Spirit Taming

Chapter 526: Relatively easy

Brad roared out loud to draw the attention of the steel hide lizard. It wasn't as impressive as anyone with a skill to distract a beast and force its' attention on them would be, but for a beast that was angered by weak prey fighting back, it worked like a charm.

The steel hide lizard didn't even notice that Maria was constantly firing arrows to disrupt the flame spirit tricksters, nor that Isa and Grace had teamed up to channel the ice energies from the winter witch and the first finch together.

With their hands locked, Grace found that she understood Isa a little better. The energies that Isa borrowed and incorporated within her body by fusing with her beasts was very unique. Her body adapted and allowed those energies to flow easily which was why the frost finch and grace could readily share their ice energy as well.

The smoothness of the flow also enlightened Grace to the deeper control of ice energies in general. It was due to the fact that Isa had learned to control it while her beasts provided such energies. It was such a close act of Isa, that it had become part of her nature. Not to mention that it was part of her physique.

But the same was happening for Isa when it came to wind energies. Grace had already started to help her frost finch guide the wind in an odd circle around their fighting area. This small breeze would be the solution for drawing the ice energies to cool the steel hide lizard.

Because of Grace's relationship with the frost finch and the fact that it gave her the ability to sense and manipulate the wind, she had a deeper understanding of wind in general. This feeling that Isa managed to sense helped her and the fact that she had a wind caterpillar that was still growing. The wind caterpillar was inside the taming space, but it sensed the differences in ability.

While the wind caterpillar sensed this, it was able to learn a little. Not as much as Isa did to understand wind, but the two realized that with Isa's unique physique and their shared affinities for energies, that they could learn better through contact. It wasn't the most practical way to learn, but it was an amazing new event in a situation like this.

"What!? Think that you can just slap in to his shield so easily!?" Ralph's battle cry came with a resounding smash. The molten boar had charged at the steel hide lizard while Brad had also slammed his ax down. Instead of the blade, Ralph had used the back of the ax to cause blunt damage.

Most people would not be able to dent a steel hide lizard's hide. It was too tough. Especially against sharp or blunt force. Yet, here the group was witnessing Ralph cause decent damage with one swing of his ax. The benefit of having the molten boar charge in to the steel hide lizard also showed.

Because the molten boar had come from the opposite side, Ralph's attack had been against the molten boar's force on the steel hide lizard. This had dealt conflicting damage due to the different forces pinching the beast. The internal shocks from this was enough to make the steel hide lizard freeze in place for a moment. The perfect amount of time.

Brad's follow up attack came as he set the shield to the side. The sword he could wield with one hand was grasped by both. Normally, Brad was not adept in shield and sword separately. However, He had learned some things from Reese and Terra Academy. Specifically, the best way to use both the shield and sword or just either or.

When the sword slammed down with the force from both of Brad's muscular arms, another dent in the steel hide lizard's body was created. The hardened steel skin that it had long grown and thought nearly invincible had cracked slightly leaving a bit of blood falling out. Similar drops of blood from the internal damage also dropped from its nostrils.

Due to the anger of being attacked and faced with a real fight, the steel hide lizard hissed out with anger. It planned to dive back in to the lava and attack by surprise. Unfortunately for the steel hide lizard, it was foolish.

A large burst of ice and wind mixed together caused the steel hide lizard's body to stiffen. The wind spun around it carrying the chill of frost. While the environment was naturally hot, the flow of wind controlled the area that the cold was in. This ice energy constantly cooled the steel hide lizard dramatically slowing its movements.

"When something is super heated and cooled dramatically, it gets brittle!" Ralph slammed the back of the ax in an upward arc. His hit was directly on the neck of the steel hide lizard. This attack was not the normal ax swing with the downward forces of gravity helping. But Ralph had attacked upwards for a reason.

The cracking sound as the steel hide lizards' skin cracked and blood started to pour out was enough to make it rear up. "And when you make a perfect target, I will find it." Jerold finished Ralph's words and stabbed inward with his dagger coated in poisons. Before the sting of additional pain reached the steel hide lizard, it lost control of its limbs.

The adrenaline in this battle worked against the steel hide lizard. In just a few moments it had been powerful and strong. Now it was bleeding out as its body became numb and it completely lost the ability to move.

"Excellent execution. I will note this down as a cooperative way to defeat the stele hide lizard. It will depend on force, elemental energies, and a team with perfect cooperation." Ella's immediate response was one that they all expected. But saying that they were excellent was high praise.

"Now for notes from your Professor." Professor Wright looked at the group and the still very confused but slowly understanding Solar guards. "Brade and Ralph, very good work drawing focus without a skill that facilitates it. You two should look to heighten your senses though. You nearly caught Jerold in your attacks. And Jerold, you need to be more flexible. You could have been struck."

"Ella, very good keeping the spiritual beasts at bay, Maria, your archery was the perfect partner for Ella. Next time, I expect that you will allow Ella to empower your arrows with spiritual energy. Her spirit infant is more than capable. Between Isa and Grace, magnificent approach. You will both be able to learn much more from what I can see.

Train together more often and learn from one another since your beats complement one another so well."

"And Reese, don't tell me you are disappointed because you did not manage to do as much. I saw you fall back to the Solar Academy city guards. That was the position. You protected the precious cargo. That is a place that everyone forgot during battle but for you."

These pieces of advice were exactly what the group needed. While Professor Wright didn't focus on large issues, she focused on the things that were necessary to make better growth over time. The group had also guessed some of the things she was going to say, but that was the bonus of having her around.

They could affirm their suspicions on how to improve more while also catching an outside view of their battle.

"Now guard captain, care to explain why my students had to rescue you?" Professor Wright turned her eyes to the younger guard captain. He was cut and scraped but had gained his bearings better than the others.

The flurry of thank yous and apologies that flowed afterwards isn't even worth the effort to document. Even Ella had that thought. The foolish guards had heard of the prizes that others had gained by coming here so they volunteered to take the job. Unfortunately, they had been trapped after following the sounds of battle thinking that they could steal away treasure.

Instead, they had found a trap of their own.

With the guards under the strict and punishing words of Professor Wright, Maria looked around and saw that there was not a single injury on anyone's body. The steel hide lizard had been a beast that none of them would fight and be able to handle alone just a few months ago. Yet, here they were beating it with relative ease.

"We have to move back toward the entrance. We can let the guards head toward their safe travel pathways. I am sure that they will be able to find other guards and handle themselves. But we will make camp outside the dungeon and wait for Clark. The day and night cycle isn't the same here. I am sure we walked for at least a day already." with Maria's orders, the group all agreed.

They easily stored away the steel hide lizard body and watched the flame spirit tricksters rush off to hide knowing that they had lost the battle.