“Didn’t you hear me!” Hector yelled. “Stop whatever you’re doing!”

“I heard you!” The swordsman finally turned to face him. “I’ve just elected to ignore you.”

“Why don’t you give him what he wants, Bal?” The man standing asked. “It would be easy enough.”

“Cause he’s obviously not alone,” the swordsman named Bal responded. “And I can’t leave your side until this is finished. You know that.”

“It’ll be finished soon, we just need-”

A fan of flame swept over the men.

“One more time!” Hector said. “Or I’ll come down there and cut you down!”

“Let me do it!” The standing wizard said.

“No! Do your job!” Bal yelled.

“I can do it if both of you can shut up!” The sitting man yelled. “Cass, take care of it!”

“Fine…” The standing wizard, Cass, turned around.

“We have to help Hector!” Genevieve said.

Jon pulled up his gun, but Mallory stopped him again.

“He doesn’t want us to, yet,” Mallory said.

Jon looked at Hector’s face. Did he know they were watching him?

“Wait for his signal,” Mallory said.

“What is it?” Jon asked.

“...He makes a new one every time.” Mallory kept his eyes trained on Hector. “Just listen to me.”

“You guys are both crazy…” Genevieve shook her head.

Jon thought that Genevieve knew both Hector and Mallory well. Then again, what did he know?

“But why haven’t they moved yet?” Genevieve asked.

“They’re probably making a powerful spell,” Mallory said.

“Why haven’t we moved yet?” she continued.

Hector broke into a sprint, raising his sword for an attack.

Cass raised his arms. 3 large red tentacles emerged from the ground, making Hector stop in his place.

Hector then flourished the sword over his head and cut through all three tentacles in one swing, making them dissipate.

“Ahhh… He can dispel mana instantly… he’s a special one…” Cass said. “Don’t let him get too close.”

Bal readied his sword. Jon wanted to start shooting, but Mallory wanted him to wait. Genevieve was also waiting, so Jon decided to trust them both. They were the experienced ones.

Cass raised his hands again. Now, 5 tentacles had summoned themselves from the ground.

One of them tried to flatten Hector who was able to cut it down. Another tentacle reached for his ankle and grabbed it, lifting him into the air.

The other tentacles raced after him.

“Damn it, Hector!” Genevieve cursed. Jon could feel her agitation.

Hector cut the tentacle holding his leg, dropping to the floor. He dipped into a roll on the ground before landing on his knees.

“Ha!” He extended his arms outwards, and a small burst of fire incinerated the tentacles around him.

Jon was impressed. Still, he was worried. Hector had tired himself out yesterday.

“Is he okay?” Jon asked.

“...Oh! Yeah! Hector’s mana is.. .don’t worry about it.” Mallory waved the comment away. “He’s trying to bait the wizard into losing his concentration.”

“There’s no guarantee to know when happens, is there?" Genevieve asked. “What if he’s really that powerful?”

“Watch the circle,” Mallory said. “It doesn’t matter how powerful he is. We just need to be able to stop the spell so that we can save the farmers.”

“And after that we beat them up, right?” Genevieve sounded hopeful.

“...and after that, we’ll see how powerful they really are," Mallory answered.

Jon grimaced. That sounded scary.

“Let’s make this fun!” Cass yelled. “Ha!”

Jon lost count of the tentacles that had surrounded Hector and judging by the scene it didn't seem very fun at all.

Hector dashed through the gauntlet of tendrils that surrounded him.

“Genevieve, get ready, to save Hector’s bacon,” Mallory said.

“Got it!” Genevieve backed up from the tree, preparing for a leap.

“Jon? Shoot the book,” Mallory told him. “Wait for my signal.”

“Shoot the book,” Jon said. Normally, he would have had a problem shooting at someone defenseless, but that book, and by extension, that man, was hurting his farm.

Jon would shoot the book.

Hector managed to cut his way out of several attacks, this time not using any mana.

Finally, after one large swing to defend his backside, he screamed towards the trees.

“Give me everything you got!” Hector yelled.

“Now!” Mallory called.

Several things happened at once.

Several metal stars whizzed out from the trees near the three men.

Hestatham blasted into the air from the other side of the clearing, shooting over the field.

Genevieve zipped into the air.

Mallory ran out from behind the trees, raising his arms, causing small turquoise tentacles to pop up from under Cass’ feet, wrapping around him and tying his arms to his body.

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Cass yelled, “What the hell!”

And Jon stepped out from behind the tree and pulled the trigger.

Judging by the large number of attacks, Jon figured at least one of them would land.

Bal quickly deflected the metal stars out of the air before turning towards Jon’s wave of energy and dispersing it with just a backhand with his free fist.

At least Jon knew the shot blue now.

He pulled the trigger again.

As he shot another wave of energy, Mercy dived from the trees to the ground and made a swing.

A giant beam of charged white energy followed the swing and made its way towards the three men.

Again, Bal had managed to deflect both attacks from the group.

Up in the air, Hestatham pulled the trigger on his gun.

A wave of fire breathed from the nozzle, spaying over the men.

Mercy continued to swing.

Jon kept pulling the trigger.

Are they finished yet? Jon wondered. Were they still there?

Jon couldn’t see past the flames, but he kept pulling the trigger.

A large black tentacle suddenly erupted next to Jon.

Jon turned and shot it down. However, another one appeared next to Mallory.

Jon turned to shoot it, but Mallory was standing directly in the way.

Mallory saw Jon’s pained expression and turned around, seeing the tentacle raise next to him.

“Oh sh-” Mallory dropped to the ground so that Jon could blast the tentacle into nonexistence.

However, the circle underneath Mallory's feet had disappeared.

A blast of red energy fired from the clearing, aiming for Hestatham, who was just able to move out of the way of its path, but he had to break his stream to do so.

The fire disappeared. Cass was now free again. With a grin of glee, he put his hands together.

Large red figures that resembled people began to pull themselves out from the ground.

“Ah crap, my bad,” Mallory said, standing back up. “They’re that powerful.

Jon saw that in the air, Genevieve was carrying Hector. She tossed Hector towards the group.

While he dived, sword ready, Bal leaped up and swung his own sword.

When they connected, Hector immediately flew in the opposite direction, slamming into the ground.

“Hector!” Mallory called. He then turned to Jon.

“Uh, get the book, don’t die, right?” Mallory asked.

Jon nodded. They turned back to the field to see the red figures dragging themselves towards him.

Jon had felt scared, but it was only a little less scary than thinking about taking the farmer’s test again.

He fired at the approaching creatures, trying to fend off their approach.

Through red figures, Jon could see Mercy running towards Bal, attacking him.

He wanted to help her, but he had to keep himself and Mallory alive.

Jon continued shooting at the creatures. They didn’t seem very interested in trying to move out of the way, which made them easy targets but raised the scare factor even higher than usual.

Mallory quickly began waving his hands in several directions, the glowing circle appearing under his feet again.

Jon couldn’t tell what was happening but knew that he had to let Mallory do his job.

No matter how many Jon shot, there seemed to be an endless amount of them, almost reminding him of the caiman. And yet, he couldn't count more than a few of them.

Jon then realized that as he shot one, another one immediately dragged itself out of the ground towards the back of the line.

That’s inconvenient, Jon thought.

Thankfully, a wave of fire spayed over the red figures.

Hestatham landed next to Jon.

“Is there a plan Mallory? Hestatham asked, fending off the creatures as well.

“Uhh… don’t die, get the book…” Mallory was focused on making his frantic hand movements.

"Don't die, get the book," Jon repeated.

Hesthatham looked at Jon.

“I can protect Mallory. Can you get the book?”

Jon nodded.

He then turned and realized that he would have to get past the red figures, understanding the gravity of what he had said yes to.

Still, it was too late to take his answer back.

“Okay, now!” Hestatham started to spray fire from his gun again.

Instead of spraying it at the approaching figures, he pointed at an angle.

Jon understood. Hestatham had made a wall, dividing the creatures from Jon's path.

Jon ran aside the spewing flame. It was hot, but Jon wasn’t afraid of it hurting him. It reminded him of Hector's pathway the night before.

When Jon got far enough, Hestaham changed the direction of the stream to start roasting the incoming danger.

Now, Jon had a clear view of Cass and the sitting sorcerer.

Cass had apparently been in a battle of mana with Mallory the entire time. His large black tentacles were fending off the mass of smaller ones that kept trying to reach him.

Behind that, Jon could see Mercy, Hector, and Genevieve all fighting off Bal.

Jon quickly pulled the trigger, shooting at Cass.

“Ah!” The blast turned Cass on his side and sent him flying through the air.

Jon was grateful and worried that the gun didn’t seem to be able to kill him. He tried to focus his attention on the sorcerer, but there was suddenly a large ball of fire expanding into view in Jobs face.

Jon could feel the wind of the attack blowing back his hair. This definitely wasn’t anything like Hestatham’s or even Hector’s fire.

Not knowing what to do, Jon fired the gun. The wave of energy collided with the ball of energy and they destroyed each other.

Jon tried to take a breath before a bigger ball of fire had immediately made its way towards him.

Jon fired, and the blast only carved out part of the fireball.

Not wanting to be burned to a crisp, Jon quickly ran and dived through the small opening, landing on his stomach on the ground.

This time, he could see the body of the sorcerer, who was still sitting.

When the third fireball made its way, Jon realized that he could still see the man’s legs underneath it.

Jon quickly turned around and flattened his body, while also pointing the blunderbuss above his head.

Figuring that the sorcerer wasn't going anywhere, Jon tried to keep his blunderbuss centered on its target without looking.

He felt the surge of heat from the fireball passing over him, threatening to singe his face. Still, Jon held true and pulled the trigger.

The fire had extinguished after it passed over Jon. He looked up and saw that the man was still sitting, but his nice hair had been messed up, and he had a look of extreme displeasure on his face.

Jon quickly sat up and fired the gun again.

He hadn’t been ready for the surge of lightning that was coming towards him, but thankfully, Jon’s own wave of energy had knocked it aside and made its way towards the man.

This time, the blast knocked the man backward, causing him to roll over his head and splay out onto the ground. His face was buried.

Jon quickly took a breath of relief. He had knocked the man down.

However, the man’s outstretched arm still held the open book.

The man’s face looked up and grinned a mad smile towards Jon.

Jon considered shooting him again when the ground had started rumbling underneath him, making it hard to make a good sho. He had trouble keeping his footing.

He turned to Mallory and Hestatham. The red beings had disappeared, but the two were also having trouble keeping on their feet.

Hestahtam finally floated up in the air, holding his hand out for Mallory.

Mallory shook his head and pointed to Jon.

Hestahtam flew towards Jon, his own hand still outstretched.

Jon reached up and grabbed him. He was lifted into the air and brought back to Mallory.

Jon gave Mallory a worried look as landed.

“You're damn right, it's nothing good," Mallory said. “I’ve never seen this type of spell…”

“What do you mean?” Hestahtam asked.

“I know now why it was so hard to follow everything,” Mallory said. “Everything was happening underground.”

“Underground?” Hestatham asked. “What’s underground?”

The floor underneath the sorcerer man had split. Cass then returned to his companion’s side and helped him up.

The circles grew under their feet again, and the ground underneath them rose.

As they lifted higher into the air, Bal had jumped to their side as well.

Genevieve dropped off Mercy and Hector with the others and landed next to them.

“Mallory! What’s that?” Hector yelled.

“Screaming at me won’t tell me the damn answer!” Mallory responded in kind. “It’s… it’s…”

He quickly opened up his side bag and went through the books.

“I don’t know… uhh…. Magical caiman appeared, right?” Mallory asked.

“Right,” Genevieve said.

“Well, what if these guys weren’t the ones summoning the caiman, cause you know, someone has to be doing it, if it’s not natural,” Mallory explained.

“And?” Hector’s impatient answer seemed worse than Jon was used to.

“Well, uh... Well…" Mallory stuttered. "Who would summon a whole bunch of caiman, right?”

Mallory shrugged as best as he could under the given circumstances. “They’re dumb, and they don’t do much.”

“They’re powerful!” Hector said. "Why wouldn't you?"

“Yeah, but… not everyone’s you, Hector,” Mallory said. ‘Unless… ohhh!!!”

Mallory put his hands to his face. “That’s what it is! It’s-”

A large black object immediately raised from the ground. Jon slowly realized that it was a large black snout.

“A giant caiman!” Jon said, drawing everyone's attention.

“Yes!” Mallory confirmed. A giant-”

The rest of the body pulled itself from the ground. Four large legs crawled out, followed by a pitch-black torso, two extra legs, and a long tail behind it.

“Caiman…” Mallory looked at the others. “Guys…. It’s been fun.”

“The caiman roared.

“...Does any of your books say anything on how to kill that?” Hestatham asked.

Jon was stunned by a sudden cool presence on his hand. He looked and saw that it was Mercy, wrapping her own hands around his.

He held on. Even though he was scared, he was happy he wasn’t alone.

“Keep me alive for a few more minutes…” Mallory had quickly started reaching into his bag, pulling out books, and dropping them into the air, and yet he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the giant caiman. A magic circle was under his feet, and every book he dropped began to float in the air, facing him. “Just a few...more minutes…”