"Rise!" Remian stomped his foot on the ground.

An earth spike reminiscent of the Rocky Thorns shot out of the ground and impaled the Lizard King Challenger through the throat.

"Null oxygen field!" Remian added, for good measure.

This lizard wasn't using fire, but it still needed oxygen to breathe, so…

The roaring suddenly stopped abruptly, as the Lizard King Challenger slammed its tail against the rock spike, and managed to free itself.

"Earth Spike!" Remian stomped his foot on the ground again. "Rise!"

This one stabbed the lizard through the center, like the time he'd speared the Flame Salamander Lord…

But this was no ordinary Lord. This was a lizard five times bigger and many times stronger and smarter. Despite suffocating from a lack of air, and being utterly furious, it still had the presence of mind to free itself by wriggling to angle its body on the spike until it could claw and swipe at it with its tail…

Tim suddenly lunged, stabbing his rapier out at the tail just after it swiped the spike. The lizard freed itself in that moment, falling to the ground…

Tim's sword ignited its runes. There was a sharp explosion and then the lizard's tail fell off!

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"Wha…?" Mindy stared.

"Some lizards do that." Darian explained to her. "Their tails drop off as a defense mechanism. It was designed to do that, so even though Tim's stab wasn't all that powerful, it only needed to trigger that mechanism…"

"Hey! My sword is the most powerful weapon in Fal'Herim's underground!" Tim protested, dodging a lively jumping lizard tail more than thirty times his size. It was reminiscent of a lost lumberjack trying to dodge falling trees.

"Bigger Earth Spike!" Remian called. "RISE!"

This time, a spike three times bigger than the previous one stabbed the lizard in the lower guts, between both legs.

"Rise!" Remian called again. Another spike lanced through the lizard's chest, effectively hanging it like a hammock between the two newest, largest spikes.

Tim took another stab at the lizard, this time aiming for the wound in its stomach that was dangling between the two spikes. There was another flash and an explosion, and Tim dashed away to avoid the spurting blood as much as he could.

But despite its wounds, despite having almost no breath left, the lizard roared, summoned its strength and with a burst of power, broke free of both spikes and charged at Remian, completely ignoring Tim.

Tim raised his rapier once more, wanting to take the opportunity to strike at it from behind, looking for a weakness, an opening, but the only hole in the armor that he could see was the location where the lizard's tail fell off…

Mindy's face turned red. "Tim, if you put your sword there, I am NEVER going to talk to you again!"

"But…"

"No buts! And no pun intended!" Mindy yelled.

Darian shook his head wordlessly as the oversized lizard barreled towards his brother.

"Rise!" Remian coughed as another spike poked at the big lizard. His face was pale and his breathing was coa.r.s.e, but he kept on. "Rise! Rise! Rise!"

The lizard broke through the spikes one after the other in rapid succession, and then took a bite at Remian.

"Drop!" Remian's next move was the opposite of what he'd been doing. Instead of raising the ground, he lowered it, and himself, at a startling pace. This effectively dodged the bite and left Remian in a hole roughly six feet in the ground. [Guys, I might be six feet in the ground, but I'm not dead! DO NOT bury me!]

"Aww." Doom put away a shovel formed of pure Psionic energy.

"Hang on just a bit more! It's almost down!" Mindy said, seeing the lizard claw at Remian while choking on a lack of oxygen. She raised her hands. Wings of fire erupted from her shoulders. "Sunstroke!"

Sudden bright light and a wave of heat flared over the lizard. The lizard stumbled back, dizzy, shaking its head and trying to clear it, but visibly getting weaker by the second. It turned and glared at Mindy.

Mindy leapt up, wings flapping as she rose fifty feet, a hundred feet, two hundred…

Darian squinted upwards. "Nope. Not going to be able to reach her from where you are. Sorry, lizzie, it looks like you're out of luck, out of breath, and out of strength. You may as well quit."

The lizard fell over, twitching and glaring, but finally said, [I concede.]

[The first challenge for the Eastern Edge Region has been won by the humans.] Tor'ndras announced. [You have an hour to rest. Star Wolf King, you're up!]

[Who's first?] the Star Wolf King asked, as he stepped out.

Mindy and Phoebe tugged Remian out of his hole and withdrew with Tim. The wolfcats took the field. Alongside the Star Wolf King were five Lords and Lord Challengers; Shadowflash, Lockjaw, Bright, Darter and Brim.

Against them were a bunch of baboons, six of them in total, all of them upper Tier-6 or Lords.

Phoebe treated Remian while the wolfcats and the monkeys battled.

"Who's up next?" Remian heaved while Phoebe laid hands glowing with light on his chest.

"The snakes, I think." Tim mentioned.

"Don't speak. Rest." Phoebe told Remian. "You overdid it just now. Maybe you should sit out the next fight."

"But…"

"Easy, take it easy." Tim patted his shoulder. "There are plenty of fights to come. It won't do for you to faint in the middle of the second bout. Take some time to recover and save your strength for later."

Remian groaned. "Is there no way to get Song Chen or Markus in…?"

"Song Chen's already disgraced and Markus is too embarra.s.sed to come out and play." Darian pointed out. "You'll have to make do with the people you have here."

"But he can't last like this! That was only one fight, and there are four more waiting…" Phoebe protested. "It's unfair! Their forces will be fresh while ours would be exhausted! They should give him more time to rest…"

"Unfairness was original design." Doom cut in. "A King needs to be strong enough to dominate several Lords at the same time. That's the whole point."

"We can manage without him for one round. That should give him more time." Tim suggested. "I mean… snakes can't fly, but Mindy can."

"That's basically offering you and Phoebe up on a silver platter." Darian shook his head.

"Actually, I was hoping to let Phoebe sit the next one out too. Otherwise, I'm afraid she'd just get eaten." Tim coughed. "I have some skill with earth magic, so I should be able to hide underground until Mindy fries them from above."

"That could take some time." Mindy grimaced. "I do seem to have some control over fire now, but it's all still very new to me, and I don't have a solid grasp over it yet…"

"Well, there's no time for you to practice any more. You'll just have to practice on the snakes." Darian shrugged.

"There's never enough time for anything! I still have hundreds of airs.h.i.+ps to build…" Mindy grumbled.

"I could bring Har'es-dras to come help you out a bit, tomorrow." Darian offered. "In exchange for our fill of prime beef."

Mindy eyed him sideways. "Just how much beef are we talking about?"

"Oh… a hundred cows or oxen will do."

"Har'es-dras eats that much?"

"Hey, he's a growing adolescent! As am I!"

"You're not even thirteen yet."

"Neither are you!"