Chapter 54: Fire-Cracking Lizards (1)

Chapter 54: Fire-Cracking Lizards (1)They spent the first few hours of class learning about the Fire-cracking lizard. For someone who prided herself on more practical classes than theory, Professor Lea Gilligan really rambled on. She spoke so passionately about the subject that the students couldn’t even be mad. That was until their wrists started to cramp up due to excessive note-taking. Because they were outside, they didn’t have desks to place their books on as they took down the numerous dictations and they also didn’t have chairs with backrests to lean against whenever they eventually got tired. Of course, they were all soon seated on the soft grass and others even took it far enough to lie down for a more relaxing posture but it hardly helped with the wrist cramps. At least for those who were serious about taking notes. And then finally, with a wide smile on her face, she asked, "Any questions?" The entire class was so tired and numb that no one really had any questions and just stared like they were really hoping this was the end. The more time-conscious of the bunch noted that there was still some time in this double-period and wondered what the rest of the time was going to be spent on since the Professor looked to be finalizing her lecture. "No questions?" Professor Gilligan asked when no one raised a hand and then she smiled, "Fantastic. Shows you understand enough about the Fire-cracking Lizard to pacify them." "Them?" Aylin Khione asked and sat up off the ground, sharing looks with her gang of friends at the plural. "Pacify?" Kaya asked, taking note of a different word. "Indeed," Professor Gilligan said and reached into one of her pouches to pull out small black discs. There were about eight of them that she tossed up so they began to land on the ground with little ’Thud’ sounds. The discs let out a humming sound then and each released Magical energy that took the form of a net. The nets from each disc connected in a circular ring that then rose off the ground to connect above and complete the formation of a netted Dome. Caius saw Delia reach out to the net. In her bid to stay apart from most of the class, she was the closest and the first one to discover that despite the netted look, there was no space to be exploited in the dome. It also didn’t give way no matter how hard she shoved. "Nothing in. Nothing out," Professor Gilligan said and touched one of her pouches so it expanded enough for her to reach both her hands into it and lift out a gigantic cage containing not one, not five, not ten, but at least Forty Fire-Cracking Lizards. She opened the cage and the Lizards poured out, hitting the ground and baring their fang-like teeth at the class as they let out hisses in unison that still came out in a disorderly crowd of noise. The entire class was immediately on their feet and moved as far away from the hissing lizards as they possibly could. "The Cage has been forcefully pacifying them for hours and they’ve spent all that time in my Pouch so they’re pretty pissed. They will come at you with all they’ve got. And when they discover that there’s no escape, they’ll come at you even harder," Professor Gilligan said with a grin as she stuffed the cage back into her pouch and touched it so it returned to its normal size. The class was lined up now with their backs pressed against the inner surface of the net dome as most of them stared at the Professor like she was insane. "Professor, you can’t be serious!" Eloise said as the Lizards began to spread out, coming at them from multiple angles while Lea Gilligan crossed her arms beneath her large breasts and eyed them all like a proud Mama bird waiting for them to fly. "Just remember everything I’ve taught you and you’ll be fine..." Professor Gilligan said right before everything devolved into Chaos. The Lizards suddenly leaped at the students and their red patch of skin glowed in unison as they primed to explode. Kaya took one step forward and with a wave of her hand, she made a wall of water appear just in time to shield her, Caius, and Eloise from the blast. Alas, the combination of explosions from so many lizards all at once overwhelmed her shield, slamming the three with enough force to slam them even harder against the inner surface of the net dome. Kaya was not the only one to cast a defensive spell. Aylin Khione erected a wall of ice. Delia Kragsten created a defensive windshield that crackled with lightning. Aurelius cast Mandala. Doran Langston made a thick earthen wall appear. All over, so many in the class reacted quickly enough to defend from the combined blast. However, it was so powerful that it overwhelmed them all. Most surprising was Aurelius’ Mandala losing here when it had managed against Professor Kragsten’s lightning attack during Combat Magic Class. It drove into the heads of many just how serious the situation was. Worse yet, after their first combined blasts, the Fire-Cracking Lizards were getting primed for another. This time, no one tried defensive spells. They just ran and tried to put distance between themselves and the coming blast. The force of the explosion still sent them flying. Caius hit the ground with Kaya and Eloise within two feet of him. And then he heard the pitter-patter sounds of tiny feet running across the grassy ground and looked to see multiple Lizards coming his way. ~Wind Scythe~ The spell circle appeared and transformed into a focused wind attack that he swung at the Lizards. Most were fast enough to avoid it. The unlucky ones were sliced in two, littering the ground with their guts. "You’re to pacify them, not kill them," Professor Gilligan said. "Don’t think we have a choice," Eloise said through gritted teeth looking to be preparing a killing spell-cast of her own. She was mostly talking to herself but the Professor heard her easily. "Pacify. Don’t kill," she cautioned and patted her pouch, "I have more of them with me. For every one you kill, I’ll replace. And if I feel like it, I.e. if you piss me off, I’ll replace every kill you make with two more. Remember my lectures. You should know how to pacify them with non-lethal force." Eloise was on one knee now as she waved her hand and summoned a spell circle in the form of a magic note that let out a thrumming sound that was deep in vibrations. Her spell compressed wind and slammed the Lizards that had avoided Caius’ spell and were scuttling closer, smacking them away. She kept the spell up for a full minute after that because the Lizards never stayed away and always returned to try again. Just then... *Kraka-bang!* There was a flash of lightning and ten Lizards fell to the ground around Delia Kragsten whose eyes were wild in seething anger. She had soot on her face and Caius could tell she had suffered a point-blank blast. "I warned you," Professor Gilligan said shaking her head with a sigh. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a cage as large as the one she had used to deposit the Lizards currently wreaking havoc in the dome. She opened the cage and true to her word, counted ten Lizards that she let drop to the ground to replace the ones Delia had killed. "And for extra measure," Professor Gilligan said as she released an additional five Fire-cracking Lizards. "Thanks a lot," Marcus Arognite groaned at Delia while standing about two feet away from her and staring at the Fifteen Lizards coming to join the fray. "Shut up!" Delia said with a fist crackling with lightning raised in annoyance. The thing was, Caius didn’t blame her. This was partly because his instinct was to kill the scurrying exploding bastards himself but also because he felt strongly that the blame should be with Lea Gilligan. For someone who had claimed ’Failure’ was a part of the learning process, she was being very unforgiving. And there lies the problem with her as the class as a whole was now starting to realize; Although Lea Gilligan was more positive and jovial than Anne Gilligan, she was still her mother’s daughter and in a way, she might be even worse.