Christian realized he should have handed his bag over after signing the contract, since bringing it to the test would be a terrible idea. He wanted to return to the booth to put the contract inside his bag, but by the time he pushed through the crowd, his bag was already placed behind some kind of magical protection.
Christian tried to ask for access, but the person in charge checked his blood status, and the latter casually said it was too late. Christian tried to reason with him by saying he only needed a few seconds to put something inside, but the brown-haired man would not have any of it. Without any choice, Christian placed the contract inside his robe, waiting for a better way to hide it.
He returned to his team, and a few minutes later, a circle appeared on the ground, surrounding all the applicants. Before Christian could see what this circle was, it released a white light that made everyone disappear.
'Mass Disapparition? Is that even possible?' It's possible to apparate with many people by linking arms, but instantaneously moving so many individuals without any form of contact is entirely different. Christian opened his eyes, and everything was dark; he couldn't tell whether his eyes had been closed for a moment.
Christian immediately recognized Xin'er 's voice and acted: "Lumos!" A bright light appeared on the tip of his wand, and he sent it flying into the air to cover a larger area. He noticed the other three and the fact that they were in some kind of purple water.
"Are we in a swamp?" he asked
"What is this disgusting thing?" Lucretia did not hide her disgust.
"Wait, don't move," Xin'er suddenly said. She had a serious look as she looked at the purple water. "This is a carnivorous mash, a rare magical phenomenon commonly found in the southern area of the world. An interesting thing about this marsh is—"
"Get to the point," Christian warned.
"Oh, right. It acts like quicksand, and the more you move, the faster you get sucked in. Moreover, the thing is poisonous, so we cannot stay long."
Christian frowned. He had never heard of a carnivorous mash, but he would not argue with someone who was probably the team's expert. Instead, he soon focused on the next course of action.
"I can help with the poison," Menes said before a white flower materialized on his palm. Then, the group watched as the white flower rapidly turned green and purple, until it was pitch black. "This should buy us some time."
"Look around to see if there is any way out. But don't forget to watch out for your movements," Christian warned.
"You don't have to repeat what she said; we're not stupid," Lucretia sneered. However, Christian ignored her. Nothing was in sight besides the purple swamp and what looked like a distant hill.
"How are we supposed to climb that hill? It should be more than 60 meters?" Lucretia asked.
"Your sword can float. Could you carry us?"
"What if you used a shield instead? It should have a larger surface area to carry at least one of us."
"My weapons are for killing, not carrying people."
"In that case, let's try something else," Christian replied. "I need you to embed a sword as high as possible on the hill. Ensure it's deep enough that a powerful force will not remove it."
"What are you going to do?"
Christian ignored her. "Menes: Can you connect us with a long flower or tree root?"
"I understand your plan, but it's too far for my plants."
"How close do you need to be?"
"We're more than 30 meters from the hill," Xin'er added.
"I can get us closer," Christian reassured, so the team executed the plan. Lucretia sent a sword near the hill and even ensured the sword's hilt had a circular opening for Menes' plant. After Christian saw the whip-looking plant wrap around his waist, he acted.
The Ascension Charm sent his body flying upward toward the hill, forcefully bringing the attached others with him. However, the spell was not enough to carry four people more than 30 meters, so Christian had to point his wand backward to use the Depulso Charm to release a pushing force to continue their journey. Once they arrived around Menes' reach, his flower skillfully attached to Lucretia's swords, and Christian used the Slowing Charm to prevent them from crashing into the hill's side.
"What now?" Lucretia asked as they hung in the air, suspended by the tree root and her sword. However, before she could receive an answer, the team heard a snapping sound followed by Xin'er's scream. Christian acted instinctively and used a levitation charm, allowing her body to be suspended in mid-air.
"Thank you," she yelled despite her flushed face.
"Apologies," said Menes. He had never used his plant this way, so he did not expect it to snap. "It's not your fault," Christian reassured before using the Summoning Charm on Xin's body to bring her to his level before using the Banishing Charm to send her to the top of the hill. He followed up with the rest of the team until he was the last one remaining. Then, Menes lowered another plant to pull him up.
"I'm so dirty. Can you do something about this?" Those were the first words Christian heard instead of a thank you, but he already knew not to expect much from her in the form of courtesy. So, he flickered his wand to use a cleaning charm on everybody, including himself.
He looked around, and no one was around them, which might be good news. The only light source was his Lighting Charm, so he cast a few more to increase the brightness. The team faced a large wall with more than a dozen tunnels. Christian frowned, as this place setup did not make sense architecturally; it was more like it could not have been formed naturally.
"Is it me, or do these tunnels look like someone burrowed them?" Christian asked.
"You may be right," said Xin'er. She walked to the closest tunnel and observed around. "Diameter of around 3 meters." She touched the soil around the tunnel. "All signs indicate it was made with something similar to a large mandible." She took a small piece of the soil and tasted it. "Hint of metallic taste." Xin soon noticed a small black object and analyzed it.
"I think we're in trouble."
"What did you think of?"
"We might be in front of a nest of armored ants."
"What's that?" Christian asked.
"You don't know? They're a very powerful magical creature with—"
"Hurry up," Christian urged. He had silently cast three forms of Revelio: regular, Homenum Revelio, and Vitalis Revelio. One of the questions he asked Professor Quirrel was whether it was possible to use the Revelio Charm to detect life energy, and the latter taught him Vitalis Revelio. Christian had never used this charm until now, and he was lucky that he had tried it, as the spell showed him countless auras in the shape of an ant-like creature.
Xin'er rushed behind the team. Then, Christian's wand released an intense flame as soon as he saw the first creature appear.
"It's useless. Armored ants possess high magical resistance, particularly against heat and cold. You need heavy damage attacks or sharp objects to penetrate their armor."
Christian frowned as he observed the ants, which were as high as he was, their bodies covered by a black, metallic exoskeleton. While deep in thought, a slight wind flashed by his head, and before he knew it, the first armor ant died as a spear penetrated its head. Then, more weapons flew from the back, killing these creatures one after the other.
One of the ants suddenly jumped to evade Lucretia's attack, even catching her off guard. Christian calmly flicked his wand to use the Cutting Charm, severing the creature from the waste.
"Why didn't you help if you could do that?"
Christian ignored Lucretia's complaints and only attacked once the ants tried to jump on the other team. Finally, he used a shield spell to imprison the last remaining ant.
"Why did you save it?"
"We might need it to navigate through these tunnels." Lucretia quieted down as this was an excellent idea.
"I might be able to help," Menes added. "The tett flower can influence the mind and is very effective against animals."
"Good." Christian was relieved that he would not have to use the Imperius Charm, as the Confundus Charm might not work. "While you do that, I will close these tunnels."
"Close them? Why would we do that?" Lucretia swiftly asked.
"We need to rest and recoup, but we can't do that if we have to worry about these creatures attacking us."
Christian used Bombarda to collapse these tunnels while Menes created this weird flower that fused with the surviving armored ant. Then, under his order, the creature slept as if it were powering off.
"Xin'er, are those creatures edible?"
"You want me to eat these disgusting things?" Lucretia asked as she gazed at the green blood oozing from the ants. "We need food and water. I can conjure the latter but can't do anything about the former."
"Some parts are edible by humans and are very nutritious. However, their taste leaves something to be desired," Xin'er replied.
"Help Xin'er harvest the edible parts."
"You're not really going to make me eat those things, aren't you?"
Christian looked at her while sighing internally. "I want to say you can stay hungry for all I care, but that would mean you'll become weak, useless, and unreliable, and I've already stated my views on useless people. So, yes, you will have to eat it — even if I force it down your throat."
"You!" Lucretia stomped her feet on the ground. "How dare you treat me !"
"I want you to remember that this is not your family, where you're the stars in everyone's eyes who could do no wrong," Christian stated with a serious face. "Without the test's rules, I would have long abandoned you as a teammate."