257 Chapter 257: Boy meets Girl

With food pretty much secured and my getting used to foraging around the forest, I proceeded to the next phase of my plan. The whole purpose of being in the Spiritual Road in the first place – no, not to collect blood tokens. What, you thought I was aiming to be the Great Ruler or something? Nope. I was going to observe the dudes from the other schools and gather information on their magic, skills and techniques.

Fortunately, I had a powerful tool for that. My glasses could help me record entire events and sequences, my lenses whirring silently as they filmed fights between students and monsters, and even students against other students.

As it turned out, my separation from my team had been sort of a boon because it was much easier for me to stealthily conduct reconnaissance missions on my own than in a group. An individual was much harder to spot and find than an entire group, and none of the students I was watching ever noticed my presence. Thus I was able to record a great deal of techniques, magic and skills, and gathered a lot of vital intelligence for my own academy.

Inwardly, I prayed that my friends were doing well and hadn't succumbed to the cruel nature of the forest. I had already seen quite a few students kicked out when they lost their blood tokens, or severely injured by monsters or other students and forced to leave for emergency treatment. This was where losing the blood token turned out to be a benefit. The injured student or the one who surrendered handed their blood tokens over to comrades or to the enemies who defeated them, and allowed themselves to be teleported out to receive medical treatment. Of course, this meant they forfeited their place in the Spiritual Road, but their lives and wellbeing were infinitely more important than trying to rank up in some obscure training camp.

The same went for me, but obviously I hadn't run into any sort of life-threatening danger yet to require such a drastic escape. Mostly, I hunted Blood Boars, Cockatrice Chickens and other monsters for meals, but to maintain a good diet, I also harvested herbs and edible mushrooms. Even though I had immunity to poison and therefore didn't have to worry about falling to poisonous mushrooms, I selected the edible ones.

They simply tasted better, after all.

And just like that, a week or so passed. I was still unable to find my friends, but I had collected a good deal of data regarding our potential opponents. I must have caught sight of at least twelve different schools. Even amongst these schools, the students had a myriad of abilities and spells. It wasn't as if all the students of the same school fought in a unified, single pattern or used the same element or something. Just like Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy, they employed groups of students with different abilities that could complement each other's strengths and cover for each other's weaknesses. Nobody in their right mind would send out an entire team full of nothing but fire mages, after all. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen any students from Crowley's Academy so far, but I was sure Cecilia Stuart and her friends were somewhere in the Spiritual Road. They were too powerful and elite to leave out of a prestigious event like this.

They were a perfect example of a balanced team that the other academies employed. A member who specialized in defensive magic, an attacker capable of overwhelming firepower, and a flexible center guard who could switch between roles. Not to mention the shadowy assassins that I had to watch out for.

However, because of the focus on strength, there was a distinct lack of healers. That was the one flaw in the majority of schools. Without healers, it was difficult to survive the trials and tribulations of the forest without any medical assistance. That led to a good number of students dropping out after receiving fatal injuries in order to receive emergency treatment.

Furthermore, I also noticed that the groups were not at all even. Not all students were willing to work in groups, even among the same school. Certain schools had students who split up into pairs or trios, and there were many students who chose to solo the forest individually. Inevitably, it was these individual students who ended up getting eliminated early, especially when they ran into huge groups of enemies.

Honestly, I would have faced the same fate…except that unlike the majority of these solo players, I wasn't aiming to collect as many blood tokens as possible. Thus, instead of looking for fights and setting up ambushes, I stayed silent and stealthy throughout the entire week. As long as I didn't bother anyone, nobody bothered me. By keeping my head down and maintaining a low profile, I was able to survive without any trouble.

"Coward."

"Spineless."

I sighed when I glanced to the right and saw the comments again. There were a bunch of edgy readers complaining about my decision to stay out of sight and avoid battle. They had unrealistic expectations of me, thinking I could somehow solo entire groups of students. No, I couldn't. Perhaps I could summon a bunch of Constellation spirits and defeat a few here and there, but that would draw some attention to me and I would be hunted by other groups after expending so much mana. Furthermore, the students in the Spiritual Road were the cream of the crop, the elite students of their respective academies. They weren't cannon fodder who existed solely for me to beat up and collect experience points and blood tokens from.

Given their superior numbers, I would just fall in a battle of attrition. Eventually. I also had to beware of those mages capable of stealth. The assassin-type students would probably stab me in the back while I was attempting to engage and defeat their teammates. Once I suffered a debilitating injury, it would all be over for me and I couldn't continue my mission. Given the relatively huge number of blood tokens I was carrying on my person, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up being marked as a target of assassination when people found out I was going around hunting other students. So I refrained from doing something so reckless.

Besides, the main objective wasn't to defeat as many enemies as possible. This was preparation for the tournament, which meant the more information I could collect regarding our school's opponents, the better. I was here to learn what sort of spells they used, what kind of element attributes they possessed and what type of techniques they employed. Not to bash their heads in and collect their blood tokens before realizing what I had forgotten to ask what magic they specialized in. What was the use of exceling in the Spiritual Road when my team ended up suffering from a complete lack of intelligence during the actual international tournament itself?

With that in mind, I continued to look around for more targets to record with my glasses. By now, it was the seventh day, and I had slipped into a daily routine. Getting up from a camouflaged place where I used as a resting place, I shook off the drowsiness and forced my eyes open. As usual, I summoned a flock of Corvus and sent them flying to a hundred meter radius from my position, to see if I could find anyone to record today. It also served as a security measure, to ensure I didn't have any enemy sneaking up on me, whether human or monster.

"Nothing so far…"

Well, if someone made a ruckus within a hundred meters, I probably would have woken up from the noise. But one of my Corvus picked something up. He couldn't see very clearly because his vision was obscured by leaves and branches, but he thought he spotted humans trekking through a particular location in the forest.

Where there were humans, there was information to collect and record. If they ran into other groups of students or into monsters, they would use their magic, and I would be able to film the spells they used and send it to the academy for video analysis. That would lead to better preparation for the tournament.

Hopping out of my hiding place, I dismissed the rest of my Corvus and hurried toward the other guy's position. Once I reached him, I proceeded toward the direction where he saw the humans, maintaining stealth and silence. Corvus flapped overhead, blending in with the flora and fauna, and becoming just another bird in the immense forest, unnoticed and unsuspected by any student hanging around in the area.

"What's this?"

To my surprise, there was a single girl in a red and pink uniform, with a bright yellow ribbon tying her platinum silver-blond hair into a ponytail. She was currently fighting against a bunch of students in black uniforms.

…wait, were those students? I paused and scrunched up my face in puzzlement when they came into view. Corvus's 20/20 vision confirmed it further, and I adjusted the vision on my glasses, enhancing and magnifying it to record their faces. Or rather, their…masks.

Yeah, for some stupid reason, this group of students were wearing masks. Even their uniforms didn't resemble uniforms, but…ninja costumes. It was as if one of the academies had decided that their students should cosplay for the Spiritual Road training camp, and they all reached the consensus to dress up as ninjas.

"…you've got to be kidding me."

Well, the alternative was that they weren't students but intruders who had somehow infiltrated the Spiritual Road and were now wreaking havoc across the training camp. And the poor girl who was currently fighting them off happened to be their current victim.

I had to help her.

Before I could take a step forward, however, one of the masked dudes chuckled and spoke up in a sinister tone.

"You really are the woman that Ji Xuan placed his eyes on!" he chuckled. "Your skills are impressive!"

By now, the ninja dudes were surrounding the poor girl, all of them wielding some sort of weapon. A sword, a staff, a spear, a mace and a dagger. Scattered around them were the sprawled bodies of more cloaked figures, clearly unconscious.

Enhancing the view on my glasses, I studied them and realized that they had been burned to a crisp. That girl must have used some sort of fire spell…in other words, she was a fire mage just like my dad.

"Even though you've defeated four of our brothers, you're currently severely injured as well. There's no way for you to escape!"

I watched them for a moment before burying my face in my palm. Were these guys two-bit actors hired to play out the part of a villain or something? What was with these awfully cheesy lines? Moreover, all these guys ganging up on a single girl? Did they have no shame or something?

"Lilith," another one of the ninja dudes drawled. "You should just obediently follow us back to meet Ji Xuan. I promise that we won't cause any trouble for you."

The girl glared at them for a moment before she swung her crimson sword slightly and tightened her grip on it.

"Stop with the bullshit," she snapped coldly. "Go ahead and attack."

Hey, girl…I'm not sure if it's a good idea to provoke the enemy when they outnumbered you five to one. Not that I expected her to surrender…and admittedly there was nothing she could do. But rather than provoke them, I would have remained calm and waited for them to move rather than inviting them to do so. That was just me, of course.

The ninja dudes merely smirked at her…though how I could tell with them covering the lower parts of their faces with masks, I had no idea. In any case, none of them moved, so the girl took the initiative instead.

Lilith charged forward without any hesitation, her sword igniting with flames. She slashed at the guy with the sword, and even though he managed to parry her strike in time, she detonated her fire spell and caused him to hurtle back. The assassin with the dagger slipped in to stab her in the back, shadows trailing his move and imbuing his attack with darkness, but Lilith elegantly whirled around to deflect the deadly blade before it could plunge into her back.

She traded a few blows with the shadowy assassin, the flames on her sword growing fiercer. She then ducked under a swing and kicked him in the chest, flooring him. The ninja with the staff then rushed in, seeking to exploit a gap in her defenses while she was still occupied with the shadowy assassin, but she sidestepped to avoid his long weapon before ramming her elbow into his face. He went down, along with the flower petals that were spiraling around the length of his staff.

The guy with the mace dove in and smashed the ground with his bulky weapon. Along with his strike, boulders rained down upon Lilith, forcing her to evade. She gritted her teeth and cleaved through the incoming boulders with her sword, cleanly slicing them into two and leaving molten rocks falling onto the ground.

"That's quite the sharp sword," I murmured to myself, impressed.

"Damn it." the guy with the sword rose to his feet with a curse. "Don't underestimate this woman! Don't show any mercy! Brothers! Charge!"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

The five of them bellowed in unison as they charged as one, all of them coming from different directions.

"Ji Xuan's lackeys," Lilith snarled. "I'll kill all of you!"

With a determined shout, she kicked off the ground and lunged at one of them, swinging her blazing sword. She managed to force a parry out of the guy with the sword, and then ducked under the heavy mace before spinning around to kick him in the solar plexus. The huge guy grunted and toppled over.

Her sword combusting, Lilith then knocked the guy with the sword aside, but the guy with the staff smashed his weapon into her back. Countless flower petals followed, slicing into her skin and causing her to cry out in pain.

However, the girl endured and spun around to knock him and his staff away, incinerating the petals in one go. The ninja with the staff managed to conjure a wooden wall that protected him from the worst of the flames, but given how his defensive barrier had so easily caught fire, he was forced to withdraw to safety.

Lilith couldn't pursue him, for she was forced to avoid the dagger from the shadow assassin. His blade missed her spine, but sliced into her arm, drawing a thick line of blood. Lilith staggered backward and swung her sword desperately, but he melted into the shadows, completely evading her attacks. The guy with the spear was next, his thrust just barely blocked by her sword but enough to send her crashing heavily into a tree.

"Ugh!"

Coughing out blood, Lilith slumped down, but she managed to rise shakily to her feet. As she did so, leaning on her sword, the ninjas approached her.

"Lilith," the guy with the sword said mockingly. "Even if you have been bestowed such great talent from the heavens, you still won't be able to prevail against so many of us."

Yeah…he was right. That was exactly the reason why I didn't recklessly go solo and tried to take down the other students by myself. I always knew that in reality, it would be difficult for me to win against so many people. Okay, I literally beat ten black belts by myself, but that was because those guys weren't working together, and quite frankly…they were considered cannon fodder and among the bottom or middle ranked in my academy at best. They were nothing compared to the elites and geniuses who had gathered here in the Spiritual Road. Otherwise they would have made it here instead of me.

However, Lilith refused to give up. Taking a deep breath, she raised her sword.

"Single Sword Transformation: Fiery Meteor!"

Her crimson sword erupted like a volcano, with a pillar of fire streaking high up into the heavens.

Watching her cast that spell, I was suddenly reminded of somebody close to me.

…isn't that…one of Dad's spells?