Chapter 38: Neutralization

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Neutralization

Zoey sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head. The last thing she remembered was a flash of white light, a roar, a crack like thunder.

She’d come to a few minutes ago, with a healer beast laying flat on her chest. It had chirped at her, patted her cheek with a tiny paw, and hopped away to the next fallen body.

she was alive, and she was in one piece, and her lizard’s gem was still clutched in her fist. It had returned to her before she passed out.

’I’m okay.’

She looked around. All across the pit, applicants were staggering to their feet, coughing, groaning, wiping soot from their faces.

Nobody was talking about what had just happened.

’Where’s Jared?’

She scanned the crowd. No swamp suit. Just dozens of dazed faces, and the huge, dark pit in the center, now empty. The Ground Dragon was now gone.

A voice boomed through the speakers overhead.

"Applicants. Attention."

Everyone froze.

"Assessment will resume. He who have already passed has left the hall. The remaining 29 will now face a second beast."

A groan rippled through the crowd. Zoey’s stomach dropped.

’Already passed?’

Someone had passed. Someone had already walked out of here with a seat in the Golden Bear Guild, and she had a very good idea who.

’Of course he did.’

A small, fierce smile tugged at her lips. She wasn’t surprised. Not really. She pushed it down and straightened her jacket.

The rest of them looked young, nervous, a little battered. She studied their gems, the beasts that sat at their feet, the way they carried themselves. A few were obviously stronger than the rest.

The highest ranked among them, she realized, were B rank owners.

That was the rule. Anyone with an A rank beast or higher had been scooped up by the guild before they ever stepped through the door. No assessment. No test. Just a handshake and a team assignment. The 29 people left in this room were what remained.

And she was one of them.

’That puts me among the strongest here. I do have a B rank beast afterall. ’

The thought sent a strange, prickling warmth through her chest. All her life, she had been the girl in the background, the sidekick, the adopted sister.But here, in this room, in this moment, her B rank Poison Lizard was as good as anything in the pit.

She gripped her gem and took a slow breath.

A heavy rumble shook the arena.

Something enormous lumbered out.

It was humanoid. A hulking, hunched figure nearly three times the height of a man, with thick gray green skin and a jaw like a bear trap.

Its arms hung to its knees, each one corded with muscle. A ragged scar ran across its chest. Its eyes were small, red, and mean.

An orc. Or something very like an orc. An amalgamation of one, stitched together out of too many parts, as though a dozen different brutes had been mashed into a single body.

It stopped in the center of the arena and let out a bellow that shook dust from the walls.

’That’s a power type,’ Zoey thought.

She had no doubt. It was in the way it stood. The wide, planted stance. The slow, heavy swing of its arms. It wasn’t fast and wasn’t clever. It was a battering ram on legs, the kind of beast that simply smashed whatever stood in front of it.

’Which means it’ll be tough, but probably predictable.’

She started to plan.

She knew exactly what she wanted to do. Her lizard was small and quick. She would send it around the back, let it creep behind the orc, and spray a thin mist of corrosive water across its legs. Wear it down. Weaken its joints. Let the poison do the work.

But there was more.

She wasn’t going to charge in. She would hang back, stay behind the others, and watch. Because she had another idea, a better one.

’I need blood.’

Her lizard could make poison from anything it ate. Water gave it corrosion. But blood gave it something else. A targeted, biological poison, tailored to the exact creature it consumed. If someone managed to injure the orc, even a little, she could scoop up that blood and feed it to her lizard. And then the real fight would begin. Or rather end before it ever gets a chance to begin.

’Let somebody else do the dirty work. I’ll finish it.’

A horn sounded.

The orc roared.

The arena erupted.

Beasts poured out of gems in a rainbow flood. Wolves. Hawks. A huge, shaggy bull. A glittering serpent. Their masters shouted orders, and the whole mass surged toward the orc in a ragged wave.

The first beast to reach it was a spotted leopard, leaping at the creature’s throat. The orc caught it in one hand, squeezed, and tossed it aside like a rag doll. The leopard crashed into the wall and slid down, dazed, flickering back into its gem.

"Go!" someone yelled. "Hit it!"

A giant bull charged next. The orc planted its feet, caught the bull by the horns, and twisted. The bull let out a bellow of pain and collapsed. A hawk dive bombed from above. The orc swatted it out of the air with a backhand that sent feathers flying.

One by one, they went down.

The orc didn’t seem to tire. It didn’t seem to care. It just stood there, swinging, grunting, crushing, tossing beasts aside like they were toys. Every attack bounced off its thick hide. Every blow got swatted back. A few attackers were shoved across the arena. A few were knocked out cold.

Zoey watched from the edge of the pit, her lizard pressed against her leg.

"Okay," she whispered. "Okay. Let’s try the plan."

She pointed. "Go around. Behind it. Quietly."

The Poison Lizard flicked its tongue, slipped away from her side, and darted across the dirt. It curved wide around the fighting, around the fallen, around the scrambling beasts. It was almost behind the orc.

Then the orc turned.

It didn’t look at the lizard. It just turned, a slow, deliberate pivot, as though it had sensed her coming. A massive foot stomped down. The lizard yelped and scrambled back. A hand the size of a door swiped through the air where it had been a second earlier.

"Again!" Zoey hissed. "Try again!"

The lizard darted left. The orc stepped left. It darted right. The orc stepped right. Every time it tried to slip behind, the monster shifted, blocking it, herding it away. It was as if it had eyes in the back of its head.

’It can’t even get behind it.’

Zoey bit her lip.

"Spray!" she called. "From where you are! Corrosive water!"

The lizard reared up, opened its jaws, and shot a stream of liquid across the pit. It arced through the air in a glittering line. It was a good shot.

The orc swatted at it lazily.

"Again!"

Another stream. Another miss. The orc simply tilted its head, or shifted its shoulder, or took a half step, and the water missed it by inches. Every time. It wasn’t blocking. It wasn’t dodging. It just moved in a way that made the attack irrelevant, as if it could read the trajectory.

’It never hits.’

She swallowed.

The fight was going badly. Around the arena, the applicants were being picked off. A girl’s snake was hurled through the air and landed in a heap. Half the group had retreated to the edges, nursing bruises and wounds. The orc stood in the center of the carnage, chest heaving, grinning.

"We can’t just keep throwing ourselves at it," a voice said.

Zoey turned.

A tall girl with short black hair had stepped forward, one hand on her gem, her face grim and smudged with ash. She looked at the others, at the fallen beasts, at the orc pacing back and forth.

"We need to coordinate," she said. "All of us. We’re wasting our mana fighting like this."

A murmur ran through the crowd.

"She’s right," someone muttered.

"We can’t beat it alone."

"Then what do we do?"

"Linkers first," the girl said. "Anyone with bindings, chains, webs, anything that can hold it still. Hit it first. Then the power types go in. Then everyone else."

Heads nodded. Slowly, grudgingly, the group began to organize. They shuffled into rough lines. Beasts were called back and sent out again. Orders passed from mouth to mouth. For the first time since the fight began, there was a plan.

Zoey crept closer, her lizard at her heels.

"Go!" the girl shouted.

The linkers struck.

A spider the size of a pony shot a rope of white silk across the arena. A snake with glowing scales whipped out a chain of pale light.

A small, fox faced beast wove a net of silver threads. They snagged the orc’s arms and legs, wrapping it, tangling it, pulling it taut. The orc roared and strained against the bonds. Its muscles bulged. The silk creaked.

"Now!"

A power type surged forward, a massive, eyeless beast with dark, glossy skin and shoulders like boulders. It didn’t need eyes. It moved with a heavy, certain tread, guided by something Zoey couldn’t see. It slammed into the orc head first.

The orc staggered.

For the first time, it was pushed back. A single step. Then another. The two behemoths locked arms, straining against each other, their feet grinding grooves into the dirt. The eyeless beast seemed just as strong. It matched the orc’s strength inch for inch.

"Blades!" someone yelled. "Now, now, now!"

A lean, silver furred creature streaked across the arena, a pair of long curved blades extending from its forelegs. It slid under the orc’s arm, whirled, and slashed.

The blade bit.

A long, thin line opened across the orc’s thigh. Dark red blood welled up and trickled down its leg, splashing into the dirt.

The orc screamed.

Zoey’s eyes widened.

’Blood.’

’That’s blood.’

She saw it. Just a few drops. But it was enough.

"Go!" she shouted. "Now!"

The Poison Lizard didn’t need to be told twice. It shot forward like an arrow. It slipped between legs and around scrambling beasts and across the churned dirt. It skidded to a stop beside the puddle of blood, lowered its head, and began to lap.

A rippling green glow spread across its scales.

Its tongue flicked. Its throat bulged. Its yellow eyes narrowed.

Zoey grinned.

"Compound consumed," she whispered. "Yes."

She clenched her fist.

"Let’s begin neutralization."

* * *

The door swung open.

Jared looked up so fast his neck cracked.

He’d been sitting on that bench for what felt like hours. The clock on the wall had crawled forward by two. He’d counted the tiles in the ceiling. He’d counted them again.

[You’ve been staring at that door for 40 minutes now. ]

’I’m waiting.’

[You’re hovering.]

’I’m not hovering.’

[You look like a dog who just lost it’s owner.]

He ignored it.

A figure stepped into the hall.

It was Zoey. Her jacket was torn at the sleeve. Her braid was half burned off. A smear of dirt ran across her forehead. But she was upright, and she was walking, and she had a small, tired, unreadable look on her face.

Jared shot to his feet.

’She’s okay.’

He nearly ran to her. He nearly shouted. He caught himself at the last second, cleared his throat, and straightened his jacket. A giddy, nervous grin was already creeping across his face, and he couldn’t stop it.

’I can’t wait to congratulate her.’

He walked toward her slowly, hands in his pockets, trying to look casual.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"So?"

"So." She gave a small, tight shrug. "I passed."

Jared’s grin blew wide open.

"You did?"

"I did."

I knew you would! That’s incredible!" He caught himself, lowered his voice, and tried to sound calm. "I mean, that’s great. Really great. How many of you made it?"

"Only 9."

"9?"

"Out of 29. The others were called for another evaluation tomorrow. If they would like. "

"That’s amazing, Zoey."

"Yeah."

"So we’re in the same team!" He was grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. He stepped forward and thrust out his hand, palm open, eyes bright. "Can’t wait to work with you."

Zoey looked at his hand.

She looked at it for a long moment. Her face didn’t change.She just looked, and he felt his own smile start to slip.

Then, slowly, she shook her head.

"That’s the thing," she said.

She pushed his hand aside.

Jared’s arm hung in the air for a second. His grin faltered. A strange coldness crept into his chest.

"What’s the thing?"

"We’re not."

She turned her head and looked away.