The was a short silence that barely lasted a second. The students were stunned by their miraculous survival from the wave of hot flame and the Behemoth still discerning what just happened and the sudden change in the appearance of Arthur's fire lance.
Then, Carol's voice cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter:
"ARCHERS!!!"
This loud cry was enough to spurn the students back into action.
The First Years scattered all at once and resumed their roles. Arthur strained to stand upright, panting in place. Something was different about the Fire Lance now.
Unlike before, it was pulsing with incredible power. Instinctively, the prince got a vague idea of why it was that way. After all, all that fire couldn't have simply vanished into thin air.
Cade approached him with an impressed look. Arthur dropped to his knees, giving up on standing for the moment and focusing on regaining his breath.
"That took out far more effort than I thought it would."
Sullivan stood beside Cade watching the exhausted white-haired boy in silence and with an inscrutable expression.
"Now's not the time to rest. The battle is far from over," Cade calmly spoke up.
'Cut me some slack, dude!' Arthur felt like screaming.
His lungs burned like fire and he could barely stand as it was but he couldn't argue with the burly First year.
"Yeah, you're right," Arthur replied, taking in one deep breath. The prince lifted the glowing spear in his hand and squeezed it tight, a determined smile brightening his features, "Better yet, I have a plan."
............
The battle after that brilliant show of power was much uglier. Using small openings through the wall of spikes, the Vanguard attacked the Behemoth at its legs and torso with all manner of enchanted weapons and the Archers continued to shower it with enchanted arrows, riling it up even more.
Following orders from the Leaders, a coordinated attack like this one was bound to through the beast off and create a state of confusion that they could use to their advantage.
For a time, it looked like the creature was confused by the barrage of attacks. But this confusion didn't last long for when it was angry, the tide of battle swiftly changed.
Along with its determination to end them came a wave of murderous intent that was impossible to ignore.
The behemoth swung its head to one side, letting out a searing spray of hot fire. The fire turned everything to ash, including the thick oak trees that surrounded it, revealing the colossal body of the dangerous beast.
Surprisingly, most of the students had dived out of the way or simply stayed too close to the Behemoth's belly, avoiding the spray of flames.
This was, in no way, a good strategy but it did prolong their lives for whatever seconds the behemoth kept its concentration on the rest of its surroundings. There was only so much the creature could focus on.
The barrage of arrows never stopped, only shifting to its neck when it abruptly moved its head. For a brief moment, the first years felt victorious.
But Arthur felt like something was wrong. The beast hadn't yet taken a step. It had only been watching… and they hadn't even injured it yet with all their efforts.
What would happen then if it started actively attacking? This question was answered sooner rather than later.
The Leaders and Archers watched when the creature's head suddenly shot to one of its legs and bit down on a sword-wielding member of the Vanguard, clamping down on his body at the waist.
The student exploded in a rain of white ash and runes as well. Arthur noticed two more students around the Behemoth's head frozen in their tracks who'd probably been working with their deceased friend.
What could they do in the face of a monster this menacing? Its golden reptilian eyes swivelled and settled on one of them, a low growl reverberated through its throat as it revealed its rows of sharp menacing teeth beneath its scaly lips.
The prince turned in the students' direction but a hand held him in place, "You said you have a plan."
"What?!? They are dying out there," Arthur yelled at him.
"And you'll also die if you rush in to save them without a plan. What's your plan?" Cade asked in a serious tone. His face didn't show a hint of remorse as he spoke.
Arthur turned back and watched the beast violently plunge one of its horns into another First Year's torso and chomp down on another.
Two more first years… gone. Arthur couldn't even tell how many had been killed in that spray of fire that scorched the trees. The fire seemed to spread even further, clearing the forest beyond their defensive wall.
Fortunately, the enchantments on the wall of pikes kept them from erupting in flame.
For now, the wall held.
"The longer you take without sharing this plan of yours, the more of them we'll lose. They knew what they were getting into. ARTHUR!!!" Cade yelled into the prince's ears when he wouldn't listen, "How are you even a leader? Do you even know the basics?"
'Basics… I'm a prince, dammit! Basics, my foot!' Arthur mentally screamed, anger flooding into his system.
"A plan, White… That's what will end all this," Sullivan stepped in.
"Right," Arthur replied before sharing his thoughts with Cade and Sullivan.
The Leaders were much more accepting of Arthur's plan. The Behemoth had cut a hole through the Vanguard by the time the plan was approved.
Both sides of the forest had been severely scorched, leaving nothing but desolate ground with charred tree stumps beyond the oakwood-spiked wall of defence.
Cade raced to the Archers to deliver the orders while Sullivan rushed to one side of the Behemoth to speak with the scattered members of the Vanguard.
Arthur rushed to the other side.
Leo was standing with a group of fighters like him when the white-haired boy suddenly appeared before them. His spear was still glowing brightly, acting more like a beacon than a weapon at this point.
What's more, even as the prince dashed around the Behemoth, he kept a reasonable distance… and he didn't use it.
It felt like Arthur was being careful with the glowing weapon.
"Vanguard, we've come up with a plan of attack," Arthur yelled before he'd even stopped running.
"Must be nice being a Leader. You don't get to fight on the front lines if you don't wish to," one of the fighters spat.
Arthur regarded him for a moment, his expression unreadable. A feeling of fear gripped Leo's bones. Darius forced himself in between the two males, "Hey, let's not fight in front of the big bad Behemoth. You never know when one of those tusks will run you through. At the moment, it's preoccupied with the right flank… but we can't let them deal with it all on their own, y'know. Arthur, you were saying?"
"Tch!" the other student spat and rolled his eyes.
The look in Arthur's eyes vanished, "We have come up with a plan to bring the Behemoth down. I don't know if it will work but it's the best we've got."
"No way! How many more of us are supposed to die for you?" the same boy asked in a condescending tone.
Arthur turned to him again with a murderous expression and snapped, "Only the weaklings!"
"Woah! Arthur, that's not like you."
The prince forced his anger down and turned to the Behemoth, staying quiet for a moment, "None of you was supposed to die. That's what I wanted.
So the next time you start to think it's easy to be a Leader, try thinking about what happens to me every time one of you dies out there.
I don't know how Cade does it. He keeps carrying on like nothing's happening. I almost leapt into the battle with all of you. But that would have sealed our fate. We'd all be dead for sure."
"What do you mean by that?" Darius asked.
Arthur raised the glowing white spear in his hand and explained the plan to the Vanguard as briefly as he could.
"Will it work?"
"We don't know yet but it's the best we've got. We need everyone's help with this. You might want to distract the Behemoth so that Sullivan can explain this all to the other side as…"
"What are you waiting for, White? Does it take so long to explain a simple plan?" Sullivan's voice roared from the other side of the Behemoth.
"…Or not! Do your best, guys. And… try not to die." With that, Arthur dashed away from them and into the forest. His aim was to stay out of sight of the behemoth while the Vanguard distracted so he could just make a beeline for the camp.
'Weak! We're so weak!' was all he could think.
It took everything in him to keep from collapsing to his knees at the moment. The exhaustion from stopping the Behemoth's fire attack hadn't completely left him yet.
And his stitches were hurting even more now but he couldn't stop. He still had something to do… And he wasn't going to give up until he'd seen it through.
Just then, a large scaly mass landed right in front of him, stretching longer and wider than any log they'd gathered from the forest.
'A tail!'
Arthur turned to the Behemoth and noticed its head turned back and its amber eyes trained on one specific person.
Him.
'Damn it!'