Light element erupted around him brighter than before while he planted his sword into the ground against the oncoming strike.

The collision shook the chamber violently.

Caius slid backwards across the floor, boots carving trenches through stone before Yander flames intercepted from the side.

Flames exploded against the tail repeatedly, forcing the skeleton backwards.

The battle became chaos.

Unlike the guardian beasts, the skeleton fought intelligently. It seems like previous instincts had somehow been absorbed into the roots controlling the corpse.

It seemed to be imitating their fighting style at some point. It targets opening immediately and adapts to their fighting style quickly. They were basically inside its domain and it could attack at any angle.

When Yander attacked too aggressively, roots emerged behind her, distracting her. When Cassian attempted to restrain the body fully, the creature shattered an entire section with pure strength and pressure alone as though cutting through paper.

And every time Caius managed to damage the skeleton. The roots would merge the bones and use itself as the glue.

Atheline noticed it first. The annoying pattern seemed to have gone on longer than necessary.

"The roots are the core, attack the roots!" Atheline shouted.

The three nodded.

Caius immediately understood.

"Destroy them faster than they can regenerate," Caius mummbled to himself.

That was easier said than done. The skeleton roared again before slamming both forelimbs against the floor.

Roots burst upwards everywhere simultaneously while the ceiling started to crack on its own. The pillars and chunks of the ceiling around them started to collapse.

Cassian barely avoided being crushed beneath falling stones before shadows caught him mid-slide.

"This thing is insane. How in the world are we supposed to win against this thing?"

Yander stepped on a falling slab and lifted upwards through the destruction, flames exploding around her blade. Then she thrust downwards. Pressure formed around her as she descended the flames circling her.

The fire pierced directly through the skeleton’s spine cutting through the spiral of roots. The roots burned violently.

The skeleton screamed loud enough to cause their heads to ring. Caius moved instantly afterwards.

Golden light illuminated the chamber brighter than ever before. His great sword descended with overwhelming force and precision. He jumped through the air, passing through the mire of roots attacking.

The strike split the creature’s skull apart vertically. For a brief moment, nothing happened.

"Wow, that was..." Cassian started.

The roots began glowing a slight blue, pulsing suddenly then the skull started to reform again.

Cassian took a small unconscious step back.

"This is crazy... You have to be joking. I might be seeing things now."

Atheline narrowed his eyes slightly, he knew he couldn’t let it reform again or their work would have come to naught and they would have to redo it again.

He moved. Wind accelerated him forward instantly while lightning cracked around his body.

He sprinted directly across collapsing pillars before leaping towards the skeleton’s exposed chest cavity where the roots converged the thickest. It looked like a bunch of large black snakes coiled around each other in a moving bunch.

The forest lord immediately reacted. Its claw descended fast towards him, in an almost blur but Cassian’s shadow caught it mid-motion before it could drop.

Yander’s flames exploded against the other forelimb. Caius jumped onto its shoulder and drove his sword through the creature’s shoulder joint, forcing the body downward.

That was the opening he needed. Atheline drew one final elemental arrow. The air screamed from pressure alone and Atheline continued to contract it even more, he needed it to have a huge punch.

The arrows left the bow in a blur, disappearing from everyone’s gaze.

It pierced directly into the centre of the mass of wriggling roots buried within the skeleton’s chest. And detonated.

The chamber vanished before white blinding light. When the light disappeared, the skeleton was left frozen in the middle of the room.

Cracks slowly appeared, spreading throughout the entire skeleton. Then, the ancient beast collapsed. The roots disintegrated into ash, and the blue fire faded from its eyes.

They held their breath for a few seconds, watching as it disintegrated but each of them was waiting for it to magically stand up and attack.

It did not rise again.

Silence filled the chamber afterwards, and only drifting dust and shattered stone remained.

Cassian finally dropped backwards against a broken stone pillar.

"I am not entering creepy temples in the middle of the forest ever again."

Yander ignored him while watching the gigantic skeleton to ensure it was really dead.

Caius rested his sword against the ground heavily before looking towards Atheline.

He was quiet for a moment, then spoke.

"That last attack..."

His voice carried quiet disbelief.

Atheline lowered the bow calmly.

"It worked, the heart seems to be the core."

Caius laughed softly.

"Thats not what I asked. "

Atheline didn’t respond. He stored his bow and turned to the broken skeleton.

Cassian piped up at the moment.

"Stop being so gloomy, we won. We beat this stupid skeleton we should celebrate."

Caius and Yander chuckled at that. They had all had their fair share of ruins at the moment.

"I just need a good soak in the hot springs and sleep," Yander said comfortably while rubbing her shoulders.

"This has been fun," Caius said shyly while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Atheline stared at them for a moment then shook his head.

"The competition is about to end," he said, his gaze sweeping the destroyed room," we should look for anything that might give us a clue about what this place is."

Meaning: Let’s loot this place if we can.

Cassian laughed out loud. "Sure, let’s get to know these ruins at a deeper level."

"We have at most two hours before the competition ends," Yander said and walked towards the left side where a small door was located.

Atheline moved towards the dead creature. He wanted to see if there was anything he had missed.

He glanced around but he couldn’t find what he had come for, there was no sovereign core inside the temple which meant it wasn’t a sovereign palace or it had already been taken.

His gaze went to the three who seemed to have found something.

Cassian was kneeling by a corner, staring at moon crystals, unsurprisingly. Caius was holding an older rusted sword and the stars in his eyes showed his love.

Yander seemed to have found a bunch of books but most disintegrated except one tome.

He could feel the egg in his space, alive and beating.

"I need to do something, so I’ll be leaving first."

Cassian was the first to turn around.

"What? Where?"

Atheline didn’t respond.

"I have a grudge I need to clear."

His wind circled, bringing him the news he needed.

A small cold smile graced his lips.

"We’ll meet again during the award ceremony."

Lightning surrounded him, then he was gone before they could respond.

"That was rude and unexpected," Cassian mumbled and went back to collecting the crystals.

"He probably has something extremely important to do. Young Lord would never leave us just like that."

Cassian glanced at Caius who was busy cleaning the rust from the old sword.

"You’re really something you know."

Caius chuckled but didn’t respond. " You should be grateful you would never have reached here without him."

"Fair."