Plague and monster

Maki and Rina screamed as they were trapped by the monster. They closed their eyes, waiting for the worst to happen. But to their surprise, the monster stopped just inches away from them. They opened their eyes to see that the monster was frozen in place, its claws just inches from their faces. Then Maki passed out. When she woke up, Rina was smiling and said, "That must have been your magic that froze the monsters." Maki looked tired and confused. She looked at her hands and said, "Are you sure my magic froze the monsters?"  

"Yes, I'm sure."

They decided to rest for another 10 hours before continuing their adventure south.

As they were traveling south, they encountered a village that had been suffering from a plague that started in the south. Maki asked a villager what this plague was. The villager said the southern cities had been suffering from this incurable plague for 2 years now. Rina and Maki knew they couldn't do anything to help, so they decided to change their route to the east for now. They started going east, but there were considerably more monsters in the eastern parts of the world. They wondered why.

They were resting by a stream and overheard a group of knights talking about a powerful monster which had taken up residence in the eastern mountains. They said that the monster could manipulate other weaker monsters and use them to terrorize the surrounding villages.