As the group approached a huge tree in the center of the area, the ground started shaking abruptly.
Kashia immediately used her wings to float above, lifting Dia, who was still unable to transform, with her. Maattheia and Sherkhan could not fly like that, and had to jump from one collapsing piece of ground onto another.
While it seemed they will manage avoiding danger for now, tree's branches and roots started moving violently as if trying to hit the students, who were barely avoiding getting hit, ultimately forced to back off. Still, it did not seem they were safe now as the tree looked as if it was about to chase them.
"What the hell!?" Mattheia shouted the moment huge boulder he was standing on started falling.
"It's a treant, guys!" Dia, who was circling above them carried by Kashia, shouted "These creatures look like trees but can move around like humans!"
"I know what treants are!" Kabanos replied "Though I didn't have a chance to see one with my own eyes!"
"Not a good timing for meeting a treant, if you asked me!" Kashia pointed out "What are we going to do?"
The only person who did not speak for a moment now was Sherkhan, but everyone already knew what he is going to say before this happened:
"Isn't it obvious? We fight it!"
Despite of all the seriousness related to the situation they were in, Mattheia sighed out of the habit.
"Well, it doesn't seem we have other choice, but I'd rather limit this fight to minimum, and lure it away from the center to give us time to pass through."
"Ok, what's the plan then?"
"We are going to back to the spot from which we entered, and then bypass from the west and proceed north."
Kabanos ordered everyone what to do, and they started fighting the treant while leading it towards one of the walls. Mattheia, Kashia and Dia were using fire magic to damage the wooden hands, legs and other additional branches and roots treant was attacking with.
"Do treants always attack with such a rage?" angel girl was flying around right now as she let dragon-kin girl move on her own "I always thought they are calm giants and always avoid getting involved with most of the races."
"You are not wrong" Draekia replied, while dodging several vines attacking her wildly "I've seen some of them and even had a chance to talk to them, but they can be sometimes taken over by the rage and it's hard to stop them when it happens. They need to vent and get tired before getting to their usual selves."
"But what did we do to begin with?"
Dia shrugged.
"I have no idea."
"Maybe it was about the vines from before?" Sherkhan pointed at the vines that he was fending off "Maybe it was pissed because we destroyed these before?"
Hearing that exchange, Mattheia jumped back a bit farther to observe - in a short while, he noticed something unusual about the movement treant had.
"It seems to be targetting the girls!"
Others looked confused, but once they proceeded with what Kabanos told them to do, it turned out he was right.
"I don't know why is this happening, yet we can use it to our advantage" Mattheia told others "It's not something I wanted to do... Still, it makes the most sense to use the girls as a bait to lure the treant and have them retreat first, while me and Sher will slow its chase."
"I can't say I like the idea, but it makes sense" said Kashia "I'll do it."
"Same here" Dia confirmed.
With that, they quickly agreed to change in plans, and it ended up being much easier to lead the treant as they wanted. In a matter of minutes, the humongous tree creature reached the wall, and the group started running fast towards the opposite direction. The difference in speed was big enough for the treant being unable to reach them.
Once they passed the center of the area, and entered the rectangular space in the northern part of this section of the maze, everyone suddenly heard a loud "NOOOO!" and it looked like it was treant's angry shout.
"I still don't get what was this things deal" Sherkhan said as the group was approaching the ladder they noticed a while before.
"No idea, maybe it just likes girls" Mattheia replied with a shrug "Either way, we should not chitchat like this, because it may reach us."
The ladder was reaching up the wall, being encompassed by stone walls leading to some kind of a narrow tunnel.
Since girls reached there first, they started climbing the ladder immediately, followed by Kabanos and Gerhan.
As Mattheia was climbing, he started catching up with girls, Dia being above him. While looking up, since the dragonkin girl was wearing a skirt, he was supposed to see underwear, but he noticed something unusual instead.
"Why aren't you wearing panties?" he asked without thinking, trying not to look.
Draekia tried to cover with one of her hands immediately, and almost fell off the ladder if it wasn't for the narrow space.
"You could just do me a favor and not point this out!?" she was flustered "It's not like I wanted it. I told you before that transformation requires materials, and since I lost some scales during fight with you and then fixed the clothing for myself and Kashia, I didn't have enough for the underwear."
The route further up was quite embarrassing since after getting to the top of the ladder, they entered further into tunnel through which they had to go on all fours. Fortunately, both for Dia's and Mattheia's sanity, this position was covering the girl's bottom.
Several minutes later, they emerged on a huge, stone platform, located way above the ground - high enough for them to see all of the surrounding spaces that were a part of this unusual arena. Only a few seconds out, the group noticed they were not the only ones in the area, though for some reason no one was moving away from the routes which led them here.
"Ok, that's weird, why is no one walking forward?" asked Sher, taking a few steps forward, and looking around "Is it some kind of a trap or anything?"
Mattheia and Kashia were trying to pick traces of magic.
"I see some faint signs of spells being cast, but it was quite some time ago and these already dispersed so there is not enough energy for anything to trigger" said Kabanos "I doubt anything would activate like this."
"And the only living beings are the others who are hiding close to other entrances" angel girl followed up "It's unusual, maybe we should try and communicate with them?"
"I get a feeling this may be a bad idea" Dia seemed shaken a bit "Sherkhan, get back here this moment."
"Wha...? Why would...?"
The moment he started talking, a strong gust of wind struck him. Gerhan used his chestplate and sword to defend, but even with that, he was thrown back with a huge power. Only owing to other three, he ended up being unscathed - Mattheia used another wind spell to limit the impact, Kashia cast a barrier on Sher, and Dia caught him before he hit anything.
"Whoa, I didn't see it coming" the boy swordsman was feeling dizzy "What was that?"
"A dragon phoenix" Draekia informed "Not your everyday dragon, a dragonkin or lowly lizards like before. This one is special."
"A dragon phoenix?" Mattheia repeated "What's that?"
"Oh, so there is something you don't know from reading?" Kashia had to say specifically that "I thought you heard about absolutely everything."
Kabanos sighed.
"Obviously not. I read about dragons and phoenixes, but not about something in-between."
"Not in-between" Dia corrected him "This one really is special, it's union of most powerful flying beings. Kashia surely knows these, that's why she is teasing you."
Angel girl turned her head and smiled.
"Dia's right, Sky People know about most of aerials, even the ones dwelling in the highest parts among the clouds, inhabiting the flying islands" she told others "I've seen dragon phoenixes in the past, and they are really rare creatures. It's unusual to see one in such a place."
"Why is that?" Sherkhan, who was still not back to his usual self after being hit and leaning on Draekia, asked.
"This place is quite dark, far from the sunlight, and the air is different" Kashia started explaining "I heard these creatures require special conditions like this to maintain their energy levels as they need to rest enough time, while absorbing energy from surroundings to be able to move their huge bodies."
"Isn't it similar to dragons though?" Mattheia pointed out, looking at Dia "Can't they just consume enough food?"
Draekia shook her head.
"Dragons are more physical than magical in that regard" she said "Dragon consumes lots of food to turn it into physical energy, but magical energy they draw from nature, and the elements depends on where the dragon was born, to which element it is connected. The point is, dragons rely on physical power, while dragon phoenixes are more - how you say it here? Spiritual I believe, so they rely more on magic than physical strength, so they need to be closer to their source."
"Precisely" Kashia confirmed "That's why it's so surprising we see one like that in such a place."
"Then, maybe it's some kind of an illusion?" Kabanos suggested "If it's as you say, it's quite likely something teachers here would come up with."
"Well, given how creative this whole course is, I wouldn't rule out this possiblity" Dia agreed "Still, I had this weird gut feeling I usually have when facing a real dragon, so it's hard for me to not believe it's real."
"Ok, so now what?" asked Gerhan "If this is such an amazing being as you say it is, what can we do against it?"
"Question is, are we supposed to fight every creature here?" Mattheia started speaking his mind "Remember, we started with a fight, but we could pass this treant with a trick. I'm sure that relying on brute strength is not something we should be aiming to do at all times."
"Ok, then, do we have an idea what we are supposed to do here?" everyone started looking at each other once Kashia said that.
Ultimately, they retreated to the tunnel they used to climb here, and were looking around for clues, while also keeping an eye on others who made it to the platform.