Noah slammed down his shield on the enemy that laid on the frown. Quill on his shoulder demanded to be released so he could help or at least run on his own.
"I hate to say this but you can't keep up with my speed." Noah sighed
Quill snapped, "I AM A POWERFUL MAGE I CAN BE OF USE!"
"I didn't know that?" Noah chuckled "Don't mages have horrid stamina?"
Quill was silenced but the retort. Noah ducked and kicked into a woman beside him while using his shield to block an assault of arrows. He tilted his body and swords pierced through back but Quill was safe.
He twisted his body and punched forward. A hole burst through the assassin and Quill gagged out clear liquid.
"And you won't be much help which such a weak stomach." Noah shrugged
Quill knew he wasn't helpful but he was also aware that he was restricting Noah's fighting. His muscular back was decorated with large cuts and dyed crimson. Noah looked around for other attackers before walking forward.
Noah found a marking on a tree and made a left turn.
"Ethan, how are ya?" The bear smiled
His friend sighed and dragged him to a cave where the others were waiting.
"So, what did you do Dax?" Atlas frowned
His body ached in more place than it should and his ribs were visible through a claw mark cause by a cat beastkin. Atlas nearly lost his beloved right hand to the terrify fist fighter and he was in tatters.
"I couldn't see." Dax answered bashfully
They reacted, "Excuse you?"
"I'm far sighted so I didn't see them beside me. Luckily I have great instincts so I dodged in time." Dax sighed in relief
Ethan blurted out, "Is it a good thing?"
"Please, show them your storage." Blake interrupted
Dax shared his storage contents to the others and their minds went blank.
"Why?" Quill said breaking the silence
Dax shrugged, "I tend to collect things I like."
"We have fifteen minutes until they find us. There's no time to question him." Blake interrupted
They listened to Blake with glimmers of hope but the more he spoke the quicker it blew away. Atlas was half-convinced that the man was talking nonsense form extreme blood loss.
"It might work if we pour everything we have into it." Blake told "Quill, I also have a job for our faction rabbit."
Quill's face turned pale, "W...w...what?"
"Noah informed us you're a mage, a strong one too. Right?" Blake smiled
He whispered Quill's role and the teen turned even whiter which shocked everyone even more. There wasn't a severe wound on him and a feeling of bitterness filled them.
"THEY'RE HERE!!"
They looked at the winged woman in the sky and Atlas shot her down without a moment of hesitation. They looked at him for a while with surprise.
"Don't say a word, any of you and just run." Atlas frowned
Noah grabbed Quill and they advanced quickly fighting past the intense pain of their injuries.
Quill shrieked, "PUT ME DOWN!!"
"Contestants ahead!" Dax warned
Noah throw Quill to Atlas and jumped into the sky. His eyes gleamed as he descended and collided with enemy shield. A translucent black wall spread out from his sides and prevent their advance.
"What can one tank do?" the person he was engaged in a strength contested laugh
Noah smiled with every fiber of his body coming alive. His enemies trying to push past him but he stood firm, his body grow and became into a giant brown bear. His roar echoed through out the forest and every ran toward them because of his skill: Taunt
"COME AT ME!" He laughed
The earth rose up forming an encirclement around them. Some contestants managed to resist the taunt's effect and tried to turn back. Sadly a giant praying mantis was blocking their exit and slashed down any deserters.
Blood tricked down Blake's nose as he held onto the earth wall and the contestants attacked it. He also levitated Quill who was in the cloud reciting a long spell. In order to use telekinesis on Quill, he had give up a complete circle encirclement and trust the beast to guard them
Noah ripped off a woman on his side, a dagger dug into his abdomen and he bit into a teenager to his right. Several spears were protruding out of his body and he snarled with madness in his eyes.
On the exit side Ethan wasn't doing as well. Some cowards were trying to escape their encirclement. An antenna was snapped off as he sliced in semi-circles to his left. He raised right front leg, plunged it into a woman and stumbled forward when his back leg were slashed
"Now or never!" he yelled
Dax and Atlas threw in several strings of lit dynamite. Next Dax unpinned four grenades and tossed them into the the wall. Atlas hurled bombs further way from where the grenades landed
An chaos erupted as the explosions made the ground shake. They were trapped with two exits: past the brown bear or praying mantis.
The contestants were veterans, they quickly instructed their mages to make barriers and tanks held up shield to take on most of the explosives attack. Arrows and other throwing weapons were aimed at Dax and his vice.
An arrowhead sunk into Dax's shoulder as he got another grenade. Atlas barely dodged a needle aimed for his eye and received a cut along his cheek.
They yelled "QUILL!!"
"Meteor Rain" Quill whispered
The clouds in the sky vanished and meteors rained and the barriers broke under the impact of the powerful spells. Blake slumped forward losing consciousness due to overexertion and Quill coughed up blood from using such a spell and began to fall.
The earth wall collapsed and Noah caught Quill. The dust cleared revealing Jess and few others who survived their attack. Dax stood in front of his members while Ethan in praying mantis form prepared to attack.
Suddenly screens appeared in front of all the contestants.
Majority of the Knights of Halo were defeated.
The Queen of Shadows was able to complete her spell and half the Kingdom is destroyed
Jess looked at the next message saying that she failed and Dax smiled widely at the notification of their victory. The leader of Crazed fell to the ground as the sun finally began to rise.