-1547- The dust settles

No one knew how much time had passed, but everything had settled down.

In a corner of the ninth artificial floating island, a section of the forest had been completely leveled, turned into flat ground.

Rozen's figure slowly descended from midair, retracting his magic while extending his hand to summon his telekinesis.

In the next second, an orb flew out from the rubble and landed in his palm.

"With this, it's complete," Rozen smiled slightly, gazing at the orb in his hand.

As for Noel, she had already been forcefully transferred back to Vebel the moment her Spiral Dragon Wind Breaker was rebounded and engulfed her.

"Is it finished?"

"They fought to this extent?"

"This is insane."

"Did you even try to hold back?"

At the same time, Kanata, Chloe, Yuri, and Mina all appeared from different directions.

"Did you all win as well?" Rozen asked the group.

Kanata, Chloe, and Mina all nodded.

Only Yuri spoke up, somewhat ashamed and downcast.

"My opponent fled when he saw things going south, leaving their comrades behind, so I didn't manage to take him down."

It seemed that there was one who slipped through the cracks.

However...

"Ran away, huh?" Rozen nodded, saying, "It's just as I expected."

"Expected?" Everyone was taken aback.

Seeing this, Rozen reminded them, "Don't you know about Falcion's tactics?"

Hearing this, the others suddenly realized.

As members of Mistgun who had once interacted with Falcion, Chloe and the others were well aware of their methods.

Despite Noel's impulsive nature and how her team challenged a powerful foe like Rozen without hesitation, it didn't mean they were reckless, brainless warriors. In fact, among the many floating academies, Falcion was known for their tenacity and diligence. While their adaptability was somewhat lacking, they excelled at calmly analyzing battle situations and were focused on rational strategies, making them highly technique-oriented fighters.

You could tell just by looking at Noel. Her magic swordsmanship leaned towards agility and precision, and she knew how to utilize various derivative techniques of flight magic, clearly marking her as a technical fighter.

These kinds of fighters often had weaknesses in raw attack power, but Noel compensated by training herself in the art of compressing mana.

Using compressed mana for battle skills significantly boosted her power.

Even in the S128 special task force, aside from Chloe, who had the strongest firepower and could also refine compressed mana, others like Mina, would likely fall to Noel's Spiral Dragon Wind Breaker.

Of course, Kanata could also use his mana reactor in his magic cannon sword to refine compressed mana, so he could probably fight Noel to a draw. Considering his high-level swordsmanship and keen combat instincts, Kanata would likely be able to beat Noel without too much trouble.

As for the others, it would be more difficult.

Naturally, Rozen wasn't part of this calculation.

Looking at Noel's combat style, most would think of her as a strong, aggressive, and impulsive fighter, but she was still a technical type, and her teammates were no different.

For such a team like Falcion to openly challenge the S128 special task force, they surely hadn't done so without consideration.

Moreover, the fact that they could locate Rozen's group meant they had seen the team openly enter the forest. If their only goal was to challenge the S128, they should have appeared right away.

Yet, Noel and her team waited until now, after Rozen's group had defeated two other teams.

What had they been doing during that time?

"Could it be..."

Kanata, Chloe, Yuri, and Mina, being quick thinkers, soon realized what had happened.

"That's right," Rozen nodded, confirming their suspicions.

"Those guys likely gathered enough orbs before coming to find us and ensured they could pass the survival competition before openly challenging us."

This was obvious when you thought about it.

Rozen's group had entered the forest in plain sight, and many teams had surely noticed, probably at least several dozen, if not more.

Yet, despite hours passing, only two teams had come to ambush them. Even considering that some might fear Rozen's reputation and strength, it was still too few.

There were always people seeking fame or wanting to challenge Rozen, and even if 90% didn't want to face him, the remaining 10% should have included at least four or five teams, right?

Also, Rozen's team hadn't stayed in one place. The likelihood of running into other teams while moving was not small either.

With that in mind, two teams ambushing them seemed too few.

On the other hand, the fact that Falcion's representatives waited so long to challenge them was suspicious.

Combining these two observations leads to only one conclusion.

"The teams planning to ambush us were instead taken down by Falcion's group, allowing them to gather enough orbs before coming to challenge us openly."

It's the classic scenario of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.

If Rozen's group was the cicada targeted by many teams, then Falcion's team was the oriole.

After gathering enough orbs, they dared to challenge the S128 task force because even if they lost, as long as one of them escaped with the orbs, they could still pass the survival competition after the three days and two nights ended.

This was why one of Falcion's Sky Wizard fled the moment the situation turned against them, abandoning his teammates.

"In other words..." Chloe blinked.

"We got played?" Mina frowned.

"This..." Yuri was left speechless.

"Pretty clever, those guys," Kanata instead praised them.

Rozen chuckled, but he wasn't bothered by it.

After all, he had anticipated this possibility when he decided to lure other teams into ambushing them.

However, Rozen didn't mind.

"Being able to think of a mantis-oriole strategy is their skill. And even with the element of surprise, it takes exceptional strength to gather the orbs."

Falcion clearly fit that description.

Since they had the strength, Rozen wasn't petty enough to be upset by someone else's success.

Moreover...

"Even if there are teams out there using mantis-oriole strategies, they can't target everyone. In the end, some teams will still come to us as stepping stones. Given that most have been taken out by others, the few that make it to us will be easy to deal with, which is advantageous from a risk-averse perspective."

After all, collecting more orbs was pointless once they had enough to pass.

"Now, with this last orb from Falcion, we've met the requirements to clear the competition."

Rozen declared this calmly.

"Let's find a place to camp and enjoy the remaining time."

Hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.