A crystalline blue shark leapt from the right, trying to devour Alaric, but was bitten by Lyssandra's tiger. Taking advantage of the moment, he cut the shark in half with his spear; another emerged from behind, so he spun and sliced its mouth.
"Roar of the Wind Dragon!"
Concentrating wind in his fists, Keifeng released a punch that unleashed a sonic wave of wind, which struck the shark with the split mouth, blowing a hole through its middle.
"Thread Magic: Celestial Marionette!"
A shark was being controlled by threads like a puppet and attacked one of the sharks that tried to bite Qianlan. With a flick of the hand, the bitten shark was sliced in half by the threads.
They were being attacked by several sharks that, when rising from the water below, could fly and regenerate once they returned to the water, making things difficult. Elowyn and Arvanys used their magic to destroy the sharks attacking them.
"This second trial is really tough."
"I hope the reward isn't just another chestplate now."
They were in the boss room, and apparently it was a school of sharks attacking nonstop. Liang, beside them, created two jade dragons and sent them to attack, while trying to analyze something that could interrupt the constant attacks.
"The statues."
Alaric, hearing Kael's words while defending himself from one trying to bite him, decided to create several spears above his head and shoot them constantly at the surrounding statues. Valença, who had also heard from behind, created several fireballs that destroyed the ones on the left side.
"The sharks that return to the water aren't healing anymore, so let's take advantage!"
With Alaric's shout, they began to act faster and eliminate them all without giving them time to recover. After what felt like minutes, everyone lay down or sat to rest, with all the flying sharks now dead on the ground.
"Tsk... Looks like only water users will get rewards."
Elowyn was the first to find the reward in a shark's body: two full arms to complete part of the armor. If it continued like this, the next two caverns would fully complete it, which was irritating, so she tossed them to Kai.
"The thieves didn't get them when they passed here?"
"None of them had water magic or anything similar, so they only received low-level cores or weapons."
The fairy's explanation was good and acceptable, so they decided not to ask further. Alaric received the two arms and put them on, feeling his power rise again—it was a good item.
There's no way I'll give up on it.
After resting a bit and being healed, they decided to keep walking, eventually encountering more Nartheis along the way. Arvanys and Valença were at the rear.
"Why do you keep looking at where they are?"
Arvanys's question caught her off guard—apparently she hadn't hidden well the fact that she kept glancing at the group following Liang. Giving a simple explanation that she felt a sense of recognition with one of them, she didn't say who, since she was part of Arvanys's team, so it was better to keep it secret.
"This Enrico you talk about must be really strong."
Hearing Liang say the name, Valença's ear twitched slightly. It seemed Kai had been talking about Enrico, so she approached, along with Arvanys, who had a curious expression as to why she was reacting that way.
"He's an extraordinary prodigy."
"Really?"
"Yes, he's evolving so fast it's incredible. I'd say he's more of a prodigy than anyone here."
Behind them, Valença arrived and nodded in satisfaction at Kai's words. Everything he said was true, and to her, anyone who disagreed simply lacked the eye to see potential. The man who would become her husband truly was amazing. Kael, walking at the front, spun around as if wanting to know more about him.
"Is he better than me?"
"Yes, even though you've shown traces of evolution, Enrico grows stronger during battle. If you had seen how he evolved twice in the last fight, you would have no doubt."
"...If he has more potential than me, then he must be invincible to others at the same level... except me, of course."
Kael's confidence in his own potential was astounding, even though he really was proving to have the power to back up those words. Alaric noticed that the fairy, even while giving points to him and Kael, had already chosen her user, since she wouldn't stop following Kai everywhere.
Another reason for me to keep the armor. And Kael... well, since he already has such great potential, he won't need it.
Since Kael had said he didn't want the armor, it was likely that if he won this competition, he would give it to the second-best, so Alaric only had to be better than Kai. Upon leaving the cavern, they saw the two caverns now open, which confused them.
"In this second trial, you must defeat both bosses within only three minutes of each other. If you fail, then all the rewards you obtained will be taken, and you will fail. But don't worry—you can redo all the trials from the beginning."
Hearing the fairy's explanation, they felt calm. This trial would be difficult, especially with the thieves somewhere in the dungeon. Liang, who was the one making most of the strategies, spoke with those who seemed the strongest from Astrong Academy, Elaris, and the one who seemed to be second among the mercenaries, Alaric, since Kael was simply sitting in the right cavern, already having chosen where to go.
"My plan is to split the rookie mercenaries between the two academies."
"I think that's a good plan. They don't seem to know each other well yet, so splitting them is best."
"I also agree, but how will you divide us?"
Elaris pointed to the right side, wanting to go where Kael would be. Liang looked around and agreed, since he wanted to stay far from him. With sides chosen, they split into two teams with some adjustments.
"Master, are you sure you'll be fine?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. Besides myself, I have strong people with me."
Lyssandra, Dorian, and Maevon would stay with the Shengtian team. There was a change to have only three mercenaries, since they realized it would be good to have a healer on both sides. So the teams were well-formed, with Kael, Alaric, and Arvanys on the Astrong Academy side, with the only outsider being Maevon.
"Don't fail."
"As if that would happen."
Kael stood up, entering with the others into the cavern. When the magical wall appeared, they began walking, but didn't get far, as just a few steps later the ground split, pulling half of each team below.
"I didn't sense anything, so how did they..."
Valença unleashed a blazing ray on the ground, but to her surprise a barrier of water prevented it from causing any damage.
"But none of them can use water magic."
"It wasn't them—it was the cavern. If you look at where we've walked, there hasn't been any damage to the ground until now."
With Elaris's explanation, Valença and Arvanys looked at each other—they were the only three left from that team to face the boss, without knowing where the others were or if they would be okay. Worry began to grow among them.