GL (GalaxyLight): I've got nothing to say. I'm just continuing this, that's all.
Rena's PoV
Raven and I watched as the giant Phoru roared at us loudly in anger.
"How in the world did it get out?" I asked Raven.
"I don't know." He replied. "All I can say is the cage that was locking it up was destroyed, the bars mostly. The rescue team sent me to recapture it." The monster roared again.
"It doesn't seem happy to hear that..." I sweatdropped.
"Rena, I want you to run. I'll take care of this."
"What!? There's no way I'm leaving you alone to fight that thing!"
"You're still in the middle of the exams, you need to find the rest of the el shards and find your way out of the forest. Plus, you're supposed to have teammates with you. Where are they?" I looked behind me and realised I went on my own and left Elsword, Elesis and Aisha behind.
"They're... catching up with me. I still worry for your safety, Raven. Besides, I already found what I'm looking for."
"What are you talking about?"
"That!" I pointed at the side of the monster's fur as I found the light el shard stuck between its fur.
"What!? How did that get stuck in this beast's fur?" Raven asked shocked to what he has seen.
"Beats me. I'm lucky to have found it. I'm going to defeat this Phoru and take the el shard."
"Rena-!" Raven was cut off though.
"Don't try to stop me! I'm doing this for me and my teammates, whether you like it or not. Either help me or stay out my way! I'm getting that el shard before anyone else can." Raven wanted to try again and get me of this mess, until the two heard a loud voice coming from behind.
"RENA!" I turned around to find Elsword, Elesis and Aisha running to us.
"Thank goodness, you guys came." I said happily. I didn't think I'd see them so fast, they must have followed me somehow.
"Where the heck did you go!? Don't jump off like that... And what in Wizard's Bane is that!?" Aisha gasped as she saw the giant Phoru. Elsword and Elesis had the same reaction when they saw it. I wanted to giggle but now's not the time for that.
"And what's Raven in a cool battle suit doing here?" Elsword asked when he saw Raven.
"It's a long story." I replied to him. "Take a look, this Phoru's got a light el shard on its fur."
"Seriously?" Elesis took a closer look at the monster and found what I was talking about. "Wow, you're right. How did that get in there?"
"That's what I want to know too." The monster then roared loudly at us as it can't wait anymore. "I think it's time we attack now."
"No need to tell us that, twice." Elesis sweatdropped.
Aisha's PoV
The monster began to charge at us. We jump out of its reach before it stopped to try and turn back to us. This left it an opening for us. I used my ice magic to create a cold mist to slow the beast down. Rena was ready to shoot an arrow from a far distance once the mist is cleared away. Elsword and Elesis ran into the mist to try and distract it.
'Wait, can they even see it...?' I thought to myself. Even though I said that, I heard various slashes and punches coming from the mist. 'I guess so...' After the mist was cleared Rena and I could the monster with scratches and bruises all over it. It looked stunned as well.
"Rena! Now's the time!" Elesis called out to her.
"Shooting Magnum!" Rena shouted as she fired 4 quick arrows at the monsters. It growled in agony as it felt the pain from the arrows. Even though it was moving rapidly, the el shard still stayed on.
"Is that thing glued onto it?" Elsword asked annoyed.
"I dunno. It was there when I first saw it." Rena answered. "Anyone got any ideas on how to get it off of it?"
"How about I try and hop onto the monster's back and try and take it?" Elsword suggested. "You can try and take it if I can call this a distraction..."
"That... doesn't seem very safe..." I complained.
"You got a better idea then?" I tried to think of something. Maybe, trying to freeze the Phoru in a block of ice, but then we couldn't get the el shard. We could try hitting him with hard attacks and knock it out, then again, I'm worried that the el shard would break. I groaned as I ran out of ideas. I had no choice but to accept Elsword's idea.
"Fine! Just don't get yourself killed. I won't forgive you if you do!" I shouted with my red face. "It's not like I want you safe and sound or anything!"
"Got it! You focus paying attention on the monster while I try and catch it from behind." He nodded as he ran back to the monster. I let out a sigh of relief when he was gone, I then suddenly felt a chill behind me, and Elesis was behind me, I wonder why...?
Elsword's PoV
I sneaked behind the monster while the other three were keeping it occupied. "Wait for it... NOW!" I thought to myself as I successfully leaped high up to the Phoru's neck. Right when I was on the neck, the monster instantly took notice of me. It began to try shake me off left and right rapidly. "YOU KNOW, I THINK THIS WAS A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL!" I shrieked loudly.
"I TOLD YOU SO!" Aisha shouted angrily.
"Just hold on tight, Elsword!" Elesis called out to me. "I'll try and get the el shard off of that monster for you!"
"Make it quick, will ya!? Because I don't think this Phoru likes me being on his neck!" I replied back as it was continued shaking. I held on as tight as I can, I don't wanna be sent flying in the sky. Somehow I can smell the monster's breath from here and boy, did it smell bad. "Anyone got mint for this thing? Pee-yew! Its breath smells so bad!" I growled.
"What has the Phoru been eating?" Rena asked Raven.
"Well, the supplies we give it are, boar meat, spinach, water and also komodo from Bethma." Raven replied.
"I was afraid of that. Komodos are said to have bad breath after eating them." Welp, looks like I learned something from that. My thoughts changed as the Phoru began running, causing me to hold tight again. My eye widen when it was running towards the tree. I didn't understand it at first until it rammed into the tree breaking so I can lose my balance and let go of the monster. Luckily, I held on... barely. "Oof! Fell on my teeth...!" I groaned from the pain I felt.
"Are you alright, Elsword!?" Elesis asked me worried.
"I'm good! Just focus your attention on the el shard!" I replied back to her. She nodded in response.
The angry Phoru was angrier and began to jumping around trying to get me off. It almost got me off when I slipped from its neck but I managed to hold on the back now. It was going crazy like some kind of bull.
"I knew there was a reason why I left Region in Bethma!" I yelled without thinking. Elesis and I once took a trip to Bethma last year. There was an event on who can withstand the longest on a mechanical bull. I volunteered, it ended pretty bad. My arm was swollen and took a while to heal. I shivered having that thought come back.
"YEE-HAA! RIDE EM' COWBOY!" Rena shouted out of nowhere. We all made a glare at her. "S-Sorry! I couldn't help myself."
"Elesis! Are you getting that el shard or not!?" I growled at her. I couldn't last much long on the beast.
Elesis's PoV
"I-I'm trying to, but this crazy beast won't stop moving!" I pleaded. "Can't you just calm it down or at least slow it down or something?"
"Don't know if I can do that! How about try and attacking it a few times to restrain it? That'll work... I think." As much I want to feel comfortable about Elsword's suggestion, I couldn't get rid of the fuzzy feeling in my head. Was it really a good idea?
"All right then..." In the end, I followed his idea and began slashing a few parts of its body while evading its rampaging swinging arms. But no matter how many times I do it, I couldn't seem to calm it down or even slow it down at all. "How durable is that thing? Am I not hurting it enough? Are my cuts not strong enough?" I muttered to myself while breathing heavily. I was getting tired. I wasn't sure if I have enough strength to make another cut.
"It's not working! The damage needs to be deep!" Raven called out.
"I'm worried that I will accidentally kill it." I replied. "Is there a way to knock it out somehow? I'm already exhausted."
"In that case... Allow me." He slowly walked past me and towards the rampaging monster.
"W-What are you going to do?" Rena asked worried about him. Raven kept on walking. I twitched a bit as if he was trying to act cool just by being silent, men.
"Elsword! Get off the Phoru!" Raven ordered Elsword. He nodded as he jumped out of the monster's back. The giant Phoru notices Raven and attempts to swipe him out of the way, only to miss as Raven jumped over the arm leaving the monster open to attack.
"Valkyrie's Javelin!" Raven shouted as he summoned odd black mechanical spears above the monster and fell on it. Once they touched the monster, they suddenly exploded with burning fire. The four of us had our jaws drop just from the sight of what just happened.
"YOU KILLED IT! I THOUGHT WE WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT! ISN'T THAT AGAINST THE LAW!?" I shouted at Raven. My mind went crazy after seeing that experience.
"I didn't. Take a look." Raven pointed at the smoke where the Phoru was at. When it faded, we saw the Phoru sleeping peacefully. "Those weren't firepower, they were sleeping gas. The Javelins are usually firepower but I replaced with sleeping gas to avoid any killing." The four of us gave a huge sigh of relief.
"Don't scare us like that! We would have gotten suspended if it was really dead!" Aisha shouted. She was right about that. If the Phoru was really dead, we would have been in big trouble.
"Thank you for the help, Raven." Rena bowed down to him. "Now we can take the light el shard no problem."
"I got it right here." Elsword said. He showed it to us.
"That was fast!" Rena, Aisha and I cried out of nowhere.
Rena's PoV
"So... what do we do now that we have all the el shards?" Elesis asked. I completely forgot about that.
"Ms. Stella told us to find our way out on our own by using our instincts and training." Aisha said to us. "We'll fail if we're unable to reach the exit by afternoon which is 1AM."
"But how? We don't have a compass!" I frowned. "What about you, Raven?"
"I only came here to recapture this Phoru, not to help you guys out." Raven told us. "I'm afraid you're on your own. I'll be staying here and wait for a carrier to come and pick this up." We sighed as he became no help to us. He wasn't a student so it's no surprise.
"The forest is still thick as ever." Elsword groaned. "If only we could see everything there is, we would be sky high to the finish."
'Sky high to the finish...' Is what I thought when Elsword said that. If I can't find any way from the bottom, then maybe... "THAT'S IT!" Everyone was startled by my shout.
"W-What is it, Rena? You found something?" Elesis asked.
"Yeah. Just wait here for a moment."
"What? Why?" I didn't answer Aisha's question as I jumped from branch to branch until I reached the top of the tree. "This should be high enough. Now, if I could just find the exit gate..." I searched around the sights. It was very gorgeous but now's not the time to go sightseeing. After a couple of seconds of looking around, I spotted a metal fence gate south from here. "That must be it!" I smiled as I climbed back down to get the others.
"What took you so long?" Elsword questioned.
"I found the exit." I answered him.
"Wha-! Seriously?!" Elsword flinched in surprise.
"I get it! By climbing the tree, you're able to see everything from below. That's how you found it." Elesis sorted out. I nodded in response.
"If you knew, why didn't you tell us before you started climbing." Aisha asked with a disappointed look.
"Sorry, must have slipped my mind. The exit's south from here. Follow me!" The three nodded as I went on first before they followed. It took a couple of minutes because we ran and ran until we've reached the exit. Because we students are on a path to succeed our exams.
Raven's PoV
"Raven, thanks to you, we've managed to recapture the Giant Phoru we needed for the next exam." Stella smiled at the Over Taker outside the forest. The Phoru was sleeping in a carriage which was taken to the next building.
"No problem. As long as this won't hinder the exams, everything should be alright." I sighed after taking one last look at the beast before turning back to Stella.
"We'll need to provide a stronger cage for it this time. By the way, how did you manage to get the Phoru to sleep. Surely, you had a difficult time to settle it down." I can't say I had help from others. That'll only get them involved into numerous consequences. Even though they had to do it to obtain what they're looking for, fighting a monster wasn't something they were supposed to do. But to get them in trouble... No. I won't do it. I can't let them get in trouble over a monster... especially her.
"I took evasive maneuverers in order to tire it out. That's when I delivered the final blow which was the sleeping gas. It wasn't difficult."
"I see... It's almost afternoon. Why don't you go and take a break. You've had a rough time today." Stella offered me.
"I will. Farewell." I turned and headed to the lobby. 'Elsword, Elesis, Aisha, Rena. Please be careful.'
GL: Sorry for making this short. I'm having a very rough time. It's making me write fast and end it fast. Holiday I may be in but I'm still in the middle of things that I need to focus on. On the next chapter will be the finale of Elder Junior High School mid-terms exam. Look forward to it!