The room was cover in blacken earth with red crack everywhere. Several pools of lava were spread around the area where the dragon slept. They barely entered the room but sweat was falling from their brows which left a lot of room to imagine the intense heat inside.
"I...I have an idea." Quill whispered
Noah smiled, "Please share."
Quill told his plan with hesitation watching how the others reacted to his words and forced himself to continue speaking even when their gaped.
"Weirdly enough, it may work." Atlas frowned
Blake smirked, "Will you manage, Boss."
"Fine, let's go." Dax grimaced
Ethan quietly scouted the area, brought back black rocks and gave them to Quill. After several exhausting trips, Ethan found the exit of the room on the far right corner past the sleeping beast.
Quill made cloaks with the rocks, some magic replica for camouflage and installed a basic cooling spell inside. They strapped them in and covered their heads with the hoods. The Crazed Faction quietly descended down.
The floor was too hot that they bit their lips to swallow the cry of pain. They didn't know if they should be grateful or angry about the cooling spell that barely helped. The group followed Ethan who mapped out the quickest path toward the door.
They finally passed the dragon and will reach the door in five hundred or so meters. Well until Dax fell to the ground on his stomach and a echo followed after. The teenager was sweating terribly and the dragon turned it head toward them.
"You couldn't help yourself could you?" Atlas frowned
Dax sighed, "I'm not used to heat, sue me."
Noah grabbed Dax and they sprinted toward the door. The dragon opened it mouth wide and ruby red flames shot toward them at a surprising speed.
Ethan opened the door and pulled Quill inside. Blake used telekinesis to toss Atlas in and Noah threw Dax as well. Blake was inside as Noah brought out his shield the block the fire. The dragon slowly moved forward while Noah moved backward.
Quill blasted a water jet into the flames and made the dragon push back in annoyance. That was all the time they need, Noah jumped into the door and Blake shut the door. Dax poured the seventh bottle of water over his head.
"Need more water?" Noah offered
Dax panted, "I'm good."
He was looking up at writing his right side and smirked tiredly. Dax took out his book and documented whatever he found.
Dax told, "The exit should be close if I'm interpreting it correctly."
"Doesn't this challenge feel great for a break from all the crazy." Noah smiled
Ethan agreed, "It's a nice pacing after everything that happened in the previous one."
"Hopefully the trial is like this too." Quill nodded
They saw another door although what caught their attention was the light coming in from underneath. Dax stopped everyone from moving forward and looked up. The room was similar to a cave, no décor of any kind and had a very high ceiling that was black.
"What's wrong?" Atlas asked
Dax told, "Quill, shot a fireball up there."
He didn't understand why but just obeyed the order. He made a medium sized ball of flames and shot it upward to the ceiling.
SCREECH
A large black spider crashed to the ground and several green eyes were aimed at them. A shiver ran down their spines, they took out their weapons and the spider jumped down.
Dax yelled, "We're outnumbered luckily we just need to get to that door!"
"Let's go for the Shapes tactic: Triangle no. 7." Atlas ordered looking at Quill
Quill nodded his head with determination. Dax jumped down, sliced into an enemy with double-sided sword and green liquid splashed around. The spider honed in on Dax.
"Ah...this may take a while." the teenager thought
A bullet dealt with a spider aiming for Dax's back while he fought those in front. Noah in bear form landed to his right clawing into spiders and Atlas was on Noah's right bashing them with his fists.
Ethan and Blake were slightly behind and directly in front of the space between three fighter ahead. Ethan stabbed with his spear and unleashed a purple cloud of poison. Blake used his shotgun to attack as well as his spheres which also supported Dax ahead.
Quill was behind the two with a clear view of Noah's back, made a sea of flames burn outward from his sides and hurled fire spells when needed.
"READY!" Noah yelled
Starting with the three in front they began to walked forward while attacking and the others behind started to follow. Gradually moving toward the door.
A spider bit into Atlas left arm and he smashed it with his right fist while a spear from behind dealt with another incoming enemy. Ethan spun the spear to crash down on a opportunistic monster who thought it had seen an opportunity to attack.
Quill burnt dozens of spiders with barely open eyes and shot down a spider jumping down to Blake. Blake jammed his opened shotgun in the spider skull, reloaded it and fired. He made spheres descend on Dax's blind spot where a monster was coming from.
Dax along with Atlas and Noah focused the entire attention ahead. Plowing monsters and moving forward until the finally saw the door.
"NOW!" Atlas screamed
Quill made the flames grow up into a wall. Ethan raised up a wall of poison on his side while Blake used the last of his strength to push the endless hordes on his side. The remaining enemies were in front and the were cleared quickly.
Noah swung open the door and saw the faces of the other Factions. They felt resentment at the tidy appearances with only a few with slightly messed attire. They looked at themselves covered in green sludge, shoot and dirt.
"The last of the explorers are here. So please tell me what you learned that made you urgently teleported back?" a elderly bald man with a mustache asked
Dax walked forward with a frown and passed the old man and stared down at a girl that was behind him. She introduced herself quietly as the man's assistant with the responsibility of taking down their report.
"Do you like such boring games?" he frowned
The girl's timid expression vanished and a smug smile appeared, "I can't help myself, almost got away with it."
"Well, here's my report and read it carefully. Nothing's wrong about learning more of your heritage." Dax told
The girl eyes widen and her disguise came off revealing a tall young woman. A screen appeared in front of everyone saying the challenge and a hidden one had been completed.
"Goodbye." Dax smiled as he disappeared with the other contestants
Crazed found themselves on podium and a wooden beam in front leading to another podium with endless ocean underneath. The comments for the livestream were happy with the extra long video and donated generously.
Second Trial: Reach the other side
You can only use the beam
NO LEVITATING, SPACE MANIPULATION, MAGIC, JUMPING, SWIMMING OR UNDERHANDED TACTICS
"That's very detailed." Blake commented
They began moving forward and Dax paused. Large tentacles came out of the waters toward them but they weren't focused on the slow attack. The members stared at the leader who beamed while buying a fishing rod.
"NOOOO!!" They shouted
Several hours later the Crazed members feel into their house with ocean water. The easy trial turned monstrous when Dax want the ocean creature and its eggs. They groaned in frustration while their leader smiled in happiness.
He looked at the screen in front of him:
The Kraken surrenders
"Who's turn is it to cook? I'm famished." Dax asked
He turned around and saw everyone was gone. Dax sighed while his stomach growled loudly.