Isoldes team regrouped while the former slumbering Giant truly began to wake,as it crouched both its huge arms forward attempting to dig its own lower body out from down under,every movement accompanied with an intense Roar, if this creature was allowed to fully Roam while it fought they would surely die, for this reason Isolde looked on frightened with gritted teeth.
Artemis catched her breath while Cassidy tried to heal everyone using a healing light spell,managing to close up the wounds they suffered,Artemis thought of an idea,"can we try using the bondage spell on it ","unfortunately I don't think that's possible",Isolde said as she sighed.
"Why is that ",Artemis asked,Cassidy replied," the bondage spell works on creatures with genetic consistency the elementals do not meet the criteria,they are amalgamations of strong emotions magic,and the natural elements",Isolde took back the conversation,"even then the bondage spell requires subjugating the will of the creature it's being used on,we haven't even landed a hit let alone subjugating it".
Artemis in anger ,and frustration screamed "why!, are we even here! at one moment we were deep in the forest then suddenly we're here facing this abomination,I blame cassidy".
At that moment Cassidy had a thinking look contemplating then she replied,"your right"," What I'm right",Artemis replied in surprise,and confusion,"well ofcourse I'm right".
Cassidy continued, "When we were moving through the forest for a split second I felt a sudden shift I thought nothing of it,but then minutes later we found ourselves in this predicament,and the terrain even before being Completely wiped out isn't exactly the same,although it's hard to know due to all the similar looking trees".
Isolde had a serious expression before asking," what exactly are you suggesting",Cassidy chuckled," I suggest there are hidden transportation circles,all around these forests,there purpose to put students in this exact sort of unfavorable situations such as this".
Artemis bit her lips," I guess that makes more sense,but what's confusing is that it's capable of hurting us, this much our injuries could of brought us at deaths door".
Isolde smiled," I see,it looks like what Iron Claw said was a half lie or he left out a few caveats,they seem to be able to bring us close to deaths door but not kill us I'm not even sure if these creatures know of this law or have actually been trained to not want to kill us".
Artemis grinned in maddening anger," So he tricked us to let our gaurds down",she said clenching her fists,Isolde laughed " Thats no real surprise Its like father's training,as long as it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger,our opponents Outside will most likely not apply any rule that keeps us alive unless its us being bargaining chips or sexual slaves,so this could still be considered a mercy,compared to the worlds realities".
Isoldes last statement made Artemis remember the feeling of drowning, her entire body submerged in water her lungs crushing itself attempting to gasp for air,or in a boxing session with her sister the feeling of wanting to drop dead after one blow to the gut,as their father watched on in Silence,with his hands crossed,his eyes dominating the room filling it with a tension that could be cut by any dull blade.
"We need a deitys miracle to escape this one", Cassidy said," No we need a plan",Artemis replied,"Do you have one ",Cassidy chastised," No",Artemis replied somberly,"thats what I thought",Cassidy clapped back," But I do",said Isolde canceling the argument.
She was the only one not crouching down,but she stood tall with her head held high," whatever happens let's stay close and,cover every corner of one another's blind spots, follow my lead,if I jump you jump,Cassidy focus on finding that split second feeling again,other than that,let's keep close to its body make sure we attack with all that we've got,if we find it's core that's even better".
Artemis sighed," so we're basically winging it",Cassidy contemplated," you do know that to destroy its core we have to output more than knightmare levels of energy,right I doubt we can",Isolde looked at both of them with strong determination in her eyes replying with one word," Yes".
Cassidy sighed, " your not dumb,or you don't seem dumb so I'll trust you",seeing Cassidy speak in support first,and feeling a bit jealous,Artemis was stumpt for a moment before returning to reality only to find both Cassidy,and Isoldes eyes directly glaring at her.
Feeling as if their eyes were directly judging her or waiting for her decision in anticapation,she shrugged it off,and laughed removing the tension.
" if big sister is so confident who am I to stand in protest".
" One, two,three"," NoW!!!", Isolde screamed with all her might as the group of three charged forward Artemis threw all types of bombs exploding kunai,and so on.
Arriving beneath the giants rising feet Artemis took out a chain of her strongest explosives,detonating them beneath its feet causing the rising giant to slump forward,just as all three scaled the Titan.
Once they began climbing the Giant All sorts of stones telekinetically attracted towards them,hurling themselves at them,the closer they got to its upper body,the more intense the speed the stones were hurled at,meanwhile beneath their feet,Isolde Completely froze over a wide area.
Cassidy smirked," I see it's attacking itself, is that the plan",Isolde smirked shaking her head," that wont be enough to kill it,I realised that this elemental cant control Earth thats been tampered with by other elements,when we attacked the clay monsters using flames".
Cassidy chuckled,"so by freezing our path,it keeps it from manipulateing the ground beneath our feet".
While moving, stones would rise before them blocking their path,including Giant whirlwinds, Isolde would freeze these things,while the rest jumped,parkoured or destroyed the projectile rocks coming at them,the elemental would sway its hands hitting the ground or its own body in a desperate attempt to knock them off,but they would hold on,hiding within large ice glaciers.
When they arrived near the shoulders,Isolde asked Cassidy," have you found another transportation circle"," I think so but its 50 or so miles from here",Cassidy answered.
" let's attack with everything we got",Isolde said as gigantic Rocks kept on falling from the sky.
But at that moment she began using them as stepping stools to reach the front of the elementas face with Artemis,and Cassidy following close behind.
when they had reached the front of the elemental,and began to free fall,Isolde screamed,"One!!,two!,three!!","Attack!!!!",while dual wielding her two blade,Isolde concentrated all her ice magic,into her two blades causing them to glow blue.
The light of the glow alone grapping the giants attention while,Cassidy conscentrated most of her power into her final arrow.
Unlike Cassidy,and Isolde Artemis had the most mana left,reason being her explosions needing little mana due to being built into her weapons,so as they fell she had enough left over to use a powerful spell, "spin charge water dragon",this spell started off as a large spinning ball of water before spiraling into a dragon made of water the size of the elementals head.
Such a move was powerful, and complex enough,that it required multiple simultaneous runic circles to perform.
And each,and every attack pointed at the creatures chest where its core was most likely located,this time the nightmare sensed danger attempting to clasp its hands crushing the enemy infront of it like bugs.
But Isolde screamed," aim for its head ",The command rang like lightning,as everyone followed her lead hurling the Titans head with a powerful arrow that sent shockwaves, causing its stone head to gain cracks or the water dragon that drowned its head with its elemental counter,these combined attacks caused its head to jerk backwards.
But Isolde had no intention on adding her own attack this had all been a planned bluff in order to catch the creature offgaurd.
Immediately piggy backing Artemis ,and carrying an exhausted Cassidy,Isolde gave out one last command," Artemis air Propulsion!!",Artemis finally understood the plan her face shining with Rapid realisation.
In a mere moment while on Isoldes back she used herself as a jet pack,putting as much mana as she could into her feet,using air magic to propel them forward,higher,and higher.
Forcing them to fly up like a rocket towards the sky then Isolde moving her body changed the trajectory causing them to fly sideways,far away from the elemental beast.
Isolde then used her ice magic shielding them from the drag force as they tore through the air,and protecting them while they crashed.
Tired but alive isolde was surrounded by an unconscious Artemis,a tired panting Cassidy,while she herself was left crouching holding on to both her blades that were stabbed into the ground as she panted rapidly breathing in,and out while sweating for the first time her head pointed down towards the ground.
She knew that they had not won but Survived.
Around the same time,the group of Astrea,Athena,and Bell could be seen running as the trees behind them rapidly sank to the ground,it was clear something was following them underground or multiple somethings.
The ground itself cracked showing ripples,and strange patterns,sometimes Distorting or losing its form.
Jumping out from that very Same ground,was a creature with a large mouth that could open up like a hippo,a jaw like a crocodile lined with rows of sharp teeth its entire body almost completely armored like a pangolin,with a powerful tail,and the Claws of a sloth or a mole,its size was that of an adult rhino.
The moment it leapt up from the ground,and opened its large mouth,twisting its kneck,right it front of it,between both ends of its mouth, just a few centimeters away surrounded by its sharp jagged teeth on both sides was bell.
The way she ran was as if she had never ran for her life in her life,moving one side of her body at a time.
The scene was paralous,as Astrea looked back it was as if time had stopped,her gaze met bells,as she saw bells eyes open wide in despair thinking she was going to be eaten,and being too afraid to turn around.
Just then a miliseconds before the jaws could fully clamp down on Bells delicate body,Athena stepped in,her two arms,preventing the jaws from fully clenching.
This came with a price though,as the sharp saradded teeth of the creature left her palm bloodied,and her fingers,pierced.
she gritted her teeth then as the creature attempted to twist out of her grasp,she used the momentum twisting her torso,and slamming it to the ground.
A moment later from her blind spot multiple of the same creatures jumped out from the ground,while others swam around her heading for the meal they percieved would put up the least resistance.
A scene of three of these creatures jumping up simultaneously to most would cause them to step back in fear,but Athena simply raised her head,gritted her teeth,and struck first.
Before they could descend on her she punched one in the stomach hard enough,and fast enough that it broke the sound barrier while spin kicking the second nearest to her with the equivalent force,blasting it far away.
Unfortunately she could not attack them all simultaneously,leading to the remaining one,having the opportunity to pounce on her,but her senses,and battle instincts were too sharp.
Allowing her to position herself underneath its stomach in order to barely miss its powerful claws,causing her forearms to be injured bleeding.
Ignoring the pain,with as much force as she could muster,Athena bent her legs in an acute angle while laying flat vertically to the ground,releasing two powerful upward kicks to beasts stomach,the moment the creatures weight made contact with her foot.
The kick bending the creatures more absorbant,and less defended stomach sending it flying.
Meanwhile Bell ran to Astrea the moment she managed to get behind Astreas back, the creatures leapt out,Astrea stretched out her arm spinning her black wand then pointing it,the moment these monsters were just centimeters away.
," Hexagonal defense ",Astrea exclaimed,as runic arrays of white appeared producing barriers made from hexagons,in mid air right before these creatures faces.
The numerous hexagons conjoined together made a defense that scattered most of the damage it recieved.
These creatures had no lack of perseverance pouncing forward,their powerful claws,slamming down with immense force,then the second attempt, and the third.
Attacking from different angles,the change in angles forcing Astrea to remanuvre herself, and bell causing them to lose ground.
The beasts ensable roars could be compared to bears while its range to roaring lions.
"Ground leapers!",Astrea exclaimed," whats their weaknesses!",Athena asked clutching her bleeding forearm," they have a strong gag reflex,their neck has many connecting nerves and serves as a sensitive spot,its also weak in its jointed areas due to them having less protection than the rest of its body,its stomach is soft but absorbs,and neutralises force,lastly....".
Astrea stopped as her concentration was needed in greater amounts,due to the increase in violent attacks on the barrier.
Bell spun her staff,hitting its end to the ground as an array,of green light appeared under everyones feet, then it shrunk targeting specific individuals in this case Athena,and Astrea,healing them.
"Leonard!",Astrea screamed,as a small swift shadow sprung out from her sleeves in a blur,growing in size as it charged towards the sky,swiftly descending as a boom was heard from the sky.
The next moment a giant black furry dragon dived down as if hunting prey, its body large,and strong enough to pick these ground leapers as if they we're but mere toys.
Chucking these creatures in the air as it fired concentrated blasts of fire,but to the surprise of all watching the blast had no effect,the moment it made contact with the creatures skin it became a liquid substance that simply slipped off the creatures body.
Bell gaining a bit of confidence in order to protect what she percieved as a struggling athena who seemed to be playing a little game of wresling with these creatures,using her flexibility to dodge their pouncing attacks ,and redirect herself mid air.
Sent out a barrage of spells,spell after spell to eliminate these targets, " meteoric Earth sling shot "," Earth jagged crucifixion", the latter turned the battlefield into a small graveyard of protruding stones.
But the moment contact was made these attacks seemed to wobble distort,and become like jellow,while prolonged contact caused the Stones to completely turn to water.
Astrea Tsked,then smiled," Use water attacks!",she yeld, Bell answering the call,created many projectile,"water drills",flinging them forward.
This time when the liquid touched the skin of the ground leapers, it immediately hardened,plus the force it was flung at, the attacks completely ripped holes threw the targets defenses,Astrea spun her wand with the skill of a mid western dualist delivering multiple," air cannons".
When the air touched the creatures skin it turned to liquid water, but the force it carried did not, pushing them with enough force slamming them threw multiple trees.
Meanwhile after being healed,Athena had the time of her life,deliberately,placing her entire hand inside these creatures mouths,strategically targeting their necks,pulling their tongues dissecting them like a surgeon preying on every single weakness.
As time went on sooner rather than later they began avoiding her,while she only grew,becoming more,and more fanatic,her smile growing wider her cheeks redder,as blood eventually filled the battle ground,her fists adorned red.
Leonard grabbed the ground leapers,forcefully ripping them in two or flattening them with one swing of its tail, the creatures ability had no effect on biological organisms.
And when they turned off the ability,they would be crucified by Bells protruding jagged stones.
So eventually out of a group of 20 hungry ground leapers,13 died ,and 7 fled,this was the beginning of the survival each group had to show in order to successfully qualify.