Arthur stared at the Behemoth, his heart beating a drum in his chest, trying to discern the malevolent thoughts rushing through the beast's mind.
A rain of arrows rose into the air, assaulting the obsidian head of the gargantuan beast but even through all that— when the magical effects of the arrows wore at its obsidian scales—it kept its golden eyes trained on the prince.
'Curses…' With that thought, Arthur changed direction and ran deeper into the forest.
After fighting them without moving an inch, blowing up plumes of flames and biting its assailants in half, the Behemoth had never once shown signs of movement… and yet, now that Arthur was making a break for it, the ground shuddered beneath his feet.
He glanced behind him for only a moment. It was enough for him to witness the Behemoth turn, completely abandoning the rest of the students and heading straight for him.
The chase was on.
The Behemoth came barreling through the woods, shattering trees and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake as it chased down a fast white-haired boy.
'Come after me then! It won't be like last time. I had someone on my back then.'
To Arthur's surprise, the behemoth dashed through the woods, shattering the oak trees like they were nothing and covering several yards within a few moments.
In a few seconds, the large obsidian beast was in front of the prince, its golden eyes staying on the prince the whole time as though trying to inject waves of fear into the prince's core.
'What… When…' fear coursed through Arthur's body.
He'd completely underestimated the Behemoth's abilities and raw strength. Then again, why hadn't it shown this much power back at the clearing?
This speed… It was far beyond anything the Behemoth had demonstrated before. The prince's senses flared up and at the last moment, he leapt into the air, avoiding a dismembering bite that could have been the end of him.
'Whew! That was…' everything slowed down and Arthur's thoughts slowed down. The behemoth's recovery time was even faster than the prince had expected.
Arthur was almost led to believe the obsidian beast was giving him some sort of special treatment.
At the moment that he was airborne from dodging the Behemoth's fatal attack, the creature repositioned itself, overtaking him and carrying on with its next attack… while he was stuck in the air.
Time felt frozen… Like he was at the mercy of the creature.
The white-haired prince didn't have time to think as the Behemoth spun in place and brought its tail swinging with blinding speed.
The thick pillar-like reptilian tail struck him clean on the chest and sent him sailing through the air back to the clearing in a manner quite similar to the way Arthur had sent Sullivan flying at the start of this whole simulation.
The only difference was… Arthur was airborne and sailing high up in the sky with frightening speed.
Arthur nearly dropped the spear from the force of the tail but he gripped it with all his strength and gritted his teeth in pain as he sailed through the sky.
His lungs wouldn't let in air and the wounds in his chest burned worse than they ever had.
.........…
Cade and the others were shocked to see the Behemoth completely change direction and dash back into the woods with impossible speed.
"Was that bastard holding back all this time?" Sullivan cursed.
Cade remained silent for a moment, running through his thoughts as rationally as his nerves could let him. He scanned through the clearing for someone else.
"No, it's not been holding back but more importantly, where is Arthur?" he asked.
Sullivan searched for a few seconds before letting his shoulders drop. The blonde swordsman pointed to something in the sky. When Cade looked up, he noticed a heavily beaten white-haired boy sailing back to the clearing from the forest, with his white spear still in hand.
'Still holding on… even when he's been beaten that badly,' he thought to himself. The burly boy took a few steps back as though he was getting a running start.
The ground rumbled terribly forcing Sullivan and the rest to turn their attention to the source.
The Behemoth was bounding straight for the flying body with a look of pure murderous intent in its eyes.
'Damn it…'
"ARCHERS!!!" he yelled. The students wielding bows nocked their arrows and sent another volley of magical attacks. At the Behemoth's velocity, the arrows bounced harmlessly off the approaching behemoth without getting a chance to inflict any damage.
Even after everything they'd done, the creature wasn't weakened. Its hide was simply too hard and now that Sullivan took a closer look, its only injuries had long since healed.
Cade sprinted forward, starting slow before picking up speed. The large boy leapt into the air, shooting upward like a spring in his legs had launched him from the ground.
At the same time, the Behemoth launched itself into the air, crashing through the wooden barricade like it was nothing and shattering their pikes with ease.
Sullivan stared wide-eyed as Cade shot into the air, intercepting Arthur in his ungraceful fall at the last moment as the Behemoth clamped down on the empty space.
The creature crashed into the mountainside with a loud thud, shattering a chunk of the indomitable mountain wall before it fell to the ground along with a pile of rubble.
The Archers were now divided into two teams, one on the left and the other on the right.
The Behemoth was completely surrounded but for some reason, that didn't feel like an advantage. Not after it had displayed a burst of speed they didn't know was possible for a creature so large.
The beast pulled its head from the fragments of rubble that tumbled down its massive head and shook the dust off.
Darius came rushing to Cade when he landed close to their group. The white-haired boy in his hands was in worse condition than they'd just seen him moments ago, "Arthur… How's he doing?"
Arthur pushed himself out of Cade's hands despite the blood soaking his tattered shirt. The prince staggered for a few moments before using his spear to support himself. "It will take much more than that to put me down… Much more…"
Before Darius or Leo could object, Cade yelled at the top of his voice, "You all know the plan. Let's get Arthur an opening."
The archers, who were a much more organised group than the Vanguard were spurred into motion.
The plan was simple, however, after the display of power from the Behemoth, their attempts were starting to feel futile.
Nevertheless, they would carry it out. Cade's determination was easily felt by everyone else on the battlefield.
The wall of pikes had crumbled, destroying what they had struggled so hard to construct as their temporary defence.
Arthur shuffled away from the archers, putting some distance between himself and the Behemoth. He needed to be able to see the creature clearly if this plan was going to work.
Another barrage of arrows came raining down on the obsidian beast. Members of the Vanguard quickly approached the creature, covering for the Archers as they retreated as far away from the slightly disoriented beast.
For the moment, it had lost sight of Arthur… and the attacking Vanguard was enough to make it roar in frustration before launching into a murderous frenzy.
Cade stood beside the prince and sighed heavily, "I'm joining the fight too, this time."
Arthur hadn't seen the burly lad fighting till this point so he was partly curious to see what he was like in a fight. The other thing to pop into his mind was suspicion.
"What happens when you're defeated in battle? You're better at making level-headed decisions than I am."
"And you can humbly admit that. You're more of a leader than I'd originally given you credit for," Cade replied.
Arthur stayed silent and watched the futile battle happening before them. The obsidian beast continued to ruthlessly decimate their forces.
One by one, the fighters that formed the Vanguard continued to fall. Arthur gripped his fire spear even tighter, hating every moment that passed.
He'd been present when they made the plan. The least he could do was see it through to the end.
"You're right. I might die… but I also know that it would be easier to achieve our goal if I joined the fight. So, don't miss."
With that said... the most potent Leader in their crop of First years joined the battle. Cade's large battle axe hung at his back casually the whole time.
For the first time, the large boy held its handle and held it in front of him. A shield began to form in his left hand, unfurling in a clear circle, the same colour and material as his battle axe.
A second after the leader's armaments had formed, he blurred from sight… and joined the fight.
'Those enchantments make humans a little bit scarier… However…' Arthur tilted his head with curiosity, watching Cade with a slight spark of excitement.
'This one's on a whole other level…'