That was what the rest of them were doing, too, as anything else might begin the spiral down a bleak, bleak path, which would only lead to premature defeat.
After all, fear had always been one of the strongest weapons in any a.r.s.enal.
Putting his left hand into his pocket, he was just around to take out a Ker Root to replenish himself as he wanted to be ready when the time came for the torture to begin.
Yet, as he felt another slight change in the air, he stood up abruptly.
"What is it, elder?", asked the High Seat, who had been fighting until now, and had only just returned to the head to confer with the others and rest.
Raising a hand to stop him, the elder forcefully put aside his tiredness and once again delved into the millions of elementary particles that made up the air about them.
He had felt something, and just like during that time when it had happened before, anxiousness began to fill his heart, which led him to believe that his senses were telling him that another spell had been cast which might once again bring great danger upon them all.
What was it? Were they strengthening the spell used to bait these sharks?
This didn"t make sense, as it would be too late before strong beasts that could change the tide of the battle could arrive, so what were they up to?
Only a second or so after his reaction, all of the sharks also stopped everything they were doing and looked up, together.
What the h.e.l.l was going on?
Something was definitely happening, but why… had the attention of the sharks been s.h.i.+fted towards their enemies, and not toward them?
His expertise had always been in the creation and a.n.a.lysis of spell work, and now, he once again drew on the knowledge he had ama.s.sed from hundreds of years of study to figure out just what kind of spell had been cast.
The answer came to him quickly, as with a hunch, he had directly matched the patterns of elementary formations with the spells that were usually a.s.sociated with hunting.
"Elder, do we need to do anything? Please speak!"
As the High Seat broke the silence in the head again, Elder Weimar frowned with irritation but gave the answer anyway.
"The Great sharks are looking up… Which means that a spell stronger than the bait that they used to make us seem like tasty morsels of Energy has been cast. There is only one which could make all five divert their attention, but why the h.e.l.l did they cast it on themselves? It doesn"t make sense!"
He was muttering by the end, so the High Seat spoke again.
"But what is the spell?"
Choosing not to hide his irritation this time, he snapped, "There"s only one thing more enticing than food to these beasts, and that is… a mating call."
Even as he gave the answer, the large, black eyes of all five sharks turn red, and at the same time, they began to snap their jaws with the eagerness to begin this ritual that occupied great importance in their minds.
After all, it could be said that even the very objective of their lives was to mate and pa.s.s down the glory of their species, so without further ado, they decided to drop everything else to reach that enticing mate in the sky that they could not see, even though its call was so attractively strong that it was driving them crazy
The biggest shark began to jump up, first, but the others did not want to let this prize go easily. They started jumping, too, to intercept the ones that rose the highest, and for a time, the sound of ma.s.sive bodies. .h.i.tting each other and falling back to the sea dominated the area.
The elders were still trying to figure out the reason behind this move by their enemies. They could not find the answer, so they continued to watch as the five sharks kept thwarting each other"s efforts repeatedly.
After a few seconds of this, though, as if reaching a tacit understanding, they all stopped jumping, and swam down below.
In the next moment, they were all going to jump into the sky together, and even if one shark reached those five, they were as good as dead.
With confusion, the family watched as they were left alone. Those who were working on the spell to free them from the barrier continued on their ask, but as it would take a few seconds for it to finish, they, too, diverted their attention to their foes.
Just as expected, with a great splash, all five sharks shot out of the surface of the sea like gigantic missiles setting out to smite the skies.
Each of them reached at least 100 feet(30 m) in the air, but as the five in the sky were just a bit above that point, they were safe.
However, it was then that another ma.s.sive change came upon the entire atmosphere.
The skies that had been roaring with lightning and thunder until now all fell silent for the span of a single heartbeat, before striking down with the combined fury of all the clouds in the area.
It had always been so - if there was a ma.s.sive spike in power in their domain, they would always strike together, and now, because of the spot they stood in, that powerful bolt of lightning which looked like it was at least 20 feet(6 m) thick would need to pa.s.s through them to swat down the sharks that had forgotten their place.
The bolt was strong enough to mortally injure a Peak Hero if they were stupid enough to stand in its path, but as the elder watched the five, he suddenly felt dread cover his mind, as he seemed to figure out what they were doing.
On their faces was not fear, or desperation… no, there was eagerness, and seeing this, the elder"s eyes shone with realization.
In fact, it was the eagerness of a hunter waiting for the perfect shot, and as he put two and two together, he turned to scream at the High Seat, but it was too late.
The bolt reached the five, and as he watched with horror, like an ancient G.o.d come alive, the figure of darkness that they had created grasped the lightning with all its strength… And then threw it right at the head of their G.o.dbeast formation.