Zone Two - The Monster Hunt

          When the path is split into two, Kazuo, Harper, and Sylvie take the path to the right. They hike for two kilometers and finally reach their destination. Ahead in the distance, they spot a large rugged man sitting on a massive boulder with a flat top. The proctor for their trial is sharpening multiple blades of various lengths. He looks up and adjusts his hat. "There you guys are. Hurry up and gather around so I can explain your assignment," says the proctor.

          "Oh, man. Ringo is going to be so jealous!" Kazuo exclaims.

          "Huh?" Harper says, annoyed at the random shouting.

          "That's the Beast Hunting King Zoltan. Even monster class beasts are no match for him," Kazuo explains.

          All the students approach the boulder and await directions. "My name is Zoltan Draskov, a first-position Platinum Plate who graduated three years ago. For this trial, you will be teaming up in groups of four. You can pick your partners, but there can't be more than one purple coat in a team. You better get to it quickly," Zoltan instructs. He remains quiet for a few seconds.

          "Oh. You mean now?" A random student from the front asks.

          Zoltan gets visibly ticked off, and all the students scramble to set their teams.

          "I suppose there's three of us here," Harper says. "We just need one more teammate."

          Kazuo turns to the side, and tears pour out of his eyes. "I can't believe I was presumed to be part of the team. Here I thought I was going to struggle to find teammates," Kazuo whispers to himself.

          They hear footsteps approach from behind. "You guys are Adrion's friends, right?"

          The three turn around and spot someone they least expected. Hideo approaches them while waving.

          "Uh, yes," Harper responds to him.

          "I'm sure I'm on bad terms with you guys from the imposed decree a while back, but I've wanted to apologize to him. I just keep finding it hard to approach him about it. Back then, I was a simple-minded idiot who thought I was unbeatable and would easily take a bribe. He sort of opened up my eyes after he defeated me."

          "If you want to apologize, we're not going to do it for you. You have to do that yourself," Kazuo tells him.

          "I'm well aware. I came here to be on good terms with you guys. I wanted to see if you would let me join your team. We still don't know what this trial will be, but I'll try my best to ensure we pass," Hideo explains.

          Kazuo looks at the other two girls, "So what do you two think?"

          "Well, it wouldn't make sense if he did any foul play since his expulsion could be on the line. It doesn't matter to me," Harper shrugs her shoulders.

          "U-uhm, I suppose it w-would be great to have a-a purple coat's help."

          "Well, there you have it. You're part of the team," Kazuo tells him.

          "Great! I promise I won't disappoint!" Hideo bows forward.

          All the other students team up with a total of ninety-three teams. Zoltan stands up to announce, "great. Now that the teams have been set, on to the details. As some of you know, I made a career out of hunting and capturing some of the fiercest beasts. I have brought many of them here for you guys to hunt, but it won't be like the previous class E and D beasts you're all used to. There are only class C and B beasts here, thus the four-person teams. There is one prized beast, a class A beast, otherwise referred to as a monster class. Should a team be in danger, some of my assistants will intervene. You won't have another chance to hunt and get zero points when that happens. You're only allowed to hunt one beast per team. If you get greedy, that'll be zero points. Once you hunt a beast, you are to come back and have my team analyze it immediately. A class C beast will be one point, class B beast will be two points, and a class A will be four points."

          "A beast hunt? This would have been great for Ringo," Kazuo says.

          An assistant rolls out a board with a map of the mountain. It is the same map that is being shown to zone one students. Zoltan points at the blue belt with number two. "We are located here in zone two. This whole part of the mountain will be utilized for your search, be sure you don't get lost, please." He tears off the map to reveal profile pictures of five purple coat students. "By the way," Zoltan clears his throat, "These five students are worth points too. You can stack it with your beast hunt, and they're worth three points, but you have to take out the whole team."

          "Is it too late to kick you off the team?" Harpers asks Hideo.

          "I was not expecting this," Hideo replies. He stares at his image and the images of Olena, Yeva, Melvin, and the biggest threat in this zone, Honoka. These are the five purple coats being secretly evaluated in this zone.

          "Now then. Let's begin," Zoltan announces, and a horn sounds. The teams scatter in every direction.

          "What's our game plan?" Harper asks.

          "First of all, we have to lose everyone here. They'll be on to us with Hideo on our team," Kazuo says. "As for our hunt. What's your suggestion, Hideo?"

          "I say we go for a class B. Unless you're all up for the class A monster?" Hideo responds.

          "I think identifying the class A monster will be easier to spot. I have no idea what beasts are class C or B," Kazuo says.

          "Alright then, class A monster it is!" Harper yells.

          Hideo gets suspicious, "everyone, get down!"

          All four get down, and an electrified copper rod zooms past them. The rod impales into a tree, and the bark explodes outward from the lightning.

          "Hahaha. Well done," says the girl leading her team.

          "What gives, Yeva?" Hideo asks.

          "Come on. What kind of question is that? You're worth three points like me, except you're surrounded by weaklings. I'd say that's an easy win for us," Yeva explains. She holds out her hand to the side.

          Her blue coat partner uses his magic, "Copper Magic - Dual Daggers." A couple of copper daggers form and drop onto Yeva's hand.

          "Lightning Magic - Touch of the Lightning God," Yeva chants. Her hands spark out, electrifying the daggers in her hands.

          "I summon thee, Indomitable Knight!" Hideo quickly responds. Yeva reels her hand back and launches the first dagger. The electrified dagger slices through the air. At first, Kazuo and the girls think that the dagger will beat the knight being summoned, but it doesn't. The knight appears and slams his left fist down, and the dagger takes a sharp ninety-degree turn and cuts into the ground.

          "So you've gotten faster with your spirit summoning," Yeva comments and throws the other dagger.

          Hideo laughs a little, "heh. I got a little push a while back. I summon thee, Bodia - Hound of the Hunter." An armor-wearing dog appears next to him. The knight up front brings out his sword and slashes the second dagger. "Which one of you is up for fighting?" Hideo asks his teammates.

          "I'm down," Kazuo volunteers.

          "Okay. You two, this hound is Bodia. She will follow the scent of strong magic. Please follow her and find the monster class beast. If she leads you to something else with strong magic, just ask her to lead you to another source. Once you do find it, do not engage in battle. Ask the hound to find me," Hideo explains.

          Kazuo removes his blazer and dress shirt to warm up for battle. The hound runs off, and the girls run after it. Hideo turns to Kazuo, "I'm not planning on winning. We just need to distract them long enough, then make a run for it. It's harder to find two people running than four. Also, I can only summon up to three spirits at a time. Since the other two have the hound, I can only summon one more."

          "Okay, sounds good," Kazuo replies.

          "What's the point of splitting up your already weak force? Hahaha. Thanks for making this a bit easier," Yeva yells as she and her team push.

          The knight raises his left leg and stomps to shake the ground. The copper magic student stumbles to the ground while the other three continue running. Hideo summons the spirit bow and draws back on the bowstring. The arrow charges power, and Hideo releases the string. The arrow shreds past the knight and hurls straight for Yeva.

          Yeva suddenly stops and plants her feet firmly on the ground. "Lightning Crush!" she yells and punches the arrow with her lightning-coated fist. Lightning scatters along with the force of the arrow. The knight turns his sword to hit with the flat side of the great sword. He swings the sword and smacks both of the blue coat girls. Even in the air, the girls combine a magic attack.

          "Paper Magic - Paper Darts!" one of them chants.

          "Poison Magic - Toxic Shot," adds the other girl.

          Paper sheets form in the air and turn purple from the poison. The paper is then reshaped with a drill-like shape and launched forward. Kazuo steps forward and claps his hands together. "Time for a little heatwave!" The air around him distorts immediately from the heat, and the paper catches fire. They burn away to ash in the air while Kazuo smiles smugly. The knight dashes to get in front of Kazuo and is hit by four copper rods with great force. The knight is pushed back and hits Kazuo slightly.

          "You shouldn't jump in like that," Hideo warns him. "Thanks for dealing with that combo magic, though."

          Both of them direct their attention to the sound of violent lightning chirping. Yeva has her hands engulfed in balls of lightning. Hideo joins Kazuo to be able to defend a little better. He charges the next arrow in the spirit bow. Yeva launches both orbs with great force, and Hideo shoots two arrows. Keelan, the copper magic student, also secretly shoots a tiny copper ball. The two arrows are right on path to hit the lightning balls, but at the last second, the orbs are attracted to the copper to their right and move to the side. The right arrow misses, and the left arrow hits the wrong orb. Upon impact, the lightning erupts with a massive discharge while the second ball of lightning still hurls forward. The knight runs forward and collides with the lightning to take the discharge wave. While shocked, the knight impales his sword into the ground to dissipate the lightning quicker.

          Hideo's bow disappears, and he whispers to Kazuo, "It's going to be a tight fit, but bear with me."

          "Huh?" Kazuo says.

          "I summon thee, Great Spherical Fortress," Hideo chants. A sheet metal platform appears below their feet and folds into a sphere around them. From inside, a gyro forms to maintain them upwards while the sphere moves. The sphere rolls away swiftly while their enemies are distracted by the light show.

          "Wait a minute," Yeva says while noticing the knight disappearing. She holds out her hands and dissipates the lightning herself. Once the lightning is gone, she spots no one, but she does spot the sphere fortress rolling away in the distance. "Tsk. Come on, let's chase after them," Yeva orders.

          Inside the sphere, there's a hole for Hideo to look out of. However, he can only look out of it when it passes while spinning. "Get ready to drop to the ground and stay quiet," he tells Kazuo.

          "Got it," Kazuo nods.

          The opening in the sphere widens, and the gyro inside disappears. Hideo and Kazuo roll inside until they're spat out. The sphere takes a sharp right turn and speeds off. Hideo and Kazuo crawl their way in the opposite direction, very slowly. They find it difficult with all the jagged rocks and branches they have to crawl through.

          Over with Harper and Sylvie, Bodia, the hound they're following, sniffs into the air. She was following a scent but lost it. Once Bodia finds it again, she darts out. The girls quietly traverse, making sure they don't make excess noise. Bodia comes to a stop and slowly peeks through a bush. Harper approaches the bush and looks around it. She hears grunting in the distance and is concerned. A terrible feeling hits her ears, and she falls to the ground. Harper wants to yell from the pain, but she holds it in. The humming noise stops, and she lets go of her ears.

          Sylvie approaches her, "Are y-you alright?"

          "Yeah," Harper gets up and looks around the bush. They both spot Honoka and her team. Three other teams are lying in agony. Honoka turns around in the direction of the girls, and they quickly get back.

          "Well, this is obviously not the right trail. God, that was an awful feeling. I definitely wouldn't want to cross her," Harper tells Sylvie. "Where is Bodia?" They turn around and see the hound hiding. "Sorry about that. Let's go find another scent," Harper says to Bodia. The hound sniffs the air and finds another scent. The girls aren't sure what they're looking for, but they know class A beasts are massive. They tend to be the size of elephants, so every time they run into smaller beasts, they back away immediately. The search goes on for an hour and a half, only to keep finding the wrong targets.

          "Find anything?" Kazuo asks.

          The girls jump in fright. "Geez! What the hell is your problem," Harper yells at him.

          "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," he replies.

          "How'd you find us anyways?" Harper asks.

          Hideo chimes in, "I have a connection with my spirits. I merely followed it here. We would have gotten here sooner, but we had to go around a few obstacles."

          "We've had n-no luck," Sylvie says.

          "I figured. Bodia's strength goes down the further she gets from me. Even so, I was hoping it would be able to detect the strong magic," Hideo explains. "Bodia, please find the strongest beast around." Bodia sniffs the air in circles and locks on a scent. She sprints away with the group chasing after her. Forty minutes into their hike, Bodio keeps running.

          "I thought you said her ability would be stronger?" Kazuo asks.

          "It is. She hasn't stopped to re-track a scent," Hideo replies.

          "That's true. Earlier, she kept stopping to sniff the air," Harper says.

          The four of them hear a loud roar from nearby, and Bodia comes to a stop. She snarls into the distance. Hideo approaches and spots a clearing with nothing except a cave towards the back. Heavy grunts escape from the cave entrance for everyone to hear. He feels a tremble in the ground, followed by another one seconds later. Four more small tremors and a massive beast exits the cave. It stands three and a half meters tall and just over five meters long. Its scales are rugged and thick. Overall it has a lizard-like appearance, almost like a wingless overweight dragon. When it steps out into the open, it sniffs into the air, and its stomach rumbles.

          "Uhm, is it just me, or does it seem like he's hungry?" Kazuo asks and takes a step back.

          "Seems that way. And it caught our scent before we even got here. I hope you guys aren't having second thoughts after coming all this way," Hideo tells them.

          "It's just a big fat lizard. Let's go hunt it," Harper says as she surrounds her arms in an exoskeleton. Sylvie seems unsure but is pressured by everyone else, seeming so sure.

          Bodia disappears, and Hideo summons his Indominable Knight. He also summons the spectral bow. The knight takes the lead and steps out into the clearing, with the rest behind him.

          "Would you look at that? Guess we found him at the same time," someone calls out.

          They all turn to their right and spot Honoka and her team.

          "Oh crap," Hideo whispers.

          "What's that look for? Not excited to see me?" Honoka asks.

          "Can't say I am. I've seen what you're capable of," Hideo responds.

          "Don't be scared my man. She's far weaker than Adrion, so you have a chance," Kazuo says.

           "Uhm, guys?" Harper asks, but no one pays attention.

          "What makes you say that? Being biased for your friend?" Honoka asks. "In terms of physical strength, he is. I'll give him that much, but combat isn't always about strength."

          "GUYS!" Harper yells.

          The monster opens its jaws and takes a bite. Honoka, Hideo, and Kazuo barely step away from its path. They can smell the foul breath from its mouth and cover their nose. Hideo's knight starts slashing away at its right rear leg. Hideo draws back the bowstring and fires two arrows at the monster's face.

          "Kill the monster before they do," Honoka tells her team. They start blasting the monster with their magic. Once Honoka unleashes her magic, everyone is affected. Someone in Honoka's team uses her magic to prevent Honoka's magic from affecting their team.

          The monster gets annoyed by Honoka's magic and steps back. It takes a deep breath and unleashes a nasty gunk breath attack. The monster also kicks away the knight that was attacking its leg.

          "Vibration Magic - Air Shield!" Honoka chants and places a hand in front of her. The vibrations in the air create a shield that deflects the acidic breath attack. Sylvie creates vine shields for her teammates, but the acid tears right through them. Luckily it gave everyone enough time to move back. The monster roars once again, but right on Honoka's face. "Don't be upset at me," she tells him. The terrible humming noise returns, and the monster is pushed back forcefully.

          "We have to do something before she kills it!" Harper yells.

          "Alright, let's go," Hideo orders. He leads the group forward to attack. Sylvie creates vines and wraps them around the monster's legs to release her paralyzing toxin. The monster gets up on its hind legs and stomps down.

          "Its scales are too thick!" Kazuo shouts.

          Honoka and her team assault the monster again, driving it back.

          "I'll distract her team. You guys take care of the monster," Hideo tells them.

          "Are you nuts? We need your help!" Kazuo tells him.

          "You can figure something out. Indomitable Knight, over here," Hideo says. The knight stops fighting the monster and charges after Honoka's team. Hideo loads his next shot and fires at Honoka. The knight swings its sword down and splits the ground to interrupt the others.

          "Sylvie, you think you can use your vines to put me atop the monster?" Kazuo asks.

          "Y-yeah," she replies. "Vine M-magic - Vine Whip." A vine sprouts out from her hand, and she wraps it around Kazuo. Kazuo is carried up and dropped on the monster's head. Harper approaches one of its legs and starts punching it with her increased strength.

          "Get ready for some HEAT!" Kazuo yells. He smacks his hands together and slams them down on the monster's head.

          "Heatwave Magic - ALL OUT BURST!!!" his arms begin to glow red, and the moisture in the air evaporates. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Kazuo continues yelling. Smoke starts rising from the monster's head, and it becomes distressed. It moves around roughly to shake Kazuo off.

          Kazuo's face starts turning red hot, and he grunts. "Come… ON!" He yells while gritting his teeth together. Kazuo becomes disoriented, and his skin color returns to normal. He slides to the right and falls over. Sylvie sends vines to catch him. Once they wrap around his body, The vines sizzle from the residual heat. Honoka takes this opportunity to attack the monster after launching Hideo away.

          The monster prepares another breath attack and spews it everywhere. The ground corrodes with the stronger acid hitting it. Honoka protects herself in the same way as before. Sylvie runs out of the way while still carrying Kazuo. Once she gets to safety, she places the severely discombobulated Kazuo on the ground. Harper climbs the monster's leg to get away from the acid.

          Barely being able to talk, Kazuo speaks to Sylvie, "look… at its…rear leg…."

          Sylvie turns to look at the leg that the knight was attacking before. Once she squints to focus, she notices deep cuts in its scales made by the knight's attacks.

          Hideo summons his sphere fortress and crashes against Honoka. Honoka places her hands on the sphere to send her vibrations through it. Hideo sends his spirit away and punches Honoka across the face. "It's not going to be that easy to get rid of me," Hideo tells her.

          Sylvie creates ten vines and wraps them around the monster's right rear leg. She pours an insane amount of toxins into the shredded scales. Amidst its stomping, the monster slows down. The loopy monster crashes down to the ground. "H-Harper, NOW!!!" Sylvie yells.

          Harper rolls on the ground after jumping away before the monster collapses. She looks around and notices the vines around the monster's leg. "FULL ARMOR!" Harper yells. She appears to struggle but eventually surrounds her whole body in an exoskeleton. She leaps onto the top of the monster's head and does a barrage of punches. "Just go down already! AHHHH!" she yells. Harper is blown away by a vibration shot.

          Honoka fires shots at Harper and the monster whenever Hideo is disoriented from Honoka's magic. Kazuo stands up and slowly walks over to Honoka. Harper climbs back on and gets blown away after a few punches. Hideo shoots spectral arrows, and Honoka destroys them. Honoka focuses her magic on unleashing an all-out attack on Hideo. Once distracted, Kazuo wraps his arms around her from behind. He unleashes another heatwave, though not as powerful as before.

          "Get off me!" Honoka yells and vibrates her whole body. With his body overheating and the vibrations, Kazuo goes unconscious and falls. Once Honoka stabilizes herself, she looks at Hideo, but it is too late. An arrow crashes against her chest, and she falls back. Four more arrows come crashing down on her. Hideo summons his sphere fortress around Honoka and commands it to drive away. When the sphere gets fifteen meters away, it gets destroyed.

          "This is getting annoying," Honoka says.

          "Just go down ALREADY!" Harper puts her hands together and smacks down with all of her strength. No longer feeling a heartbeat, Sylvie removes her vines from the monster. Harper's exoskeleton fades away, and she lays back exhausted. Sylvie wraps her vine around Harper and carries her down. She also grabs Kazuo and places them near each other.

          "We may not have gotten that monster, but I'll still be getting your points. There two down, two more to get," Honoka says. She looks past Hideo's shoulder and notices Zoltan standing by the monster.

          "Would you look at that? You guys actually defeated this monster. It was weak and slow, but still, I'm impressed," Zoltan comments. "Come here, guys. I'll help you carry this back."

          "I'm not done here," Honoka shouts while infusing her magic.

          Zoltan turns back to her, "Well, sure you are. The rule is to head back immediately after slaying your beast. That means these guys are safe now that they've done that. I'm only helping because I don't expect them to carry this thing back alone. You guys should probably hurry up. I forgot to mention that there is a time limit."

          "Fine," Honoka says and drops her attack. "Come on, let's get out of here," she tells her teammates. Zoltan tosses everyone onto the monster and creates a massive metallic platform under the monster using his Tungsten magic. He hops onto the monster and controls the platform to head back.

          Two hours later, the trial ends. Every team successfully slays a beast and is getting them evaluated to see what class beast they are.

          Zoltan jumps back onto the large boulder to make his announcement. "Alright then. The third trial is officially over. You all did great. Some more than others, but at least no one is getting expelled. It's a shame no one got any point by defeating any of the teams with these purple coats, though one did come close. Hideo and his team got the most points by defeating the class A beast. I didn't mention it earlier, but they'll get a thirty-minute headstart for the final event. Everyone, make sure to eat and rest because the next event is the race to the Silver Gates at 7:00 pm. That's all from me. Good luck"

          "Wow. We got the highest score? I can't believe I blacked out, though," Kazuo sighs.

          "At least you weren't the only one. I passed out from exhaustion too. That full-body exoskeleton really takes a toll. Though I can't imagine the toll on your body from your heatwave attack. Your whole body was red hot!" Harper says.

          "I knew it was a good idea to team up with you three. I appreciate making me a part of the team," Hideo tells them.

          "Oh come on. Quit sounding like that. You're the biggest reason we beat the monster in the first place. Apart from your knight providing a means to paralyze the beast, you did great holding back Honoka's team," Harper tells him. "We should be thanking you!"

          "I don't know what to say. It was great working with you guys," Hideo blushes.

          "Let's go grab something to eat before it gets cold," Kazuo says as he stands up. The others also get up and head to fill their stomachs.