As explosions continued to echo throughout the battlefield, everyone soon saw the devastating effects of Lake’s spell traps. In less than a minute, more than eight hundred sea creatures had been killed!
While everyone was still reeling from shock, Kate didn’t let this opportunity slip by and quickly gave the order to fire. Her words seed to snap everyone out of their daze as they readied their bows.
Once the enemies entered the waterways, Kate quickly gave her second order, pinpointing the boulders and rocks Lake had strategically placed on the valley walls.
With a swift kick, a nearby student sent a massive 2-ter boulder rolling down.
Bam!
The boulder landed below, instantly crushing a few low-rank creatures. When Kate saw that the student standing next to the boulder was from the strength class, she started to connect the dots.
Expanding her vision, she began to pay more attention to the position of each student and the landscape around them. As more and more options beca available, Kate felt herself getting a little scared.
’That damned monster, just how did he prepare all this?!’ Kate felt her head start to hurt as she began to understand the true depth of Lake’s preparation.
Students were positioned at key spots to activate traps, close-quarters hunters guarded chokepoints, archers provided support from above, tunnels connected each point for easy reinforcent, and barriers and mazes were set up to confuse and misdirect the charging sea creatures, preventing any one group from being overwheld.
That level of detailed planning and strategizing was simply impossible to organize in less than ten hours! Not to ntion that he seed to have a perfect grasp and understanding of every participant, from student to hunter!
However, despite her rising fear at Lake’s monstrous foresight and planning ability, Kate did not let up in her orders, striving to take full advantage of everything he had given her.
Swoosh!
Crack!
Conner stood at the frontlines of a chokehold in the valley, substituting for a ranged assaulter as he launched several small stones toward the incoming enemy with the tip of his spear. When the enemy approached too close, he would switch to lee and fight them head-on.
To his side were his usual group of friends along with a few veteran hunters, who dealt with the higher-ranked monsters while leaving the weaker ones for them.
Slash!
As Conner skillfully used the tip of his spear to cut down two low-rank monsters together, he recalled the horrors he faced only two nights ago in the woods.
’I used to have so much trouble dealing with even one monster, yet here I am fighting a wave of them!’
Conner didn’t know why, but he felt a rush of adrenaline.
’This is it! This is the kind of strength I signed up for that damned hellish training for!’
"HAHAHA! DIE!!!!"
As Conner jabbed his spear forward into an approaching lizard-like creature, he laughed maniacally. However, when he felt his spear get stuck between the lizard’s thick scales, his smile imdiately froze.
He frantically tried to get his spear out of the scaly lizard, but another snake-like creature had already rushed in front of him, lunging at him while he was distracted!
"Shit!"
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a blade cut through the neck of the snake, and the decapitated head fell to the floor.
"Weren’t you laughing happily just a mont ago? Where did all that arrogance go?" Fiona smirked before turning to face the oncoming wave.
Conner’s face burned with embarrassnt, having just been saved by his girlfriend after laughing arrogantly like a madman.
"Thanks, Fi," Conner muttered, trying to mask his embarrassnt as his cheeks turned slightly red.
Seeing Conner’s rare mont of defeat, Fiona’s eyes lit up. She couldn’t help but tease, "Hey, I didn’t know you could make such a cute face."
"Shut up. That was my mistake, so I’ll thank you for saving my ass, but don’t expect it to happen again."
"Hehehe, is that so? Then how about a challenge? The loser has to do whatever the winner says~"
Hearing Fiona’s challenge, Conner smiled as he finally pulled his spear out of the lizard. "Fine, but don’t co crying to when you lose."
"How confident," Fiona smirked. "Then let’s do it like this: whoever has the higher kill count by the end wins."
"Fine by ," Conner agreed, moving to stand by Fiona just in ti as another wave of sea monsters entered the narrow valley. Smirking, the two jumped right into the fight, turning the clear seawater that had entered the valley red.
While Conner and Fiona handled one side of the valley, another pair of students were putting in work on another side.
Allen, who had taken up multiple weapons, had been fighting on the frontlines, mixing in both long ranged attacks with his bow and close ranged attacks with his spear and sword. His fluid art of rapidly switching between weapons in the midst of battle left several of the nearby hunters in a daze.
Bradford had also taken up arms alongside Allen, skillfully using his sword to dash straight in and kill even more enemies than Allen! His blade and armor had already been completely soaked in blood as his black eyes stared patiently in front of him.
When Allen finally caught up to him, he couldn’t help but say while gasping, "Boss, even back in the exam, you seed to be rather used to hunting. Is this like a past hobby of yours?"
Instead of answering, Bradford slashed the necks of another group of sea creatures riding in on the approaching waves.
"The water is rising. Soon this area is going to be flooded. If you’re feeling tired you should head back and rest while you can." Bradford spoke as he landed on top of one of the corpses of the creatures he just killed.
"...Will do. What about you?" Allen didn’t even bother to act brave and just took Bradford’s advice.
"I’ll buy so ti with the veterans so that you and the others can fall back. I’ll be right behind you." As Bradford spoke, he didn’t turn to face Allen, only staring deeper into the valley.
"Alright. Don’t kill too many without , boss." Allen said before turning around to leave.
As more sea creatures approached on the rising tide, Bradford continued to look forward as he raised his sword to his side, a small smile slowly creeping up on his face.
Above the valley, at the edge of the cliff facing the bay, Roro and Leno stared into the fog a hundred ters offshore.
While hundreds of sea creatures had charged in and died already, the three-headed serpent was still yet to be seen after its initial appearance.
"What’s it waiting for?" Leno spoke as he stared into the fog.
Roro didn’t reply imdiately but instead recalled his own experience with Rank Three creatures. "Most creatures start to develop their intelligence from Rank Three onwards. If I had to guess, it’s probably using the other sea creatures to gauge our strength."
Leno seed slightly surprised at Roro’s reply.
"Do you already have experience hunting Rank Three creatures?" he couldn’t help but ask as he looked at Roro who was considered rather young for his level.
"I had the chance of facing off against one once. It didn’t go so well."
"I see..." Leno replied numbly as a tranquil look took over his face. He was a veteran with over thirty years of experience and knew all too well what Roro’s vague response ant.
He didn’t try to give Roro any words of advice or comfort. He too had experienced what it was like to lose comrades and friends in the midst of battle and knew that no words could ever bring them true solace.
Just then, a loud, drawn-out roar erged from deep within the fog, alerting both Roro and Leno, who had been on lookout.
"GRWOOARR!"
Hearing the three-tone layered scream of the serpent, Roro couldn’t help but feel his bones tremble.
"It seems like it’s finally done thinking," Leno spoke as he pulled out his spear from the ground. Although he was well over sixty, he had managed to maintain a well-developed muscular physique thanks to the mana supporting him. When he tightened his grip on his spear, his muscles tensed and expanded, stretching the material of his armor, making him look like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey.
Roro also took up a fighting stance as they both kept their eyes locked on the fog wall ahead of them.
"..."
After the roar, a long period of silence seed to prevail over the cliff face. The air felt palpable, and Roro felt his nerves tense up.
Screech!
"..!"
"Dodge!" Leno suddenly shouted out as the sound of sothing cutting through the air echo through the surrounding.
Bang!
As Roro and Leno jumped to the side, the land where they were standing was blown to pieces by an invisible force that traveled through the fog, leaving behind a trail of mist.
Screech!
While the duo was still recovering from the aftershock of the first attack, two more streaks of white mist were shot out of the fog aid at Roro.
Jumping backward, he managed to dodge the first one and imdiately sidestepped to dodge the second one. However, when he moved to the side, the second air bullet seed to curve through the air, leaving behind an arc of white mist.
Roro knew he couldn’t dodge the second one in ti and quickly raised his arms as his mana gathered to form a golden shield in front of him.
Boom!
Shatter!
The air bullet smashed through Roro’s shield causing it to shatter into nurous tiny particles as his body was sent flying backward.
Bang!
Roro’s body crashed into the ground, creating a large crater as he felt searing pain all over his body. When he inspected his body, he realized that both of his arms had been broken by the initial collision. His organs had also been shaken up from the fall, causing him to cough up so blood.
When Roro realized that he was this badly hurt from only one attack, he knew that he had no chance of fighting against the serpent.
In that mont, Roro couldn’t help but recall the figure of the Wolf King of Star City.
Back then, he was also similarly defeated in one move, bringing him to the brink of despair. However, unlike before, instead of despairing, he felt a fiery rage burning up within him—not at the serpent, but at himself.
’I was weak back then and I’m still weak now! Even after going through all that training and advancing to the Master Realm, I still can’t fight when it truly matters!’
At this thought, Roro could hear the sound of another wind bullet piercing through the air. He vaguely heard soone calling out to him, but his senses were too jumbled up from the blow.
’Ah, I guess this is the end.’ Roro didn’t try to think about anything when he had this thought. He felt that anything he could think of right now would only make him cry.
Instead, he only continued to look up as a trail of mist quickly approached him.
In that mont, Roro seed to recall the figure of a man who had left an unforgettable impression on him.
He wore a bloodied cloak and mask, moving around like a ghost in the night as he effortlessly killed an opponent Roro couldn’t. That man was also quite friendly, seemingly inviting him to a drink after saving his and his companions’ lives.
’Ah, he was truly strong. It’s a sha I won’t be able to have that drink.’ As Roro thought that, he also recalled the face of the student who had gotten him into this ss in the first place.
The two figures had overlapped in his head nurous tis in the past few days, and Roro suspected that they were, in fact, one and the sa.
’I guess I won’t be able to figure out if you were really him after all.’ With that last thought, Roro realized that the wind bullet was already in front of him.
Badump.
[GET UP!]
BOOM!
As the wind bullet crashed into the crater where Roro lay, a loud explosion occurred, blasting rubble into the surroundings.
When the smoke cleared, instead of revealing Roro’s grueso corpse, it showed him standing to the side on two legs, his arms dangling in front of him. He breathed raggedly, staring at the spot he had been lying in just monts ago.
Roro’s eyes were almost in a daze as tried to recall what just happened. Just when he was about to be hit by the wind bullet, he felt as if a connection had been established in the deepest part of his mind as a burst of energy propelled him to move with a command.
At that mont, a voice called out to him, snapping him out of his daze.
Looking up, Roro saw the face of the man he had been thinking of just monts ago. He was standing a distance away, watching the battlefield with calm eyes.
"You’re not allowed to die just yet, Mr. Roro."
"...Lake?"
[Backstep.]
With another command, Roro instinctively stepped backward as another wind bullet just barely flew past his face.
When Roro realized what had just happened, he felt deeply shocked inside but quickly turned serious as he heard another command ring out in his head.
[Retreat.]
This ti, Roro actively cooperated as he stepped back behind so stone walls that had risen out of the ground.
Boom!
Another wind bullet crashed into the wall, causing it to explode, but Roro had already escaped even further back by then.
When he retreated all the way back into a valley, the serpent seed to have stopped targeting him, focusing its shots on Leno, who had adapted to its strange wind bullets by then.
While Roro was trying to figure out what was happening, he suddenly felt a small pair of hands rest on his arm as a soothing energy passed through them.
"Sylph?" Looking at the fairy with an unfamiliar serious face before him, Roro really didn’t know what was going on anymore.
"Lake said to head back into the battlefield after I heal you," Sylph spoke as she concentrated on healing Roro’s broken arms.
"Did Lake send you?"
"Mhm, he asked to heal you when you retreated to the valley."
Roro felt his head buzzing when he heard Sylph’s reply.
’Did he know that I’d be injured? And those strange commands that rang out from my soul... Just what the hell is going on?’
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