As the fiery remains of the defeated Fire Sentinel dissipated into nothingness, the air hung heavy with tension. Team B stood there, panting and recovering from the intense battle they had just fought. The maze around them was scorched and battered from all the rouge fire shots that the sentinel had shot in order to break free from the sand dome.

Meanwhile, Team A was slowly coming to its senses after being knocked out by the explosion of the frozen Fire Sentinel. Mako, Erin, and Iris groaned as they struggled to sit up, their bodies aching from the impact.

Mako’s ears were ringing and his vision was blurry but he was still able to hear the dying screams of the other Fire Sentinel.

Seeing that now both sentinels were dead, he knew that the crystal should be recharging in order to summon more and that they would have only a few minutes before more sentinels spawn.

Mako knew he had to get up quickly if he wanted to intercept Bill and his team who would be making their way toward the crystal any minute now.

He opened his inventory and selected a high-tier healing pill and consumed it right from the menu.

*SYSTEM OVERRIDE*

Do you wish to instantly use the effects of the (1) High Tier Healing Pills?

Cost: 125 Energy

YES

/NO

Mako selected “YES” and his vision and hearing quickly recovered and he was able to stand on his feet.

Mako could hear walls breaking which was probably Bill’s team tearing down Leon’s random walls in order to reach the center.

Erin and Iris were also awake at this and since were a bit further away from Mako during the explosion, they weren’t as severely hurt.

Mako helped the both of them back on their feet and Iris performed emergency healing by using a brand new skill that she had learned while training which was called “Healing Bubble” which created a translucent green bubble around her 10 feet in diameter and everyone within would receive the regeneration buff which would help them heal a lot faster.

Both teams knew they didn’t have much time. The knowledge that more Fire Sentinels would be spawned in just a few minutes spurred them into action and they moved quickly as the fire crystal at the center of the maze shimmered with its fiery orange glow, waiting to be claimed.

As Team A and Team B moved toward the crystal, their paths finally converged a few feet away from the fiery pit surrounding the crystal.

The two teams locked eyes, the air crackling with the energy of competition as the rivalry atmosphere gave way to a tense standoff.

“Looks like we’re going to have to settle this the old fashion way,” Mako said while activating his defensive stance skill, his voice a mix of exhaustion and determination.

Bill nodded and replied with his own fighting stance. “We’ve fought hard to get here. Let’s settle this fairly.”

With a silent agreement, both teams spread out around the fire crystal, eyes fixed on one another. There was a brief moment of stillness as if the entire maze was holding its breath.

Then, like a storm breaking, the battle erupted.

Mako tapped into his Fire and Lightning abilities and unleashed a torrent of flames and lightning bolts toward Team B.

Bill responded swiftly, using his Earth ability to create a protective barrier that deflected the attacks. Leon signaled to both Nathan and Bill with his hand signs that he will become the distraction, he activated his leg armor’s active skill and the fur began to shine blue as he got a big boost in agility then with his Hardening and Speed ability, he charged forward like a juggernaut as he attempted to break through Team A’s defenses.

However, he didn’t expect them to predict his move as the moment he jumped out of Bill’s cover and dashed forward, Iris activated her active skill on her hydro bow and shot a blue arrow that left a trail of water as flew through the air.

Iris had been working hard on refining her aim and she still had ways to go before she mastered archery but with a target like Leon who could mostly only run in straight lines at high speeds, it was a relatively easy target to hit.

The arrow managed to hit Leon right in the chest but instead of piercing through like a normal arrow, it turned into complete water and exploded in a bubble of water, completely drenching Leon.

Leon suddenly felt a lot heavier and slower as he was now moving a lot slower than before.

Mako took the opportunity and brought out his lightning staff and extended it to its regular height. He channeled his Lighting aura through and directed an attack towards Leon who would be too slow to escape.

Lightning Claw has been activated

Since he had cast the skill from the lightning staff, the blades of lightning weren’t as compact and close together as they were if he had used his hand, but this was a good thing as now the lightning blades were farther apart making it a better wide-range attack.

Nathan was caught completely off guard by the sudden shift of targeting and he knew his hardening wouldn’t do much against an elemental attack. He tried to run away but his hands and legs felt so heavy that he couldn’t run fast at all.

In context, Leon was used to always running very fast so right now he was running like a normal human would run and yet it felt so slow to him and it definitely wouldn’t outrun the Lightning Claw.

Leon switched from Hardening to Earth to try and raise a wall to protect him but his movements were also slow so the wall was also rising slowly.

At this point, Leon was totally toast as the Lightning Claw was upon him and he had no more tricks up his sleeve.

He closed his eyes and readied himself for a world of pain, but it never came. Instead of electricity climbing up and down its body, Leon instead experienced an explosion and was sent flying back from the shockwave.

Leon opened his eyes to see Nathan standing adjacent to him with his hand transformed into a class and blood dripping down its nails.

Nathan had launched a Blood Claw attack at the Lightning Claw at the last second to try and counter it.

The Blood Claw was able to intercept three out of the four Lightning blades and destroy them, but of them followed through and hit the ground right next to Leon, forming an explosion that blasted him back.

Nathan, utilizing his Advanced Perception, anticipated Team A’s movements, continued to dodge attacks from Iris and Erin and countered them with swift blood strikes as he made his way over to Leon.

He transformed into his Blood Wolf form and activated a skill he never thought he would use amongst these people.

Nathan as a Blood Wolf began to howl loudly and suddenly both Bill and Leon started to feel a bit stronger and a thin visible read aura surrounded their whole body while Mako, Erin, and Iris all could feel their hearts beating in fear and their hands trembling as they continued on the battle.

User has been inflicted with the Scared status effect

User doesn’t have a counter for this debuff .𝘤𝑜𝑚

The Scared status effect has been applied to the user

User can only utilize 90% of their full power for the next 2 minutes

A series of prompts appeared in front of Mako’s eyes and as he read them he realized what had happened.

Team B countered hard after weakening Team A as Nathan threw several blood swipes, Leon shot multiple fireballs, and Bill launched several sand spikes.

The fear factor inside Mako, Erin, and Iris’ hearts had increased a lot and it had affected Iris the worst as she was already struggling with her emotions before this.

As the attacks came from two directions, Mako jumped into action as he raised a thick earth wall to block the blood and fire attacks, while Erin blasted the sand spikes away with a water blast turning them into mud and neglecting the sand spikes’ ability to form land mines after they had missed their target; meanwhile, Iirs was still struggling to calm herself down.

Nathan and Leon kept attacking and it was proving difficult for Mako to defend alone, so Erin switched her priority from Bill to Mako as Bill wasn’t pushing her like Nathan and Leon leading her to assume that he must be low on energy and so she helped reinforce the earth wall with an ice cover, making it extra durable.

*Ding!*

“IRIS!” Erin shouted in anger and desperation,” SUCK IT UP AND HELP US!!”

Iris’ trembling body looked up towards Erin and Mako who were still fighting and trying to defend their position even after being affected by Nathan’s howl. For a moment, her trembling stopped as she observed her friends fighting their hearts out with not a care for their safety or what might happen to them, showing their determination.

Iris thought back to the conversation she had with Commander Sable and the thing he had said which gave her a reminder of why she was fighting in the first place.

A change happened deep within her body as Iris was no longer afraid and ready to join the fight.