Blondy huffed and rolled her eyes at Raten's words. "She only did a flip," she said.
"You've only been annoying," Raten responded.
"You said you could get us out, right?" One of the girls that was now with them asked Jarett, who replied with a simple nod. In front of them, his body had transformed to that of a wolf. Already being a tall one, Jarett's beast form was twice his size and allowed for a good number of them to get on, including Blondy. They held on tight as he made the jump over the fire.
"I don't know why everyone is showing off, I can create a way through the fire I created." Kiyan scoffed and moved his hands, the fire separated living a space in the middle big enough for himself, his brother and the few others that were there to walk through. They had to hurry as their little leader was far ahead of them.
As they ran, they were met with more turns, hidden paths in dead ends, and caught up with other participants. Some would try to attack or slow down others so they could increase their chances of getting the crystal, others just ran along with the crowd as they seemed to know where they were going. Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Little began to take slow steps backwards. Some participants who had run past her were immediately frozen, pounced on by large spiders or attacked by critters.
"All three at once!" They yelled in frustration.
Everyone got their weapons ready and began to attack with their abilities. The ones that could control the earth helped a great deal, but they were already tired from the earlier fight. It was hard to avoid the numerous ice breaths, losing focus on the critters caused a great deal of pain with every bite, they also had the spiders to worry about.
Jarett in his wolf form launched at the spiders crushing some of them with under his feet. The earth controllers would crush the ice gorillas with rocks, those who yielded weapons did their best against the critters.
********
Arrows kept flying off, hitting the critters, stopping them from advancing further. "I came prepared." Lecter said to himself as he pulled out another arrow and placed it on his bow. His fingers ached and bled from constantly pulling on his bowstring, but he had no choice but to go on.
The brown haired, earth ability user, single handedly dealt with the ice gorillas which numbered six this time, and the other boy with them dealt with the spiders. Compared to what the twins group were facing, they had very little to battle. It was as if someone controlled the number of beast that would attack and this group were just too few to handle as many as the others were.
********
Lost in the maze somewhere, five boys and three girls. "We've been walking about for ages, it's frustrating. The others must have gotten the crystal by now." One of them said with a tone that indicated he was soon to give up.
"Who knows, they could be lost just as we are." Another said.
"Well, I'm tired of this." A girl yelled and made to rest on the wall of the maze in front of them. She sighed and looked to her right just to notice a path in the wall. Curiously, she walked through and appeared in another part of the maze.
"Would you look at that, there was a way." She smiled and kept moving forward. She didn't bother to call the others attention as she didn't think it was necessary. "It's an exam, isn't it supposed to be every person for him or herself?" She said to herself and walked off only to be faced with the icey gorillas.
She stood shocked at first, but when they spat out ice, she lifted her arm over her face and an ice wall appeared shielding her from it. Then with one swift move of her hand, the ice wall moved fast in their direction, two more walls appeared beside them, and one behind them. In one swift move she trapped them in four boulders of ice.
"Good, but you also blocked our path." The boy who almost gave up earlier said startling her. When she left, someone had noticed and joined her. Realizing there was a path, he called on the others. Now they stood behind her.
The smaller looking female, weilding a hammer with a wooden handle and a rock made head in her hand, then moved back. As she ran forward, the earth rose beneath her feet with every step lifting her high up in the air. She lifted her hammer above her head and it kept increasing in size.
She leapt in the air and the hammer was now almost as big as a the ice walls combined, the head of the hammer got covered in flames. She then slammed down on the ice walls and the flames spread. The impact and heat shattered it and melted the ice walls and gorillas.
Landing on her feet, the hammer returned to its normal state. The earth movement wasn't done by her though, but by others in the group. They thought she needed a boost. Saying nothing to each other they kept moving forward.
********
Finally killing off the creatures, the team walked ahead with Little as their leader once more. Behind them were five more injured participants and three iced ones disappearing into the soil.
Just like the twins and a few others, Little as well didn't get involved in the fight and just avoided what came close to her. Kiyan noticed her move to the back when the creatures arose and moving forward when they were dealt with. Letting others do the fighting was actually smart.
She had a smile on her face as they had finally gotten to the end of the maze, the place where the crystal lied, but alas, there was a huge obstruction.
"What's this?"
"What's going on?"
"How do they expect us to get the darn crystal if they set up a large wall of fire!" A lad yelled pulling out his hair. As they arrived at the centre, they saw other participants there as well, but in front of them was the large wall of fire they all wondered how they would get through.
"It's not, it's not part of the exams." A girl in front spoke. "It's a bratty kid who put this up stopping anyone from trying to get the crystal." She explained what really was happening, a vein popping out of her forehead as she was very infuriated.
"Do you have a plan to get through?" Jarett moving over to where the twins stood, asked them.
"I already tried to move it, but the person seems to still be controlling it strongly, I can't help." Kiyan answered. "Asking the earth and wind users to lift us a bit high in the air would be a bit helpful, but they already maxed themselves out in the last fight."
"There is a way we could pass through." Raten said looking at the fire. The heat from it already making them sweat. Listening in on their conversation was Little for she also needed a way through.
********
"What is this? What is this in my way?!" The brown haired boy yelled as he saw the fire in front of him. It seemed the maze had two paths to the centre for they were also there but on a different side from the twins' group.
Wasting no time, he lifted the earth beneath his feet. Lecter hopped on seeing this as his chance to cross over as well. With every step he made, the ground lifted to keep him up. This being the first time he used magic to this extent and moved earth this much and this high, it was taking a toll on him, but he pushed through. Lecter jumped from one pillar to another before they fell back down.
Keeping his feet firm and leaping off the pillar he created, the boy jumped over to the other side with a pillar bringing him down slowly. Lecter did same but landed hard on the ground almost breaking his bones.
********
"Really? what's your plan?" Kiyan asked his brother who said he knew of a way to get through.
"Kiyan, you should have already gone through by now. Jarett how high can you jump in your wolf form?" He asked.
"Oh, I see. I am not quite sure, but I think I can make the jump." Jarett replied. Kiyan looked back at the fire and thumped his head. He understood what Raten meant.
They then made to get everyone out of the way as Jarett was about to make the jump.
"I hope you don't mind, but can I get on your back?" Little asked Jarett who said nothing and just transformed into his wolf and bent in front of her. She got them this far, so why not?
"You buffoon, can't you see her little legs would make it hard for her to get on?" Raten said and picked up Little easily and placed her on Jarett's back. He didn't even give her the time to decline or even know what was happening. Her cheeks went red and she was annoyed.
She chose not to say anything, she wasn't even given time to for Jarett had run off in the direction they just came from. In less than a second, he returned with great speed before leaping over the fire.
"You keep teasing the girl." Kiyan said. Beneath his feet, it looked as if an explosion happened and he flew over the fire wall.
"I only helped her get on." Raten replied and condensed his body in lightning which then flew off in the air and struck down on the other side of the wall.
"It worked? I mean, it worked!" He smiled as he got off the ground, dusting the dirt off his clothes. He then lifted his head and looked around.
"This is madness."