But this had nothing to do with Kayden, he and his team were being taken to the principal again, who was once again ecstatic about his students' performance. This time it was a joint effort and an excellent example of strategy.
No matter how strong their opponents were, they were blind and completely unprepared for what happened. In normal situations, none of this would probably have happened.
"Your strategy was impressive, Kayden," Astolfo was the first to praise when they returned to the hotel. Ryan also agreed with the boy, it was something simple, but it had the desired effect.
"Tomorrow the real fights will begin, the third and final test to take out the remaining teams is a magical beast of the peak ninth rank," Astolfo's sister said in a serious tone that made them both agree with her.
Kayden had already found out about this through rumors spread on the internet, but having confirmation made him apprehensive. It was one thing to fight beasts of your level, something that was already very difficult, but to face a level above and still at the peak of the rank?
This was something completely different, it would be a ridiculously difficult fight.
"But that's something for tomorrow, let's go out to eat again", Astolfo was the first to encourage the quartet. It seemed like the boy was a source of good energy and enthusiasm.
**********
"What the fuck?" Astolfo cursed when he saw the huge crocodile in the center of the arena. It was at least four meters long and covered entirely in scales that looked like metal.
His aura identified him as a peak beast among his species, a natural predator, born for combat. When the animal opened its mouth, it was possible to see a huge row of completely sharp teeth.
"You have five minutes to decide your strategy," the judge's voice boomed above Kayden's head. The boy was reflecting on the situation. This was the last test before the top 25 came out, that is, this was done to remove only the best of the best among all the participants.
"Me and Astolfo are going to try to distract him. I want several debilitating spells on him, ice on his paws, stone blocks, anything that weakens his movement", Kayden began to give orders calmly. "First we must remove both of his eyes from functioning. Klaus, your function is to burn the entrances to his body, focus on his mouth, ear, and ass."
His last order was met with a strange look from his companions, but no one dared to say anything. Even though it wasn't the prettiest strategy, it was still the best option they had.
"The battle begins," the judge ordered once the five minutes had passed. The crocodile seemed to regain some degree of consciousness and began to look around. As soon as his eyes landed on Kayden's team, he let out an animalistic roar and rushed at the five.
Author's note: I looked it up and they do roar, it's quite scary actually. I recommend watching it on YouTube as a curiosity.
Apart from Kayden, the other four were nervous seeing the huge beast coming towards them. For someone who had fought against human beings all his life, it was not easy to see a frightening beast coming towards him at the speed of a car.
"Strength and agility," Kayden ordered. And after a second, it received the two "Transcendence" buffs. Going all out at the start, he rushed at the huge beast. Seeing his friend advancing, Astolfo snapped out of his shock and advanced as well.
Taking advantage of the surprise factor, Kayden used a Pop Flash. It was surprising as the beast had never fought it before and this proved correct when it stopped in its advance with its eyes closed.
Kayden didn't even think twice before climbing onto the animal's back and, holding the katana in both hands, stabbing it into one of its eyes with all the strength he had. A few sparks flew, but his blade failed to penetrate the animal's eye.
"Shit," Kayden thought before seeing the animal rolling over to lift him off its back. With a jump, he landed on the other side of the animal and, without giving it time to recover, ran against the crocodile.
The beast tried to grab Kayden, but its mouth was entirely shaped with a large piece of stone, the magic was so fast that she didn't even notice, the twins did this by connecting their magic with the target beneath the ground.
It was slow, but when you had time it was a good strategy, Kayden took this opportunity to jump against the crocodile again, this time he used more than 100% of his strength in an upward blow.
After many sparks came out, his blade entered the lower part of the eye, the blow resulted in a tower of blood and the blinding of one of the sword's eyes, the problem was that Kayden's sword got stuck and when the animal rolled he had to let go.
At that moment Klaus threw several balls of fire against the animal's mouth, the fire entered burning all the soft tissues, this made the beast learn a lesson, it shouldn't roar.