Chapter Eight: Breakdown
The Heroes stood in the middle of the Arena and awaited their next challenge. A door opened, but it was not like the others. This one opened to reveal a scrawny old man with a cart, which he used to pile up the bodies so he could bring them out of the Arena. Michael pitied the poor little man, and he moved forward to help him load up the bodies. Shunt followed suit as well as Willow, Speer also offered his assistance, but in the process he picked the pockets of the dead Highwaymen he slaughtered just moments ago. When the bodies of the highwaymen and Hobbes were cleared Shunt and Michael helped the scrawny man push the cart out of the Arena and closed the doors behind him. Finally, the stage was set to begin round three.
Once again, a gate began to rise and all four Heroes faced it, each one wondering what was going to emerge this time.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…
A deep guttural growl could be heard from inside the gateway. From the shadows one massive furry claw stepped out into the light. One massive, fur covered white claw.
"Hahahahahahahahah! It's time that things got more serious! Round three…the White Balverines!" Mayor Wilson blurted out uproariously. The incredibly muscular White Balverine stepped into the light and howled. The howl echoed all throughout the Arena, chilling the blood of everyone there. It stepped forward, and behind it another shadow could be seen moving behind it. Within moments a second White Balverine emerged behind the first, and after that came another, and another!
"Four White Balverines..I've never seen more than one in the same place before!" Willow exclaimed.
"And you never will again! Let Round Three begin!" Wilson shouted and as if on cue, all four White Balverines lunged forward to attack the Heroes. Two of them knocked Michael and Willow back with a powerful blow, but Shunt was strong enough to punch back with a shot of his own and Speer swift enough to dodge. Though not horribly damaging the attack was in and of itself, the Heroes were separated from each other now and it would prove a deadly task to take these monsters on alone.
The beasts furiously clawed and ripped at the Heroes, trying to rip them to ribbons with each and every attack. The one isolated with Willow pressed forward with such speed she barely had any opportunity to dodge its deadly attacks, forcing her back into a corner. She rolled under its legs when it attacked, but the White Balverine reached down and grabbed her hair taught and yanked her off the ground.
"WILLOW!" Michael shouted out while preoccupied with his own White Balverine. He still felt it too dangerous to use magic lest he reveal who they were and this situation turn even more deadly. He had no choice: he hurled his sword like a javelin at Willow's White Balverine who was looming closer, about to take a bite out of her. The sword landed square in the monster's back, causing it to howl in pain and release his grip on Willow.
Michael had let down his guard, forgetting he had his own White Balverine to deal with, but Willow dropped down and fired off two round from her crossbow right as the forgotten monster was about to strike down Michael. Both arrows barreled deep into its chest and it too yelped and backed off momentarily. It didn't take long for the White Balverines to recover, and both Heroes looked on in horror as they reached down and forcefully removed the bloody weapons from their bodies with more annoyance than pain written on their faces.
Shunt had taken to fighting the beast head-on, going blow for blow with it. However as strong as Shunt was, the White Balverine was fast and was quickly gaining an advantage. The monster leapt up and dropkicked Shunt into a wall, nearly shattering it completely. Seeing its opening the White Balverine lunged forward to deal its fatal blow, but its arm was held back by a searing pain: a sickle attached to a chain dug into its arm. Speer had thrown it and was now the only thing holding the White Balverine back from killing his fellow Hero. The White Balverine was shocked to say the least, and Speer used it to his advantage to reel it in like a fish and leap up, kicking it square in the skull and it fell to the floor.
But once again in an effort to save his fellow Hero, Speer had neglected his own fight. Speer suffered a heavy blow to the back of his head and was pinned down with ease. Shunt charged forward like a bull, running headlong towards the furry beast and colliding, forcing it to fly through the air and crash into the wall similar to he just did moments ago.
The Heroes reconvened in the center of the Arena as the White Balverines recovered. They knew this was a losing fight, and they needed a plan of attack instead of trying to fight these beasts ad hoc.
"Speer, you still have those funky health potions?" Shunt asked.
"Yeah but I don't think they'll do us any good if we get hurt," Speer said with a bitter sneer.
"I'm not thinking about us. I think THEY could use a drink if you catch my drift…" Shunt said and the other three caught on immediately. Speer handed them around to his fellow Heroes and they waited for the White Balverines to charge again. They didn't waste much time and again attacked in unison, as if they had done this before.
This time the Heroes were ready, and simultaneously they flipped the beasts over to their backs and shoved the vials of the faux health potions down their throats. Each Hero dismounted quickly and got their distance from them, watching and waiting, wondering if their strategy had worked. Each of the White Balverines rose, licking their chops as if they had just wetted their whistles and readied for another attack…but at once they stopped. Each began holding their guts as a great pain overtook them, and one by one they dropped to the floor as blood poured out of their mouths, pooling on their floor around them.
The crowd erupted to their feet with cheers, the challengers had done it again! Mayor Wilson was throwing a fit on his pedestal, refusing to believe that his White Balverines could be felled so easily.
"NO NO NO NO! How did that happen! No one can defeat a White Balverine! Let alone four of them simultaneously!" Mayor Wilson shouted over his loudspeaker, "I demand to know who you people are! No normal person could do what you four have done!"
"Then how do you expect anyone to win in your Arena? Do you admit that your challenge is rigged?" Willow shot back defiantly.
"How dare you question my integrity? I exist on an ivory tower above you common people! It is why I have the power I have over you! I am better than you in every way and I will not be questioned by a common gladiator, especially one who is about to die! Now behold, the round no one has ever surpassed: ROUND FOUR!"