(Author: Hello all. New internet provider sucks but it comes with Direct TV....I can only endure pathetic internet connection. Anyway, one of the three spies is dead and the undead assault is over. Elgar has gained half of the soul energy of all the dead applicants through his connection to his minions. Now he waits for the confrontation with the guinea pig of Draxil, the rank 9 mage. Unrelated note: anyone surprised at the navigation links on the bottom of the chapters?  Enjoy.)

Chapter 12: Ancient Lion Turtle

"Trey should be fine sis," a sweaty brown haired boy panted as he and his sister ran back to where they last saw their friend. "He was the most powerful of us. He was a peak rank 3 warrior. He'll be fine."

"We were surrounded by dozens of rank 3 undead warriors Michael!" the girl shouted.

"Sarah Guss, you are a member of the main family of the Guss clan," Michael said. "My main concern is to protect you and assist you in improving the relations with House Dune through this assignment. If Trey is dead, he's dead. We have other priorities."

As they headed back enough to see a lake, they saw a teen in a tattered crimson cloak using plant magic to heal his wounds. Michael's eyes were wide with joy as he recognized the light brown hair and ash wood horns from the drawing they got from Geo Valkim. It was their target: Elgar Maltos.

"How did you get so far ahead?" Elgar panted as he they approached him, appearing fatigued as his wounds healed. "I took so long going around the lake and was ambushed. Luckily my master, a rank 8 mage, gave me a fusion type elemental minion. Two, maybe three, rank 3 beasts is my limit, but I was ambushed by four. Magmar crushed it with a boulder and I had it scout ahead. Did you see it?"

"No," Michael said, shaking his head. "I see going on ahead and killing rank 1 magical beasts did you wonders. You emanate the mana of a rank 3 mage."

"Bone minions are strong, but they are animated by mana. Killing them with a minion of a rank 8 mage is nothing. Although, the minion is as strong as a rank 4 magical beast. I was able to absorb the mana from the destroyed minions. Otherwise, there would be no way I could get stronger as only martial artists and warriors such as you benefit from the spirit energy of the magical beasts here," Elgar laughed weakly. "Defeating a dozen rank 3 warriors is nothing but magical beasts are different. Not to mention that undead horde, I was really lucky I didn't go into the lake."

"Have you seen a black haired warrior wearing silver armor like us?" Sarah asked.

"Black hair? Silver armor?" Elgar asked, pretending to brood. "I did see one. I can claim some arrogance as a mage, but even I am not blinded enough to fight a demon necromancer. As a mage, I can hide my mana and make myself as ordinary as a person with no spirit energy. That guy was a warrior and he radiated too much qi as he fought back the undead warriors. The necromancer got angry, seemed like a peak rank 4 mage, and blew him up using bone magic. The craters where your friend died is back there, closer to the lake. I wouldn't recommend going there."

"Why's that?" Michael asked, beginning to trust Elgar.

"The rest of the applicants are back there right? They could be under attack by the magical beasts as the undead are gone and many are bleeding. Seeing a weakened prey, how could they not attack?" Elgar sighed as he stretched his body and made sure his wounds were healed. "If you wanna go, that's fine with me, but I'm going on ahead. Such a large group will only slow you down."

Elgar walked past them and was stopped as Sarah grabbed his arm.

"What do you want?" Elgar asked, acting annoyed. "If you want to wait, that's your problem. I'm already been yelled at by a noble's old hag of a servant. If you don't let go, I'll hurt you. I'm a mage. You stand no chance against me. Let go if you want to keep your arms."

"Sorry about that," Michael said and pulled his sister away, trying to stop her suspicious behavior. "Her name's Sarah Guss. Her families are very honorable knights and raised her to protect the weak. Since you seem to be recovered, she wants you to stay behind to assist us in helping them."

"I order you as a daughter of the Guss clan to help!" Sarah said, Michael briskly whispering at her to remember the mission.

"I am the son of a noble of a different nation despite my appearance. You have no right to order me around. Furthermore, you just don't get it do you," Elgar said and summoned ten lances made of water that pointed at them. "Do you really want to die. If so, keep being a pest. I'm sick of knights and their twisted notions of justice."

Elgar waved his hand and the lances stabbed near Sarah's feet, forcing her to scream as she screamed back in fear. This was his plan. Easily trusting both of them would be too suspicious, but he needed to act friendly to one of them so they can report that they 'succeeded' in befriending him. It was a pain, but it was necessary.

"My name is Michael Guss. I'm her cousin. I apologize on her behalf. We'll gladly follow you further in," Michael said, bowing and elbowing his cousin to do the same.

"I, I'm sorry. I just wanted to help them," she murmured.

"Then let's keep moving. My minion should have found it by the time we catch up," Elgar said and turned around, his mouth slightly grinning.

The three applicants hurried ahead and discovered bodies of rank 3 magical beasts along the way. Elgar was forced to make a few stops as Sarah and Michael wanted to absorb the spirit energy of the corpses. Magmar was the one who killed the beasts, but he needed them to be stronger to fight the guinea pig. It was a magical beast upgraded by a rank 9 mage.

Even though the Mage Emperor said it was a rank 4 magical beast, there was no way it wouldn't be more powerful and could possibly be a rank 5 or 6 magical beast. If need be, he would use plant and dark magic to kill it. If he had to, he would use summoning magic to summon a swarm of rank 2 bone mice. Hiding the fact that he was a necromancer mattered little if it was his life at stake. Besides, since necromancy was only frowned upon and not forbidden, he was certain some mages among the survivors were necromancers as he saw some of his minions die against other minions through their eyes.

"Master," Magmar cried mentally all of a sudden. "It's horrible! The guinea pig is actually a thousand year old ancient lion turtle of the 5th rank. I spewed lava at it to stop it from following, but it didn't burn!"

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"Lion turtles usually had plant and earth element qi or mana. If it didn't burn, is that the upgrade the mage talked about? While it may eliminate one of the magical beast's weaknesses, it doesn't seem that powerful. There must be another upgrade we're not seeing," Elgar cursed.

"Get ready!" Elgar said to the knights. "The guinea pig is a rank 5 magical beast ancient lion turtle. It is also immune to fire."

"Immune to fire?" Michael gasped and drew his sword, light element qi wrapping the blade and emitting a golden glow.

Elgar and the spies felt the ground shake and shake more violently as they walked deeper in the chasm. They saw Magmar, as large as a adult pig leap into view with trees that seemed to be coming closer. Elgar grinned. Magmar only grew bigger if it absorbed enough spirit energy. It seemed that it killed enough to grow.

Sarah lost her footing as the ancient lion turtle came into view. It was twenty feet high with a black shell on its back. The main body was shaped like a lion save for the head as it seemed to be a stone carving of a mix between a turtle and a lion. On the back was a black shell with white oak trees on its back with crimson colored leaves. Elgar ordered Magmar to shrink and hide under his cloak.

"For justice and honor!" Sarah shouted, Michael quickly following her as Sarah brandished her rapier.

Elgar created lances of water and had them pierce the lion turtle as they trailed the spies. Sarah and Michael gasped in shock as their steel swords, augmented with light element qi, didn't even scratch the magical beast. Why? They were rank 3 warriors and earth element qi and mana are the greatest defensive attributes among spirit energy. The lion turtle slammed one front foot, sending a wave of earth crashing on the spies, blocking the water lances.

"Aaaah," Michael and Sarah shouted as they were hit and blown back in front of Elgar.

"Crap. No other choice," Elgar said and began summoning the bone mice.

He couldn't use plant magic as it was had plant magic. On land, earth magic overcame water magic and lightning magic has no effect on earth magic unless it was exceptionally powerful. He couldn't risk using bone and poison magic as he wanted to save those as trump cards. Bone mice minions were one of the weakest and earliest spells a necromancer learned and was available in any book on necromancy. He emanated black mana and it quickly covered him in a suit of armor as he cast Demon's Raiment. It seemed fighting with a sword alongside his minions was the only way.

"Necromancy?" Michael gasped as he saw Elgar draw his sword, Lava Tyrant, and charge at the lion turtle. "Using a sword and its made of holy metal? What's with that right arm of his? This is great! We have enough to make a report to the madam."

"So this is how he survived! He must have altered his status card. He is as suspicious as Madam Gregoria said so in her letters from Geo. He must have an aim for sure," Sarah said.

"What are you doing standing still like a fool?!" Elgar shouted as he dodged a wave of earth. "You're a warrior, yet I'm doing a better job than you! You call yourself a knight-in-training?"

Sarah and Michael nodded, believing their infiltration a success as a life and death battle would increase his trust in them. They ran to the flanks of the lion turtle and stabbed at the top of the leg between the shell, the four most vulnerable areas in its body.

The lion turtle's trees on its back began to glow with a faint white light. Elgar's eyes widened in shock as he knew what it was doing!

"Get back!" he screamed as he couldn't afford them to die. "It's going to use a soul qi attack!"

Sarah immediately hid behind Michael, channeling her qi into him as he focused his light element qi into his shield. Elgar did nothing as he had the soul of a Dragon King and ran forward, Lava Tyrant raised high.

"DIEEE!" Elgar shouted as he and his mice minions assaulted the head.

The lion turtle roared and a shockwave of crimson fire element qi blasted around it. The mice minions were immediately destroyed as they were only rank 2 minions. Sarah and Michael were blown back and crashed against the wall, Michael's sword shattering but saving their lives. Elgar managed to pierce the lion turtle's head but couldn't crack its skull. The lion turtle shook its head  and sent Elgar flying, Elgar performing a backflip and landing on his feet near the spies.

"HAHAHA. Looks like someone's been hiding his abilities. Time for the big surprise," a Draxil's voice boomed, his voice causing the walls to quake under his might. "Time for the big surprise! The ancient lion turtle found by three lucky applicants is not my guinea pig. The guinea pig is actually inside of it! To kill it, you got to be eaten. My particular magical beast is special as those who get eaten are shrunk into the size of a pea. A pea! Naturally, feeding it is a problem so I let it roam in the Chasm of Chaos. I didn't expect it to eat my guinea pig though, but that's where you all come in! Literally. You only got until sunset to complete the mission or you fail and do not become a student of the academy! Oh and a quick warning: the lion turtle is my magical beast and if you kill it, I'll bind you in chains and make you watch as I kill your clan in front of you before I cut off your head! Good luck. Clean yourselves before you get eaten will you? No one likes a tummy ache."

"Ah, f*ck," Elgar said. He didn't anticipate having to go inside the lion turtle. It was definitely a rare variant mutation to have such an ability. However, there could be many treasures inside. It was like being in a dimensional prison! There was bound to be many valuables as it was a magical beast of a rank 9 mage!

"Let's go," Elgar said and grabbed the spies. The spies screamed as Elgar literally jumped at the lion turtle as he saw it open its mouth.

Chapter 11: Three becomes Two Main Page Chapter 13: Nightmare Part 1