Chapter 33:

Leo enveloped Eres when he reached her, pulling her tight, lifting her by her back and underside of her legs, and in one fluid motion, carried her in a spin, then a dead sprint as he rushed back to Celise. She felt his warmth as he lifted her. Though she was still dizzy, the concern was evident on his face, and Eres felt strange and glad and Leo dear. 

The creature was loath to give up its chase, and it moved to follow her, its tail knocking the wall over, uprooting it from the ground where it was birthed. 

Eliza met it in a clash. 

Her nails struck the side of the creature’s head, and though it left no discernible mar, its attention was diverted. Her body was glowing still, an enhancement of magic, as Eliza preferred to fight with tooth and claw. It lunged, biting toward her, but she danced away, evading the pincers that reached for her. It hissed.

The tail of the beast struck forward, aimed at her heart. She raised her arms, as if to block, but the tail was redirected into the dirt, scattering it, when struck with a heavy tree-branch, the thing swung hard by Amira, her face pale and frightened and resolute. 

Eres pulled herself from Leo’s grip when he stopped, eyes glued to the sight of her friends fighting for their lives. The warmth of Celise’s healing flooded her, and she smiled at the girl. 

“Thank you.”

The princess’s face was drained of blood, but she smiled in return. “I didn’t think we’d find each-other like this. Eres, why are you always getting into trouble?”

Eres snorted. “I don’t look for trouble, trouble looks for me.”

Leo rested a hand on her shoulder. “I thought you were toast.”

“Me too.” Eres smiled, but the grin dropped away as she looked back at the creature. “That thing is tough. I don’t know if we can beat it.”

“No,” Leo said, “But we can try. Any ideas?”

Eres bit her lip. “Its armor is strong. We’d have to break through it if we want to do any real damage.” She rubbed her chin. “I think I have an idea.”

Leo raised a brow. “You gonna try that?”

Eres smiled, thumping her knuckles against his chest. “That’s how you beat any enemy with armor. It’s a classic!”

He snorted, she grinned, and they both reentered the battle. Her dizziness abated, thankfully, and she returned in full form. She’d need to thank the princess later. A gift? 

Her thoughts fled from her when the creature looked toward her once more. The grudge had not lessened. Her fire magic was still fresh and painful in its memory, and at once it ignored the two girls parrying and weaving its attacks. 

The creature hissed, its tail curling up behind it, and it rushed her. Eliza kept pace with it, running by its side, and Amira sprinted after, though left behind. 

Eres panicked, but gripped her fear tight, and looked at Ed. 

“Ed! Use your pit thing!”

He froze, looking at her, but collected himself and pulled a small earthen cube from his pouch, and used it as a medium for a spell. The largest rune on his wand lit gold, and the cube crumbled away into powder. 

Beneath the creature, the ground turned to pudding. Its legs caught in the now-viscous fluid, movements halted. The sinkhole stretched just beyond its legs reach, rendering it immobile. 

Eres looked to Arille, who stood to the side, watching, but panicked. “Arille! Use your wind! The head! Hurry!”

She raised her wand, pulled a feather from her pouch, and a multitude of green blades formed, rotating in front of her wand with a sharp breeze and a whooshing sound. She fed the feather into it, and the thing was shredded in the spell, the particulates feeding its energy. 

She loosed it at the creature’s head. An orb of revolving wind met the creatures plate, and it stuck to it like a feather to glue. It spun, the sharp winds tearing at the spot, the space continuously damaged by the wind and its absence. The plate was riddled with scratches and scars, the now-bald head marred by countless scrapes.

Eres smiled. It was Her turn. She’d recovered enough to use her strongest spell.

She dumped the entirety of her remaining sulfur into her hand. She stretched her wand out, aimed at the immobilized creature. 

“FIRE WALL!”

A bursting geyser of flame erupted from underneath, compressed as much as Eres could allow. The flames roared with heat, centered on the creatures head. It screamed, struggled, thrashed, moved, and each time it did, Eres moved a hand and the wall followed. 

She had never cast a spell so intensive to its full length. The others watched on in awe as the creature hissed and spat, and for a full ten seconds, until her strength was spent, the flame cooked the creature’s head. 

Eres dropped to a knee, the flames sputtering out with her will. She rubbed the sweat from her eye and observed the beast. It was alive, and angrier still, but its head was red-hot, the plate like heated steel. 

What is this thing’s heat resistance?! No wonder my fireballs did jack-shit!

But it was time for the coup de grâce. She looked back at Celise. She smiled at Leo, and his brow raised. She pointed at the beast.

“Celise! Use water jet!”

With the audible pop of Leo slapping his face, Celise nodded, and aimed her wand. The pressurized stream of water burst out, streaking toward the creatures heated head. 

Water met burning plate, and steam was birthed through the contact, the creature’s howls unheard through the explosion of water vaporizing. With a hideous and audible crack, and when the steam cleared, Eres could see the lines Arille had formed warped with the heat and sudden cooling, fracturing the monster’s hide. 

Ed’s strength left him, his spell cutting off. That he could hold out so long, Eres could only marvel. The ground once more turned solid. 

Though wounded, the creature was thoroughly enraged, and it lifted its legs from the ground with spouts of dirt. It reared its body back, spittle or venom flying from its mouth, tail curling into a coil, poised to strike. 

Ed looked up, body shaking. His face looked near-death, but a set of his jaw and a fierceness in his eyes appeared. He raised his arm again, and with the utmost of his strength, used one more spell, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

It was the same wall as before, only this time, it came diagonal and toward the creature’s belly. The emergence of the sudden object caught the creature in its rise, off balance and blind from fury. 

The stone shunted the creature back, its hind legs nearly toppling, the tail slamming to the ground to balance itself, but it fell back into the water. The creature stumbled, catching its weight on the sand beneath the water. 

Leo smiled. He stepped forward, patting Eres on the head as he passed. He dumped the remnants of his pouch into his hand, and pointed toward the beast.

“Chain lightning.”

No sooner had he finished his words than the spell struck its mark. With a roar, the spell ripped at its target, striking it in the exposed forehead. The arcs traced over its body, to the legs and between each, and the water below, the arcing hiss of crackling electricity dancing across its form. 

The beast stopped moving, unable, each of its parts fully immobilized and frozen by pain and power. 

Leo fell face-first into the dirt, Eres too weak to grab him from his fall. 

She looked at the creature, biting her lip. 

Come on. Die. Just fucking die! 

What if it didn’t? They had exhausted the entirety of their strength, the fullness of their might, and should the creature move afterward, they had no further options. Where were those damn seniors? Eres clawed at her palms, frustration rising in her. 

They shouldn’t have to deal with this on their own! Where was everyone? Die, you bastard!

Yet, the creature didn’t die. Perhaps it was close, but the arcs of electricity cleared, the water settled, and the monster whipped a tail out, splashing against the waves. Charred and blue ichor spilled from its head, partially cooked. It opened its mouth wide and roared, the sound sweeping across the lake. 

Eres paled. How could it still be standing? They’d given it everything! Was this the difference between normal beasts and monsters? Between predator and prey?

Despair fell over her. They would die here. Leo would die here. She felt a sudden unwillingness. Even as the others despaired, Eres climbed back to her feet. 

She readied her wand. She refused to die without a fight.

Suddenly, as if the wind breathed, she felt the gentle whip of air rushing out of place, the sound of soft fluttering overhead. Eres looked up, and her eyes widened.

Professor Felix floated down from the air, his feet embraced by soft gusts of wind, green and glowing and whirling, that dissipated as he touched the earth. 

He brushed his hair back and smiled at them. “Sorry I’m late.”

With a casual flick, wind roared from the tip of the wand to the creature. A spurt of air formed into a miniature whirlwind, lifting the creature from the water half a dozen feet in the air, trickles of water dripping from its spiky hair back to the source, some scattered to mist by the wind. 

He smiled to each of them. “You did well. I’ll handle it from here.”

What took you so damn long?

Eres wanted to bite the snide bastard’s head off. She opened her mouth to say something she might regret when the waves shifted.

The water swelled.

Eres’s eyes widened. This…?

Felix looked over, confused. He raised his wand again, but before he could do anything at all, a great form burst from the water. 

The dragon emerged with a great fountain of water, shooting up from the waves like a rocket, its maw stretched wide and hungry. The Dragon leapt at the Strider, and in less than a heartbeat, swallowed it whole. 

Felix stumbled back, panicking, raising his wand. His face paled, and a glint of wind appeared at the end of his wand, yet the dragon huffed its nose, and slipped back into the water. 

The group stood in silence, the terrible battle ending in sudden and uncertain quiet. 

Felix stared at the water for a long while, and a look almost like rage passed over him before it was schooled to indifference. He looked around at the group, slipped his wand away, and smiled.

“I can’t believe you all did so well!” He clapped his hands. “You certainly pass the test! Come, let’s get you to a bath and a warm bed.”

He looked at Ed and Leo in turn, lip twitching when he realized their state. He sighed, went to each, and scooped them onto his shoulder. He looked at the girls, smile wide. 

“Come on. It’s a long way back.”