One Enemy

Surrounded by a huge cave system the four of them put themselves together after a few minutes. Looking behind himself, Xilo saw a huge wall of nothing and the three girls waiting for him. "A barrier?" With a giant gate blocking his way forward Xilo decided to check out if they could escape first. Touching it for a quick second he felt a wave of nausea once more as he popped back out into the forest.

"So we can escape when we want at least."

Knowing he was to leave if he wanted to put him at ease as he went back in.

"We're able to leave then?"

Xeflia was the fastest to bounce back as she talked with Xilo.

"Yeah, at most this barrier just seems to be camouflage that hides this place from the outside world. I assume the place Felian was talking about is probably through that gate. I can feel some presence up ahead already though faint."

"Alright, then let's get going, I'd like to be here for as little time as possible."

Agreeing with her, Xilo walked up to the gate and slowly pushed it open with his hands. It was incredibly heavy, to the point he needed the others' help to get it moving. After a couple minutes of the four of them working together it eventually started to crack open leading to a path that spiraled down. Scanning ahead of the path, Xilo only sensed one creature hiding down there. It wasn't even that long of a path either. "Weird." Taking the first step he led the group down.

"From the looks of it, I can only see one Astral Beast down here. What about you three, any different?"

With all the girls shaking their heads, Xilo got even more confused.

"Well keep your guards up regardless, Somethings up with this place."

"This place feels similar."

"What's up Tearia?"

"Just thinking out loud."

A giant metal gate that took a lot of strength to open. One simple path to follow and one beast at the end of it. Tearia wasn't an expert in knowledge but she remembered reading about places like this. "It's not quite an Astral Zone but they're very similar." Thinking back to what she read while they travelled down she eventually figured it out. "Star Zones." Remembering it's name the information came back to her. Star Zones were extremely small Astral Zones that spawned with only one enemy as a test. Many Clans were built around Star Zones and used them to test out their younger generation of clan members. They were just baby Astral Zones that were a lot more controlled than normal ones. "Then I doubt there's any Elemental Crystals down here...Felian was just testing us." Getting to that point, Tearia spoke her thoughts.

"So you think there's nothing down there?"

"There's usually some kind of treasure down here but nothing that was requested of us. Most likely Felian did this to test us. There's probably a very strong Astral beast at the end of this tunnel at best and if we're lucky it'll be super weak. Think we should keep going still?"

Taking a moment to think about it, Xilo kept walking.

"Yeah, Well Felian might have tricked us, I still need her help and this is a part of our deal. I at least want to see what kind of Beast is waiting for us. You three coming?"

"If you're still up for it of course."

Following Xilo's decision Xelfia followed happily along with Relia's silent agreement. Shaking her head, Tearia sighed as she followed them too. "Idiot.." She didn't like the fact that they were tricked by Felian but if Xilo was still okay with going on then she would of course follow. In silence they followed the cave system downwards for a couple more minutes until they eventually came across an open flat area. Pausing, Xilo scouted the area as he saw an Astral Beast slumbering in the very middle. Crouching down he created some dark energy as he hid all of their presences. "Shoulda done this sooner." Scolding himself for making such a simple mistake Xilo examined the Beast in front of him.

Even though it was currently laying down sleeping it was still quite big. It was the size of a house, With silver spikes that covered it's entire back and wings that spread out over it's head. Xilo would have thought it was a giant hedgehog if it wasn't for the protective shell that covered the rest of its body. "Is this a Spek?" From what he had read about them, they were giant spiked turtles that could fly. They were incredibly strong defense and power wise but they were also very slow in return. They also came with the wind Element that helped them fly. "It's manageable but it's power." He couldn't even get a read on it with his strength.

"Xelfia, know how strong that thing is?"

"It's around the 8th stage. Normally I'd say that's doable with all four working together but it looks very sturdy."

"Yeah...It has a very strong defense sadly. Hmmm..How do we beat it?"

Tossing around ideas in his head he felt the beast begin to move. With its movement alone it managed to shake the entire room forcing Xilo to slip out of concentration. Without any time to think his darkness scattered as they were revealed to the Beast. Sensing intruders immediately now that it was awake it cried out in rage as it stomped the ground and sent a wind blade their way instantly. Forced to move, XIlo pushed all the girls away as the blade of wind dug into the ground where they were standing, ripping it apart instantly.

"Guess we don't have much time to think."

With another attack already coming their way again, Xilo was forced once more to jump out of the way as he took out Icebreaker.

"If it gets to much for us, we can always run however for now I want the four of us to give it a shot together as a team and see where that takes us, you all alright with that?"

"Yep."

"....Nnn"

"Fine..."

With the girls approval their fight started.