Vol. 8 - Chapter 415 - Third Raid! A Three Pronged Charge!

The venue was bursting with cheers and shouting.

The scenes of second raid's PvP battles were like adrenaline that got the audience pumped up. Well, one could say the effect was further amplified by the first confrontation between two guilds that had ended in a heartbeat.

Perhaps, the performance of Princess Lana might have contributed to it as well. One could hear 'All hail Her Highness Lana!!' cheers coming from an area where a black-clothed group was.

Their appearance had confused quite a lot of students present, ‘wondering who the heck they’re.’ They have seen those people in the academy's premises quite often......except their identity was out in the wind.

Score Board:

‹White - 9920P› vs ‹Red 5,220P›

‹White taking the lead by 4700P›

‹Secured Big Castle - White (4) & Red (2)›

‹ETA - 18 minutes 13 seconds›

‹Members Left - White (10) & Red (9)›

A glance at the score on the huge screen and it was clear team White, <Eden>, was in the lead with a huge advantage. The gap was as big as 70 small castle point differences. And it was nigh impossible to flip that difference in the remaining time.

<Flash of Flower> guild seemed to have already realized they would be going nowhere at this point, apparent from their static count in squares. Stuck between rock and hard place, they could either only snatch the Big Castles (6000P) from team White or take down their base all together (8000P) if they wanted to cross this huge gulf.

In short, it had basically boiled down to a PvP battle.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be running around for more squares at this moment, Zephyr-dono?"

Ester asked, following my instruction to stop targeting any small castles after I saw the stagnation in the opponent's point.

"Well, the outcome of this guild battle now hinges on PvP battle. So it's just a waste of time to widen the advantage than it already is. Anyway, time to get our members back together before they crashed on us."

I asserted confidently.

We were now endgame. Admittedly, only half the time has passed but when the opponent has stopped taking down small castles, it was the cue that the opponent was going to play out big. And failing in understanding the opponent's intention would vanish our advantage like smoke in the wind.

You wouldn't even know when the opponent pulls a rug under your feet while you're taking your sweet time farming points. "Be on your guard the moment the opponent stops racking a point" used to be common sense in the game.

"As expected of the trial that's the gateway to guild battles. A lot of PvP battle moments."

Shizu showed her understanding by following my words.

"Because this is the theme of this exam, a contrast to the E-rank promotion exam after all; to avoid a stronger opponent. But, they're counting on us to aggressively pursue the PvP battle in this exam."

"Academy’s brains aren’t to be missed who have come with this detailed layout."Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

"The guilds who manage to follow the guidelines are far and few; so you can say <Flash of Flower> is quite capable. Their tactics are well laid out, and they have good leaders it seems."

I also had the same evaluation of the academy as Shizu said. D-rank promotion exam hinges on battle power and strategy. Academy has managed to assign a guild that's neither too strong nor too weak. Well, this much was to be expected from the ‘main branch’, else another branch would have been crowning that title.

"Hn, <Sonya>! Other side is in panic."

Ah. If Karua was right, our plan had been exposed to them, and now, they were fretting if they should charge forth or not. Uh-huh, not only their diversion failed, they lost their only surprise element, so freaking out was obvious.

"Fumu, so they have someone with detection skills as well. What now, Zephyr?" Rika nodded in response and asked.

"Shizu, shoot your <Flash Bullet>."

"Roger. <Flash Bullet>!"

"Everyone, lower your faces! Move out the moment the flash ends."

Winning here would cut us some loose, no way I am letting them away. I shouted my instructions to Shizu without any mercy.

Click A bullet escaped from the muzzle of Shizu's gun and landed on the ground a bit beyond the corner. I guess this should have attracted their attention, wondering what was that. Well, say your prayers guys!

"Kyaaa!"

"Eyes, my eyes!"

A momentary flash dyed the surroundings in blinding light, and if the shouts were to be believed, it worked as I had wanted. They should be inflicted with <Blind> aliment now.

We jumped out of our hiding spot the moment the light died out.

Our path was clear, since they hadn't taken down any squares around to mask their approach, and particularly the lack of squares with protection period helped much.

A huge fireball---a high-grade spell <Flare Burst>---jumped our way the instant we crossed the corner. Right, I only heard the scream of two, The last one apparently managed to avoid getting blindsided. A good move, alas---

"Not in my watch! <Twin-blade Counter>! Prepare yourself!"

"Geh, what!? Did you just repel the high-grade magic!?"

It seemed to have been our opponent's strong attack, which obviously didn't work. <Twin-blade Counter> had a long cooldown but on the plus side, it could be used to defend against magic. Just like now.

The unexpected situation pushed our lucky senior into a frenzy, which they shouldn't have.

"<Bind Shot>!"

"Eek! What, <Bind> status!? <Cur---"

"Should have been faster! Haaa <Flash Point>! <Ice Strike>! <Lightning Slash>!"

"Hn, <32 Star-Stream>!"

"Kyaaaa!"

With a swift moment, Shizu's <Bind Shot> sealed their fate. The magician senior tried to recover from <Bind> using <Cure>, however a step faster than her, the barrage of attacks from Rika and Karua dispatched the senior to the <Loser's Room>.

The other two seniors, having been afflicted with <Blind> status, also tried to make their way out. But, one of them was slashed down by Karua and me while another was gunned down from a distance by Shizu.

T/N - Oof, rip flash of flower. I guess that was bound to happen when their opponent has the leader who have went through such so many guild battles.