Always the Last

"STOP!" Everyone shouted at the same time. Too late, though. 

*Kabrum!*

Linfel already shot down a bolt of lightning!

Electric currents spread through the pond, also hitting the creature inside.

*ROAR!*

*Shua!*

The pond opened as the creature burst out of it. It was some kind of green serpent with slimy scales and a head covered in a helmet of bones. It immediately looked at Linfel, understanding it was the reason for its pain earlier.

*Zush!*

It immediately shot in Linfel's direction, trying to swallow him whole. Linfel immediately fell inside the creature's mouth as it once again dove into the water. Yet, the pond suddenly shined with even more lightning, shocking the onlookers.

Finally, Donfin came back to himself. "Run!" Linfel was distracted by the Level Four Magic Beast, so that was their chance to get away.

No one thought twice and quickly ran away... except Alvin and Felia. "I can't leave Linfel behind!"

However, it was then that a voice appeared on his side. "What are you talking about? I'm right here..."

Everyone's expressions froze as they looked to the side. There, Linfel floated as if nothing had happened. 

Linfel didn't waste time, though. He quickly used his Magic Energy and pulled Alvin back with him. "That's an interesting Magic Beast, but it will be best if we don't engage it now. None of us can defeat it. Let's go back before it realizes it got the wrong target."

Everyone was puzzled, but it didn't matter now. The priority was to run away as fast as possible. They quickly disappeared into the distance while the Magic Beast's sound echoed behind.

*Roar!*

It seemed it finally noticed it had been fooled. Yet, once it came out of the water, there was no one there anymore. It roared in rage but refused to leave the pond itself. In the end, it dove back into the pond and disappeared to the bottom.

Almost an hour later, everyone finally stopped, feeling tired. Usually, such a distance wouldn't be much for Maguses and Familiars, but the terror of a possible pursuit left everyone at their wit's end.

Linfel, however, seemed fine. "Quite a strong guy. Unfortunately, it is also half blind. It was quite easy to trick it, although it would hardly work twice. By the way, any of you know which kind of magic Beast is that?"

The group looked at Linfel with weird expressions. Finally, Donfin exploded. "Are you crazy! Why the hell would you provoke such a monster?! We could have died!"

Linfel turned to him, puzzled. "Because I wanted to see what it was. In the future, once we decide to come back to use the pond, we need to know what to expect, right? Or do you intend to never touch that pond again? Fine by me, though. More Magic Energy for me to use."

"It didn't need to be now!" Miranda complained. "You could have let it be; then we could come back another time when we were truly prepared."

Linfel pondered a bit. "Hum... that works too."

Everyone fell with their heads on the ground. "Alvin... just what kind of parameters you used in this Familiar of yours..."

Alvin bitterly smiled. "Let's just say it wasn't a very conventional approach."

Milia also calmed down. "Forget it, everyone. Linfel, just what happened back there? How come you suddenly appeared outside? We saw you being swallowed by the creature."

Indeed, their group saw the serpent taking him to the bottom. They thought Linfel was a goner at that point.

"Oh! That wasn't really me," Linfel explained. Right after, he used his Magic Energy and Lightning Began to form, taking a similar shape to himself. "I used a Lightning attack since that guy seemed to be compatible with water. After catching its attention, I made this copy."

"Since it was made of the same element that attacked the creature, the creature thought it was the culprit, especially since it couldn't see very well outside of water. It could only rely on its senses. It swallowed this copy of me and dove down. Naturally, the copy dispersed as the Lightning hit its inside, making it even more disorientated," Linfel concluded.

He then looked back, feeling impressed. "Still, even though I didn't use much Lightning, it barely got any damage at all, although it swallowed the copy. Truly, a very strong fella. We better avoid him for now."

Only now that they looked at it with calm did they see that the copy Linfel made with Lightning was indeed very bad. In a normal situation, they wouldn't be fooled by it. Nonetheless, the risk Linfel just took was ridiculous. "Just don't do something like that again, alright?"

Linfel nodded. "Alright. In any case, we didn't come out without anything. Look at where we are."

"Hum?" The group looked around. Yet, other than the walls of the cave, there was nothing. They ran quite far away, so they couldn't see the shining green rocks anymore either. "What is it?"

Linfel smiled. "Watch!"

Linfel circulated his Magic Energy once again and created another Fire Ball. Immediately, he shot it against a wall not too far away.

*Boom!*

The wall crumbled like the first one, showing the outside world. "You all followed me as we ran away from the pond, so I took another path that went in the opposite direction we came. By following the Magic Energy flow, I knew we would find another exit here. We should be much, much deeper into the Dark Cayons now."

Their group got up again and exited the cave. They were indeed back at the bottom of the Dark Cayons. It's just they couldn't exactly tell where they were at the moment. "Are we truly further in?"

Linfel nodded. "The Magic Energy flow here is what you would expect, considering the changes I experienced along the way. Take a look over there."

They once again turned their eyes into the distance, and there, they spotted another Flag. "It's... It's the Purple Flag! Then the place we are is..."

"Purple Flag?" Alvin and Felia asked at the same time. "Do you know where we are then?"

Milia, who seemed slightly excited as well, quickly nodded. "Yes. There had been exams that used Flags before. After all, we receive one Field Exam every week. Purple... is always the last flag."

Donfin looked at the time and couldn't help but exclaim. "Six hours! It has been only six hours since the start of the exam!"

Everyone checked the time as well. "Are we going to break the record by four hours?!"

"Seems like it," Miranda spoke, equally happy.

Without thinking twice, their whole group charged to the Flag in the distance. However, they weren't idiots. They let Linfel go ahead since he could feel Magic Beasts to a certain distance. Especially Donfin and Miranda, who were taken by surprise by the Rock Breakers earlier this day.

Linfel didn't mind since he already intended to do it anyway. As they approached, their speed slowed down, waiting for Linfel's warning.

*Crack!*

Yet, this time, Linfel couldn't do anything about it. That's because his perception range is only around ten meters. At the moment, he was walking that same distance ahead, so he didn't notice. No one did. Out of nowhere, several dark vines came out of the ground, trying to bind their group.

Alvin was taken aback as he was the first one to see a dark vine sprouting from the ground, attacking Milia on the back. Without thinking, he immediately circulated his magic Energy and kicked her, sending her flying out of the way.

Many more of those vines came out, capturing Connor, Miranda, and Donfin. Alvin was just lucky. He simply wasn't the first target by mere chance. However, after kicking Milia, the vine that was supposed to take her took him instead.

Of course, their group wouldn't just look as the vines took them. They all circulated their magic energy and attacked the vines. Yet, at the same time they attacked, they felt their bodies go numb.

"Shit! They are covered in poison!" Donfin exclaimed.

*Swish, swish, swish...*

Suddenly, several slashes came in succession, cutting the vines and freeing the group. It was Milia and Nori who were now connected. Surprisingly, Nori's form was that of a sword. Milia circulated her Magic Energy, creating a flaming sword that kept attack the vines as they came out of the ground.

*vuuuuuu...*

Following that, a current of wind reached everyone's bodies, pulling them away from the vines. This time, it was Linfel who acted. He was the only Familiar not connected to a master, so he was free. 

"This guy is hidden deep underground. I can't feel his Magic Energy." Linfel could feel Magic Energy up to ten meters, but that's only if there were no barriers on the way. Feeling Magic Energy underground was much harder, so his perception didn't go more than three meters down.

*Crack, crack, crack, crack...*

The ground then began to crack open as a mass of Dark Vines came out. It wasn't only one, but ten of them at once. 

Milia recognized them straight away. "They are Para Vine Beasts. You can find them in quite a few different places in our country. They usually hide underground and use the vibrations on the surface to detect their prey. Obviously," Milia then slashed a few more times and continued, "they paralyze their target and use the vines themselves to absorb their nutrients."

Linfel looked at Alvin. "Can you move?"

Alvin slowly got up as his legs trembled. "More or less. This poison sure works..."

Donfin, Miranda, and Connor followed suit. Donfin and Miranda, as Level Two Maguses, seemed to be better off. Their higher Magic Energy helped them block the poison better than Alvin and Connor. "These fuckers! Let's finish them off!"

Donfin quickly shot forward. He could tell that although annoying, those Para Vines were still only Level One Magic Beasts... or Plants, for the matter. Having been caught by them was quite disgraceful in his eyes.

Alvin and Felia quickly worked together. His magic Energy created several spikes out from the earth and tried to pierce the Para Vine Cores.

Connor followed suit with his wind attacks, which were especially good since he could create wind blades. 

Alvin and Connor took one Para Vine each, while Connor, Miranda, and Donfin took three at the same time. That left two Para Vines for Linfel deal with.

The fight continued as the Para Vines tried to keep their distance while using their poisonous vines to attack Alvin's group. Linfel acted as a kind of support character. He easily held down his two Para Vines and acted every time he saw someone was going to be caught by those vines.

Usually, Donfin and Miranda wouldn't need much help since they are Level Two Maguses. However, the poison was still in their bodies, so their movements were quite slow. Alvin and Connor were even worse.

Fortunately, Milia also made up for it with her own effort. She used several Fire Attacks, mainly focused on Nori's Blade. The fire seemed to be especially effective against those Para Vines.

*Boom!*

A Fire Spear suddenly hit one of the Para Vines, piercing through its core and burning the rest of its body. The first Para Vine came down, reducing the pressure on the group. "Finally, an opening," said Linfel. 

That single death changed the battle almost instantly. Linfel now only had one para Vine to deal with. His barrage of attacks, all made of fire and wind elements, completely overwhelmed that Para Vine. It soon died as well.

*Swish, swish, swish!*

Milia wasn't any slower. Even though she fought three of those, she still held the advantage. Finally, she took one down. However, instead of charging at the other two, her Sword, which was Nori transformed, turned to the side and sent a Fire Slash attack. Tens of Dark Vines were instantly cut down, causing the Para Vine owner to scream in pain.

Alvin sighed in relief. His Earth Element was truly not very good against this beast. He was doing his best just to hold down, especially with his numb body. "Thank you."

Milia quickly turned back to her targets. "Now we are even." She obviously didn't forget that it was Alvin who prevented her from being touched by the vines earlier.

One Para Vine after another fell, and their group found it easier and easier to work together. After a few minutes, the last Para Vine was cut down, bringing an end to the battle.