The temple stood silently, occupying a large swathe of the forest's land. It's dilapidated structure radiating an unseen pressure that weighed on the minds and consciousnesses of any living being stupid enough to dare to make its way into the doors.
To this day, everything had been going on as they were meant to be.
No creatures dated to trespass into the area the temple encompassed...
Until today.
Zindi walked slowly and carefully, trying his best to look out for any traps that might be found on the way.
Ancient structures always had one thing in common...
Nothing was ever as it seemed.
A beautiful jade statue could turn into a venomous serpent that stripped you of your blood in an instant. A seemingly harmless walkway could be the home of intertwined steel webs that would cut you apart at the slightest sense of touch, simple door knob could be the trigger to a self destruct mechanism placed as a contingency plan in reaction to intruders...
Zindi had gone to another ancient structure before, and half of his party had died to the many traps and illusions placed there, so he didn't dare to get overconfident.
Behind him, the nine youths were also moving as cautiously as possible, even to the extent of walking at the exact same pace as the old man.
They didn't know why he was so cautious, but since he didn't explain anything to them, they could only swallow their indignation and follow Zindi stiffly.
Rolan cursed inwardly. 'Didn't he see me try to fight for him? Why is he also treating me this way then??'
A hint of resentment was building up within him, but he remained silent, not acting out of character.
Meanwhile, Zindi looked at the towering walls in front of him with furrowed brows.
The fact that there were no traps in the surrounding area was suspicious, but he felt that the traps in the walls would only be far deadlier and much more sinister than normal.
That would make sense.
This made Zindi's heartbeat quicken.
His core was at the light green stage, just a step away from the blue core, and this gave him the confidence of surviving whatever traps a measly ancient temple whose walls had no integrity left.
The moment he stepped a few meters near the temple though, his expression changed and he promptly flew backwards.
The nine youths also flew backwards, their expressions changing and attuned mana converging around them.
They looked around with a vigilance that they didn't have before, priming their senses to react to any unforseen threat that could cause a green core mage to skid backwards like that.
Although Zindi didn't really place any importance on the youths, he couldn't help but nod at their readiness.
'Last night's massacre seems to have taught them a good lesson.'
Then, a frown settled on his face.
The moment he set his foot a few meters from the temple, a strong sense of expulsion erupted from nowhere and descended upon him furiously.
At the time, he was sure that if he didn't quickly retreat, he would have been smashed face first into the ground.
'Interesting... This changes all the conjectures I've made.
'If I'm able to get past these walls, then whatever treasure that is obviously being protected will fall into my hands...
'I might even be able to escape the clutches of–'
"Zindi!"
Beatrice's panicked voice sounded in his ears, making him frown slightly.
Couldn't she see that he was busy?
He wanted to speak to her in a reprimanding tone when his expression warped.
"Earthen dome!" He shouted.
The ground rumbled and rose up, covering the ten people–the youths and Zindi–just a moment before a rain of fireballs fell on them from above..
Resounding booms echoed in the limited space inside the dome as orange fireballs exploded without pause.
"Benson, Zief, augment the dome, now!"
Zindi snapped at the two earth mages who were still as dumbstruck as the rest.
The old man called upon his deep mana reserves and the earthen dome that looked liked burnt clay regained the vibrancy of earth before thickening by almost ten times.
The earth mages who felt the density of the dome were awestruck and gripped by a feeling of dread.
They were awestruck because of the amount of mana a green core could use and maintain at the same time while they were gripped by dread because of a single reason.
To cause a green core mage to pull such an amount of mana...
BOOM!
BOOM!
KABLAM!
Three literally earth shattering explosions rocked the dome, causing fractures to snake across its ceiling and sides.
The youths were thrown totally off balance as they fell to the ground in unceremonious patterns, leaving only Zindi, who had anchored himself to the ground with the help of his earth affinity.
The rumbling continued for a while as Zindi continually pumped mana to repair the various fissures and cracks that threatened to destroy the dome.
The youths, meanwhile, weren't able to get their bearings at all. They were tossed from one place to another, making their vision swim and darken more than once.
When everything eventually stopped, Zindi's face had become a bit paler.
The two earth mages were the first set of people to regain their bearings, followed by Rolan, Moretz and Beatrice. After them came the remaining four.
Rolan looked at his surroundings with an expression of incredulity.
As a mage, there was no way he wouldn't recognize the type of attacks that they were faced with.
Those were attacks powered by mana!
Of course, it could have been a monster that was attacking them, but the way the exploding fireballs rained down upon them was something that he recognized as a spell!
Coupled with the three fireballs at the end that would have surely ended the lives of everyone but Zindi's, Rolan came to two conclusions.
The first was that they were being assaulted by humans!
This wouldn't be a shock to him because of the rules of the competition, but these attacks clearly came with the intent to kill!
His gaze hardened for a second before the second conclusion sank in.
'He saved our lives... again.'
A complicated light flashed in his eyes, but Zindi's voice snapped him and everyone else out of their thoughts.
The voice was calm and unhurried, totally unlike the voice of Zindi they were used to.
The old man didn't speak much.
He only said three words.
"Prepare for battle."