn't say anything in the end.
...
"Is there anything like this in the future, you know?" Cyril quietly asked Myra on the way.
"...No. This was a complete surprise for me," Myra replied heavily.
"Don't worry about it too much," Cyril said and continued running.
It was complete chaos outside; destruction seemingly was happening in every part of the zoo.
Fire, lightning, and other elements were flying into the air, destroying many things in the process.
Even the weather has changed. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the wind was picking up.
Still, a lot of places required attention, but there was only 4 of them.
It could be 5 if you count Morpho, but Cyril and Rhamn would never let her fly on her own in this situation.
Cedric had already disappeared from their sight, going somewhere in the direction of the mountain.
"Good luck to you. Prioritize safety," Cyril quickly said and left the group.
Myra and Rose looked at each other, nodded, and went in opposing directions.
They would try to cover as much area as they could.
None of them were too worried for the others. They were all from the same class and knew their strengths.
Unless they were to encounter that tiger from before, they should be able to safely protect themselves.
"Do you feel it? There is shaking coming from underneath the zoo."
Yes. I guess the escaped animals are not the only thing this zoo is worried about currently.
But Cyril felt this had nothing to do with him. He only wanted to see the magic creatures in action.
Right now he was running towards the nearest source of noise.
On the way he saw the zoo staff trying to calm people down.
They were honestly doing a good job; all of them were mages and knew some healing spells. They professionally helped people calm down and guided them towards the nearest shelter.
Some even tried to stop Cyril, but he quickly went around them without even hearing what they had to say.
Cyril knew the best course of action for him, a student, would be to stay still, waiting for rescue.
His current actions might only end up worsening the situation.
But something within him wanted to meet these creatures in their natural, living state.
It was a unique opportunity, and Cyril didn't want to miss it.
Soon Cyril was able to see the rampaging beast near one of the food stalls.
As luck would have it, it was the shadow wolf from the forest.
It was currently jumping around at fast speeds, dodging the spells coming from two mages of the zoo.
Cyril was both relieved and disappointed upon seeing this scene.
On one hand, he was hoping to encounter that tiger to see its strength.
But on the other hand, he wasn't confident in being able to defeat it.
The two mages didn't notice the arrival of another person; their attention was taken entirely by the shadow wolf.
When it dodged yet another spell, the ground below started to emit bright light. They were able to kike the wolf into a trap.
Suddenly the whole body of the magic creature began convulsing, and lightning ran all over its body.
This continued until the beast fell to the ground, its eyes closed and tongue rolled out.
The mages interrupted the spell and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thankfully we managed to avoid killing it. The boss should reward us, don't you think"? One of the workers said with a relaxed voice and wiped the sweat off his face.
"He better. I remember hearing he paid a fortune to capture this one... Hey! What are you doing here?" The other mage looked around while speaking and noticed Cyril nearby.
The zoo staff turned towards him and started to warily walk towards him. "Stay still; we'll just make sure of something."
"Why are they so wary of you?"
At this moment Cyril suddenly felt the movement of magic right nearby and urgently rolled to the side.
The mage was startled by his actions and was about to do something, but he was interrupted by a spike of pure dark that suddenly went through his body from the ground.
The same thing happened to the other mage. Both of them were killed instantly.
It seems their mana sensitivity wasn't that high.
Cyril looked at the place he was standing, and there was the same dark spike sticking out that soon dissipated into nothingness.
When he turned to see the wolf, it was already standing with its head held high. In its eyes, a look full of anger.
It pretended to be captured? Surprisingly effective...
Cyril slowly took a fighting stance and met the creature's gaze head-on.
This way you look much better.
After a brief standoff, the shadow wolf took off, attempting to bite Cyril with its razor-sharp fangs.
Right as the maw was about to reach his head, Cyril managed to pull off an uppercut in time.
The force of the impact forced the head of the beast upward, and the body followed, revealing the belly.
Cyril was quick enough to follow up with an elbow strike, all enhanced by the Heavenly Dragon's Judgement.
The shadow wolf's body was thrown forward like a simple rock, but the beast managed to recover in mid-air and landed on its paws, trembling.
There was a human emotion in its eyes: surprise. It stayed still and closed its eyes, enduring the pain.
Cyril didn't interrupt its recovery and observed with interest.
Soon shadow wolf's body stopped trembling, and it opened its eyes back. This time there was a certain coldness to them.
"It was able to stop the rampaging mana inside of its body?"
Guess it's smarter than Bran at least. Not a big achievement.
The beast, now taking this human seriously, was slowly circling around its opponent.
Cyril kept looking at the shadow wolf, ready for anything.