Chapter 22: Dark forest of Wargs.

Alseace was sitting in the backseat of the car with Cleo, and everyone was so nervous because Edgar didn't manage to change the difficulty. Estian threatened them, if they didn't manage to hunt a single warg, he would fail them all that semester. Alwin was pissed and questioned Estian's decision.

Edgar kept everyone in the dark about what he heard from Estian about Alseace as their instructor. It was unbelievable that even if he told his team about it, it would only create an unnecessary quarrel. But he knew Estian well and believed that he wouldn't joke around, in fact, Estian wasn't someone who liked to joke around.

"We're almost there, check your gear for one last time and make sure you bring enough food for a whole day," Edgar said as he checked his backpack that he put in between his legs.

"Wait, where's our instructor? They're not going to send us in without an instructor wouldn't they?" Alwin asked as he looked around and checked if there was another car that followed them.

"There is, but you won't believe it," Edgar answered as he glanced at Alseace. "Just focus on the hunt, I'm not planning on going to be placed in last place in this training. So I want you guys to work hard," Edgar said and stared at each one of them.

Cleo noticed it and looked at Alseace with a surprised expression. She wasn't surprised at all, in fact, she was teasing him silently instead. They both were sitting at the far back of the car and so the others couldn't see what she was doing.

They arrived at the site and saw 4 Agents guarding the portal and preventing any Candidates from entering the portal. The Pave Academy rented 70 portals around East Dasmein from F to D Rank. Each portal had 4 to 5 groups, but weirdly enough, the portal that Edgar's team assigned, they were the only ones there.

"The terrain is a dark forest where no lights can reach the ground. It's going to be damp there, so keep your eyes and ears wide open," Edgar said as he stood in front of the portal. "Since we have a mage on our side, things will be easier," Edgar looked at Alseace holding a staff that he borrowed from the armory in the academy.

Edgar took a deep breath and exhaled deeply, he then said, "Everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded their heads and went inside the portal together.

It was exactly as the information said on their watches. The forest was dark and the smell of moss overwhelmed the other smells. It didn't smell bad since it was an earthly odor, and the temperature was quite chill. The bad part was that thick mist covered most of the forest, making things hard for them to look around.

"Alright, let's find a sign of wargs and remember to only deal with two wargs at most. Cleo and Alwin are with me at the front. Zia, and Gilden, you both stay behind us. Alseace, you do you," Edgar said.

Alwin furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Edgar with confusion and said, "What's that supposed to mean? Mage should be protected in the middle, and since he's the lowest level, we have to protect him." "I know that he's useless, but we can't let him die," Alwin pointed out.

"I'm the one who holds command here. I know what I'm doing, and you don't have to worry about him because he's our instructor," Edgar replied quietly as he kept walking forward slowly and carefully.

"What?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Alwin shouted.

Edgar clenched his fist and punched Alwin in the face as soon as he heard Alwin shout. Cleo only glanced at them while Zia and Gilden gasped and were shocked by it.

"You sure have a lousy mouth," Edgar glared at Alwin who was laying on the ground with his mouth bleeding.

They heard howls from a far distance thanks to Alwin shouting, and at that moment, Edgar wanted to beat him more, but it would only attract the wargs. The wargs could smell blood from the distance as well, and it only made things worse.

Cleo walked to the tree and stabbed her dagger at it. She started to cut a hole and made footings on it so she could climb on it. She then looked at the others and said, "If you want to live, follow me. The wargs aren't that good at climbing."

Zia and Gilden immediately climbed the same tree as Cleo, while Edgar climbed the nearest three from them. Alwin climbed a different tree because he didn't want to be with Edgar, especially Cleo.

"What are you doing down there? You can climb my tree," Edgar looked down at Alseace.

Alseace could sense 6 wargs hiding their presence and lurking toward them from the distance. He then felt 3 wargs to his right, and one of them felt more menacing compared to the others.

"Hey! What are you staring at?!" Edgar asked quietly and glared at Alseace. "Get over here!"

Alseace looked at the tree that Edgar climbed on, and it was a perfect tree since there was a tree right next to it. He jumped and bounced off from the first to the second tree over and over until he reached the strong tree branch to sit on.

Everyone was baffled as they looked at Alseace with their eyes blinking repeatedly.

"3 wargs from that side and 6 wargs from that side. We are stuck here forever if we don't use someone to be bait to send them away," Alseace said as he pointed at the directions where all the wargs were about to come.

"You can sense them?" Cleo asked with her right eyebrow raised.

"They're coming..." Alseace said and saw silhouettes of the wargs in the distance. "What's the plan? We can't just stay here because sooner or later, they'll climb the trees," Alseace looked at Edgar.

"What magic you can use?" Edgar asked.

"All basic elements," Alseace answered.

"Can you handle them?" Edgar asked again.

"I could, but as an instructor, I'm not allowed to partake in the training. I'm honestly here to make sure your safety, not to help you hunt the monsters," Alseace answered as he opened a pack of crackers in his hand.

"What kind of bullshit is that?! Just help us already!" Alwin shouted as he glared at Alseace furiously.

Alseace ignored Alwin and enjoyed his crackers as he stared at the wargs that were already below them. The wargs were big enough that they could topple the trees with their bodies if they were smart.

"You said that you're here to make sure of our safety, right?" Cleo asked and looked at Alseace. "If that's the case, please keep me alive," Cleo smirked as she let herself fall from the tree.

The wargs were waiting for her on the ground, but then Alseace jumped down and pushed himself toward her. The tree he was on toppled because of his feet's strength, but thankfully, Edgar could react and jumped to the other tree.

Alseace caught Cleo before she hit the ground, and he used wind magic to send the wargs away from where he landed. He put the staff on his back, and then dashed toward the opening in front of him.

Cleo who looked at the wargs that were chasing them, immediately said to Edgar, "There are only 2 wargs there, use that opportunity! I'm counting on you!"

"I hate your guts," Alseace said as he ran as fast as he could as 7 wargs chased them.

"Thank you," Cleo smiled as she was being carried in his arms. "I'm sorry if I'm being a pushover, but I believe this is the only way for us to survive," Cleo said as she wrapped her arms around Alseace's neck.

They watched how fast Alseace ran, not to mention that he was carrying Cleo in his arms. The wargs couldn't keep up with them, and when the last 2 wargs were about to follow the pack, Edgar jumped down and stabbed the warg in the back with his sword right on top of the warg's head.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm your opponent right now," Edgar looked at the other warg that was startled when he heard a loud thud sound behind him. "I'll use myself as bait! You guys go and try to kill him!" Edgar said as he kept making eye contact with the warg.

Alwin jumped down and then Zia and Gildan followed him and immediately surrounded the warg. Edgar charged forward as bait, and when the warg pounced at him, Alwin stabbed his spear right next to the warg's front left foot. He stabbed the warg deep enough that it made the warg wiggle in pain as he tried to remove the spear from his belly.

Zia and Gildan used their swords and stabbed the warg right in the head. It was easy since warg acted like wolves where they couldn't do much without the pact leader.

"I think we are far enough. You can put me down here," Cleo said.

Alseace stopped running and immediately put Cleo down. He wondered why she asked him to put him down because it would be impossible for her to outrun the wargs.

"You're going to fight them all?" Alseace asked.

"That's right. It's all thanks to you though," Cleo played with her dagger as she looked at him over her shoulder with a smile. "Just watch," Cleo said and readied her stance.

The wargs pounced at Cleo, but to Alseace's surprise, she dodged them all so easily. She used the opportunity and cut one leg off each warg to immobilize them. Her strength was big enough to cut them off so easily, and it made Alseace suspicious of her.

Cleo moved so swiftly and attacked the wargs with confidence. She killed the wargs one by one until there was only one left. The warg was about to howl to ask for help, but she dashed toward him and decapitated him with a single strike.

"That was easier than I thought," Cleo said, and she didn't look like she was out of breath.

"You said that it was thanks to me, but what's that mean?" Alseace asked.

"It's my skill called Borrow," Cleo answered as she cut off the warg's left ear and looked Alseace in the eye.