With Dia Draekia as new addition to the team, Mattheia's group continued proceeding through the trial grounds, in hope of finishing their task as soon as possible.
"So, you were already deeper in, and yet you returned to the spot where we were" Mattheia was speaking to Dia while walking "Why didn't you proceed further in?"
"I had trouble with finding the way" she started explaining "It's hard to move around in dragon form, and being on my own using my usual, human body would be dangerous, making me an easy target."
"Then, does it mean you can only fight when you change into a dragon?" Sherkhan was really curious about the dragon kin girl "Can't you fight like you are right now?"
Dia shook her head.
"That's not the case, I do know how to fight even like I'm now. The thing is, it's nowhere close to my strength in dragon form. I can attack, and I'm able to hold my ground against several people at the same time, but there is many strong individuals among the students this year, whom I wouldn't be able to face without turning into dragon."
"What can you do when you are not a dragon then?" Kashia asked.
"I can use a number of lower class, offensive spells, and a support defensive magic. I also know how to handle battle axes and hammers."
Gerhan's eyes widened as he was looking at Draekia's slender figure.
"No way you have enough strength to handle such weapons" he said that out loud "You don't look as you'd have enough muscle on you."
The girl smirked, and approached a huge boulder lying by the path.
"Can you lift this one, Sher?" she asked pointing at the huge stone, around a size of a small carriage, meaning several hundred kilograms.
"Don't joke around, it's crazily heavy" said Gerhan.
After he did, Dia squatted by the boulder, held it from the bottom, and pushed it a few meters from its original spot, causing Sherkhan's jaw to drop immediately.
"How in the hell did you manage not to show off in hand-to-hand combat? With this kind of strength..."
Draekia shook her head.
"There is a pledge that binds my strength in human form. There are rules I need to follow, and this is why I couldn't show what I'm capable of."
"So, it's kind of your clan's restriction?" Kashia asked that as she seemed to feel a kind of similarity between Sky People and dragon kin "Aren't there exceptions like using it when your life is in danger?"
Dia nodded.
"Indeed, there are special cases, but it's not even as simple as my own safety. The thing is, my usual body may not withstand the energy as I'm still young in dragon kin standards and learning how to handle myself. If I were to rush and try using full power when I'm far from being a full-fledged adult, I could ruin my body, or even die out of stress put on my body. Either way, we can talk about it later, once we are done with this place."
"Yes, I absolutely agree on that one" said Mattheia, who was only listening for a while now "Let's focus on our way forward, okay? Having said that, how far further did you proceed?"
Draekia quickly looked around.
"Can we move over there?" she pointed at a spot where a big, old tree was growing.
Others agreed, and - once they did - the dragon kin girl climbed the tree.
"What are you doing?" Sher asked her.
"I cannot properly grasp the distance I passed in dragon form when I'm in human form" she replied "I need to reach the similar height to have proper comparison."
Other three looked at each other - this girl seemed to have some real quirks related to her origin.
"Ok, now I know exactly how far it was" Dia said, after climbing down "There are two more open areas in front of us, and then a narrow passage going from the second one. I reached until that point, because the passage is big enough to have only one person fit through, so we will need to go one after the another."
"Is there anything dangerous on the way?" Mattheia asked "Any traps, dangerous creatures?"
Draekia shook her head.
"Unless something appeared in the meantime, there should be nothing. I've already cleaned the route using my dragon form" she explained.
"So, it means you also made it easier for other students too?" Kashia pointed out.
Dia nodded and said:
"It seems like it, but what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let myself get attacked."
"No one blames you. I'm just saying we can expect others on the way in such case, and we cannot exclude the possibility of being attacked." angel girl clarified.
"I agree with Kashia" said Sherkhan "We should be extremely careful and watch out for any traces of other groups."
"Definitely so" Mattheia agreed "Keep your eyes open. Sher, you take the front, Kashia and Dia in the middle, and I'm going to take the back. Kashia, you keep an eye on picking up traces of magical energy."
Everyone confirmed their tasks, and the group continued walking through the areas described by Draekia, and listening to her advices about the surroundings she knew from her previous visit in dragon form.
They first entered a round area with several water basins and passages between them. According to Dia, there were some magical traps and water creatures here, but she took care of these already before joining their group. Still, the team was wary of their surroundings, specifically watching out for any other groups that could want to jump them hoping to get some extra points. However, no such thing happened and they passed this section without issues.
Several minutes later, they reached the last spot Draekia knew from before, and this one looked much more complex than the previous "water" one. Based on what dragon kin girl told them, this place was more problematic to her than preceding area, mainly because of limited open space, which was a huge disadvantage to dragon form.
The place looked like a layout of some ancient temple, made of huge stone blocks, having a number of portal gates, and magical reservoirs. Apparently, the energy coming from reservoirs was used for barriers and magical traps, forcing students to either find a different route or disable the blockages with dispels, or by usage of proper counter magics. Still, they did not need to worry too much about anything like that since Dia basically brute-forced through barriers already before, so it was quite unlikely for them to run into any blockages as long as they followed the same route the girl took last time.
"It's been going too smoothly so far, if you ask me" Sherkhan, who was proceeding through the paths Dia was showing him, started feeling worried "Compared to what we were up against before, this feels like a stroll. Even though Dia was here before, it's too suspicious. If it's a trial from the teachers, I would expect them to intervene and make some adjustments to keep it challenging."
"Well, there is not that many teachers taking care of the event to begin with with" Mattheia pointed out "If there is a number of groups, taking different routes, there is a big chance teachers cannot manage to react at the same time everywhere."
"Or they are planning something special for us, the very moment we let our guard down."
"Then they won't be able to take us by surprise with someone as focused as you."
Gerhan laughed shortly and continued forward with no further complaints.
Ultimately, they managed to reach a narrow path Draekia mentioned easily with no issues whatsoever.
"Now, I reached only up until this point" she said when everyone was standing by the entrance "I have no idea what awaits inside."
"We need to find out then" Mattheia told her "Kashia, let us check the area with magic."
They both stood on two sides of the entrance, and used their senses for picking up magic signals. For most of the time, they were relying on angel girl's senses as she was really good at picking up living beings' energy, but it was not really that helpful with magic traces left on objects, where Kabanos could fill in the gap. However...
"Now, that's a problem" Kashia took a few steps back "There is some kind of interference that gives me migraine. I cannot properly focus."
"Damn, me too" Mattheia also moved back a short moment after "I could feel some energy traces within the passage, but nothing really specific to be sure what these are."
"So, what's the plan?" asked Sherkhan "We are not going to just give up, right?"
"You should know by now it's not really my style" Kabanos smiled at him "It would have been better going in, knowing what's in there, obviously. This doesn't mean though, that we cannot pass through because of that. The best bet is just using brute force. We are going to put up a barrier around our group, and rush through the passage."
"That's the least thought up plan you came up with, you know?" Kashia sighed "The bigger problem is it feels we have no other option here. Flying about is not possible looking at how it is constructed" she added, while looking up where the sturdy ceiling was blocking the vision.
"Ok, so what order are we going in with?" Gerhan asked "It's narrow, so we will need to go one after the another."
"Indeed, and given potential magical traps on the way, it would be best to have those with most sensible magical senses up front" Mattheia started talking about the plan "I will take front, Kashia behind me, then Dia, and Sherkhan."
"Here we go then, after you, Matt" said Sher, moving aside to make room for others to enter.