"You lot sure are lively in a situation such as this"
Hearing this, all their eyes were on her. Not understanding what she meant, they looked at her with confusion.
"What do you mean?" Umi asked nervously
Her dangerously sweet smile was sending shivers to their bones. Their earlier ignorant lively mood was outmatched by the bloodlust and murderous intent of all those glaring eyes.
The darkness of the depths of the ravine was overwhelming their brightness. It felt extremely cold and dark. The weaker willed ones among them started trembling and hid behind the others. As they did, it somehow triggered Silvana as she frowned
"How naïve! If I 'am right, you children came her to have fun. Did you even consider how dangerous this quest is?" She snorted "You might not know yet, so I'll say this once so listen"
Her thirst for blood surfaced her face as she sneered at them "The previous challenges might be easy, but this current challenge draws blood. Once the icicles around shattered, a bloody massacre will occur. This game will become the survival of the strongest, only one party will be able advance forward. And the moment you naïve kids stepped in here, you officially joined the massacre that will commence any minute now"
The children merely exchanged glances, and to their surprise, a nearby icicle cracked loudly. Smirking, they carefully moved into formation. Their earlier fears turned into exhilaration. The assassin trio even licked their lips in excitement. Their aura completely changed from innocent and adorable children, to crazy, malicious murderers.
They stood firmly on the ground. They appeared calm and unafraid. Their eyes glistening of bloodlust, even stronger than those more experienced than them. Even Silvana felt the sudden change and does not view them as children like she did before. She raised her guard to them more than those veterans behind her. She knew that they are a great threat, and an awfully dangerous one at that fact.
With a loud piercing sound, the icicles shattered. The annihilation proceeded with great speed. The children scattered at once and slaughtered those unfortunate enough to be on their path. Some stayed on their position and launched long range attacks but still took out a large sum of people.
Asa quickly dived in to Silvana and for a short second he slashed her with a fire that took form of a sword that appeared in his hand. But because she was a talented warrior, she managed to block off his attacked, yet she was sent skidding a few meters back.
"Mind if I join?" Ash, his younger sister called not far, sending balls of fire at Slivana.
"Just provide some back up and don't steal my spot light" He replied back
Once again, he closed their distance and hit hard with his fire sword. But she saw it coming and blocked it with her sword. Half impressed, Asa grinned broadly and the two of them were engulfed in flames.
As she was burned to ashes, Silvana screeched in pain. When the flames went out, she quickly jumped off away from him and gripped her sword tightly, gritting her teeth. Asa on the other hand, remained unscratched and was rather pleased with himself.
Silvana never understood at first, but now she did. 'Be careful, those brats aren't someone to be underestimated" That was the words the Emperor whispered to her before he left to start the quest. She never got to witness Kin's fight with Greg, so she thought that it was nothing but a fluke when she heard that Greg lost to a child. Yet now that she was witnessing it all with her own eyes, they weren't joking nor exaggerating these children's capabilities.
She was facing Asa. From what she already figured, he's a fire wielder, and a very strong one too. Despite his young age, he can tun fire into a sword shape that is unbelievably as strong as metal. He is also very agile and strong. He can also use an advance magic that allows him to float off the ground that make up for lack of height. She tried hard to muster of how can a mere child possess such extraordinary talent for his age. And the thought that this child is only one of them? The world will surely crumble if the children wished to do so. Who on the right mind would condense such powerful children on one place?!
"Just what the hell are you?" She asked
"That was a rather rude question" said Asa, placing his flaming sword above his shoulder. "But since you, big sister is the one who asked, I'll give you a good answer"
He tilted his head slightly and gave her a cute smile "I'm only a lower rank Sacred royal, and a mere child. But most people call me the master of flames. Don't ask me why though" he shrugged
With an evil grin, he snapped his fingers and she was once again surrounded in flames.
"You only got hurt earlier, but there's no way you would be able to stand after this." He said mockingly "hell flames" he muttered
She was incinerated by hellish black flames. She screamed in agony as she was burnt to crisp. The moment the black flame went off, she dropped in the ground unable to move, but still alive. Asa seemed to make sure he wouldn't kill her with that spell and expertly hold back his fire that it would be enough to render her unconscious.
"What about helping me?" He turned back to Ash
"It was a mistake. You obviously don't need any of my help. So, it's much more pleasing for me to burn the others to ashes." She said, shooting another dozens of fire balls at the remaining opponents.
"This fight is so boringly one sided that some others didn't bother join the fight" she added looking at the twin's direction
By the side, Kira was floating off the ground, curved into a ball while playing cards with her brother and Airi to satisfy her boredom. Airi was sitting on the frosty ground along with Kishi, looking at his hand while aimlessly darting roses without bothering to look at the battlefield. Surprisingly though, all his shots hit the enemies with a perfect shot, either on their neck or in between their eyes. One shot is also capable of knocking whoever was hit by it.
As for Lune, he disappeared from sight. But Wherever he is, he's probably reading his book paying no heed to anything.
The battle ended half an hour or so. Large piles of unconscious bodies lay everywhere. As for the party who won remained standing, was obviously the children who slaughtered every single one of their opponents.
"I'm disappointed. And these guys were supposed to be veterans of these kinds of stuff?" Shia complained
"It's their fault for underestimating us" said Haven
"So....er....what next?" Lennan asked
And just like how they have always been. They are too hasty to one thing first that they always have trouble fining out what they should do next. But the second he asked that, it acted like a trigger for the surrounding ice all over one side of the ravine to crumble.
Next second, the chips of ice fell off and revealed the up-side-down picture that exactly matched the picture in the book. The flat wall resembled some sort of stone double doors.
They curiously walked towards it and scanned it first. Nothing seemed dangerous about it, it was just a normal stone door that was reinforced with magic. They tried to push it open, but just as what they expected, it was locked.
Turning to Ara, she nodded and carefully walked closer to the door. She gently touched it with her hand. In her perspective, the door is filled with very strong aura and was terrifying. She new instantly that the magic used in it was not own by a human. Instead, it was owned by the dragon.
"I-it's going to only open if, if a magic able to s-slay dragons is, is used to open it." She proclaimed
"Most of us probably can, so who will?" Aster asked
They all exchanged looks with each other. Kira was growing impatiently as she was really hoping to see the ice dragon. Tired of waiting, she pouted and ran towards the door before her brother could even stop her. Without much effort, she pushed the door open like old regular doors.
Astonished, the others couldn't believe that she just opened a magically enforced door without even using any bit of magic or extensive force. Perhaps her presence alone is able to slaughter a dragon despite the fact that there's nothing really special from it. Or maybe it's just because they don't know her well enough to tell.
When the doors opened, blinding light was behind of it that forced them to shut their eyes. With a loud thud, the doors shut close again and the children aren't there anymore. The chips of ice that revealed the doors rose from the ground and mended themselves back at the door hiding it again as if it never existed. The defeated bodies are the only once left in sight. Everything was silent.