Eric's heart raced at the sudden realization that the game had indeed started. He saw the beasts running wildly toward the arena from all five gateways, each one about half the height of a grown man and triple the size of a common wolf. They snarled hungrily as they closed in, their muzzles stretched back to expose hundreds of razor-sharp fangs that seemed to grow longer with each passing second.
Two of them were approaching where Eric stood guard, and besides the pitch-black fur that gave them a more feral look, he realized why they were called "Centiclaws".
They had paws four times the size of a native beast's, and on each paw were hundreds of claws scattered all over like fragments designed by a deranged art student for a classroom project. They had deep black coats, blending beautifully with the dark shade of their fur. Their smooth surface caught the light, and they glittered with every movement. They looked even sharper than their fangs.
Alley's battle voice rang out as she began her commander's role. "Hold it! Hold it!"
The Centiclaws were only about 30 feet away.
'What's she doing? They shouldn't come near us before we attack.'
"Terra-men and Ice-men, ready! Now! Defensive walls!"
"Impressive. Now let's get to work."
The earth started rumbling and, with a deep tremor, began to shift. From the ground, layers of earth and sand rose up about 15 feet into the air, forming a square encampment around the circular formation.
The earth walls made by the Terra-men, although solid, weren't enough to close the Centiclaws. There were wide open spaces where the walls couldn't reach or where they couldn't connect properly with the next wall due to a Terra-man's incapacity or just the pure lack of information between them.
Alley raised her voice again in command, hovering from spot to spot, checking the wall's growth and the openings where the Centiclaws could infiltrate.
"Ice-men! Fortify the wall! Block the openings! And every cracks! there!"
Xavi before Alley's command, had already stopped a Centiclaw from forcing its way in, creating an ice wall so strong and firm. It connected two different earthen walls by its side.
"You dirty creatures can't claw through that. My ice walls don't melt easily."
Eric was already in action, running around the formation with incredible speed, casually mending cracks and broken spots on the walls with his own terra ability.
"These walls are weak," Eric thought. "The Centiclaws will soon find a way through the cracks between Earth and ice. I hope Alice has a plan."
He stopped his scan of nearby wall formations, circling around the circle and fortifying the earthen walls using Terrakinesis. The ground shook where he passed as solid rocks arose from the ground, jutting out near the crevices and openings in form of spines and mega spikes that got the onlookers wow-ed.
All around the wall, everyone could hear the scraping sounds coming from the impatient Centiclaws as they started trying to dig their way through the earthen walls, leaving the ice walls alone to melt. Alice sped through the air from points to points and even drove past the walls to get a clear view of the Centiclaws' location and activities. She could see from her vantage point that the earth walls were at risk of penetration any moment soon.
"We've bought ourselves enough time to prepare for their attacks! Now it's time to attack!"
Her voice rose above those from the crowd, though she'd eventually lowered herself to almost the level of the other players as she continued with her instructions.
"Our first attack will begin with the Terra-men! The Centiclaws are somewhat immune to underground attacks from rocks shooting out, or setting up a trap hole being in the ground. They can immediately feel and detect the deep tremors in the surface ground before your attacks can hit. They'll easily jump away from your underground attacks, and before you can reach out for another attack, they're on to you..."
"Really?" Eric probed the system. "They really can't be attacked from beneath?"
[That's right... Centiclaws are hyper-sensitive and can feel subtle vibrations coming from the earth, so they take it as an incoming attack. They will easily jump out of the attack range unless it happens to be a major brutal large scale attack that they can't easily clear]
[They are also very fast and can be hard to aim with air control]
[They are however not immune to fire, water, or ice. The user must just be fast enough to step up before they get close]
Cool.
Alice's voice brought Eric back to the arena. "I need all Terra-men to play on their walls and on my command, bring the them all down.
"Those beasts are actually clawing crazily and they are halfway through those walls completely.
"Crashing the walls might not subdue them totally but it'll give us even more time for our main attack.
"To the ice-men, immediately the earth walls starts crashing down, I'll need you to reshape your own walls and turn them to a good enough weapon. We must attack the beasts early on and reduce their chances of coming closer!
"Once all the defensive walls are down, everybody with active abilities must attack at once... But...you must never break formation!"
Eric felt everybody tensed as Alice rounded up her speech. A ripple of pride and trust in Alice washed over him and a genuine smile managed his face. He was relieved that he hadn't been pushed forward to be their leader because he knows he wouldn't be able to do as well as what Alice had done.
I'd have called for an all-out attack on the Centiclaws.
I mean... What might help kill them all quickly but there will be many casualties as well.
Alice must know that everyone is needed to survive this round because there are even more beasts after this that requires even more attacking power.
She must be trying to keep everyone from harm while dealing with the Centiclaws as efficiently as possible.
Impressive. She was born for this.
The commentator's irritating noise rose again, adding even more pollution to the already sickening atmosphere.
{To be honest with you all, I should have sold my house and bet on this group}
{I meannn, can you see the coordination between them? Coming from kids, that is sensational!}
{Also, the survival time of 10 minutes is almost over, and a whole lot of stakers will be cashing out soon while the ones who doubted them will be crashing out}
{Look, there's no casualty yet. Isn't that mind-blowing?}
"In 3... 2..." Alice yelled, "...1. Terra-men, Now!"
First there was a massive split and a loud crack, causing every single brown wall of the earthen formation shudder massively, courtesy of Eric.
Every other earth controller, seven of them, took hold of their walls by stretching their hands in the direction of the walls, and with a heavy wave of their hands... the massive walls cane crashing down, at all at once with a small-scale earthquake that shook the arena ground forcefully and unsettled the setting for a while.
The crashing sound, slow and easy at first rose into a deafening one, with each block of earth that collided on another, creating an even deeper tremor than was possible with any underground attacks. As far as everyone could see, the Centiclaws were nowhere in sight.
The once beautiful arena ground that was filled with fine sand now erupted in a loud bang and an immensely thick cloud of dust. The 360 formation, still unshaken, poised, tensed and ready for the next line of action as their main walls of protection was no more.
"Ice-men! Now!" Alice cried.
"Hehe," Xavi giggled as he lifted the entire mass of his ice with just an upward wave of his left hand, starting the movement for every other ice-man—four others, all females—to do the same.
Five ice walls, thick and strong but none as strong as Xavi's—rose in the air, each one giving that alluring icy blue shimmer, and catching the rays of sunlight that reflected to different directions on the stands.
On another shout of command from Alice, Xavi started waving his arms wildly on a spot, deeply engrossed in his actions. Ice flakes formed off his body in place of sweat, and melted into water as soon as they hit the ground.
With a violent wave, his ice wall broke into smaller pieces with a thunderous crash, and like a master craftsman, he began building those smaller pieces into hundreds of large ice cones, sharp and pointy. Each one hovered in the sky above the collapsed earthen walls, ready to be deployed at the next command.
"They can't survive my ice cones. My ice don't melt easily," Xavi said, poised as he raised both his hands up in control of the many ice weapons.
The four other female ice benders were also done with their ready weapons made of ice, to Eric's disgust and silent disapproval of quality. Disgust all born from his jealousy and wish to be able to wield the ice ability like the others could.
I agree with Alley. Ice control is sure a cool ability. Literally.
"I need accurate underground attacks from the Terra-men!" Alice resumed her war cry. "Shoot those rocks up exactly where the Centiclaws are buried."
"Everyone get ready. They might be wounded and weaker now, but they'll come clawing out all the same."
"And trust me, nothing's more dangerous than a wounded beast!"
Eric smirked, playing with a lick of fire on his fingers. "Except me," he said to himself.