After the barrage—

Stillness. No more attacks, no more deluges of magical projectiles. It wasn't that the caster was too occupied, Gertie could see her standing there absorbing her [i]own[/i] attacks on a magical barrier without extra effort. She just wasn't pumping out more attacks, giving Gerard and Fleuri at last a sprint to the top… at the same time as she gave Fionn's direction an unimpressed look, shortly before he crested the hilltop.

Not that anyone further down the hill could see him, due to the fire.

Krysia, of course, was still engaging Fanilly and Renar, although her attention had constantly been on breaking away to chase Rolan, not taking the bait Renar was offering and instead focusing constantly on pulling away… only to click her teeth and lower her arms right as she found enough of a break to raise an ominously weighty-looking crossbow in her off hand.

"Looks like they got to the top." 

After a moment's pause, the hundi [i]did[/i] cast something else: a crushing, [i]damp[/i] fog that marred the sunny day, swamping the entire hillside for an uncomfortably lingering minute that left no visibility… but when it cleared, at least there was no ring of fire any more. During the lack of visibility, the demon had even returned to her side.

"Well, I think you all did well enough…" Gisela said, raising a finger to her chin, "The vast majority of powerful mages, even if they have the backup to keep you at bay, are going to be stuck fighting with mostly one school of offensive magic. And you held up well against pure astromancy, which is one of the easiest to avoid friendly fire… still, be careful, there's still people like the Necromancer of the Burned Village that won't care and could just swamp you with reckless elemental spells. Oh, and…"

At this, the hundi advanced on Gertrude, a frown on her face. Despite the height difference, she had no compunction against poking the apparent-maid on the chest. [i]"Think.[/i] If I had just used the wind spell I cleared the smoke with again, the entire hill would have been on fire! Uncontrolled lasting effects can just as easily turn on [i]you[/i]; stick with astromancy if you won't plan ahead.

"Now… I'd say more, but I can just come down to Thaln for a visit in a few weeks, so I'll save it until then. I'm sure you're all quite eager to get through your final challenge, right?" She punctuated her statement with a beam of light sent skywards, "All you have to do—"

The shadow passing overhead was unmistakeable, the sunlight catching the crimson scales—

"—Is [i]injure[/i] Thrinax."

Back towards the gates, stood beside the once-again seated Prince Erion, the dragon roared his challenge.