None of them knew what to do, paralyzed by the enormity of the threat. One instructor finally stepped forward and launched an attack at the dome, but before he could make contact, something burning and fast struck him from above. His body erupted into a spray of blood and flesh, scattering around the group.
Kaelor's face twisted in shock. "Krythar…!"
From the smoke and flames, a towering figure emerged. He was formidable, his crimson hair falling over his shoulders and four powerful arms each bearing the elements of a different destructive force. His top right arm, covered in molten lava that seeped through cracks in his skin, burned with an intense, radiant heat. His top left arm, encased in frost and emitting a deadly chill, was sheathed in razor-sharp icicles. His bottom right hand was swirling with gusts of powerful air, while his bottom left hand shimmered with crystalline edges, jagged shards of pure crystal embedded in his skin.
Krythar's eyes glowed in four distinct colors, each one as chilling as the last. He wore a wicked smile, his voice filled with an unsettling cheerfulness. "Ah, Kaelor! I knew you'd be here." His top right hand scratched his head while his bottom right hand stroked his chin. "Last time, you ran from our match. This time, let's fight with our full strength, shall we?"
Kaelor's face betrayed his fear, and he took a step back. Orion, noticing this, leaned over to Lyra, whispering urgently, "Get everyone back to the academy. Take them to the house. I'll—"
Lyra's eyes widened. "But I can't just leave you here—"
Orion gave a reassuring nod. "It's fine. I think their target is…something else. Go. Tell Kaelith and the others to focus their power on breaking through the vines from a distance. And you and Alastair—check the armory and make sure everything is secure."
Lyra, understanding, nodded, her face resolute. She signaled the others, and they quickly retreated from the scene, moving swiftly to follow Orion's instructions.
Krythar watched them leave, a gleeful expression on his face. "Oh, running away already? Well, looks like it's just you four, then."
In a split-second move, he leaped forward, his lava-covered hand swinging down in a fiery fist. The four remaining warriors dodged, barely escaping as his punch left a smoking scorch mark on the ground, flames licking up from the impact. The air filled with the acrid smell of burned earth.
Orion, Regin, Kaelor, and one other stood ready, their eyes glowing with fierce determination. Regin summoned a blood-red lance, crafted from his own blood magic, and hurled it at Krythar with all his might. But Krythar merely lifted his crystal hand, deflecting the lance as if it were a mere pebble.
With a booming laugh, he mocked them. "What was that, a baby's attack?" His laughter echoed through the forest, dark and menacing.
Kaelor clenched his staff, his face grim. "Long-range attacks are useless. We have to get in close—his crystal hand can deflect anything at a distance and his gale hand....."
Before he could finish, Krythar's gale-infused hand flicked forward, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that carved a deep trench in the ground behind them. They narrowly dodged, but the sheer force of the wind flattened the trees and left a massive scar in the earth.
Krythar smirked, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Oh, were you talking about this hand?" He laughed again, reveling in their fear.
The four warriors readied themselves, each with tense, focused expressions. They leaped toward him in unison, launching into a coordinated attack—fists, staff, kicks—all aimed at his elemental arms. The air crackled with power as they struck with everything they had.
In a dimly lit room, the bound fox-like creature lay on the ground, snarling and struggling against its restraints. Suddenly, its belly began to twist and tear, the flesh parting with a sickening squelch. A blood-soaked hand emerged from inside, pushing its way through the torn flesh. The dark-suited Fallenion, Caelic, crawled out from within, his face twisted in disgust as he pulled himself free, his suit drenched in dark blood.
"Ugh, this is fucking disturbing," he muttered, straightening up and brushing himself off, as if he could remove the grotesque remnants clinging to him.
Caelic turned to the mutilated fox beast, which lay still, its breaths ragged. He extended a hand, summoning a thick, purple smoke that seeped into the creature's torn belly. The wounds knit together almost instantly, healing the fox and freeing it from its chains. With a dark glint in his eye, Caelic leaned down, speaking softly. "Your job is simple: kill anyone who tries to enter this building. Understood?"
The fox beast let out a guttural growl and, without hesitation, lunged toward the door. It smashed through the heavy wood, barreling through the hall and shattering a window as it leapt to the ground below, ready to fulfill its deadly command. Caelic watched it go with a satisfied smirk before adjusting his posture, his voice calm and almost polite. "Now, let's find that map," he murmured to himself, leaving the room with a disturbingly graceful stride.
Meanwhile, Kaelith and the other instructors stood a safe distance from the dome, assessing its thorn-covered, flower-strewn structure. Vines twisted and layered like the web of some monstrous spider, their length filled with sinister crimson flowers that pulsed with a slow, eerie light. The air around them felt thick and draining, as though the dome itself was drawing energy from the surroundings.
Kaelith gripped Groger, and with a swift motion, slashed through a thick vine. As he sliced, the vine instantly regenerated, sprouting new tendrils in place of the ones he'd cut, and a nearby flower pulsed, glowing brighter.
One of the instructors, wide-eyed, took a shaky step back. "What is this thing?"
Kaelith's jaw tightened. "These flowers must be the source. Let's cut them down!" he shouted, raising Groger and leaping toward a towering crimson flower. With one swift slash, he decapitated the bloom, watching as the petals fell in a scarlet shower.
Encouraged, the other instructors joined in, each aiming for the flowers scattered across the vine dome. Yet as they cut one down, another sprouted in its place, larger and brighter. The flowers seemed to glow in response to each attack, draining more and more energy from them.
Kaelith's breaths grew heavier as he watched the flowers regenerating faster than they could destroy them. Sweat ran down his face, his vision blurring slightly as exhaustion set in. "Stop!" he shouted, his voice laced with desperation. "These things… they're draining our energy with every strike!"
Before they could regroup, a piercing scream echoed from one of the instructors nearby. "What…what is that?" The instructor stumbled back, pointing a trembling finger at a nearby flower.
The petals of the fallen bloom twisted and shifted, forming grotesque shapes. Its vines curled and solidified, morphing into something vaguely humanoid but monstrous, its form composed of thorny tendrils and blood-red petals. The flower-beast's eyes glowed with a sickly green light as it let out an inhuman snarl, lunging forward with thorned limbs and snapping tendrils.
More flowers around them began transforming, each one taking on a twisted shape as they leapt from the vines, snarling and swiping at the instructors. One beast wrapped a vine around an instructor's leg, pulling him down into the mud as others began to close in.
Kaelith, breathless and horrified, gripped Groger tightly, his voice hoarse as he shouted to the others, "Stay together! These things aren't just flowers—they're alive and they're feeding off us!" The instructors formed a hasty circle, their eyes wide as the monstrous flower-beasts surrounded them, each one pulsing with a dark, deadly glow.
Inside the vine dome, as they fell to the swamp floor, Ryen glanced over at Xan, disbelief in his eyes. "You said scratching an adult Gravewake would be a great feat, but that old man tore one apart with a single move."
Xan nodded, his voice tense. "It's not that the Gravewake was weak. That Fallenion is just that powerful."
Beside them, Varek scowled. "Then how the hell are we supposed to save our asses?"
The old man's mournful voice echoed through the swamp. "Why must you use such language? You're just students."
Varek turned on him with a snarl. "Shut up, you old fart!" He was about to say more when the old man's quiet, almost ghostly whisper cut through him. "Wood golems…"
The ground beneath them began to tremble, a faint rumbling that grew stronger as the swamp floor itself seemed to come alive. Twisted, moss-covered roots began to rise from the swamp, spiraling and twisting as they drew together. The students watched in horror, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Jasper's voice was shaky. "W-what…what is happening?"
The roots continued to coil and entwine, shaping themselves into the rough outlines of towering humanoid forms. The swamp echoed with the sounds of cracking and splintering as the roots fused, growing into thick limbs and jagged, bark-covered bodies. Thick branches twisted down, forming crude, clawed fingers that scraped against the air, ready to shred anything in their path. Vines wrapped around the forms like sinewy muscles, tightening as if to hold each figure together.
Varek's eyes widened as he realized the creatures were nearing completion. "Attack! Don't let them fully form!" he shouted.
Ryen's fist burst into a swirl of air as he unleashed a punch, sending a forceful shockwave toward the half-formed golems. Xan followed up with a boulder made from compacted swamp mud, hurling it with all his strength. The others joined in, launching their own desperate strikes to halt the creatures' formation.
But before their attacks could do much damage, the old whispered on more time "emerge", more vines and roots erupted from the swamp, encasing the golems like a thick, twisted cocoon, forming an egg-shaped shield around all of them.