Aeon landed on his feet and jumped onto a nearby bush, concealing both him Korona. He was banking on the possibility of not being found by the gorilla. After all, it didn't know that he was already incapable of running at high speed.
"You okay?" Aeon asked Korona, who was panting heavily, in a hushed tone.
Earlier, when the gorilla separated all of them by a strong slap on the ground, Korona had actually fallen on a hole. Inside was a long, dark cave. She didn't dare explore it and headed up immediately. She formed a staircase using her magic and ascended. The moment she exited, a gigantic hand grabbed her from out of nowhere. By reflex, she started forming a cocoon made of reinforced ice. Unfortunately, it was still too thin when the hand found a solid grip on her, so she suffered some injuries.
Korona forced herself to calm down. Her body ached, but overall, she was good. She replied, "Yeah. I'm okay."
Aeon nodded. It was good that she was fine. Aeon peeked through the leaves of the bush. They were literally inside it so it was hard to see anything. The good thing, however, was that the enemy can't be discreet. No matter how gently it moved, it would always alert them, giving them time to respond.
After a few seconds of struggling with the leaves, Aeon finally found the gorilla. It had been looking all over the place for them to no avail. Its fangs were bared and hot air seeped out from the gaps of its teeth. Obviously, it was not pleased.
Aeon felt tense. If the gorilla stayed there, there was literally no way for them to retreat. Their original plan, his and Suri's, was for the latter to create some huge distraction so that the beast would leave while Aeon and Korona escape.
However, five minutes had already passed, but there were still no signs of any commotion. Moreover, the gorilla was starting to search their way. If they're unlucky enough, the gorilla just might kick or step on the bush they were hiding in.
The ground shook as the gorilla got closer to the area where they were.
Aeon looked at Korona who seemed to be resting. For sure, without looking, she knew the situation they were in. Surprisingly, she was extremely calm. Aeon laughed at himself inside his head. Why was he worrying? He had utmost trust in the others. For sure, they'd think of a way.
Aeon also calmed down.
Suddenly, the ground underneath them started quaking.
Fuck! Another beast?!
Aeon and Korona looked at each other, trying to guess what the other was thinking. Then Korona shook her head. They couldn't risk fighting the gorilla again. They could only take their chances on the beast beneath them.
Suddenly, the ground parted, revealing the roots of the bush. The hole was about one meter in diameter. From it, a hand came out grabbing Aeon as he held on to Korona.
"Nice work," the person who grabbed them commented.
Aeon heard the voice and immediately recognized it. It was Dan's.
Aeon landed on what appeared to be the ground. He looked left and light, but it was so dim. All he knew was that they were underground.
He then heard two sets of footsteps in front of him. Aeon woke up from his stupor and started following the footsteps. As they walked, he finally put Korona down, but he still supported her.
Aeon finally felt relieved. He couldn't imagine that they could easily get out of that mess.
"You found us using the tracer?" Korona asked the people in front of her.
"Yeah. It was quite hard, to be honest. Thankfully, you weren't moving," Dan answered.
"What the hell. How did you find this tunnel?" Aeon asked, extremely curious. He was also wondering where Suri, Levi, and Selena were.
"After the gorilla left, dozens of beasts started pouring into the spot where you fought it. As we tried to follow you, we saw this huge hole. Needless to say, we jumped right in to escape," Dan responded.
"How about the others?"
"They should be here soon," Samuel chimed in.
"Suri too?"
"Yeah, we grabbed him along the way."
Aeon and Korona couldn't see anything. Their eyes barely adjusted in the dark. It was weird that Dan, as a fire mage, wasn't taking the initiative to start a light. Aeon could only make up the person strapped on Samuel's back, Merell. They were all safe.
Suddenly, they saw a ball of fire hover somewhere deep into the tunnel.
"Alright here we go," Dan walked to the side, "the saber-toothed tiger is coming."
"Wait, what?" Aeon asked.
"We escaped from the other beasts, but this guy wouldn't let go of us."
A segment of the ground between Aeon and Korona swiftly rose. It divided into two and rapidly pushed them sideward towards the wall without notice. They skidded on the ground for quite sometime before finally hitting the wall of the tunnel.
The earth that pressed them successfully concealed them on the wall.
The two grunted from the sudden impact, but despite the fairly rude treatment from Samuel, the two didn't voice out any complaints. Instead, they were thinking about how wide the tunnel was. It should be wide enough for the gorilla to walk on all fours and for the tiger to move freely.
Aeon's back pressed hard against the tunnel wall. A block of earth was pressing on him. When he started struggling, he noticed that the earth that was supposed to be hiding him started crumbling. Samuel must have softened it so they could get out when the time is right.
They started hearing rapid footsteps. Indeed, one of those footsteps belonged to the tiger. Anyone with ears could tell. Its steps echoed through the long tunnel.
As the fireball got closer, it also started to reveal the faces of the people running towards them. Aeon sighed with relief when he saw Suri among the group. Then he smiled crookedly. He tested his body by moving his arms and legs slowly. Despite how gentle he was, they still ached. He was still in no condition to fight.
Aeon had trained his sword technique, Dance of the Celestial Swords, for almost a month already. Despite this, he hadn't been using it the entire time, only when he practiced. This was not because he wanted to surprise the others and the beasts. It's because the technique took a great toll on his body.
Yes, using extreme bursts of power, for him, was quite efficient. It only consumed a great amount of energy when needed, as opposed to being at full power the entire time. For him who was not the primary attacker, the latter was just a waste of energy. He had already been used to being an opportunist, only striking when needed, hence his technique.
However, the body would also suffer a backlash from the sudden exertion. The stronger Aeon's attacks become, the greater the backlash. Especially after his Tenro received an upgrade because the strength of his body did not grow proportionately with it.
It didn't mean that this problem would exist forever for him, though. He just needed more than a month for his body to adjust.
Aeon decided that he wouldn't fight for now.
The group who were luring the beast finally went past the group.
Next up was the tiger.
When it ran in front of the group, Samuel was the first to jump out. He swung a fist towards the tiger's left flank. The impact gave off a muffled thud, then the pseudo petrification started taking effect. Earth started growing on the tiger's skin.
The tiger, which was moving at a fairly high speed, was pushed sideward due to the impact. However, it wasn't enough to neutralize its forward momentum. The beast stumbled diagonally towards Aeon.
Aeon panicked as the huge body of the beast headed straight towards him.
"Hey! What the-!"
Rumble!
The tiger collided against the wall of the tunnel.
Aeon barely dodged the huge body that would have been able to squash him to death. Aeon sighed. He wasn't supposed to be fighting yet, but maybe the heavens just wanted him to. He grabbed both his swords and slashed at the beast. Naturally, his attack carried a lesser force than usual.
The tiger, which Aeon thought to be defenseless, suddenly shook. Without a moment's notice, spikes made out of its bones protruded out of its body. One of the spikes headed towards Aeon, forcing him to cancel his attack and block with his swords.
Dan followed up with an attack of his own. His sword that glowed purple headed straight towards the fallen beast. Even after seeing the bone spikes emerge, Dan showed no signs of balking up. He proceeded with the attack that sliced through several bone spikes. However, when it finally reached the tiger's body, it had no more force left in it. The glow on the sword dimmed and the destructive attack became a gentle tap.
The tiger shook its head as it stood up and jumped away. It now looked like an oversized hedgehog rather than a cat.
Suri's small group had stopped running long ago. The moment Samuel jumped out, they had already started casting their spells.
At the moment, the tiger was trapped inside the encirclement made by the group. Everything was going just as planned.
The tiger rushed towards the direction of Suri's group. It still deemed Dan the most dangerous amongst the people, so it immediately avoided it. It growled as it tried to escape.
The others immediately followed in pursuit.
What met the tiger were several spells intertwined with each other.
The tunnel suddenly lit up due to the explosion of fire magic casted by Suri and Selena.
The tiger, in an attempt to dodge, ran towards the walls of the tunnel. Using the momentum, it ran on the surface of the walls, turning it into its own path.
Several spells missed, but there were also ones that went past its defenses. The tiger's skin was already burnt, but it didn't affect its movements.
It rushed past Suri's group.
When it thought that it was finally about to escape, it suddenly bumped against something hard.
Shatter! Clink! Clink!
The tiger stumbled backward and fell as pieces of ice fell on the ground. In front of it was the transparent Ice Wall that Korona silently made in order to prevent the beast from escaping. On the spot where the tiger collided with it, a huge dent was formed.
Everyone, except Aeon who had a hard time keeping up, circled around the tiger, each having their own spells ready. They simultaneously launched their attacks.
Several spells headed straight towards the tiger's body. It had no more time to dodge. In response, it began shielding itself with its bones. Bones started growing out of its body and covered its vital parts.
Boom boom boom!
The ground shook hard. Several rocks from the tunnel's roof fell, but the tunnel was still intact.
The saber-toothed tiger was battered with dozens of spells and was unable to fight back. With every spell that exploded on its body, a part of its armor crumbled.
Nonstop, it kept on rebuilding its armor, trying to keep up with the rate at which it was being destroyed.
Unfortunately, there were too many enemies. There were too many spells to defend from.
After some time, the bone armor's regeneration significantly slowed down. Then, afterward, it didn't recover anymore.
Even before their spells landed on the tiger's defenseless body, it was already dead. It used up most of the stored energy in its body to forcefully grow out its bones without stopping for a long period of time, causing it to die.
….