"Crack! Crash! Crack! Boom!" Zac watched in horrified fascination as he saw the tops of shorter trees fall, as the enormous beast, still hidden by the forest, stampeded towards them.
But even while making such a racket, the beast moved extremely quickly, and within a few seconds, the trees right before Fredrick and Jay were falling toward them, as a dark deep red, almost black blur burst out of the forest.
Instantly, the two enormous Augmented leaped to either side, their enormous figures moving with the grace of trained gymnasts.
"Snap!" The enormous jaws of the Lava Lion snapped shut, closing in the space where Jay had stood, moments after Jay had leaped off to the right.
Zac, hiding with the others, glimpsed a majestic bright red mane, and the flash of its white fangs, but it was not a sluggish creature, and it immediately whirled around, its head whipping toward Jay, blurring before Zac's eyes.
'What the actual f***! I can barely even see what it looks like! And when it slammed its paws down as it bit, I felt the f******* ground vibrate! How are Jay and Fredrick not pissing their pants!' Zac's eyes were wide, of course, he had learned all about Magical Beasts, Tier 3 Beasts included, as a child.
But seeing a slow motion video in a classroom was completely different from witnessing a truly enormous, powerful creature that could take on a hundred men, in front of his very eyes.
"Riiiiipppp!" the sound of tearing cloth sounded out, as Jay swung his bat back, bravely leaping at the Lava Lion that was heading straight for him.
Zac watched in fascination as Jay's shirt tore into shreds, as the enormous muscles that covered his frame flexed as he prepared to swing the bat.
Jay's bat was a shiny blur as he swung it at the Lava Lion's head, and a loud "Clang!" echoed all about, as the bat slammed into the Lava Lion's head, sounding more like a collision between two pieces of metal, rather than a metal bat with flesh.
But the blow had enough momentum that it knocked the Lava Lions lightly off course, stopping it from colliding into Jay, and sending it flying into the trees just to the left of him.
"Why the hell would you even try that!" Frederick yelled out, and Jay simply shrugged at him, leaping across the newly formed clearing, thanks to all the trees the Lava Lion had brought down, standing shoulder to shoulder with Fredrick once again.
"I was aiming for it's eye socket, but it's a smart one, I swear it moved its head just the slightest to stop me from hitting the thinner bone, and took the blow on its forehead." Jay had a frown on his face, and as he spoke, Frederick started to frown as well.
"That'd put it way above what we can deal with on our own, it'd be at least a 3.5, maybe even a 3.8." Frederick muttered, and Zac caught his words, his stomach sinking.
The decimal ranking was added more recently, he had only heard murmurs about it, but he knew it was used in the case of especially strong Magical Beasts, those that were stronger than most others of the same species, some were so strong that they did the unthinkable, and the ITC ranked them as a whole tier above.
"Let's hope that Rachel and Klaus are booking it here as fast as they can, I don't fancy facing this beast any more than you do." Jay muttered back, the pair of them clearly trying to be as quiet as possible, so that the three survivors hidden in the hollow wouldn't hear them.
"Where's our friend gotten to? There's no way he's given-" Jay started to murmur, and then Frederick's eyes widened, and he suddenly tackled Jay, sending the pair of the flying into a a large cluster of ferns.
"Fwooosh." There was a sudden rush of hot air, all through the clearing, and Zac was forced to squint his eyes shut, as a white hot burst of flame ripped through the air where Jay and Fredrick had been standing, just a moment before.
The burst of flame continued for a second or two, before disappearing, and the trees parted as the Lava Lion padded into the clearing, expecting to see the charred remains of the puny intruders that had dared to challenge it.
It was only now that Zac got a good look at the Lava Lion, and his breath caught in chest as he took in the sight. Next to him, the constant muttering from Winston and sobs from Mary completely stopped, as they also took in the sight of a Tier 3 Magical Beast.
Without a doubt, the thing that struck Zac the most, was the enormity of the creature, it stood at almost ten feet tall, and twice as long, just including its body.
It looked similar to the lion's of earth, except the fur that covered its rippling muscles was a dark, dark, red, almost a deep black color.
Its head was enormous, with strings of drool dripping from its slightly open mouth, revealing the bright white fangs that filled its maw.
It had a pair of scarlet eyes that looked around the clearing with a surprising intelligence, and as Zac looked at them, he felt as though he could feel the pure fury in the mind behind them.
A bright red, heavy mane formed a ring around its head, extending down to its chest and around its shoulders, acting both to protect its head and neck, and to increase its already enormous silhouette.
Its paws were enormous, and from where he lay, Zac could see the curved claws that tipped them, razor sharp, looking like a set of curved short swords, ready to carve apart anything that stood before it.
At its rear, a thick tail swung back and forth, with a tuft of bright red fur at the end of it, clearly demonstrating its furious state.