Chapter 87 The Attackers I



The size of the Artificial Forest was big. It occupied 70% area of the northern part of the island. That very forest was currently used for the first-year students' exam.

On the northern side of the forest, a student with blonde hair, Leonardo was dominating the area. Tagging along with him was a tall guy—the same height as Leo with cropped hair, his skin color was on the darker side.

Only two of them were enough to clear out the team in the area. Meanwhile, the rest of their team was left to guard the flag.

"Benjamin," Leo called out his companion's name.

"Leo, what can I do for you?" Benjamin responded with a tone of respect toward Leo.

"Is there another team nearby?"

As soon as Leo asked him the question, Benjamin closed his eyes and squatted. His index finger touched the ground. A moment later, Benjamin could hear and feel what was happening in hundred meters area around him.

Opening his eyes, Benjamin frowned and shook his head.

"I don't detect anyone around except those who already lost their flag by us. Sorry, Leo."

"Hmm…"

Leo pulled out his scythe blade from the ground, hanging the handle around his shoulder.

"I can force myself to expand my skill reach—"

Before Benjamin could finish his words, Leo cut him off with a firm 'No' as he began to walk away, following where his feet would lead him to. Nodding his head, Benjamin followed behind.

On the eastern side of the forest, two girls with contrasting hair colors stood with their backs turned to each other, protecting each other's backs.

The first girl boasted a lengthy mane of dark hair, fashioned into a ponytail, complemented by captivating violet eyes reminiscent of a feline, Grace. 

Meanwhile, the second girl, with her white hair elegantly arranged in a bun of Kimono hairstyle. Her serene blue eyes resembled a tranquil ocean, Ayano.

"Watch my back, princess girl," said the girl with dark hair.

Ayano gave Grace a stern, sharp glare upon hearing Grace calling her 'Princess Girl'. She didn't like it when people gave her a nickname that related to her being a daughter of a prominent family with a long history. 

Though she was discontent, she didn't show it openly. Just a glare was enough, that was what she thought.

Grace, with a quick motion of drawing a sword, managed to knock out two of the six students surrounding them. It was so quick that the two didn't get a chance to react before they passed out.

Chanting a combination of words while her hand was positioned near her mouth like a ninja, Ayano then emitted a cold, freezing aura from her palm. As it turned into a sphere, she threw it forward.

The sphere of cold and freezing aura immediately exploded while mid-air, forming shards of ice that froze two students' feet as soon as they touched the ground near them.

After that, Ayano only needed to knock them out by hitting the back of their necks with precision and carefully so as not to injure them in the process.

The other two that came with those guys were already running away the moment they witnessed Grace's quick draw.

"They're running away…" Ayano said.

"I can see that, I have eyes after all," Grace responded.

On the southern part of the forest, a girl with violet hair and her four teammates had succeeded in defending their flag from the other team, simultaneously.

All of that was thanks to the girl's efforts in giving commands to her teammates. Their firepower was quite weak, but they were able to fill that hole with the tactics of the heir of the Nova Guild, one who would stand above all, in financial, power, and personnel.

Lumi Alicia is her name. Remember that.

"Fuu… Finally, we're able to drive them off."

Meanwhile, the situation on the western side, close to the center part of the forest was chaotic. The conflict between teams was prolonged just because Lux's team released their captives.

"Look, there are so many people ahead!" Niah shouted.

The trio from Lupus-8; Ember, Niah, and Hulio finally found not only a single team but almost ten teams gathered ahead of them. Hell, they even dared themselves to know what was happening.

As they reached close to the crowds, they could hear the noises of a battle. Metal clashing with each other, the cries of the students, and a loud sound of bones breaking.

"Aren't they Lux's team?" Niah asked as she scanned the situation from the tall tree.

Lux, with his sword effortlessly blocked the endless attacks, and even could do simple counterattacks toward them. Seo Yeong-Ha, the girl who fought using her fists as a weapon ferociously fought against eight people at the same time.

After dodging the first attack from her opponent, she quickly shifted her position between the gap while counterattacking. Dodge and punch or occasionally kick to break their balance, that was how she fight against many.

"Too slow!" 

Seo Yeong-Ha exclaimed as she dodged the grab from behind and quickly delivered a blow with her elbow to her opponent's stomach.

As she gracefully avoided the barrage of attack, making herself as if she was dancing through the obstacles, the trail of light was tracing her movements. Once the trail was long enough, it started to disappear or explode to be precise.

The exploded trail was shaped into a melody note before it actually exploded, making the sound of the note.

Ting–! Ting—! Ting-! Ting–! Ting–!

Just like music, every trail that exploded was making a sound of the melody note, echoing in the air.

Those who heard the melody would be affected by random buffs as slow and weakening. Mostly everyone who heard it was having their stats reduced slightly.

The technique was called the 'Melody Trail', a 4-star martial technique - movement art.

It would leave a melody trail for every step taken and then the melody would explode and produce a humming sound that reduced the stats to whomever heard it. But of course, the technique user wasn't affected at all.

Stopping the melody dance, Seo Yeong-Ha quickly knocked out the eight raiders while they were weakened. Using the Formless Fist technique would be too much for them, so Seo Yeong-Ha just went with the classic way, pure martial art fighting movements like chop, punch, kick, and grab.

On the other hand, Lux was fighting against ten.

ραпdαn૦νel With his sword in hand, Lux demonstrated incredible swordsmanship and speed as he parried and countered the relentless attacks of his opponent. His movements were perfect, never wasting a single motion.

With each swing of his sword, a burst of white fluorescent energy emanated, creating distractions and shockwaves that pushed back his enemies.

Lux's swordplay was always fluid and seamless. He seamlessly transitioned from one enemy to another, exploiting their weaknesses with a lot of feint attacks from his swordsmanship.

His strikes were swift and powerful, leaving no room for his enemies to counterattack.

He summoned beams of concentrated light that darted toward his opponent, disorienting them before he knocked out half of them.

But, in reality, there were still many of them.

Observing his surrounding, Lux clicked his tongue as he saw the waves of students circling around his teammates.

'This is troublesome…'

The reason why they ended up in this situation was because of Seo Yeong-Ha.

She was bored because she couldn't fight anyone since most of the teams around their area were already captured. So, she released them all just so that she could fight again.

'Haa… That girl…' Lux complained, pinching his nose bridge out of frustration.

A few meters away from the crowd surrounding him, the trio Lupus-8 was watching as the conflict unfold.

"Oh my god! That boy's name is Lux, right? Right?! He's so strong… and handsome, kyaa!!"

Niah screamed like a fangirl. Her face was as red as a tomato as she wriggled like a worm, wrapping her body with her hands.

Hulio looked at her with a mix of emotions, disgust and jealousy. He quickly looked away as he felt as if he was making eye contact with Niah.

Silently watching the fight, Ember's expression depicted a wall. A wall made of ice as that, flat and cold. But, her subtle gesture of having her fingers relentlessly tapping on her arm and her feet lightly stomping the earth was showing her frustration of couldn't join the fight.

But, it wouldn't be long before her patience ran out.

"I'll join them," she said as she stomped the earth so hard and her subtle movements were silenced.

Without waiting for the two's responses, Ember dashed away toward the crowd.

Now that the newcomer had come for the party. Someone just needed to step up before everything went south and chaotic.

On the western side of the forest, two boys leisurely spent their time daydreaming. They had the same jet-black hair color, the only difference was their eye color. One was black, and the other was gold.

Zio and Enzo.

The boy with golden eyes, Enzo, was picking fruit on the tree.

Meanwhile, the other boy with black eyes, Zio, was smiling as he looked at the clock on his Nova Watch.

"58, 59, 60!" Zio exclaimed.

The digital time on the watch read '11 AM'.

"Enzo, get ready! We're moving out!"