Zeul City: City Of Mavens

We are walking in the hallways of this dungeon like structure. Sir Gildarts entered a door, the eight of us followed him. I am at the rear of the line, following Heist. The room that we entered is a stairway? I think it will lead us to the upper part of this dungeon.

"Hey, what do you think our second trial will be?" Heist asked, as we climbed up in the stairway. I didn"t respond because I simply don"t want to. This person, Heist, have this Fourth feeling. Their aura is almost the same. He looked at me, waiting for a response. I sighed.

"Maybe monster fighting or something." I said, giving off a not-interested-vibe. I saw Arthas looked at me, I"ve sensed him looking at me since earlier. If Heist have this Fourth aura, this person, Arthas, have this Fifth aura. Though I don"t really get involved with Fifth that match, I know that he have a similar aura with Arthas. An aura that tells me to keep my guard up.

We stopped walking when we saw a door in a corridor. Sir Gildarts entered in there, we followed him.

"Welcome to your second trial." Sir Gildarts said as we entered the room.

"Just as Azrael said, you will be fighting monsters." everybody looked at me after Sir Gildarts said that, after a few seconds, they looked at Sir Gildarts again.

"However, you will not do it individually. You will be doing it in a group of four." Sir Guildarts said. The other students exchanged glances, I looked at Heist, I saw him smile, I nodded.

"And, to be fair, I will randomly pick the members. " Sir Gildarts said, I saw their faces troubled. Uncomfortable, aren"t they?

"So the first group will be leaded by Cyon. Your members will be Hextri, Orion, and Detroit. " the four of them gathered together, leaving us four behind. We exchanged glances.

"And the rest will be the second group, to be leaded by Arthas. You already know them right? Aorion, Heist, and Azrael?" Arthas nodded.

"So for now, I will give you 30 minutes to come up with a plan. You see these doors?" Sir Gildarts said, pointing out the gigantic doors behind him. "You will need to enter these door separately. The first group will enter the left door, and the second will take the right. These doors will lead you in an open s.p.a.ce, you need to defeat the monsters and kill their boss."

We gathered around.

"Let"s talk about how we can win this trial, first things first. Let us discuss each other"s ability. We can"t work well if we are naive of each other"s ability. " Arthas said. We nodded.

"Then, I will start."  Aorion said as he raised his hand halfway. "I"m an elemental caster type but I focus on water and ice elements. I am confident with my attacks. The highest tier that I can cast for now is 4th tier. " he said, Arthas said then looked on Heist"s side.

"Then, its my turn. I am a phenomenal caster type. I focus on Gravity and Speed magic. My gravity can be used for holding off enemies for a few minutes. " he said.

"I am an Ancient Magic caster type, the elemental type. I can cast any element but my attack magic is of 3rd tier only. I normally focus on Enhancing and Defense magic, I can perform 6th tier magic of Defense and Enhancing magic. " I said.

"6th tier? At that age? Woah, who is your mentor. " Aorion said. It is not in question but I still answered him.

"My mom introduced me to magic but I don"t really have a mentor. I learned different magic just by reading. " I said.

"Now that you mention it, earlier you said that you"re a sage. That"s amazing. " Heist complimented. I felt Arthas" gaze on me. I looked at him, he cleared his throat.

"Okay, now for me, I"m a Light caster type. I can perform up to 7th tier magic. " Arthas said.

"Woah, as expected from someone in the Central Division. " Aorion said, showing his amazement.

"So now, we will have Aorion as Tanker, me as carry, Heist and Azrael as Support. " Arthas said. "Azrael will support us with his enhancement and defense magic. While Heist will support as by using his gravity magic to  hold the enemy. Aorion amd I will handle them. " we all nodded. This is in fact a good party, but I"m not really sure until I can witness their skills.

We stayed their resting and preparing our grimoires, scrolls, books. We also prepared our equipments.

Arthas came to me.

"Come here. Let"s talk. " He said as he walked past me. I followed him. We are on an isolated corner of the room.

"Who are you?" he asked the moment I caught up to him.

"I am Azrael, I already introduced myself earlier. "I said.

"I don"t know who you really are or who sent you but if you"ll be in my way , I will crush you. " He said straight to me.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I"m leaving. " I said, turning my back on him. He really is someone I should watch out for, I"m only here to study but I sense trouble near him. As much as possible, I should stay away from him.

"Just remember what I said, Azrael, just remember. " he said, that made me stop.

"Don"t worry, I won"t do anything that you won"t even notice my presence.  But if you happen to continue with that whatever suspicion you have for me without me doing anything unnatural, I will be the one crushing you. Just remember what I said Arthas, just remember." I said and then left. I don"t usually talk, but there are times that I lose it. He grabbed me back.

"You! How dare you talk to me like that? Do you even know who am I? You"re a n.o.body from who knows what empire and I am SOMEONE recognized by the current Queen. Don"t dare talk to me like that, don"t you dare!" He said in a loud voice, that made everyone look at us.

"I don"t know what you sensed about me for you to act like that! Are you perhaps threatened?" I smirked, and when I lose it, I can"t stop it.

"Okay!! It"s time to enter the doors. I will wait for you on the other side. Good luck young mavens. " sir Gildarts said, as he casted a magic that opened the doors. That made everybody focused on the task. Sir Gildarts disappeared, using his teleportation magic.

"Okay, let"s finish this fast. " Arthas said as he walked towards the door.

"That was quite a show Azrael, its funny how you answered him like that. As if the current queen is someone good." Heist said, I just hissed at him.

We entered the room, its a forest. Tall trees surrounding us. Where do these trees came from? The door closed itself, now there"s no turning back.

I saw a group of Goblins in a distance, each carrying different weapons.

Goblins aren"t strong monsters, they are weak but they are many. They are focusing quant.i.ty over quality. There are 20 Goblins in sight.

I buffed our front lines, Arthas and Aorion, using my Enhancing magic.

"Mana Burst." I casted. Mana Burst is a buff that enhances a caster"s magic attack depending on how much mana they use. Casting time takes three seconds and its effect lasts for a minute. It"s a tier 2 Enhancing magic.

"Wall breaker" I casted. Wall breaker is a defensive magic, it puts a barrier to the one I casted to. It doesn"t prevent damage, it absorbs them. After fifteen seconds of taking damage, the enemy will explode and receive twice the damage.

We ran towards the group of Goblins, Arthas and Aorion in front and Heist and I in the rear lines.

"Magnetic Pull" Heist casted. Magnetic pull is a debuff skill, it immobilizes the enemy for twenty seconds.

"Ice Spikes. " Aorion casted, Ice Spikes is an elemental attack magic. It summons ice spikes to the enemies"s spot, having an AoE. Aorion"s Ice Spikes took 7 goblins.

"Light Spikes. " Arthas casted. Light magic can imitate elemental magic as long as the caster can understand the magic"s structure. Since Ice Spikes is one of the basic magics, it can easily be understood. Same with Aorion, Arthas" Light Spikes took out 7 goblins.

"There"s six more, and they"re gonna counter. " Aorion and Arthas formed a defensive stance, making Wall Breaker more effective. After fifteen seconds, the remaining goblins explodes.

"That"s it for the first wave." Heist said, wearing his big smile and putting on his thumbs up.

"Let"s get going. " Arthas said as he walks deeper in the forest. We followed him, keeping our formation.

We followed a path, but a group of Goblins ambushed us. There are about fifty of them.

"Speed Force. " I casted. Speed force is a Enhancement and Defensive skills combined. It enhances your attack speed, movement speed, and casting speed. It also boosts your reflexes so you can dodge attacks better. Casting time is 1 second having an AoE for allies and effects last for five minutes.

We stepped back, trying to find an appropriate distance.

Aorion ran towards the center of the Goblins" formation.

"Water Bloom." He casted. Water came out from his feet and spreads towards the enemy. It slowly freezes. It"s like a flower slowly blooming. Water Bloom doesn"t deal a great damage but it"s DoT is a great help. The DoT lasts for three minutes. Aorion hurriedly went back to our formation.

The Goblins were slowed down thanks to Aorion"s magic and we are fast thanks to my Speed Force. That makes us way faster than usual.

"Light Rain. " Arthas casted. Blinding lights formed above the Goblins, they look like needles, waiting to pour down. Arthas gestured his hand down, making those light needles rain over the goblins. It took out 37 of them, with the help of Aorion"s Water Bloom.

The remaining 12 was at the rearmost part.

"Gravity Falls." Heist casted. Gravity Falls is one of the Gravity Magic"s attack. It creats a ball of gravity field above the enemy and then falls down with a great impact, dragging the enemies together. That attack cleared the second wave.

We heard a loud roar. It"s the boss. We ran towards where the voice came from. It"s in the exit, behind the boss was a big door, its the exit.

The boss is an ogre. Honestly speaking it"s my first time seeing it, so it somehow overwhelmed me. This will be hard for me.

"Double damage." I casted. Double damage speaks itself, it doubles the damage of my casted target.

Range attacks is weak against ogres, melee attacks, on the other hand is effective against it.

Arthas summoned a light sword from his book, while Aorion summoned his water whip. I focused on making their defense while Heist is to make an opening.

Arthas and Aorion charged towards the ogre, the ogre have a club as its weapon. He smashed the club unto the ground. Aorion managed to step back while Arthas jumped up. I boosted his jump.

The club was still on the ground, Arthas used that opportunity to run on the Ogre"s arm. He charged and sliced the ogre"s neck. It was a shallow cut. Arthas placed his palm on the cut.

"Light Creep." He casted. I get it. He cut the ogre"s neck to plant the creep.

Light Creep is an imitated magic from the original Nature Creep. It"s a magic that will plant vines and make it creep on the ground, the vines are strong enough to destroy a structure. But it takes two minutes to effect.

Aorion covers some time. He continuously sways his water whip. Every time his water whip hits the ogre, it leaves a DoT magic. Frost Bite, frost bite slows down its target, thus making its attacks easier to dodge. They kept dodging the ogre"s attacks, waiting for Light Creep to take effects.

The ogre"s body glows. It"s time, the Light Creep is showing its effectiveness. The ogre"s body swollen up until light vines comes out from its skin. Small vines at first and then large vines. That ended the Ogre"s life.

The door automatically opened. I think it is designed to open once the dungeon is cleared.

Sir Gildarts welcomed us.

"Congratulations second group, you finished the second trial faster than expected. "

-END of Chapter 4

Note:

AoE- Area of Effect

DoT- Damage over Time