Chapter 56: Except you, Caius Von Helsing

Chapter 56: Except you, Caius Von HelsingAs he was yelling, Caius’ eyes were on Baler’s and then his lips turned up in a smirk that he knew would piss the grey haired boy off even more. It wasn’t that Baler was a total moron. Caius was sure Baler had the good sense to know that pacifying the Lizards would be far more viable than trying to out-kill Professor Gilligan’s supply. The only reason he suggested the stupid plan was to try not to acknowledge that Caius figured out the ’key’ to beating the exercise before he or anyone else did. It was all an ego thing that he hadn’t let go of since Breakfast and that incident where Caius fed Eloise food. "You Ass!" Baler said with a groan and with his fists clenched in anger. Caius was already looking away though. "Eloise!" He called out. "On it!" Eloise said in the most ready-for-action voice she had probably ever given as she formed seals that she infused with Mana to create a large spell circle. At the same time, Caius gave Kaya a nod, which she returned as she put even more energy into her Nature Magic spell casting, creating a wide net of vines to slam down and pin the Lizards. When the Lizards primed to explode, Eloise let her water magic spell rain down and douse their flames before Caius stepped forward and began reaching into the gaps of the net of vines, pressing down on their nodes until at least half of them flopped and were completely passive. The other half managed to explode and destroy the vines, and began to scurry away. But just then, Aylin Khione took on a spell-casting pose with her fingers splayed out as she created a large spell circle that she slammed into the ground to freeze it over. Creating a smooth icy surface that the Lizards struggled to get traction on as they skidded all about due to the lack of friction. But Aylin wasn’t done. With a specific move of her fingers, she created a barrier around the icy ground she had made, and the sliding Lizards slammed into them, hard enough to disorient them for a few seconds. Or so she thought. Alas, from the moment the Lizards were sliding, they were already getting ready to free themselves from the icy hell they were in. Their red skin glowed, ready to explode and shatter the ice so they could get back to running. Eloise had been so surprised by the suddenly iced-up ground that she didn’t have a water spell prepared to stop the coming explosion. Kaya was ready to take over when a cyclone of wind suddenly blew across the icy ground, carrying with it a splatter of water that became powerful enough to appear like down downpour of rain. The waters doused the priming explosions and the cyclone of wind unraveled to reveal Delia Kragsten with her stormy grey eyes focused. Delia was on one knee and grabbed one Lizard at the base of its neck, pressing down until it became passive. She moved on to the next and then the next after that until she had pacified more than seven lizards in seconds. Alas, as fast as she was, the Lizards were arguably even faster. They WERE known for their speed after all. Delia knew she wouldn’t be able to pacify them all before they were ready to explode again. She had a water spell ready for that scenario but then, Aylin Khione was there. Aylin walked across the ice like it was concrete. She had one hand turned up and above her palm was an icy blue spell circle that moved according to her whims and manipulations. It was unclear what she was doing until tiny little pincers of ice rose out of the icy ground and grabbed every single lizard by the neck, locating precisely where their nodes were before pressing down and turning them passive. All within seconds. And all before the Lizards could explode. "Hmph," she said and brushed at her uniform daintily as her eyes went from Delia to Caius, grinning like she was expecting praise as she announced, "And that’s how you do that. Didn’t even have to touch the disgusting things." Caius raised a thumbs-up. It was impressive spell control after all. Delia looked annoyed for some reason and the two Lizards that leaped at her suffered it. They exploded but she used a double defense of wind and water to endure the blast and once it was over, she grabbed the two by their necks, slammed them into the icy ground that Aylin still hadn’t thawed, and pressed down on their nodes. "Well done," Caius said turning his thumbs up towards her too. Delia snorted and turned her nose up at him before she slid off the icy surface to seek out Lizard targets elsewhere. With so many Fire-Cracking Lizards now pacified, the exercise seemed less daunting. The class quickly broke up into groups with some dedicated to countering the Lizard-explosions and pinning them down so others could pacify them. Baler still sat with his back against the wall, quietly seething and looking intent on staying away from the exercise. Without his encouragement, Doran didn’t drop any more Earthen fists and worked with Aurelius instead. Aurelius focused on countering and pinning the Lizards while Doran pacified them with little spell casting required. No group pacified more Lizards than the trio of Caius, Kaya, and Eloise. It was likely because they started on it earlier than anyone else. Or maybe it was because Kaya’s widespread vine creation seemed made for the trapping of annoying reptilian critters like this. Kaya to hold down, Eloise to douse, and Caius to pacify. A dream team. Eventually, all that was left in the Dome were a lot of tired-looking students—with some bearing signs of enduring point-blank explosions—, and even more limp Reddish-orange lizards scattered all over the ground. "A successful exercise," Professor Gilligan announced and her eyes were bright with excitement and pride, "I didn’t have to step in once. Oh my, I would have been so disappointed if this had caused you to struggle. I mean sure it’s fine to fail and try again but if you can’t handle these small things, I’d be worried about how you’d fare when we actually get to the more dangerous beasts. Or how you’d fare as Adventurers at all." Many students just glared at the Study of Magical Beasts Professor with many grumbling at the idea that this was supposed to be easy and others annoyed at the very thought of taking this as a career path. "Oh, don’t be like that," Professor Gilligan said with a smile at all the sounds of discontent, "Didn’t you have fun? And it’s only going to get even better!" "I doubt it," Eloise said. Many of the girls nodded in agreement. The boys were more reluctant. It’s just hard not to be infected by Professor Gilligan’s excitement and even harder when your eyes keep getting pulled to her ample and jiggling bosom. Case in point, she reached into her enlarged pouch and her tits wobbled with the motion of her dragging out the giant cage she had stuffed in there. She opened the cage and gestured at the limp lizards, "Everyone grab a couple of those little dearies and toss them in, please." And so they did. Some sat this part out but it didn’t really matter. There was no action involved here besides grabbing up to six lizards by their tails to deposit into the Cage in the Professor’s hands. When that was over, Professor Gilligan snapped her fingers and the net-dome came down before the discs lifted off the ground and floated into her hands after which she dropped them into her pouch. "You lot finished just in time for Break. Off you go now. See you in the next class. Except you, Caius Von Helsing. You stay and help me get rid of these little dears." Caius looked surprised and shared looks with Kaya and Eloise who actually looked like they might pity him because there was only really one place those lizards could have come from and, in helping to ’get rid of them’, it was clear Caius was about to be the first of his class to visit the Lochxen Forest.