Elemental Cats
Chapter 20 Leaving The Pit

Toz stayed up for the rest of the night, waiting for dawn to come. Even if Lucy told him to not wait there was no way he wouldn't worry when Lucy goes out alone in the wild. Although Toz trusted Lucy with all his heart the mountains were in a volatile state and the situation might explode at any moment, with Lucy's childish behavior it was hard to sit around calmly. Thankfully when dawn came it brought Lucy back with it.

After Lucy returned he convinced Toz and Nil to come outside and join him for a simple walk around the mountains, saying things like they had to be bored after acting like statues for so long.

After exchanging a glance, neither Nil nor Toz objected and obediently were following Lucy to the mountain peak while anticipating what kind of trouble he had managed to stir up. Since he didn't know what might happen later, Toz brought the orb with him. They quickly climbed the mountain and saw the range in all it's glory, dyed in orange light from both the rising sun and from the lava welling up from the hole. Along one part of the wall a few silhouettes building and moving a ramp could be seen as well, but compared to the diameter of the hole their size was almost laughable. If not for the movements of different colors lit up by the orange glow from lava was so visible, Toz and the others wouldn't have noticed them.

Since Toz and those two had noticed all the way up the mountain, the beasts standing guard right next to the pit had also returned and most of the beasts still in the mountain range started gathering around the pit, both to support their leaders and in anticipation of the results regarding the treasure.

What was most surprising was that a large part of the deer herd had arrived within the inner mountain layer. Since they had stayed outside all the time until now their change in attitude shocked a lot of beasts. The wolves were the only ones not all too surprised as they followed along and stepped into the mountain range. Since the deer had already arrived it wasn't as shocking when the wolves did it.

The mountains entered a strange stalemate as the deer herd and wolf pack occupied the areas on and around two mountains each, leaving the remaining two mountains of the inner layer to the rest of the beasts in the range. All of them waiting for the beasts to leave the hole.

The returning beasts didn't take long to finish their ramp and leave the hole.

As soon as they left the hole the mammoth, no longer able to suppress it's anger targeted the boar, who in it's eagerness to help had sped up the overflowing lava.

The boar, dripping with exhaustion from doing it's absolute hardest in shuffling lava knew it wouldn't stand a chance against the mammoth but it wasn't willing to just roll over and die.

The boar and mammoth had similar characteristics and ways to fight but compared to the enormous and relatively clumsy mammoth, the boar had a clear advantage in mobility. Pulling up some dregs of energy from the depths of it's bones, the boar started running up the mountain since the rough terrain would slow down and hopefully stop the mammoths charge long enough for him to recover and run away from the mountain range with his herd. Without a third level of their own there was no way for them to stand up against the mammoth.

The mammoth, prepared for the boars attempt at escaping, immediately followed but shortly felt a tremor travel through the ground. The tremor gave the mammoth a bad feeling and it stopped to look around. The boar on the other hand didn't notice anything and kept running at the mountain. In it's flustered sprint it didn't see a large hole opening up in the slope above him. It took a flood of large boulders pouring out for it to notice, but by then it was too late.

With frantic dodging the boar managed to dodge some of the boulders but it didn't take long for it to be hit once, and then again. The repeated hits on top of it's previous exhaustion was enough to knock the boar out. Only faint hope of it still being alive kept the group of boars running, in a desperate bid to save their leader.

Unfortunately their dreams were bound to be shattered by numerous defensive measures emerging from the mountain. The running boars were discouraged but their strong attitude wasn't built on giving up, and they continued charging. Reinforced walls kept rising up out the ground, boulders rained down, pitfalls and other traps kept making their presence known by the squeals of defeated boars.

The spectating beasts were slightly taken aback by the boars die hard rescue mission, but even more so because of the large mountain turning into an armed fortress in the blink of an eye. It also revealed the location of the previously missing badgers and moles, that several groups had been looking for to seek their help in making a base.

Some beasts who had been standing too close got struck by the boulders themselves or the splashing lava from boulders landing in the pond, filled with lava.

After the lava had reached the brim of the hole and continued welling up, a certain herd of deer who had confirmed their suspicions started moving. The wolves responded accordingly and got in aggressive positions without leaving their high ground. However just their movements, as if they were prepared for this further got rid of most remaining doubts the herd had.

The only thing that left the herd apprehensive was how their first and second great leader weren't taking the initiative against the leaders of the wolf pack. Aside from moving away from each other the leaders of both sides didn't do anything until they noticed the movements of their followers.

The two deer moved over to their herd and asked them what was going on. When the two leaders heard their guesses that the wolf pack planned to take over the wilderness, starting with the deer herd they were dumbfounded. Their third leader had idiotically attacked one of the wolf leaders before getting beaten and then assassinated by some unknown beast. What were these conspiracy theories and where did they come from.

The two wolf leaders heard that the deer herd had started making suspicious movements after replaceing out their third great leader died, and that they had started showing some signs of hostility against the wolves.

The leaders of the two groups looked over at each other and after coming to a tacit agreement decided to call it even for now and eventually settle matters another day. The lead deer knew that the wolves weren't directly responsible, and considering they had lost their advantage in numbers when counting third levels it wouldn't be a wise choice to fight.

Unfortunately they would get caught up in the fights of others.

The charging boars had changed their target after their leader got crushed under a collapsed wall. Their rescue mission had turned into one of revenge. Not even considering the fact that the badgers were responsible for a significant loss of theirs already, they had now allied with the moles and killed their leader. Although the mammoth had chased him up the mountain, if their leader could get out of the mountain range he would probably live since the mammoth was known for it's strength and temper, not it's way of holding onto grudges. Until the mountain transformed the leader of the boars actually had a pretty decent shot at survival.

The singular of boars' happiness at seeing their leader return alive after competing for a treasure even third levels wanted was transformed into a raging inferno of wrath. The inferno built upon the embers the badgers had previously lit and wouldn't be put out by anything other than the blood of badgers.

The boars lost all reason and once again initiated a reckless charge up a mountain in order to exterminate some badgers. The overwhelming feelings of anger united the boars as they charged together, creating a wave of muscles, rolling up the mountain. The spectators felt like they could see a huge phantom boar overtake the boars.

In front of the charging phantom boar most resistance was meaningless, only by hiding deep underground could the badgers and moles escape, but even that was temporary as the boar shoved it's tusks deep underground and ripped the mountain peak clean off. The peak fell off to the side as the mass of boars charged into the tunnels they could fit in and crashed into the rest. Their mindless abuse of the mountain collapsed any remaining tunnels below as the almost hollowed out mountain came crashing down.

Although the mountain was flattened, the rock and dirt it was made up of didn't disappear and instead spread out in all directions with an overwhelming rumble that drowned out any other sounds. The rumble was accompanied by a dust cloud, spread through the rest of the mountain range by a shock wave that would have blown Lucy away if not for Toz's sturdy clothes.