Chapter 182: Graduation Ceremony (6)

"First, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh," Jyorta recalled from memory, the ranking list displayed on the 11th of December, one that had been accompanied by music, breeze, colours, a large floating banner in the sky, etc. It was unprecedented in their military academy, thanks to Rakh Veera setting a new record for the Credit accumulation.

Not wanting to lose himself in thoughts relating to the sequence of events he had been caught up in after that day, Jyorta muttered, "Rakh Veera has the confidence to charge forth with his ideas."

"Even as Area Controllers, those two girls have performed exemplary." Haesha leaned forward, unwilling to miss the events. "Despite the inferior battle strength, they still play significant roles to help everyone."

"It is a good thing to observe the best at action, but it is also necessary to observe the actions of the mediocre." Hrita Bone interrupted them, pointing at a team that had wandered off towards the beehive while trying to fend off the Floating Spiders chasing after them.

"Heuk!" A Line Controller grunted in pain, his exhausted self toppling over from the disturbance. Coiled around his leg was an arm-length creature, its body filled with muscles, lacking any bones to possess a solid body definition.

"Life Leech!" A girl running before him turned around, shrieking upon the discovery.

"Help me!" The boy shouted, taking a knife and swiping at his leg. His bladed knife slid off the Life Leech's skin, the fatty layer it wound around itself caused its skin to become smooth, adding to its rubbery body texture, unless aimed with a perpendicular slash, it was bound to skid, dealt with no damage.

The boy, apprehensive of using his full strength that might severe the Life Leech's body into two and injure his leg, only slashed sideways, his attacks becoming futile, dealing zero damage. His psychic arm seeped into the head of the Life Leech, creating some internal damage, continuing the same action to the rest of its body, damaging all vitals.

Within 10 seconds, the Life Leech died. His teammates surrounded him, barely managing to peel it off his leg, causing blood to spurt out. The part of his skin attached to its body had come off with the life leech, with some portions also attached with pieces of flesh. The Life Leech had secreted some acid that burned through his armour, allowing itself to attach to his legs.

The boy screamed in agony, the pain unbearable. As the sole Esper in his team, he tried his best to prevent the blood leakage using his psychic arm. Two of his teammates carried his body while another began to treat the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. The team leader, the strongest in their team took the lead, acting as their scout, tank, and damage dealer.

The team leader held a sword in his right and a shield in his left, taking the role of both offence and defence. He urged his teammates to run, keeping an eye on the Floating Spiders that chased after them. Thankfully, there weren't any Tier 2 beings among the chasers.

Sensing something from the front, the team leader lifted his shield, defending from a projectile. He glanced at the small dent formed in his shield and at the warped stinger partially lodged in it.

"Spindle Bees, take cover!" He bellowed, unable to control his flustered voice. The sound produced from his shout reverberated through the surroundings, attracting the attention of the Spindle Bees buzzing past.

Immediately, more than 10 Spindle Bees flew towards them, shooting a hail of stingers at them. The team leader used his shield to defend against as many attacks as possible, getting pierced in his thigh once, grunting in pain.

Of his team members running behind, treating the injured Line Controller, they readily dropped him and hoisted their shields, shouting in alarm at the sudden attack. The dropped Line Controller fell on the ground, the impact rocking his insides, causing the stream of blood to spurt out faster from his leg.

One stinger pierced his chest, breaking past the defensive armour he wore. The Line Controller screamed in pain and fainted.

"He's been a deadweight from the start." A girl grunted as she defended against the second wave of attacks. 20 Spindle Bees had formed a line before them, taking turns in teams of 10 to shower them with their attacks.

"So what? We can't leave him behind to die!" The team leader rebuked, shouting in pain as a stinger pierced his shoulder on the left, reducing the strength he could exert in his left arm.

As the previous team of 10 Spindle Bees regrew their shot out stingers, the subsequent team of 10 Spindle Bees took their place, aiming at the vital areas to immobilise their foes.

Due to the Spindle Bees positioned beyond their range, the Cadets were put in a passive spot, having to defend against the attacks. Also, if they moved, due to the smaller size of their shields, they were bound to expose more parts of their body, painting larger targets.

So, they were now immobilised, having no choice but to defend against the attacks passively. By the time four volleys of stingers were shot out, three of the team members were incapacitated, putting greater pressure on the standing members.

"Guff," The Line Controller coughed out blood from his mouth. His face began to turn a shade of blue while his breathing became laboured. His body began to spasm, the shivering intensifying as time passed. The poison within the stingers began to affect him.

Suddenly, his body disappeared as a voice resounded in the area, audible only to them, "Cadet 768 has been eliminated after being brought to a condition of near-death."

Soon, the remaining two incapacitated members also followed suit, vanishing from the spot, leaving behind a team member and the team member. Put in a passive situation, they defended for some more time before vanishing from the spot the moment the Floating Spiders caught up to them.

The Floating Spiders and the Spindle Bees paused, separated by a distance of 20 metres. They remained in a standoff against one another, backing out after a minute had passed in such a fashion, retreating to their respective habitats.

Floating in the air above the battlefield was a staff, transferring the students she picked up from below, ones that had ended up in near-death states. She sent them to the nearest ward established atop the Head Office Building and the White Building—depending on their position on the battlefield. The injured Cadets were then treated by the stationed doctors.

Similar scenes were occurring all across the battlefield, with numerous teams suffering injuries and becoming incapacitated due to lacking judgement or their bad luck of facing a horde of Frenzy Beasts.

Jyorta fell into thought, only now noticing the number of students that were continuously being pulled off and sent for treatment. The danger lurking in the battlefield, one they had set up imitating the Wilds was made apparent, despite having only a sparse few Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts, with the majority being Tier 1 Frenzy Beasts.

"It is risky, a poor judgement will gift wrap you to the afterlife," Jyorta muttered, sighing once.

"Yes, but possessing greater strength will give you leeway against such poor judgement. Notice how despite having made a faulty judgement, that Amplifier was still able to flee the area without sustaining many injuries." Hrita Bone said, pointing at a location in the west, bordering the central region and the swampy region.

Gazing at the pointed direction, Haesha retorted, "What use is that? He lost all his teammates."

"That is true," Jyorta replied, catching hold of Hrita Bone's train of thought, "But it means, if you have sufficient strength, even if you were to make a not up to an optimal decision, you would be able to save your skin at the very least. Though, everything is relative. In the Wilds, even Tier 4 beings will end up dead if they are not careful."

…

Situated 30 metres vertically above the seated students, hovering in the air was an invisible structure, hidden from the senses of all the students. It was positioned along the centre of the battlefield, overlooking everything that happened below. It was shaped like a dome, with its bottom transparent, layered by a psychic arm.

The rest of the structure was yellow in colour, layered by another psychic arm to shield itself from the eyes of the students. Seated inside were people, numbering almost a hundred, the lowest strength possessed by them being at Tier 4.

They were seated along the wall, forming a circular pattern. Their seats were declined towards the centre, allowing them to have a better view of the events below. Held in their hands were notepads, each numbering from 1 to 891. Space was provided on its right, arranged respectively against each number.

It was where they wrote remarks about the individuals they observed below. Faint dots hovered on the transparent screen, displaying numbers from 1 to 891, aligning with the movements of the students in the battlefield respectively. It allowed the seated people to infer the students and write remarks in their note pads based on their observations.

"I'll offer invitation letters to numbers 276, 309, and 441." A man commented, scribbling something in his notepad beside the respective numbers.

"I'll note it down." Madam Mary nodded, writing the three numbers beside the code name of the individual who had spoken just now in her notepad.

"I'll offer invitation letters to numbers 61, 276, and 309." Another person commented, sending a provocative stare towards the person who had spoken before.

"I'll offer invitation letters to numbers 1, and 2." Seated among the people was Anruk Light, stating his claim nonchalantly.

"I'll offer temporary invitations to numbers 1, and 2, valid until they reach Tier 3." A lady seated nearby said, glancing at Anruk Light to see him nod, showing no objection. Only then did she heave a sigh of relief, despite her background.

Since Grapple Force only recruited people at Tier 3, Anruk Light didn't have any complaints towards the rest. Once he bid, no one else bid on number 1 and 2, showcasing the stance and authority the force behind him held.