Chapter 4- Imminent danger
After the examiners disappeared there was a deathly silence on the platform in the middle of the forest, it was not known how real the forest was in their vision or how dangerous, but they knew that there are very possibly deaths in this exam
Because nobody wanted to be taken advantage of, no group was the first to leave the platform or they could be used as explorers of danger by another group that followed them secretly for what for a time was a staring contest between the various equipment
Bosfor- Well we will not get anywhere just looking at each other like that, the most likely thing is that the test has a time limit that they did not tell us about so we should leave as soon as possible but we also do not want to be taken advantage of by others so I propose this- he said with an authoritarian but a little more diplomatic expression to reach an agreement with everyone
Bosfor- we will form a circle between all the teams here and we will go straight to the front so that no one follows another team secretly and takes advantage of it- he proposed with a confident smile
They all looked at each other and tacitly agreed before forming a circle.
Bosfor- by the way, since I was the one who devised the plan, I will take responsibility and warn you that those who dare to return on their way and secretly follow another team, even if I cannot do anything in this test, I will make life impossible if It happens in the academy and if it does not pass ... hehehe- he warned with a terrifying smile on his face, if someone were to fail the exam and it was known that he did not follow the treatment, it is most likely that he would "disappear" from the face of the earth
Then a muscular Bosfor guy made a bright red rock appear out of nowhere and put it in the center of the circle, that was a solar star rock, they had the ability to fly into the air and explode when energy was injected into it, but it would take a while. to explore and would be used as a signal to depart
After putting some energy into the rock Bosfor returned to his team while the rock flew into the air and waited for the signal to leave, shortly after a blast was heard in the sky
BOOM!
At that moment all the teams ran straight ahead in front of them, some faster and others slower, the earlier they left the field of vision of the others, the less likely they were to be secretly followed by others.
Baeron- Although that guy is excessively arrogant at least he is quite ingenious and I do not hesitate to spend a precious solar star stone to make everything go perfectly - said the little chubby as he followed Cain to the side, he was quite fast for his body structure
?? - He just did it to build an authoritarian and leadership image in front of everyone, you don't have to lick his boots every time he spends something valuable that he just got from his father - I refute the hooded girl a little annoyingly
Cain raised an eyebrow upon hearing her, he seemed to have a certain grudge against Bosfor and quite possibly the Damael empire and just because of that his impression of the girl improved two points.
Cain- by the way, girl, what's your name? I don't think you want me to call you girl or brat all the time-
?? - Hmph, you don't need to know my name, but I suppose it would be good if they called me Lily - I answer a little annoyed
Baeron- Oh that's a very nice name, by the way, are you really a girl? I thought Cain was just bothering you with that - the chubby boy said a little surprised
Lily- Ugh ... - the girl was a bit surprised to realize that she had exposed herself.
Cain- hahahaha - while Cain threw an undisguised laugh that only angered her more - by the way, because you don't take off your hood, it no longer makes sense for you to hide-
Lily- keep dreaming - I answer dryly deciding to ignore this clown from now on
And upon realizing that Cain simply made a mocking face as he concentrated on the road ahead, little by little they slowed down and paid more attention to the environment, according to the examiners this site was very dangerous if not explored carefully
After walking for a few minutes Lily suddenly stopped and stared in a certain direction while asking
Lily- Baeron you are a gentleman specialized in exploration right? Tell me what is your current strength level - I ask seriously almost as if it were an order and taking the role of leader of the group tacitly at the same time
Baeron- I am a 3-star bronze grade gentleman - he proudly replied as he puffed out his chest
Lily- Oh? You are stronger than I thought, you appear to be just a starting bronze knight or at most a star - she said a little surprised and then gave Cain a meaningful look with obvious intentions
Cain- I could answer you, but I really don't like your attitude so I'll just tell you how strong - he said nonchalantly as he put one of his hands close to the other where he wore 4 rings and made a gesture of grabbing something in the air
Then one of the rings lit up and a large saber of about 1.2 m appeared in his hand, when he saw it, Barron's eyes lit up as he asked him if it was a space ring but Cain's answer disappointed him, it was just a ring. common with a special trick that was done by Cain's father, which allowed him to keep Cain's weapons that had some special connection to him, but he couldn't keep anything else.
A spiritual connection with a weapon is an almost magical connection that is obtained when you use weapons a lot and often that would make you feel as if it were part of your body, it is something that can be very basic or very complicated depending on the level of connection and very important for knights plus it can have magical or paranormal effects with enough force.
Lily did not comment on Cain's haughty attitude, she could guess from everything that happened so far that he might have the strength of a 5-star knight or even crescent level, although that would make him the strongest. of the group was definitely not suitable to lead because of his attitude.
Lily- well from now on it is very possible that we meet with beasts and even magical beasts so we have to be prepared at all times and avoid dangerous areas, Baeron will take care of exploring nearby sites and making sure that we do not enter dangerous places As for Cain ... just don't cause trouble and stand up for whoever is in danger -
Baeron nodded with a solemn expression and stepped forward as he closed his eyes and explored his surroundings sniffing everywhere like a dog looking for a buried bone those gentlemen who specialized in exploration the most basic thing they did was train one of their six senses to the maximum before Silver grade to have a solid foundation from which to learn specialty skills
Cain simply nodded and kept a medium distance between Baeron and Lily, the only thing he could think of was to quickly finish this trial, but since the three were required to arrive out of the forest he could not charge forward for if only so he decided to let Lily and Baeron take care of everything while he took care of them if necessary
Baeron- by the way, Cain because they sent you to do the test together with our group, you are older and you should at least have a personalized test for your age right? -
Cain- I have no idea, I shouldn't even have done a test since I come as re-entered but the secretary went crazy from one moment to the next and they threw me into this test ... - he answered discouraged and distressed
Lily- Re-entered? Perhaps they had doubts about the veracity of your request and sent you here to confirm your strength -
Cain- Hmm, that's really possible, after all the instructor who gave me my test was really lazy, some of his superiors could have revoked his right to take external exams ... -
As Cain spoke Baeron suddenly opened his eyes and stepped back beside Cain as he drew a medium dagger from his waist
Baeron- three beast smells are directed towards us, they should not be very strong, but it will be difficult to handle the three without receiving injuries - he said gravely
Lily was going to say something, but she saw Cain walking calmly ahead and decided not to say anything since he was older and even a re-entrant should have already passed the entrance test once, so he shouldn't have much trouble on this one.
Frankly speaking, the test was not very difficult in reality, as long as care was taken even a two-star bronze-grade warrior or wizard could pass it, here the weakest should be Baeron and he already has a 3-star Bronze-grade power
Passing this test with the strength of the 3 combined should be a walk in the park, and what happened next confirmed his assumption, 3 ferocious wolves suddenly jumped out of the bushes, they were larger than common wolves and had a great strength of charge, with a strength that rivaled that of 2-star Bronze-grade warriors
The three wolves fiercely charged towards Cain who was the closest to them, seeing the three wolves charging Cain did not hesitate for a moment before jumping towards them and swinging the saber 3 times, in an instant the blood flew through the air and the three ferocious wolves fell to the ground with a large vertical wound on their skull
Seeing how she easily killed them without using her battle aura, Lily was a bit surprised, this strength should definitely be a 5-star bronze grade or higher but she couldn't tell how much.
As it was solved so easily they began to travel again without any problems, it must be said that Baeron trained his sense of smell very well since there were very few encounters with beasts and practically none with dangerous areas, and those beasts with which they encountered were easily murdered
After half an hour in the same almost repetitive routine, the atmosphere had relaxed a lot and Cain spent most of his time chatting with Baeron and from time to time with Lily, although this girl was annoying and conceited she was sincere for what she was easy both to get angry with her and to get along with her
Cain was also surprised by the ease of the test, his team had a good level and was well distributed, they had a great scout-like Baeron who made the journey much easier than if he had charged forward by himself, him as a corps combatant. me and believed that Lily was most likely an attack or support mage
With such a composition, even if the forest was twice as dangerous there would not be many problems in crossing it, this left Cain a little perplexed since he thought they sent him here to suffer a little or to find an excuse and get him out of the academy, but at this rate, he could easily pass the test and also get acquainted with two future companions.
By now they were in the middle of their journey, the forest had become much thicker and wetter, but hills and mountains could be seen in the vicinity even a faint barrier on the horizon that would surely mark the end of the forest and it had just passed an hour
Suddenly Baeron opened his eyes and put on a strange expression as he stared at a nearby bush, noticing this Cain approached to confirm that it was happening.
Baeron- I detect a strange smell from that area, it is similar to sulfur and at the same time to gunpowder and it is really bothering my nose - he said while pointing to the area on the side of his route
Cain frowned a little and looked at Lily who was still quiet thinking, if he had to say to himself the biggest defect of exploring using smell as the main sense would be that, too unpleasant smells from the vicinity could affect the explorer and put them in dangerous situations
Cain- it does not matter until we get away from that smell enough I will lead to the front to avoid problems - he said As he began to walk in front, but at that moment something unexpected happened
The ground below him and Baeron began to shake strongly and collapse, instinctively Cain grabbed Baeron with one hand and leaped into the air, but the moment he was in the air something even more surprising happened, out of nowhere a huge Fireball appeared out of nowhere and was thrown towards the two of them, it was the size of a watermelon and was heading quickly towards them, Cain did not have time to think and simply cut it with the saber creating a huge explosion that blew them away. ya Baeron
Everything happened in an instant and Lily did not react in time, when Cain and Baeron managed to react they were already out of sight, attacking other groups was absolutely forbidden in this entrance exam so this attack was definitely not by a young man examined
Suddenly thinking of something Lily suddenly ran in the direction where Cain and Baeron flew out, but she only took a few steps when 3 hooded figures appeared in front of her suddenly blocking her path, she instantly wanted to back away, but suddenly she felt a chill together with one feeling of the crisis behind her, without thinking she cast a brief spell and a layer of water covered her entire body before feeling a shocking shock from her back
BOOM
A fireball exploded behind her, fortunately, it was smaller and weaker than the one Cain received or it would have been very dangerous for her
A cloud of smoke and steam formed instantly from the collision and spanned 4-5 meters around her, but the assassins weren't planning on giving her the slightest chance when the three hooded men in front of her suddenly launched their weapons in hand at the cloud of smoke and gas
Within the vapor cloud, Lily felt that her life was in danger and it was not the time to hide anything, instantly a dark bronze colored aura covered her and four lights shining the same color as her aura appeared behind her attracting the mana of the area
This was the manifestation of the mana generated by her magic core showing her strength as a 4-star bronze grade magician, she instantly began muttering a spell in a low voice while making hand gestures and around her, a lot of small sparks of fire appeared. around them dancing like leaves in the wind and with another gesture of their hands they shot out everywhere while they shone like little suns
The three hooded men stopped when they noticed the attack and covered themselves with their weapons while taking some distance so as not to fall into a possible trap, Lily took advantage of that moment to jump into a nearby bush while pulling something out of her hood while concentrating on the environment because she knew at least one other person was hiding and it would be a magician which is very dangerous for her
From his hood he took out a wooden token with inscriptions on one of its faces and the carving of a snake on the other, it was the token that the examiners gave him in case of danger, having it in his hand he calmed down a bit and injected his energy in the enrollment quickly to take advantage of every second of time gained
His previous attack had already disappeared and there were only a few fires around him that would do very little to stop the hooded ones and he would have to take advantage of every moment, upon receiving Lily's energy the token began to glow and a burst of yellow light exploded towards him. sky to give the signal, but shortly after leaving the card the light became slow in the air and began to disintegrate and disappear before reaching very high in the sky
Lily was surprised by this and then realized that at some point an interference barrier had appeared surrounding the area, it was almost imperceptible so it would be difficult for someone outside to perceive it and no communication device would work inside, after the outbreak. of light, the wooden token turned to ashes as it was single-use, as well as Lily's hopes of escaping
?? - it makes no sense to resist, surrender and you will have a painless death -
At some point, a hooded figure had come to her side while she had a great sword in her hand as she wielded it towards her, but Lily still refused to surrender and die without fighting so in a last effort she summoned the four stars of bronze and put all his magic power into them for an attack
In an instant, the four bronze-colored illusory stars turned into 4 melon-sized flaming spheres and shot towards the hooded man, but he simply snorted and covered his sword with his dark gray battle aura and smashed it into the 4 spheres
BOOM
An explosion resounded from the impact and due to its closeness Lily flew backward with her hood in a mess and finally revealing her face, she had an oval and tender face and long pink hair that reached past her waist, below her the hood wore a tight leather suit usually worn by knights in light armor or scouts for comfort
When falling to the ground a line of blood fell from the corner of her small lips and an expression of helplessness and resentment appeared on her adorable little face, she did not know how they found out where she was or who she was if she had been careful all the time and still Thus they prepared such an ambush, that hooded man who attacked the fireballs with his sword came out of the smoke cloud almost intact
Just from the dark gray energy that surrounded the sword in the last collision, Lily could tell that this guy was at least a silver rank knight, against someone like that, and at such a close distance he would have no way to escape, much less confront her.
?? - Leave the useless resistance, if you surrender and die without resisting it will be less painful for you and less problematic for us - said the hooded man as he raised the great sword being next to Lily
At that moment she really felt helpless and frustrated but she could not do anything, she could only hope that those two boys survived that attack and did not die unjustly because of their personal complaints, it was at that moment that the hooded man who had the great sword raised and he was ready to execute Lily suddenly he felt something and hurriedly jumped back
Out of nowhere a large spear of about two meters came and was nailed right in the place where the hooded man was a second before while it had light gray energy at its tip piercing halfway into the hard rock and leaving the other half shaking on the ground due to his residual strength
Cain- Oh? Until finally, the arrogant brat decided to show her face, I thought you were ashamed to show it because of your bad appearance, but it seems that you were afraid of your large number of enemies -
Cain's voice a little mocking and a little sarcastic entered the ears of the surprised Lily when Cain came out of nowhere and stood on the middle of the spear stuck in the ground as if he was practicing balance.
Cain- Hmm? What happened? Did the cat eat your tongue? - Cain asked sarcastically
Lily- You... What are you doing here? If you were okay you should have escaped, why did you come back? - I ask a little incredulous
Cain- For what other reason? To pass the test, the three of us have to leave the forest together, if I were to lose a partner on the way that silly secretary would have a perfect excuse to invalidate my re-entry - Cain answered with an infuriating face as if he were looking at an idiot
At which Lily could only stare speechlessly, was this boy stupid? Would she really get into such a dangerous situation for such a foolish reason?
The hooded man who had narrowly dodged the attack had already rejoined and the other two were standing next to him as he looked Cain up and down with a solemn expression.
?? - Boy, you should be a little more sensible and not waste your life for nothing, although you are a little strong if you meddle in this matter you will be killed without a doubt, better get out of here quickly so that you do not regret your decisions - The hooded man with the sword said to Cain in a 5/10 angry and 5/10 cautious voice
Cain finally shifted his focus from Lily to the 3 hooded ones and then to the surroundings as if searching for something and then answered
Cain- You know what? I really agree with you, if I have no chance of surviving and I am just going to throw away my life it is better that I go as fast as I can, but ... - He paused while little by little he crouched standing on the back of the spear-like a cheetah preparing to jump and the spear will lean back like a catapult saving strength to launch a great attack - they must first demonstrate that they have the necessary strength!