60th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

The day didn't start out too badly. Newt only had to fix two of the seals and used the rest of the time to fight alongside his friends. The sun was close to setting when a panicked surge of saurians erupted from the nearby jungle, followed by the heavy rhythmic thudding of a rapidly approaching biped.

The ground trembled as a third realm spiketail tried to flee, but a massive set of jaws, nearly as big as the spiketail's torso, clamped around the manabeast's body. The spiketail managed to hiss and squeal, when a crunch sounded and its legs and head landed on the ground with a squelch.

The dreadwalker threw its head back and swallowed its kill before locking its eyes on Newt's company. Mature, non-awakened dreadwalkers, like terrorwings and thundertitans, were equivalent to a fifth realm awakened in terms of physical ability. And the one before them glistened with fire mana.

Newt focused on the monster, confirming his initial assessment - it was at the fourth realm, close to the peak.

"Third realmers and fourth realm mages, retreat. NOW!" Rexheart had reached the same conclusion as Newt. He also processed the information and reached the decision, showing that while Newt's body surpassed his, Rexheart still held an advantage when it came to mental acuity.

"I can stay," Newt said.

"Me too," Twochains added.

"Newt stays; the rest get back."

The dreadwalker ha identified its next target, a juicy clump of third and fourth realm humans. It took a giant step, then started gathering speed as it rushed towards the group.

The towering, dark-green manabeast striped with lighter green patches lacked arms, the massive maw its only weapon. However, that maw with its three rows of serrated fangs was dangerous enough to let the monster stand at the apex of non-awakened saurians.

The beast's steps were as gigantic as its size and its massive leg muscles indicated, while its high realm granted it increase speed. The dreadwalker covered half the distance to the group before the third realmers and fourth realm mages started fleeing, leaving behind Newt and five other elites, Rexheart included.

"Two-two flank, Newt, take point with me."

The group split into the classic trihorn pincer maneuver, the strongest and fastest grabbing the attention while the relatively weaker members attacked from both sides. Newt noted the thick, long tail, another danger his brothers and sisters had to watch out for, but it made little difference to him, since the beast couldn't slap with it all the way to its snout. He focused on the deadly spear-like teeth as the dreadwalker snapped its jaws at him and Rexheart.

There was no need for words; each jumped to his respective side, Newt stabbing with his glaive at the monster's right eye, his body covered in Granite Crust and Magmin Scales.

The dreadwalker burst with flames to repel its attackers, the higher-realm fire taking a good chunk of Newt's mana just to negate. Feeling his mana rapidly drain, Newt endured, stabbing at the dreadwalker's watermelon-sized eye. The beast's three layers of eyelids closed, but Newt's glaive plowed through them, piercing the orb and causing the dreadwalker to shriek.

The beast snapped its head back, pulling Newt up. He hardened the earth beneath his feet, wrapping it around his legs all the way up to the knees. The hardened ground cracked as the dreadwalker's jerk yanked Newt up and plucked him right out of the earth. Clenching his glaive, Newt found himself airborne, but the violent motion had cost the beast — Newt's glaive dug around its head.

The stab was unfortunately too shallow to reach the brain, but the wound grew worse each time the dreadwalker snapped its head from side to side, trying to throw Newt off. Finally, the oversized eye popped out of the socket, and Newt found himself airborne, massive eyeball impaled on his glaive.

He flicked the disgusting thing off his weapon, twisted his body, and scanned the battleground. Scant few seconds had passed, but his brothers and sisters were in the thick of it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Rexheart was hacking at the back of the dreadwalker's leg, where leg met the foot, trying to sever the tendons and immobilize the saurian. Loch had a similar idea, smashing the joint with his maul, while Breeze threw wind-enhanced chakrams at the beast's neck. Unfortunately, thick scales hardly allowed any damage from such a light weapon. Margaret was hacking at the other leg with her sword, but her low fourth-realm strength proved insufficient to mimic the spray of shattered scales Rexheart was making. Meanwhile, Lightcloud, the healer, didn't even bother with his arrows, just running around with a backup sword to provide distraction.

Another wave of flames burst out of the dreadwalker, forcing Rexheart and Loch away, while Margaret coated herself in water and kept slashing.

The dreadwalker's control over the technique was horrible, fire blasting from all over its body instead of the attacked areas, but considering his own skill just a handful of years ago, Newt wasn't in a position to criticize its lack of finesse.

Newt landed on the ground, then sprang right back into the melee. Unlike the others, he didn't aim for the weak joints, going for the major blood vessels on the inside of the dreadwalker's thighs, deciding to rely on his physique and Granite Crust should the muscular tail come smashing.

Newt jumped to reach the vulnerable spot, glaive flashing and parting flesh. Another blast of fire hit him, but Magmin Scales held, and steaming blood rained on the ground behind Newt.

The dreadwalker roared again, then buckled as Rexheart managed to sever the tendon.

"Run!"

The students dispersed as the dreadwalker toppled. The beast moved its leg to regain balance, but the foot just slipped again, and it smashed sideways against the ground., blood fountaining from the two wounds Newt had opened.

Should we leave it to bleed out? Newt wondered.

Just blocking those two attacks had drained nearly half his mana. However, before he could voice his question, Rexheart shouted.

"It's at the fourth realm, it won't bleed out. We have to finish it. Attack from multiple directions and don't take needless risks."

Breeze threw her chakrams at the monster's groin wound, widening the gap and drawing more pained roars from the maimed dreadwalker. The monster turned towards her, then spewed a jet of flames straight at her.

Like a typical airhead, Breeze jumped out of the way, her chakrams flying back into her hands as fire surged beneath her feet. Loch used the chance and smashed his hands against the ground, a massive spike of earth surging from the ground and piercing the barely mobile dreadwalker's neck.

Margaret extinguished the fires while the beast thrashed and belched flame. Slowly its mana and faltering life-force dwindled until life finally winked out from its remaining eye, and the monster stilled. While the battle itself took less than a minute, killing the defeated manabeast dragged on for nearly ten, since any major moves, like Loch's giant earth spike, used up too much mana, and would have left one of the combatants out of any further battles that might have followed if other rampaging saurians rushed out of the jungle.

Minutes trickled by, and the youths calmed. Apparently, the dreadwalker had scared away any new threats. Finally, Rexheart moved towards the body.

"I don't expect we'll get lucky, but I have to check." He slashed the dead dreadwalker's chest and started digging for the core, but the odds of finding anything were low. The beast had drawn too much mana, blasting with fire like there was no tomorrow.

"Thanks for keeping the fire under control." Newt approached Margaret. He previously had scant few interactions with the woman, exchanging few words and those mostly polite greetings.

"You're welcome. We don't want to draw the dragons' attention."

"Yeah, nothing here," Rexheart said, burning gore away from his body. "Let's head back."

The group moved swiftly. The day, while long, had been fruitful, with a handful of third realm cores and no injuries.

"Things are moving along quite well," Loch said as they ascended the mountain, Newt and Rose glaring death at him in the twilight.

You just pulled an Obi on us!

Right on cue, another roar shook the ground.

"Fear me!" the monster hissed, and Newt turned back. Fifty miles away, at the edge of the jungle, a massive red lizard stood, fiery red glow blazing from its open maw. The creature looked around, then spotted the dead dreadwalker.

It moved over to it without haste, yet with frightening speed. Instead of feasting on the fourth realm carcass, the drake flicked its tongue, tasting the air. Its head snapped towards the mountain, and Newt was certain the creature had met his gaze across such a vast distance.

They stared at each other for a fraction of a second, and the drake hissed something, but it was too far for Newt to hear what it said.

Its intention, however, was quite clear. The ground exploded behind the ten-foot-tall monster as it sprinted towards the mountain. Newt could sprint the distance in half an hour if he gave it his all. The drake was faster, but not by much.

"We make our stand here," Rexheart said. "Third realmers, retreat to the castle, and ask the champions to reinforce us. We will rest as much as we can, you especially, Loch, and start warming up in fifteen minutes. That's a fifth realm manabeast, and it'll be upon us in twenty-twenty-five minutes."

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