Chapter 156: The Snipe and the Clam
“Truly pitiful.”
Watching the black wizard apprentice, who hadn't even had ti to shout a password before being blasted to death by a barrage of collective witchcraft, Janna, who had been observing coldly, sighed inwardly without a ripple of emotion.
Judging by the escape speed displayed by the fallen black wizard apprentice, Janna could easily guess that the opponent was likely an apprentice with a [Wind Elent] talent.
If not for Janna detonating the [Parasitic Spore] hidden on that apprentice at the last mont, he might have actually escaped—
Compared to apprentices like Janna, who relied on [Transfiguration] to fly, most apprentices with [Wind Elent] talent could ride the wind and fly during their apprenticeship.
Moreover, their flight speed was extrely fast, far surpassing Janna in her “Butterfly Wing Form.”
It was precisely because of this that Herman, who possessed the [Gale] talent, dared to snatch the “Rotfruit” in front of everyone.
He was betting that others couldn't catch up with him—
“Boom boom boom boom.”
Due to a single spark, the other four black wizard apprentices, who already didn't trust each other, broke into an all-out war.
The sky was filled with witchcraft, like clusters of fireworks, continuously exploding on each other, brilliant yet bloody.
“Buzz buzz buzz—”
Accompanied by a burst of poisonous smoke, a swarm of entirely red magic mosquitoes flew out from the smoke, temporarily suppressing the attacks of three of them.
“I'll gladly accept the Rotfruit first~”
After the poisonous smoke, a sweet voice suddenly echoed, and upon hearing it, the magic mosquitoes seed to have taken stimulants, becoming even more frenzied.
Seeing the timing was right, a female apprentice in a gray wizard robe quickly broke through the encirclent under the cover of the magic mosquitoes and poisonous smoke, turning into a blur as she fled into the distance.
“Damn it!”
The remaining three apprentices, trapped in the poisonous smoke and magic mosquitoes, were anxious upon seeing the female apprentice escape.
However, under the triple negative effects of curses, poisonous smoke, and magic mosquito attacks, the three's physical conditions deteriorated rapidly, leaving them no ti to chase the already distant Mist Tower female apprentice.
“Rustle—”
Just as the three were struggling to deal with the magic mosquitoes, more than ten erald green thorny vines, like man-eating pythons, slithered through the gradually dissipating poisonous smoke and directly bound the three.
“Pfft—”
The thorns pierced through thighs.
Hearing the three shrill screams, Janna knew that the Thornflower Sprite, which had been lurking underground, had successfully ambushed them.
Seeing this, Janna, who had exited the “Tree Form,” imdiately joined the battlefield. Accompanied by a series of ethereal chants, the three black wizard apprentices, entangled by vines, suddenly realized—
They had been ambushed!
“I surrender!”
Although their first instinct was to escape, the wrist-thick thorny vines binding them had already pushed their deteriorating bodies to the brink of collapse, leaving them no chance to break free.
Rather than losing their lives, the three could only withdraw from the secret realm in frustration—
“Three naplates in total, not a bad harvest—”
Just as Janna was tallying her naplate gains, suddenly, a black wizard apprentice, shrouded entirely in shadows, leaped out from the bushes behind her.
Like a hyena lying in wait, he viciously stabbed the shadow-coated, poison-laced dagger in his hand into Janna's chest.
“Next ti, be more careful.”
Crack—
Just as the black wizard apprentice, thinking his ambush had succeeded, was feeling smug, an Ogre Flower appeared behind him without warning, swallowing him whole into its crimson flower bud.
“I surrender!”
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Feeling a strong numbness spreading through his body, the ambushing apprentice didn't dare to delay for a mont, decisively shouted the password, and withdrew from the secret realm.
“That makes four naplates now.”
Transforming back from [Ogre Flower Form] to human form, Janna looked at another “decoy” constructed from Mirror Illusion lying on the ground. With a gentle wave of her hand, she dispelled the residual magic of the illusion.
Like Bell Moonshadow, this black wizard apprentice was also extrely adept at hiding.
Until just now, Janna hadn't actually discovered his hiding spot.
However, out of caution, Janna had first used a mirror illusion to probe.
This test indeed revealed the problem.
Currently, there were still quite a few apprentices in the secret realm.
Besides Janna, there were likely others with the idea of “reaping the benefits.”
Therefore, the valuable quality of [Caution] allowed Janna to have the last laugh in this “battle of the fisherman.”
“Plop—”
Under the lock of [Plant Vision], Janna quickly sensed the approximate location of the fleeing Mist Tower female apprentice through the [Parasitic Spore].
Without any hesitation, Janna, in her “Butterfly Wing Form,” flapped her wings and swiftly flew along the images transmitted by [Plant Vision]...
“Plop—”
Lightly tapping her toes, after flying for about ten minutes, Janna finally reached the location locked by [Plant Vision].
“Looks like the curse has taken effect.”
From the perspective of [Plant Vision], the aura of the [Parasitic Spore] suddenly disappeared at this location, and the disappearance ti wasn't long ago.
From this, it could be inferred that the Mist Tower female apprentice was forced to withdraw from the secret realm here.
“Found it.”
After a careful search, Janna finally found the naplate dropped by the female apprentice beside a tree.
“Fortunately, I made it in ti. If I had delayed any longer, the naplate would have disappeared.”
Due to the restrictions of the secret realm rules, if an apprentice's naplate isn't picked up within five minutes after being dropped, it will automatically disappear. This also prevents anyone from exploiting the rules to pick up leftovers.
“Counting this, I now have ten naplates.”
Adding the 376 “Marsh Frog” tongues, if not considering the secret realm duration points and the guaranteed points for first-year apprentices, Janna had already accumulated 486 points.
“I wonder how my current score ranks among all the apprentices—”
Rubbing the apprentice naplate in her hand, Janna couldn't help but feel a bit regretful.
Since spatial tools couldn't be carried within the secret realm, all the battle spoils obtained by apprentices during the assessnt, such as “Marsh Frog” tongues and other apprentices' naplates, would be stored in their own “naplates.”
And each naplate bore the magical imprint of its respective apprentice.
Therefore, even if an apprentice was eliminated, the next person who obtained the eliminated apprentice's naplate still couldn't access its contents.
The interlocking rules effectively sealed off any possibility of “gaining without effort” from various angles.
“Only fifteen hours left until the end of the assessnt—”
Sensing the increasingly strong curse field around her, Janna, silently keeping track of ti in her heart, didn't delay any further.
She flapped her wings again and quickly departed, following the “seed” aura carried by Maro Heigel—
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