Chapter 353: Hunter Exam: Theatre of War, IX

Tiathe was back at her throne made of dried vines while she witnesses the battle unfolding before her. She sat crossed-legged and grinning as though she was the master and them were the slaves.

Oh, how I pity her, Ned thought wiping the blood from the scratches, perhaps a deep wound somewhere in his head (but he's got no time to check his status). The only anger Ned was feeling was the anger to whoever controls Tiathe.

Now? He pities her more than the anger.

Ned stood fair and square against Minron, who has gotten a lot stronger with the crystallized armor conjured by Tiathe and was given to him. With his twisted horn coated in golden clay, and aside from his eyes, no part of him Ned was able to find as his weaknesses.

Should he? Or should he not? But Ned chose not to produce the broken Butterfly. Abide by the rules, he thought.

Of course, he should be. Ned supposed that there were record stones hidden to every part of the island, just like the Selection from the O'rriadt before that records all their movements. Ned doesn't want to find out what would happen if he ever broke one of the rules.

"No killing my ass," he said, panting, catching his breath. But Ned guessed that a hundred or so has already died from the start of phase one. And there were many different theatres of war the candidates were facing, while Ned got to face the elven slave.

[You should be lucky you are not facing a High elf.]

Ned put on a smile which was mistaken by Minron as mocking him, he went enraged. His armor went enraged like molten gold.

That's the third, Ned thought and prepared to brandish his sword.

"Better than High elf indeed," Ned said and dashed to meet the minotaur.

With Mana almost limitless and nearly as pure as Ned, High elves conjure devastating spells. Elements don't matter to High elves as well, as they could learn countless spells with different elements imbued on them. On top of all that, High elves were very proficient in healing—very.

Wood elf on the other hand was limited to conjuring spells of nature and any other related elements like terra and wind magic.

Just like humans, elves were also forbidden to learn dark magic but wasn't impossible for them. And elves learning dark magic was the most—and the most—dangerous enemies to face.

Ned tried to press his luck as he slid and sliced the feet of the minotaur. But to no avail, the armor covering his feet was chipped by not less than an inch. But his speed didn't change at all.

For some reason, Tiathe was enjoying the battle in front of her so much she was biting her nails relentlessly.

The female mage lost the will to fight, she fell and now the warrior candidate on her team was protecting her bare-handed, while the male wearing female clothing fighting without any weapons, and Ned couldn't come to their aid. The team that went to get their weapons has yet to arrive and Ned wondered what they were doing and also hoped they would make it alive.

Ned shouldn't care about them, but now, somewhere inside him, he wanted to help them no matter what. And he hated that he could not do a thing.

Ned spun with his right foot, across him was an elevated platform of wood where Tiathe was sitting and Ned throw her an irritated look. After the spin, Ned saw a shadow towering above him then was followed by the ax that would hack him if he was late to conjure the Tower Blaze spell. An orb of fire swirled before him and instantly turned to a tower shield that blocked the giant double-edged ax.

But Minron's strength shouldn't be underestimated with Tiathe's magic supporting him. The Tower Blaze turned into tiny particles as the ax went through it but it gave Ned enough time to fling his body away from the edge of the ax.

Ned rolled with his back and instantly prepared the sword to, depending on Minron's next move, either defend or attack. Defend it was as Minron leaped and landed before Ned, ground cracking from the base of his hoof, and used his horns instead of the ax, which caught Ned in surprise.

Ned conjured Zephyr which latched the chains on the shelter behind him, pulling him off the impact of the horns.

[2 seconds.]

ICE prompted which tells Ned that his Overclock would soon end.

Ned looked over his shoulder to the left, the three candidates were barely defending themselves.

"Here goes nothing." Ned scowled. Then vanished.

The air around Minron whistled that passed through dozens of Kruka-toas and ended before the three candidates that were barely defending themselves.

Then in a split of two seconds, the dozen Kruka-toas died with their bodies cut to half, and head, and limbs. Clearing everything off Ned's path.

He ended the Overlock with him standing before the three candidates that nearly fell on one knee after the sudden surge of energy and Mana.

Tiathe stood in awe and shock, so much she nearly kicked the box of the Storing orbs beside her.

Minron was too shocked to even take a step forward as he looked at Ned at his most vulnerable state. He barely moved with his legs trembling.

A clearing of a wide area around the candidates took them in surprise. Their jaw dropped as they stared at Ned's back.

Ned on the other hand struck the sword on the ground and fell on one leg after he tried to confront the exhaustion but failed to prevail.

[You knew what it would do to you, but you still did.]

"I know," he said that came out as a croak. "Stupid, right?"

[Not at all.]

How come? This time he thought making sure no one would think that he became insane talking to himself.

[You took half of the smaller ones.]

Still stupid, Ned thought, but it worked.

Ned used the sword as a support to help him stand and pulled it to brandish as though saying 'Bring it on'.

They did bring it on after their surprised faces took a turn to reality. Now, all of the Kruka-toas were up to Ned. Ignoring the other candidates.

It was also at this moment that the other candidates came clearing the beasts on the left side of the encampment.

The Were was back on his human form with the war-sword he swung that killed three Kruka-toas in instant. While the pair of knights were shielding the pair of archers behind them. The Werebear was going all out that he doesn't need support from his team.

They stopped confused beside Ned.

"What happened here?" Brok the Werebear asked in total disbelief with his eyes looking at the dismembered bodies of the Kruka-toas.

The pair of knights surrounded them while the pair of archers went at the back of their cluster, where the female mage was paling and losing blood.

The other female archer tossed a shabby bow to the male Rouge that helped to defend the female mage.

"My name is Claurette," he said—well—she said, with her voice pinched to sound like a girl. He then pulled the string of the bow to test and nodded satisfied. "I am good at fighting. But by the Maker and Maker's tongue, I couldn't do what you did just now."

He was talking to Ned, but he wasn't in the position to respond as he gritted his teeth. He instead looked over his shoulder and nod along with a smile. Silver hair fluttering.

"We will talk later," Brok interrupted which gained a hiss from Claurette but did nothing as he walked closer to Ned. "For now we need to leave this place." He then looked over his shoulder and nodded to one of the archers. "Bekka, give them."

Bekka, short hair but long tempered, narrow eyes but broad smile, gave a vial of green to the female mage (which the latter took instantly and drank them all, leaving the vial empty). She then gave a short-sword to the warrior that was tending the female mage. '"Knowing your weapon of choice would be a bother now, so we took this sword since you might be a warrior."

The warrior thumped his chest, leather vest squeaking and bowed as he received the short-sword and said, "Candidate warrior Pegaro will be indebted to you." He then looked to the female mage and caressed the hair on her forehead. "Zyel, this warrior here will make sure that you leave this place."

Zyel, the one-legged mage smiled with her dark hair smudged with blood and sweat all over, but she looked much better than before. Her cheeks turned reddish but some part of her skin was still pale. But she was okay—for now. She won't if they don't leave the encampment.

"Take care of her," Pegaro said, looking at Bekka. "And Idols of water and wind will give you luck in return." He then stood and walked behind the team. He will cover their back as he looked at the approaching Kruka-toas.

"I am Ned," he said. All eyes looked at him, even the candidate knights looked over their shoulder and nodded to him.

Ned stood in the middle. Claurette the archer rooted himself on Ned's right. Brok the Werebear growled on Ned's left. While the pair of knights firmly shield the team on both their sides while the pair of archers positioned themselves in the center of the team while bordering the female mage who struggled to stand. Pegaro gritted his teeth as he will soon face several Kruka-toas.

"The plan is to take the box of Storing orbs," Ned started but before he could finish, harpoons came raining down on them.

Before Ned, or the rest of the team, reacts to the harpoons, a barrier of wind was conjured, shielding them from the iron tips.

"That's the last of my Mana," Zyel said, blood nearly stopped leaking on her leg. "Good luck us."