Standing in the center of the arena, Gauss and the others suddenly felt the world around them shift.
A hard white spotlight dropped from overhead, flooding the middle of the ring with brilliance.
On the towering stands encircling them, tall insectfolk silhouettes flickered into view, and a tidal roar of cheers surged in from every direction.
For a heartbeat, their three-person squad felt as if it had crossed endless time and space, set down in the glory days before an ancient kingdom's fall, about to take part in a gladiatorial trial watched by all.
Down on the floor, the insectfolks' images were so sharp it was unsettling—so real it made you doubt your eyes.
Gauss knit his brows.
Everything was… a little too real.
For a moment he glanced down at himself and could almost see his body sheathed in flawless white chitin and jointed limbs.
"Gauss… Gauss!"
Alia's call cut through the clamor and snapped him back.
"Get ready to fight!"
"Right." Gauss gave his head a hard shake, clearing the strange haze.
Zoning out at the start of a fight—never a good sign.
He forced his attention onto the point where the light converged.
Sure enough, a moment later a strangely shaped plant-type monster congealed inside the beam.
"Not a man-eating plant?" Gauss lifted a brow.
That didn't exactly surprise him.
Ever since that odd insect call had pressed the idea of a "trial" into their minds, he'd suspected the enemy's strength would scale with the party's.
But what exactly was this thing?
He combed his memory—he'd never seen anything like it in any bestiary.
While the creature stretched its body, he shot a quick look at Alia and Serandur.
"You know what this thing is?"
"Never seen it."
"Nothing rings a bell."
Both shook their heads.
Gauss nodded.
When you run into an unknown monster, it's either so rare the common books skip it, or it's been extinct topside for ages.
"Stay sharp."
Before stepping in, the three of them—plus one wolf and one raven—had already thrown up the [Omni-Armor].
Unfortunately, the armor didn't seem to apply to clay creatures; otherwise he'd have put it on the four spiders too.
By now the monster's full shape had come into view.
It was a hulking mass that defied neat plant-or-animal labels.
Its trunk looked like a beast woven from twisted, withered briars, with a dozen or so dark-green-to-black, spike-studded, supple vine-tails trailing behind it. Each tail ran maybe three to five meters; the forward body was about four meters long and roughly human height.
More worrying, a clammy pale-yellow mist coiled around it like a living thing.
Whatever the species, the malice rolling off it put it well above a man-eating plant.
That fit Gauss's guess: the trial scaled to the challengers.
Whether it tracked class level or actual combat power was anyone's guess.
"ROAR!"
A deafening bellow tore the air, shockwaves rippling outward.
The Briar Behemoth struck first.
It snapped up a vine-tail; the scarlet barbs at its tip spat out like a storm of steel!
Thud-thud-thud!
The spikes screamed through the air and punched into the dirt with ease, pocking the ground with holes.
Thankfully Serandur and Alia—mounted on Ulfen—were quick on their feet and split off at speed.
When a spike did tag them, blue ripples shimmering over their bodies soaked the hit.
Gauss was fastest of all; he slipped the volley entirely.
A quick glance confirmed the others were fine, and he relaxed a fraction.
Light gathered at the white staff in his hand. "Magic Missile!"
Open with the fastest, longest-reach spell—test its resistances and force it to break off, easing the pressure on the team.
Bang! Bang!
The Behemoth sensed the casting and whipped several tails across the missiles' paths before they reached its core.
The spell detonated early, the force shattering the blocking vines.
Before Gauss could press the opening, green sap spurted from the breaks and fresh vines regrew at eye-blurring speed.
"Strong regeneration," Gauss noted.
And the tails didn't seem to be "body."
Shattering them drew no pain response. Either they weren't vital—or it didn't feel pain at all.
Fire-vulnerable? Also worth a test.
His hands moved faster than his thoughts. "Firebolt!"
As a cantrip it was already quick, and with all his buffs it was nearly instant.
Whoosh—the bolt traced a red arc through the air.
Sssk! It slipped through the yellow haze and slammed the briar-woven torso.
The shot stopped cold; the flames guttered out fast under the yellow mist. That haze was acting like a shield.
So fire wouldn't do the usual number on a plant-type here.
The steady barrage did, however, lock its aggro.
As every tail swung his way, Gauss didn't flinch.
Everything was going to plan.
Vmmm—Serandur's Blessing washed over him.
The pale-gold radiance felt like sinking into a hot spring; all his abilities ticked up a notch.
A Level 3 priest's buff was no joke; every time he felt it, Gauss was glad he'd recruited Serandur.
At this intensity the Blessing would only last one to two minutes, so Serandur would have to keep chaining it.
Gauss triggered [Brute Force] and [Enhanced Leap]; boosted by the Blessing, the effects surged. Power detonated in his legs and afterimages smeared across the ground as he moved.
Behind him the spike-barrage chased like a rainstorm.
With the aggro locked, Ulfen and the four clay spiders looped wide along the edge and fell on the Behemoth's rear.
Ulfen's claws flashed, howling for the vulnerable root where trunk met tail.
Meanwhile the four fearless clay spiders went even harder. Led by the white one, they bounded onto its back; sharp appendages bit into gaps in the withered briars, and they clawed their way upward.
Boom—the Behemoth, previously fixed on Gauss, flared with anger at the sudden assault.
Ulfen and the spiders weren't landing killing blows, but like a cloud of flies they drove it to fury, pulling its focus off Gauss and onto the small things scoring its hide.
It lashed its tails at the spiders clinging to its back.
Whump! The clay spiders, keen-sensed and nimble, slipped away a heartbeat before each strike.
Ulfen's constant harrying helped.
The Behemoth's attention kept getting yanked around.
Gauss watched, thoughtful.
This trial monster had a clear flaw in its decision-making; new sources of damage peeled its focus off too easily.
A normal elite—even an elite goblin—would "ignore the smalls, lock the threat." That's not IQ; it's baseline combat instinct.
Thud—one spider failed to dodge and took a tail full on, splattering into sludge on its back.
Gauss didn't blink. They were still inside range; mana pulsed and the shattered clay reformed, clinging back on like a burr.
"Call it close to rating 4?" he estimated as he closed in. Its raw power and presence beat a rating 3's, but sloppy priorities dragged it down. Overall it was still within his control.
It lined up with the earlier party of all Level 1s facing a rating 2 monster—strong enough to suppress them but flawed enough not to rack up quick kills.
This time, with a Level 3 priest on their side, they'd drawn something above rating 3 but shy of 4.
Just a working theory, though.
Time slid by—another few minutes.
Gauss side-stepped a brutal lash, flung a recharged clay spider back on, and used the beat to pull a ration from his pouch and catch his breath.
He'd been probing the Behemoth nonstop, trading aggro back and forth. Alia's Entangle was doing work too. Up close he'd been mapping for weaknesses.
As for not popping [Ghoul Form] yet—better safe than sorry.
[Ghoul Form] burns stamina fast; if he couldn't end it during the window, they'd be on the back foot after.
He'd rather kite and gather intel.
From the testing so far, the Behemoth had no glaring flaws, and its regen was extreme—wounds closed quickly.
It behaved almost like an undead: physical damage underperformed, and fire fizzled out almost as soon as it caught.
"Serandur, another Blessing, please."
"On it." Fresh light bloomed over him and the fatigue blew away.
He looked back at the beast—and in a flash caught a detail he'd missed. His eyes lit. Found you.
Among the dozen thick tails, one alone had never budged—hadn't attacked even once.
Even when the others had fired their barbs to stubs and regrown them, that tail's spikes stayed pristine, like decoration.
Which made no sense—unless it was hiding that tail on purpose. Or that tail mattered too much to risk revealing.
It was a hard tell to catch; without his high INT and constant attention, the disguise would've worked.
The clues clicked together. The weak point he'd been hunting was on that tail.
~~~
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